Had a good day yesterday.
Any day above the dirt is a good one, right?
Started off using my hoakey rod balance rig.
Rods were a few grams different in weight.
Certainly not Bernice-quality equipment, but gets the job done.
If i was going to continue to build Fiat motors, I'd make a proper mandrel to fit the big end.
Once you pick up the center of the big end this thing works well.
Until then, I'm just using some skateboard bearings.
They hit the parting line at the cap, and throw the measurement off,
But if you repeat and repeat, and hold your mouth -just- right,
Eventually you'll pull a number out of the thing.
I'll write the numbers on the side of the rod, then wipe them off with carb cleaner and repeat,
But check this out - Gen Z guy uses a spreadsheet on his phone.
He was all miffed at how the balance setup wouldn't repeat,
constantly giving numbers that made NO sense,
So i put him on parts washing where he belongs.
He did get them all end-to-end and overall within a gram in the end, though...
I grabbed this old rotten bore gauge and tried to measure some bores.
The thing slips and sucks and blows and i threw it away.
Ordering a new one today.
Unless i throw things away I keep repeatedly grabbing them and driving myself nuts!
Jim says he set clearances to .0014, and i believe him.
This thing is two tenths off, at least in the microsecond this pic was taken as it slips away...
Also whittled a bit off the bottom of one piston that was a gram heavy.
Coached kid through ring end-gapping.
Pretty wide range for spec from .012 to .018 or so,
and good thing, because kid.
We shot for around .014 but none were under, and none were over, so we'll run 'er!
Assembled rings on pistons and annoyed kid with taking pictures.
"Dad has to take more pics for his social media!"
After rings were on pistons i went to assemble wrist pins on rods,
Then forgot i wasn't building a VW with Tru-arcs or Spiro-locs.
We got these things.
Ugh.
I hate these things.
Might just have to pull rings back off so they don't get broken in the inevitable tussle.
Anybody have a genius solution to installing these wrist pin clips?
Far as i know, it's just a painful grind levering them into place with a little screwdriver.
Make sure to wear safety glasses.
That, and do it in a contained area so they can't fly off into infinity.
Maybe I'll go and get a big box to be inside of when levering these things on...
That left us at a good place to stop.
Need to get mentally prepared for this next battle.
www.midwest-bayless.com
