some old racing engines

[absmiami]

the fins are cut from .010 plastic sheet - scribed and marked for the circumference and the center holes -

the lower fins are round and made with a series of two different size "donuts" of plastic

- glued together with liquid glue  

.010 plastic is a little over-scale for 1/24th - but not much - I'll make five lower fins - the real thing had about eight  .....

[absmiami]

the fins are held in place on a plastic rod that can be set into the top of the crank case while each layer of fins are added

[absmiami]

the fins at the top of the cylinder head are kidney bean shaped

and are made with cut-outs for the exhaust, carb, and the mechanical drive leading from the crank case to the valve cover

got the first two rows down - will make a couple more

[Pico]

Darn it, Andy, you are going to have to get a CAD program, design and 3D print those superfine detailed parts you make. A great high resolution 3D printer like an Anycubic Photon ( I call it the Ford Model T of 3D printers) is down to $300 shipped. Surely you can slip that by the Minister of Finance?

 

[absmiami]

oh no

oh no ...

I feel another rant coming on  .......

treat yourself to some $ 10.00 Perma-grit files and sanding sheets

and then we'll talk

or blog

or whatever

er   -   a 3D printed Norton Manx engine would look really good, wouldn't it  ....

sigh ..... 

[absmiami]

so my hang up on 3D and CAD is this ....

it would take me - a novice - a long time to learn how to draw these fin details as wafers - but I assume that the printer that you mention could re-produce these parts in greater accuracy than my sanding and scraping

and if I were to get proficient - I could crank out a hole bunch of these for that Porsche engine that I want to make ......

hmmm  ........

 

[absmiami]

well  -  at least the old fashioned wingrove construction methods have given me a cylinder head that's a whole lot better than the Merit ....

[Pico]

Merit's a low bar.

[absmiami]

the Herb Deeks kit - which I referenced in the Cooper Barn find blog - recast some of the Merit kit parts in white metal

which gives me a great looking exhaust pipe - just had to clean it up and open the exhaust megaphone .....

[absmiami]

the cast white metal carburetor  was not so useful

- the original Merit casting in plastic was merely a sort of suggestion of what an Amal carb actually looks like 

and it sticks up and out of the top of the engine bay - it will be the first feature of the engine that you will see

- so I'm making my own .....

 

Edited August 20, 2019 by absmiami

[absmiami]

there are a number of websites that have good drawings and pictures of this particular carbureter, which is an Amal T.T.  One that I used is www.stevenott.com.

the soldered brass is .051 thinwall and .060 thinwall, with some bits of evergreen plastic for some of the detail features.

the cap was made be rolling a hand tool over some 0.014 soft lead wire, and then gluing a short length around the top pf the primary - or mixing - chamber of the carb, to duplicate the cap ...

still have to machine an aluminum intake tube - that will be done later

the carb is flanked by two float chambers, that sit in a bracket hung from the shaft of the carb intake .....

[absmiami]

the bracket is made from Evergreen plastic sheet

the float chambers will look like the float chambers seen with other carbs

making those in brass - I need some strength because fuel lines will be running in and out of these chambers ... the small size of these components prevents me from making a plastic part with adequate strength to attach the fuel lines ...

[Codi]

It's just a giggle to see you doing this.  Can't wait to see what's next.  cheers

[absmiami]

making the float chambers that flank the Amal carb and the tray that they are fixed on

its unusual to run a double float chamber setup - but I think that a few of the FIII coopers used this

including the one that I making

I need two fittings on each chamber for lines in and out

the first two pix give you the idea - but this on was too tall and wasn't used

the trick is to solder one fitting and then clamp it against the tube so that you can then solder the second fitting

without damaging the first solder joint  ...

this is the skill that Randy D has nailed .....

made a couple more that were the correct height - one is sharper than the other but I'll probably use them both

neat trick dept ;  you can grasp a long tube while your making a part by removing the other half of your pin vise

why didn't someone tell me this  ????

[absmiami]

cylinder head - "aches"

while making the brackets that cradle the crankcase and attach to the frame braces

I noticed that the engine was too short ....

1026 has the cyl head that I made a month ago - if I use that - the amal carb does not protrude over the lip of the engine cover opening

so to get the carb out in the airstream, where it belongs - I made a couple more rows of fins - per 1104

since I had not glued the cyl head on to the crank case - I just glued two more fins to the bottom of the cyl head

note to me - got to get a hole punch set for larger holes - would have made this much easier  .....

[absmiami]

the Merit kit engine had a partial crank case that sat on a cradle of plastic at the bottom of the shell

once I made a full crank case and ground away the "cradle" - I had to duplicate

as best as I could - the brackets and braces that the engine is attached to ....

that's what these pix show .....

this is tricky - because the engine must have good attachment points and tilt back at a slight angle

and when all the parts are fitted to the basic crank case and cyl head - the engine bay will be crowded ....

so I have to judge part scale from photos - without the benefit of detailed frame drawings

there are detailed cutaways - so I judge the relative size of the components from photos and these drawings

which is partly why I'll have to re-do a number of parts more than once ....

pain ....

[absmiami]

the engine has to be attached to the frame

in order to do this, I needed to make the braces that hold the engine

these were cut from .015 evergreen strips and glued together with liquid glue

seven pieces in total - the structure can be removed as a unit for painting/finishing ....

[absmiami]

so the braces will be attached to the frame as shown

its close to how the real engine is braced - the difference is that on the real car the two vertical braces are a bit closer together

but this will do  - and I've got it measured so that the engine sits at the correct height and tilts back a bit - like it is supposed to .....

[absmiami]

lets see ...where was I  ??

the Cooper engine sits in front of a gear case that sits in front of the transaxle

the merit kit had no gear case so I made one with - of course - evergreen stock - tube and bar etc 

the bracket is an educated guess - it sits down low in the frame and I do not have a good photo - so I made one that looks like the bracket that mounts the engine to the frame.

[absmiami]

the first shot shows the drive train arrangement outside of the frame - I'll need to make another bracket that runs from the top of the transaxle back to the top of the gear case

then some detail nuts added to the right side of the gear case - 

the link from the gear shift lever will attach to a lever on this side

and work begins on the  chain drives - one from the crank case to the gear case and a second one back to the transaxle -  

[absmiami]

more work on the chain drives and check fit in the frame

it's tight ....

the disc will attach to the left side of the gear case and house the clutch discs ...

[absmiami]

turkey  ......

[absmiami]

the chain drive back to the transaxle is squeezed by the frame rails - which converge as they run back to the tail and the oil tank

so I snipped off a portion of the drive for a better fit

then epoxied the photo-etched Aber chain around what was left

will finish this in black - should look convincing ....

this will fit ....

[Gramps46]

Like my friend Mike Sells says you just take some sheet and rod and make it look like the pictures.  Super well done and thank you for sharing the pictures and the inspiration.

[Brudda]

Impressive!!