Fabulous video. I love watching these two guys working together. I only wish they had an apprentice working under them, learning the trade. Cannot wait to see the inside of the bores.
"When I had cancer, you couldn't swallow, so you had a tube [and syringe] and used to feed yourself with that, which was very convenient actually." I am never going to complain about anything ever again.
No substitute for good old commonsense and experience. Good on ya Ivan and John boy . Great to see two guys enjoying what they do so much more power to you Ivan & John 👍🇦🇺
Ivan and John, you are always "thinking outside the box", good result. In the past I've used hydraulic pressure down the spark plug hole of old motor cycle engines to free seized pistons. It works fine, a gallon of new engine oil a sparkplug to Porto power hose adapter and the Porto power pump, it gets them moving.
Patience and old fashioned common sense. As was expressed earlier, experience is of paramount importance. We have endured similar issues with 80 - 100 year old motors. A great video Ivan. Thanks so much for investing the time. A shout out to John and Tanya as well. Be good. Remain safe. Wishing you a Deluxe day!
Molasses. There his an engine rebuilder on RU-vid somewhere who drops old seized engines in a vat of molasses for a month or so. And it comes out rust free and rotating. Maybe it’s smoke & mirrors, but certainly worth a try on antique one-off engines you seem to come by like no one else. Love the channel. Except, every time I watch, I think to myself, where are the young apprentices? The vast knowledge you and John have needs to be taught to the next generation! Desperately! Even if your apprentice is a 60-year old retired enthusiast, you need, no,WE need to have you to teach others. Today. (Sorry for the lecture.)
Years ago a friend gave me a small engine, it was locked solid, rather than force it and risk damage I took a few plastic parts off and boiled the engine in water and washing up liquid. Within a few minutes of that treatment it freed up and was running. It was not a high value engine but I did not want to destroy it. In some cases people have forced pistons out of bores using a grease gun but of course you are taking a risk. Thank you for the videos, always fascinating to see what you are up to.
Ivan, a bit of cast iron sewer pipe to make a thick walled sleeve that the cylinder base slips into, to the proper length so that the rod bolts project through a bar laid across the sleeve with holes drilled in. Wind some torque onto the rod bolts then heat the cylinder. Works a treat.
Its probably stuck w/old (castor based?) oil. soak with lacquer thinner. Wait, I see ya got it! Looks good, What a great motor,,Keep at it boys,,,Izzy Strong,,,,,
Nice post Ivan .Brings back memories of my mates and I working on our cars in the 60s to keep them on the road.All the best to you and all around you 👍❤️
Big wow on getting stuff unstuck. I'm having similar adventures restoring 1917 and a 1920 Harley Davidson engines I have pieced together from all over the globe. I hope you can clean up those pistons and bores and get a wear reading before you think about buying new stuff. Very interesting. Thanks from Thailand Paul
I'm sure you may have tried it, but I've had great luck with simple using automatic transmission fluid. Just get as much in the cylinder as will go and let it sit so the additives in the fluid can do what they do.
Reminds me, I got "reemed out" last Monday. Drinking a litre of the equivalent of thinners at three-thirty in the morning was not the best start to the day! ps Photo's of "up there" are available on request (It being a "new-world", the video is probably available on RU-vid somewhere).
I haven't drunk Coca Cola since a day 40 odd years ago when I saw an aircraft engine with a piston seized in a barrel un seized by the application of Coca Cola via a spark plug hole. It took the lunch hour to go from "Not Moving" to coming away with a "Shing" as it fell off at the first pull.
How many of you were trying to identify the spaceframe chassis that was coming together in the background like I was. I thought maybe it was a Lotus 11 when it was on its side and covered with bits and pieces, but at the end when it was a roller it looks older and with a central seat. Anyone know what it is? As usual, a great look into Ivan's world(and now I want to build an aero-engined special even more than before)
The most entertaining way would be to to fill a dustbin with pillows, suspend the assembly over said dustbin. Light your oxy acetylene torch, dab it out. Fill the cylinder with the torch gas, put a spark plug in with a coil and battery and press the button. Sh!t or bust.
Is that old gummy oil possibly vegetable or castorene based? I ask because I have seen old competition engines that have been left standing for years with old Castrol R in them and the oil had turned into thick gooey varnish.
In pre-1920s aircraft engines castor oil is a good bet. Back then it was the most effective engine lubricant available. The turning to goo issue is caused by exposure to oxygen from the air, over time it causes vegetable oils to polymerise. This is the basis of old-fashioned oil paints, and tung oil or linseed oil based wood finishes. What's worse is that heat and the presence of metals catalyses the reaction and causes it to speed up, so an engine is basically the ideal environment for turning vegetable oil into sludge.
The sump looks like someone mistook roofing tar for engine oil!😮 Wouldn't it be awesome to build a modern version of this engine! With internal valves and rockers, or maybe over head cam with quad valves. Incorporating pressurized lubrication, with 5 main bearings. Counter weights. Possibly a v4,6, or 8, maybe 12. . Make everything look pre war, atleast, possibly pre first war. A Detroit diesel blower would be awesome, cast bosses into the crank case and cylinders to allow an adapter/manifold to be bolted on. Use a ,6-71 or 8v92 blower with a air to water intercooler in the manifold. And cast a large aircraft style carburator looking enclosure to mount a modern carburetor inside possibly two, a pair of 500 cfm Holley carbs would be a start possibly modify them for greater flow. Or possibly build two barrel dominator carbs possibly bored out also . Possibly lost wax and foam casting to build a custom holley style carburator based on dominator and 4150 types, the dominator for the large frame and throttle valves. And 4150 fuel circuits for low speed metering. With dual pumps basically squeeze a four barrel carb into two. with a fuel bowl on both ends. And a large single throttle in between. With 4 annular boosters. For a fine mist of fuel much like a injector would have, maybe more fine. It would require testing to get the fuel to Air correct. Possibly a "two" barrel carb flowing 700-800+ CFM possibly using a pair of 30 cc pumps, or 50cc, a 30 and 50 . Possibly a progressive pump linkage. To use a smaller pump off idle, when it is running out of fuel. About 1/3 throttle the 50 cc accelerator pump takes over ending it's squirt at full throttle. Have the holes for the annular boosters , the fuel slot for the idle circuit and possibly more ultra small and precision work done by EDM, electric discharge Machining or milling something like that, all but removing metal by the atom. And each atom hand picked.. very precise work. With each booster being a venturi on it's own. And the carburator throat being a large oval venturi. The booster coming from each end alternating. And possibly use multiple idle and air bleed circuits. With the idle mixture adjustment being on one end, and a high idle in the other. Also maybe incorporate adjustable jets. So disassembly isn't required for basic tuning. Use a screw to adjust idle mix. Another to adjust 15-30% throttle, or just before the boosters take over fueling. With a vacuum reference enrichment circuit. Or power valve available for both ends, and can be tuned fir one to operate then at more throttle the next or both equally. A 10 litre engine needs a bit of air, even under 3600 rpm, also if it's being built from scratch, just as well modify the bore and stroke a bit , to get more performance, as well as around 10:1 compression ratio. Push the bore up close to 8" +/- , and the stroke of 6"+/-... This , with lighter pistons with skirt coatings ,and ceramic insulation coatings on the dome, combustion chamber, exhaust ports, and possibly the intake also. Maybe put the combustion chamber in the center of the piston, with only enough dish in the head for valves and spark plugs. Leaving a large quench band around the edge . With 4 valves roughly 2", or 2, valves roughly 2.500" each, and a in piston chamber about 5" wide . The quench band would be nearly 1.5" -1.6" wide, possibly add smooth angles grooves in the band. To induce swirl as the piston comes to TDC. Spinning the compressed air into the chamber. Use a .250", .375" or .500" ball mill starting about .375" from the edge. And only .060"deep. Moving at a 45°angle and getting deeper. Going to about .500"-.625" in to the chamber, it being about 1"-1.375" (+/-) deep in the center of the piston. With the valves having about 3/8" stems up to 6" long with 2.125"/2.00" intake/exhaust valves. With 4 per cylinder. Or a 2.375"/2.500(or 2.625")with 2 per cyl. having .375" or .500" stems, or 10-12 mm.. possibly cast a blank from stainless steel, a 3/4" stem with 3" head 1/2" - 5/8" thick. To me milled to near final size, about .005"-.010" oversize. To then be ground to final size. With the port exiting at a 20°-30°angle to get out from under the valve spring, then turning to equal a 90° sweeping. Bend. Roughly 2.375"/2.0" intake exhaust ports , using Chevy 454,/7.4L v8 bearings on the crank, and a sbc or BBC, (same as the bearings) oil pump, having a cam tray fitting over the heads and clamping the heads to cylinders, to case. With a 1/2" oil supply to the cams the hollow cams and rocker/ follower shaft being hollow to supply oil. And two 3/4-1" return lines to sump. Holding 12 quarts. It looking like a proper old engine while fitting internally with atleast 1990's tech, low tension , skinny rings, possibly 1.5, 1.5mm and 4mm oil rings with piston oil squirter's to cool the chambers. Weld the crank from steel flat and round Bar. Maybe 3" hollow round bar. And 1" plate, flame cut to be counter weights . Make the cams from offset bored tool steel bar slices pressed on a steel bar. Drilled for oil. Enter one journal having a groved brass bushing, and 2-3 holes1/8" feeding the next journal, a .250" hole in the center. And a .010"-.020" hole on the bottom of the lobes done by EDM. And covered by a cast aluminum cam cover, looking the part. With 8:1 compression and 8-14psi boost, or 10:1-11:1 without , keeping it under 3600+/-, it should produce insane TQ. With only 4cyl. 6 even better. But Imagine 12😮, in a v, if 4cyl produces 400-500 lbft TQ, or. Possibly more, imagine 3x that. Having twin distributor twin plugs running a distributor off each cam. Kind of a nod to the liberty engine! Man do I wish I had a foundry, and milling equipment!! Sorry for the rambling! Have a awesome day!
I'm reminded of the story of Pharoah Khufu asking Ivan "Ivan, he says, I've got these giant blocks I need stacked on top of each other...can you come up wit summing mate?" John fettles up a scale model of a crane and asks some fellow named Liebherr to build a full sized version...well it worked like a charm and in no time they had this pyramid built...Tanya apparently filmed it all but it was on papyrus and little Tim used it to try and put out a fire he started in London on Pudding lane...
Xylol (xylene) is a better solvent to use on vegetable oil varnish deposits evaporates much more slowly than thinners. Thinners is just mixtures of hexane , toluene and acetone - depending on what the product is supposed to thin. Another product good for vegetable oil varnish deposits is paint stripper. Oil based paints use analogues of vegetable oils - linseed oil. The reason the sump is so full of crap is because the oils predate the use of detergents to keep the solid combustion products suspended in the oil to be removed by a filter. It was fully intended that the solids settle into the sump to stay there to be removed when the engine was serviced. Much like a modern small engine in a lawn mower that uses non detergent oil.
If the part is ferrous metal you can also soak it in a strong sodium hydroxide solution. The NaOH will break down vegetable oils and turn them into soap. Don't do this to aluminium though, it dissolves in strong bases AND strong acids!
I've heard you can full the cylinder with grease, and then use a grease gun to push the piston out hydraulically. You get like 5000psi out of a lever grease gun evidentally.
Use clean engine oil and small hydraulic hand pump. Fill the cylinder, make an adapter then hook it up to your hand pump, (oil gun, porta power pump), certainly does the job gently.
@@mhagnew I doubt it. A sparkplug can take the pressure of a boosted engine firing many thousands of times a minute for years at a time. Should be able to take going up to 5000 psi. What's the normal internal pressure for an engine?
