I understand your comments.

It is made from 50mm x 30mm box sextion with a 3mm wall thickness - very heavy duty. The 50mm length is the stressed dimension. It's not the usual 1.5mm or 2mm wall thickness.

The main body which supports the weight is one piece - not 3 pieces welded together, although the pics don't show this very well.

For the two 90 degree bends, I cut a 90 degree notch out of 3 sides of the box section leaving the rear side intact. I then bent them to the right shape, chamfered the edges and blasted them with 150 amps ensuring full penertration.

It really solid as a rock and very heavy.

I've still got the 90 degree boxed gussets that were cut out to form the bends which could always be used to form internal corner braces.

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Andrew,
Just to let you know the belt and hose arrived today they look quality:d
Thanks
By the way your inbox is full and it wouldn't let me PM you.

Thanks for letting me know - I was going to pm you tonight to ask whether they'd turned up yet?

Good quality aren't they - spread the word! :lol:

PM box now empty....

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Hi
I dug out the piston rings the other day and it would appear I may have some to suit your car, they look a bit manky in the picture but its only because they have a waxy coating on them and dirt sticks to it, do you want any, I am enjoying this thread very much and best of luck Bill.

Thanks, thats very kind, but I've already purchased a new set of grant rings.

I'd have started the build up today, but ended up spending the day weliding a friends Beetle for him.

Hopefully I'll make progress tomorrow...

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Having spent all of Saturday on my back underneath my good friend Smull's Mexi bug, welding it, and having survived a night out with him afterwards involving beer and curry, I can't say I was full of energy today, managed the final case clean ready for assembly.

This was basiclly a bucket full of very hot detergent, a selection of brushes and scouring pads, and loads of elbow grease, an air line, then a second going over with brake cleaner, more brushes and a final air line dry off, finishing off with a hair dryer to make sure no hidden moisture lurked.

I was sure to get the rat tail brushes as far into the galleries as possible - it was nice to see that they came out clean.











All clean and ready to build. The two case halves are currently in bin liners keeping dust free until the build commences.







Now all the noisy 'outdoor' work has been done, I can do the assembly in the evenings after work, rather than having to wait for very rare days off.

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Lovely job so far Andy. Looking forward to the re-assembly.

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superb thread--thanks for sharing--more pics the better8)

Just had two of the more frustrating hours of my life assembling the crank.

Two of the rods go tight when fitting to the journals, where two of them go on fine and free.

I've made sure everything is the correct orientation and that every single component is going back exactly from where it came - stripped, cleaned, tried again, checked, double checked, seated, re-seated the shells - over and over again - same issue.

The tight ones are tight on all the journals, and the free ones are free on them all.

The bearing shells are free when offerd up alone.

If I offer up the rod halves alone, on one of them, the main rod is tight, where on the other one, it's the cap that is tight.

I've measured and chekced, made sure the bearings are seating correctly and are back in the rod half they came from by matching up witness marks etc, and yes, the rod numbers match etc, etc.

Come on guys - where am I going wrong?

Logic tells me that it can only be a bearing not seating in the rod half, but I;ve cleaned and re-seated them what must have been nearly 50 times - always the same.

Any clues?

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I had the same trouble when i tried to use old shells .Regardless of how they look once they have been disturbed they never seem to sit right .But,try this first:

30hp rods dont have very good bolts to align the two halfs so what i do is get two feeler gauges that are a good fit and push them in like you would measure the side clearance for the rod.One blade probably .2mm on one side of the join and one on the other.


Tighten the rod by hand evenely to start with and remove the feeler.Thr feeler just aligns the rod but only in one direction.

Check it rotates .If it goes tight use a mallet and tap the rod on one side of the join and then the other if it doesnt free off.The problem i found is where the tang sits in the cap and rod . Tapping with a mallet seems to settle it.I think the tang on the shell becomes distorted slightly on the first crush and because of the rods poor alignment it is impossible to refit the same.Rods are torqed to 36lbs foot and its normally the last tightning when they go stiff.

You might get the same problem with the mains and my advice would be to get at least new big ends and dont be tempted to install even a slightly sticky rod .KK sell them and vary in price on the 2 occasions i phoned .

I went through all of this with mine and know it can be frustrating when you are so close to finishing .:beer:

Mike

Cheers Mike - what is interesting is that I can identify the actual halves that are causing the problem.

One one rod, it's the cap that is tight when offered up alone, on the other it;s the actual rod.

Did you find that new bearings went in fine 1st time?

Is there anything I can do with the tang to manipulate them into a better seat?

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New bearings were much better with only the odd tap to settle the cap.The problem I think are the rods,try putting the cap an rod together off the crank and see how much they move.thereis much room for error .I am off to sleep as I have just finished work. Good luck
one more thing ,areyou fitting your rods with numbers up or down?.won't make a difference to the tightness just curious.
You could also take the rods into work and measure the bore of the rodto see if it's gone oval shaped.just athought.

My vastly more experienced father is coming round tonight for a look - two heads and all that...

I understand the out of round comment, but I keep thinking back to the fact that everything was free and fine before teardown.

It must be a seating problem?

I'll report back later.

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don't lose heart, best thread thats been on here in ages ! cant wait to the the next pictures !:d

My Dad is my hero!

More of that in a minute...

Finally got the case back in the home brew stand ready for some action. The eagle eyed amongst you will notice the strengthening gussets on the engine stand - belt and braces and all that...





I wanted build up the crank first, so soaked it in a bucket of cellulose thinners - funny how after while with your head over the bucket, scrubbing, all your problems just seem to drift away... :lol:





Always work in a well ventilated area kids!

At this point, after I'd given the rods and bearings a similar soak and scrub, I began to buld them up and came stuck with a couple of binding rods as detailed a few posts ago.

To cut a long story short, Dad came to the rescue (again) and brought with him over 50 years of precision engineering and engine experience which he soon put to good use.

Watching someone with experience and 'feel' at work makes me feel a little pathetic and sad, as I know he's already forgotten more that I'll ever know. I love him dearly and I'll forever walk in his shadow.

Anyway, it turned out to be a bearing seating problem, and with just the right 'taps' in just the right places whilst torquing the rod bolts up, they just clicked into place and rotated freely.

We checked the cap alignment and side clearance which was 0.35mm on them all, which is within the tolerence of new parts. Dad also confirmed that the journals, rods and bearings were all absolutely fine with precious little evidence of wear.

After a final torque up to 36 ft/lbs with thread lock, I was very proud to take this picture...





Thanks Dad!

At that point, I was so relieved and happy, I decided to call it a night and plan tomorrows build up action.

Before I sign off, some NOS goodness arrived recently....







And finally, ready for the big day...





As used by VW, and BMW it seems!

:D

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Interesting - I couldn;t find anywhere that stipulated whether the rods have an orientation or not, and as they are symetrical, i guess it doesn't matter.

As I've used the oldbearings, I thought it best to put them back the way they went which surprisingly, two numbers up and two down when in the correct position in the motor.

If all the rods are pointing the same direction, then the numbers are all on the ame side.

However - the one thing I did notice is that the part number stamp along the rod length is facing towards the flywheel.

I've checked all my pics from when I split the case and removed the crank, and this has confirmed the above.

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The reason i asked was because your engine was untouched and i had found much the same as you in the way the numbers were orientated .They are symetrical but wondered how they were assembled at the factory.
Glad you got the crank assembled ,there is a knack to freeing them off which is difficult to put into words .Forgot to mention that engineers blue would of helped identify the tight part.

I see you have some new valves,one thing i would advise is to put the collets around each valve to make sure the two halfs don't touch.Somtimes they do and you have to grind the faces to make a small gap.The reason i mention it is because it never appears in manuals for some reason.

Mike.

How to build a 30hp motor – by Last Triumph, age 34 ½ …..

Part 1

With days off now a distant dream for the time being due to my work, I’m restricted to evenings to get anything done, so here are the results of the last few nights when I’ve scrounged a hour here and there.

So, with the left had side of the case in the stand, clean and ready, the first job is to clean, grease then mount the distributor shaft, thrust washer and spring.





When installed with the distributor and spring in place, (mine came had just one thrust washer, others may have two) there should be clearance of 2.54mm (0.100”) which measured spot on for me. The distributor shaft and gear was given a coat of grease upon installation.





At this point, it is best to set the distributor timing position – theoretically, this can be done later, but if you want the distributor to be in the correct position so the vacuum line meets up etc, it’s best to do it now before installing the crank.

Before I did this, I completed the one thing I neglected to do when I rebuilt the distributor which was to set up the correct rod length for the vacuum advance. It should measure 43.4mm from the tip of the rod to the base of the housing. This is done by means of adjusting the threaded rod and lock nuts. Also, to prevent the unit ‘over advancing’ the clearance between the housing body and the bottom of the lock nut should be 3.5mm. Obviously, I spent half the night getting this absolutely perfect…. I just can’t help myself sometimes.









With the distributor installed on the shaft, the next job is to install the cam follower guides which on early motors are attached to the ends of the pushrods, which themselves needed a thorough cleaning, inside and out. They were soaked over night in a tray of thinners, then when fully drained, I squirted brake cleaner down each one until it came out the other end crystal clear. I’d already made a note of which one went where previously. A final blow out with the air line ensured they were absolutely spotless.

This pic was before I started to clean them. For any youngsters out there – cleaning pushrods is not a great ‘first date’.





The pushrod tubes are soaking as I type – uurrgghh!





So – back to the followers. They all had the usual thinners bath, tooth brushing, wipe down, then brake cleaner followed by an air line to remove anything the cloth might have left behind. Boring and laborious it may be, but my Dad really read me the riot act about cleanliness during assembly.





They bolt inside the case with the nuts held tight with little locking tabs bent to the flat of the nut – not tightened in this pic.





You will notice that there is a machined flat surface on them which aligned the cam follower on the end of the pushrod which is a very close tolerance fit indeed. With the pushrods and guides oiled, the pushrods should fall out of the case under their own weight without catching or binding which can take a few goes to get the guides in just the right place, and keeping them there as you tighten the nut. It’s best to spend a while doing this as the last thing you want when the case is together is not to be able to get a pushrod through the guide…





Whilst were’ talking cleanliness – make sure all your tools are clean before starting any assembly – you don’t want bits of crud falling in your gleaming motor that have been stuck in a socket or ring spanner etc.





Now things started to get a little more serious. I needed to complete final assembly of the crank, so after checking the torque of all the rod bolts was 36ft/lbs for what must have been the 10th time, I fitted the 1 and 4 bearings and the oil thrower ring – after a thorough cleaning in the usual manner of course. Note that the oil thrower ring has the concave side facing away from the crank. Double and triple check all the journals are immaculately clean, and then coat journals and bearings with oil.









Remember these little critters that were blasted across the garden with the air line? – These are the bearing locator dowels and now is the time to install them into the bearing saddles.







The split number two bearing also had a bath. One half goes into the case at this point, ready for the crank.







And here it is, ready to go home….





Just before installing the crank, now is the time to make sure the distributor is in the right rotational position and that the rotor arm is facing towards the little notch in the top rim edge of the distributor body. This is the position that the number 1 cylinder will fire.





This is because we will install the crank by holding rods 1 and 2, with rod one being all the way up in the top dead centre position, thus when installed on the distributor shaft, the timing will be correct, or very close and the distributor will be in the correct position.

So, by holding the rods, gently lower the flywheel end of the crank and bearing into it’s saddle – you will probably need to rotate the bearing a little and then you’ll feel the dowel enter the location hole on the bearing and it’ll drop in place nicely. Then move forwards and repeat on the number 3 bearing and finally the number 4 by the crank pulley. Once this one is in place, the crank seems to click into place with a very satisfying a precision ‘thunk’ and will feel rock solid. Gentle tap the crank along it’s length with a soft mallet, but be sure not to hit the bearings. This will help seat everything when we want to close the case later one.

Here it is - safe and sound! Interesting to see the oil thrower ring – nice design.







Next up is the cam, which needed a thorough cleaning also. Here it is after a very deep bath and scrub, followed by the brake cleaner, air line routine…







With the gears and bearing areas (30hp motors don’t actually have bearing, the cam just runs in the case) oiled, and the cam lobes covered in assembly lube, it is now time to fit the cam. The cam needs to be timed with the crank by means of lining up the dot stamped on the cam gear between the two dots on the crank gear. You can just about make this out in the picture.





With the crank rotated so the cam gear can be engaged in the crank gear without being near the case, slowly roll the came down into the case making sure the gears stay meshed.
One installed, rotate the crank using the roods several times in both directions. If all rotates freely and the cam doesn’t try to climb out of the case, all is well. I did a backlash test but there wasn;t any on mine – it was a perfect fit as it is the original cam and gear etc.

Here is the cam installed and timed. Note how close the cam thrust faces are to the case.







At that point I called it a WIN and packed up. Next I’ll be doing a little assembly on the other case half then closing them up!!!

Tune in next time for more LT action!


“Taxi.....”

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Looking good ,It may just be the photo but i would be asking for a second opinion on those followers.The face of the follower should smooth with no chatter marks.Heavy loads on the valve train can cause it so maybe your engine had some valve trouble before it was laid up?.
Not really relevant but did you know that early 30hp pushrods had wood in them to control oil flow to the valve gear.I found out one day whilst trying to poke a peice of wire in one to clean it and ended up sawing it in half to see what was blocking it .

Mike.

I always thought the wood was uprooted from production when the 30 horse began? Knot that it matters in this case, a '57.

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