Calvin and Hobbes for March 25, 2017
25th March 2017 10:36
2CV crank case rebuild
24th March 2017 11:19Assembly is – of course – the reverse of removal.
Note: as there isn’t any oil circulation until the engine is running, lots and lots of oil is applied everywhere during re-assembly so that there won’t be un-lubricated metal-on-metal when it starts running. Additional lubrication with petroleum jelly was applied to some virgin metal surfaces which need more lubrication, this has a higher viscosity so will adhere for a bit longer during first start-up.
Starting with the off side crank case shell (the one with the studs in it) the crank and cam shafts go in. There are locating lugs in the bearing receivers and it’s important to line up the corresponding hole in the bearing shells when placing them. If you don’t the crankcase won’t shut properly.
The timing marks on the crank and cam gears must be aligned.
The oil pickup is fitted and the retaining bolt is secured.
The crank case halves are now ready to be joined, a thin bead of high temperature sealant was run round the mating surfaces.
Final check as the crank case halves are closed, the timing marks are still aligned.
The four 16mm crank case bolts can be put in finger tight at this point.
Next, the oil pump can be fitted to the end of the cam shaft. Start with a new paper gasket, this is dry fitted with no sealant.
The housing fits into the crank case first. There is a flat that goes at the top, next to the crank shaft – this ensures the oil galleries line up correctly.
The the inner rotor goes on next, it has a flat that goes onto the flat at the end of the cam shaft.
The outer rotor goes on last as it can be easily rotated to the point where it fits with the inner rotor.
The oil pump cover receives a new o-ring and some sealant round the outer edge before it is bolted on. In order to align these bolts with the oil pump and the crank case the pump housing may need to be rotated which is why the crank case bolts haven’t been tightened yet.
With the oil pump in place, the crank case bolts can now be tightened according to the sequence and torque settings in the manual.
The two crank shaft oil seals can now be fitted. The are a push fit but the tolerances are tight so use plenty of lubrication (also prevents them tearing when first running) and carefully drift them into place.
Now’s a good time to put the tappets in – I’m using new tappets as I have a new cam shaft. These are a tight fit and plenty of lubrication is necessary.
The cylinders had previously been lapped to the crank case so time to fit the pistons. With some light persuasion the gudgeon pins slide through the pistons and the con-rod little end bearings.
With the gudgeon pin mostly through the retaining circlip can be fitted. The gudgeon pin can then be pushed through until it seats on the clirclip at which point the other circlip can be fitted.
Next step will be to fit the heads.
2CV dim-dip wiring loom removal
22nd March 2017 22:03As the wiring loom I’m working with was from a car that came with the dim-dip system I removed it entirely – including all the extra wires added to the loom.
Most of these wires were added to the loom at crimp connectors so cutting them out cleanly was easy.
The relay one bypass was also easy to do neatly with an insulated crimp connector.
2CV Wing Wiring
13th March 2017 12:33As I’ve had nothing but trouble with the wiring of the wings I’m re-wring both of them so I know where I am.
First step is to work out the wiring diagram, it’s not complicated but having something like this to work from makes the job easier.
(Note that I’ve added a blade connector onto the back of the indicator, normally that wire runs directly from the indicator’s bulb live connector to the main wiring loom’s bullet connector. Adding the blade connector makes it easier to remove/ replace the indicator as you don’t have to cut that wire.)
The indicator live (red) and earth (black) both run through a 12mm grommet at the front. The live runs through a red sleeve.
The indicator earth attaches to the indicator via the upper retaining bolt. It’s important it’s the top bolt as the head is connected to the earth of the bulb inside the assembly.
The repeater live runs through a grey sleeve and connects to the repeater via a blade connector.
With the wires cut to length the connectors go on and I’ve added heat shrink over them to tidy them up, keep the clart out and take a bit of stress off the wire where it enters the crimped connectors.
Nerf herding
11th March 2017 11:36Reading Mal’s writing on shooting reminded me of the enjoyment I used to get from shooting targets in the back garden with an air rifle. However, in the intervening 25 years the laws surrounding air rifle ownership have changed significantly meaning that’s not an option for me these days. Fortunately the rise of global capitalism and advances in manufacturing technologies means that I can select from a wide range of Nerf guns at the local toy superstore.
Centurion
A while back I picked up the “Centurion”, it’s basically Nerf’s take on an anti-material rifle.
Whilst the ergonomics are pretty darn good for prone shooting the ballistics of the “Mega” darts are fracking terrible. On a six meter range from my kitchen, across the hall, to the spare room I couldn’t reliably hit a duster hung over the laundry bin!
Apollo
Another friend of mine had said the Rival Apollo was worth a look, it has a much stronger main spring and the Rival ammo (essentially small yellow foam golf balls) has a good ballistic trajectory.
The Apollo is Nerf’s take on a bolt action bullpup sub machine gun(‽) and the prone shooting ergonomics are pretty much what you’d expect from that configuration – fracking terrible.
The magazine (not present in the photos) is located in the pistol grip and sticks out the bottom, the charging handle is on the top and there’s no butt plate.
It is possible to shoulder it but it’s short and the hard square edges on the rear of the receiver are not comfortable.
CenturionApollo
So I now have one gun with great ergonomics and terrible ballistics and one with great ballistics and terrible ergonomics – I’m sure you can see where this is going…
My plan is to take the action from the Apollo and and put it into the furniture of the Centurion. At first inspection the receiver of the Apollo and the butt of the Centurion seem about the same size so the next step will be to take things apart and see what’s what.
Ho, ho, ho. Now I have a race profile cam shaft.
1st March 2017 10:34Eventually got my re-profiled cam shaft back from Kent Cams.
This has been holding up the rebuild for two months so hopefully I’ll be able to find time to make some progress now.
Refurbished 2CV engine breather
25th February 2017 15:49After finding out that my engine breather didn’t need replacing it was worth refurbishing it as it had got a bit tatty over the years, the surface treatment having worn off and rust had developed under a layer of grime.
After a thorough clean up, first with degreaser and then abrasives a treatment with rust remedy had it ready for a protective coat of paint.
The choice of paint was a tricky one, originally it was a coppery gold colour but redoing it in that colour would have looked a bit too gaudy in a 30 year old engine bay so I ended up mixing copper and silver Hammerite to achieve a colour I was happy with.
There’s an oil return from the breather to the crank case at the bottom of the breather, this is connected to the dip stick tube via a short length of 8mm ID rubber hose. As the original hose was by now very stiff a trip to the local Piriteck secured some new hose.
The new hose isn’t as thick as the old hose but it’s reinforced and rated for oil so should be good.
Cut to the same length as the old one it was 42mm.
The studs fit in the block with a bit of thread lock for good measure – as shown more clearly during this crank case build up.
Whilst the breather is easier to fit onto the studs than using bolts, it does make fitting the return hose onto the dipstick connection a bit tricky. However, after some finagling it all went back together and was secured with the 11mm nuts and washers supplied in the stud conversion kit.
V series mounting studs
14:21The 652cc V series engine had a few changes from the M series engine it was based on. One of these was stud mounts for the fuel pump and the engine breather/ oil filler rather than the bolts used on the M series.
As the stud mounts make it easier to fit the relevant accessories the SPOG produce stud conversions for the M series engines that replicate those found on the V series – as shown below from the Haynes Manual for the Visa.
2CV wiring loom strip
23rd February 2017 13:00I’ve got a salvage wiring loom that I’m going to work up ready to fit on the Burton. The first step is to remove the wrapping to get to the wires.
This is best done with a seam ripper, it will cut the wrapping without damaging the wires themselves.
As the wrapping is removed re-usable cable ties are put at the junctions to keep the loom together whilst still allowing wires to be added and removed.
Miniatures arrived
2nd February 2017 20:57The full order of the other 11 aircraft of each type have arrived nearly two weeks after ordering them – what I learned from this is that Hermes are significantly slower than Royal Mail.
Similarly to the test miniatures there’s a lot of flash on these that needs cleaning up and I’m going to need to fair over the gun ports on the noses of the FW 190s before they get painted.