JV Puleo

Volvo and Mercedes both had major camshaft problems in the 70s. I was working at a Volvo dealership in those days and I think our service department was replacing 5 or 6 camshafts a week. The mechanics were paid flat rate, under warranty, for a job that was supposed to take all day - if not longer. One of the mechanics figured out a way to replace the cam without taking the engine out. He made his own tools and had the job down to about 2 or 3 hours - he could do 2 or 3 a day. The owner loved it... a person could drop their car off in the morning and pick it up at lunchtime. As a result, he got all the camshaft jobs and made so much money that year that he quit and started his own garage. I hadn't thought about the weight of the reciprocating parts but of course, that is a major issue. All those parts on my car will be substantially lighter than the originals which leads me to wonder if my unhardened rollers may last longer than I anticipated. My guess is I'll never be able to drive the car enough to wear them out. I did make them out of Stressproof - commonly used for gears and other high impact purposes.

About 30 years ago that 1914 Peerless with the fire truck engine in it was in Connecticut at Tunick Brothers scrap yard. A gentleman in Holland asked me to go an look at it for him... it wasn't advertised as having the wrong engine. I always wondered what became of it. It was about the biggest car I've ever seen.

Using the slot in the lifter housing as the guide was how the originals for the Mitchell worked but the housing was cast iron. When I decided to make them out of aluminum I as worried about the roller galling the softer material if I relied solely on the slot. If I could have made the bodies out of bronze I'd have just used a screw and a single slot to keep the lifter from falling into the engine. It's interesting that your engine uses a multiple piece cam. They were the preferred method for high-quality engines made in smaller numbers. I'd really like to make one... but as yet I haven't figured out a way to grind the lobes. In period they made a cam grinding attachment for a cylindrical grinder that would do one or two at a time but I've never seen anything buy a drawing - if I ever found one I'd have to buy a grinder too. The rollers on my 1910 REO were hardened and I seem to remember the hardening was breaking up. I know I replaced them. The rollers on the original Mitchell cam followers were hard but badly worn on their pins. Both of the original Mitchell cams I've had in the shop showed a lot of surface degradation. I guess the best solution is to find out how hard the cam is and then make sure the rollers aren't as hard.

This morning I put the original camshaft back in the engine to see if the new caps affected anything. When I made the lifters - two or three years ago, I took the measurements from one of the originals. They were crude and in poor condition and one of them was broken. If I remember correctly, they did not have dust caps. Sure enough, the actual lifter sat a little too low in its housing when in contact with the cam. So I spent the day dismantling the lifters and taking .100 off the top edge of the housing. This is what they look like taken apart... One thing I do occasionally have second thoughts about is the rollers. I purposely didn't harden them thinking that if they wear they are not difficult to make while if they wore the cam, that would be a real headache. Several of the original cams (from this period) that I've handled showed serious degradation of the hardening - with it coming off in flakes. I suspect that was because they were using mild steel and case hardening it. It probably isn't a concern today so I may revisit these at some point. I didn't try to copy the originals exactly. I read what Heldt had to say about them and went by his suggestions. The lifter itself is hollow and the slot you see there is for a dowel pin. The pin serves to prevent the lifter from rotating and to keep it from falling into the crankcase if you remove the adjusting nuts. That was a fault in the original design and the Mitchell owner's manual, which has very little useful information in it (most of it is devoted to teaching the new owner how to drive) actually mentions this and warns against taking the lifters out for that reason. At the time I made these I didn't have the expanding mandrels I use so often nor had I made the dial indicator modification to the lathe so, while they are good, they aren't as good as they would be if I did it today. I'd have preferred to make them out of bronze but the cost of that much bronze bar was more than I could handle at the time. The job went well, even if it did take most of the day. There is still more to do. I want to make some little brass rings to retain the dowel pins. Then I have to make the hold downs. I set the pieces up on the engine to take some measurements because this time I am not going to presume that everything matches.

While I'm waiting for the flex hone I decided to make the dust covers for the lifters. I made the lifters a long time ago. At the time, I couldn't think of a way to make dust covers for them. The ones I have seen were stamped from sheet brass but that's beyond me... not having a stamping press or knowing anything about making dies for one. I cut 3 sections of tubing. 2" long. I had planned to ream them to size but that didn't work. I couldn't tighten the chuck enough to hold the piece firmly without distorting the tube which, in turn, caused the reamer to stick. In the end, I bored them about .020 larger so they would slip over the lifters. When that was done, I cut them in half giving me 8 pieces about 1" long. I see now that I failed to photograph a couple of steps but I set a stop on the lathe and cut the rings down to 3/4". The washer-like pieces are the tops of the caps. I made those a couple of days ago by drilling a 7/16 hole in the center of a stack of square pieces and then turning them round to the OD of the tubing. This morning I made a soldering fixture. This is actually the extra blank I made for the oil pump rotor. I chucked it in the lathe and counterbored it 1-1/2". Here's the fixture with a cap and the ring inserted. Then I coated it with soot using my acetylene torch. Once again, I failed to photograph the next step but I simply put the fixture with the two pieces in it on my camp stove and let it run until everything was up to temperature. Then, it was a simple matter to run a bead of solder around the inside edge. This worked better than it has a right to. This is what the pieces looked like when they came out of the fixture. I polished the first one and tested it. Then spent the rest of the day making the other seven. It took a lot of time because I had to get everything up to temperature to solder and then let it cool so I could handle them so much of the day was spent waiting and straightening up the shop. But, by the end of the day, I had eight dust caps.

I was afraid that might be the case... but perhaps they can tell you who would like to sell a small amount of perhaps buy an offcut. j

Mike, Try a place named "UK Contract Flooring". I found the web site but for some reason, I'm unable to copy the link on this computer. I'll try again in the office but they seem to have the lino you need in something other than "artsy" colors. Lino is a big deal in the "green" construction world so I can't imagine it isn't available in the UK. But, I suspect the term "Battleship Linoleum" isn't used. I just searched on Linoleum and looked at the sites that differentiated between the original stuff and vinyl. I think Lino is the way to go. It's certainly what I'll be using. I'm sure carpet is wrong and I suspect that even if the car had rubber mats it probably had lino under them. Those fillets added to the bows are great....do the job and will be almost invisible when the top is one. I don't know when I'll ever have to steam wood but your description of the process, and the subsequent problems have added to my store of arcane knowledge of how things are done. jp

Hmmm.... all my fittings are bronze. The tubing is copper but I don't think there is any brass there. I did, originally, make brass flanges but I didn't like the mismatched color and wasn't really happy with their form so I made a pattern and had the guys next door get me two bronze castings.

Entirely aside from the cost factor, this is the major reason I determined that I had to be able to do almost everything myself. I simply would not have the patience to put up with the frustrations you're having added to the uncertainty of whether the job will even be acceptable.

I hadn't given that any thought. What would be appropriate? I rather dread having to repolish the etched surface. Wouldn't you use a strong base to neutralize the acid? (Keeping in mind that I know nearly nothing about chemistry.) I cleaned up the other end of the manifold and assembled it this morning. then calculated where the oil lines have to go. It's more complicated than I'd thought because they can't overlap neatly. I came up with a plan in any case but it will be a long time before I have to install them. First, I squared the oil manifold on the milling machine table. This is where the flats I put on the ends come in useful... it was no problem getting the holes perpendicular to the manifold. After the holes were drilled, I tapped them 1/8NPT Here's the finished piece. Before I can go forward with this I have to get all the burrs out of the inside. I may have to order a flex-hone for that. I need it to be completely clean before I assemble it since oil will be running through it. This is brass pipe. The wall thickness is greater than most tubing but still not enough that I will feel comfortable just screwing the flare fitting into it so when everything is finally assembled I think I will solder them too. The entire unit has been designed so that it can be taken off the car without having to slide it through the aluminum collars that suspend it from the water lines. It took me quite a while to think of a way to do that. I will probably go on to something else tomorrow while I wait for whatever I need to finish this. when it is done, I'll incorporate it into the test stand with the idea of testing the entire oiling system off the car.

Do it... my parts were hanging around for months before I had to put it together. And, yes you must assemble it on the engine. I had the same problem - nothing is really square or uniform so the only way to make sure it fit was to assemble them on the blocks and solder them in place. I was not able to get around in the back well but I took it off and fixed those spots afterward. If you're careful, nothing will move.

I now have to assemble the intake manifold...something I've been putting off because I don't particularly care for the polishing I'll have to do. But, there was no putting it off now so I soldered the elbows to a short piece of tubing to hold while I filed and sanded them. They took about 2-1/2 hours each to do and I have to admit they came out pretty good. I assembled the pieces on the engine to get they straight with each other. I then stuck the interface between the threaded elbow and the flange in two places to lock it in place. Then I very carefully took it apart and soldered the elbows to the flanges. Ordinarily, I'd be a little worried about using plain lead solder here but the elbows are threaded into the flanges so all the solder is doing is holding them tight and filling whatever space there is between the male and female thread. After cleaning the elbows up, I reassembled it again and soldered the tube in place. I think it's ok... tomorrow I'll finish up the carburetor side. They certainly don't look like the pipe fittings they started life as.

I run the lathe at the lowest possible speed. It's critical that the piece being knurled be held very securely. I usually attach it to a fixture held in a chuck or directly in the chuck. You then have to get both knurling wheels in contact with the piece and absolutely parallel. Then I start the knurl with a light cut and with about half of the wheel on the piece and run it down until it's about half off. Stop the lathe, reverse direction, turn it in a little more and run it down again until it's about half off. It's critical that the wheels never come off the piece since it is virtually impossible to put them back in exactly the same place. Usually, four passes, turning it in a little each time is enough but I stop the lathe and take a look and don't pull the knurling tool back until I like the result.

Yes. I seem to be getting the hang of it. There is a little technique involved and it has taken me more than a few tries to get it right but the last two came out nearly perfect. We'll have to see if I can keep up that record.

Back when I owned a 1919 Model R REO, I'd have bought it in a heartbeat. Actually, they are called "cuts" and are usually copper or zinc on a wooden block. The car companies sent out thousands of them with their ads in newspapers and magazines. With the demise of letterpress printing, they were no longer used and I've seen, literally, a 55-gallon drum full of them being discarded by an old print shop. I was in the printing business most of my working life and knew several old shops in the neighborhood - I've even had cuts made because I started at the end of the letterpress era.

My homemade crankcase breather. A 1/4NPT to 3/8 (1/2 OD) tubing compression fitting without the ferrule, two pieces of 100 mesh copper screen cut out with a gasket cutter and two 5/8" OD x 3/8" ID fiber washers. Without the ferrule in place, these fit under the cap. When I assembled it I noticed I had another cap with a little raised edge so I used that one. I've no idea if this was ever done this way but all the components were available c. 1910, including the compression fitting.

I see it as all in the way of practice/ At some point I have to make the high-dome bolts that hold the wheels together so I'm anxious to work out the details. By the time I get to that, I should have a "bolt making" process sorted out. I could have used hardware store bolts and standoffs from McMaster Carr but I think this looks much more as if it was always that way.

I finished up the special intake bolts today. The next step was to turn the diameter that will be threaded. I then single pointed them about 85% of the way. And then screwed them into a die. This gives you nice uniform threads that are really straight. It's practically impossible to start a die on the end of a piece like this and really have it run straight. (Or at least it is for me) but cutting away most of the material first, in the lathe, ensures that the die will run straight. Then I shortened the heads - the extra material was there to provide a better grip in the hex collet. I then set up the radius tool and put a slight crown on them. All done.

I seem to be having a good day so I decided I might as well try the next step. I put the bearing on a mandrel and turned it down to the finished size... 1.925 It fit just about perfectly... All that is left is to make the oil pockets and the oil groove. Then, because I have to finish the intake manifold in order to get measurements to finish the oil manifold I soldered one of the elbows to a spare piece of tubing. This is to hold it while I file and sand. I also started on the special bolts with built-in standoffs that will hold the manifold on... This is also an experiment in making identical pieces, something that is a lot more demanding than most people think.

In thinking about it, I wonder if the crankcase actually gets hot enough to make a difference? I don't imagine it gets hotter than hot oil and I've never been scalded by the oil when I drained a hot engine...maybe 140 to 150 degrees? This is only 40 to 50 degrees hotter than the ambient temperature on a hot day in New England. This morning I bored and reamed the hole in the center. First I set it up in the 4-jaw chuck and indicated the guide piece I made yesterday. Then bored it round again. I took it out to a little less than 1/64 under the finished size - about .012 and reamed it with a 7/8 reamer. This is it... it fits the camshaft perfectly. Now I have to double check some measurements and turn the OK. That is the really tense operation because there is just about no wiggle room.

I have no idea. It was done years before I saw it.

Sometimes I'm not so sure. I did tell the owner of the car that I wasn't surprised several engine shops turned down the job. If I were in business, I might have also but the real problem was that very little of what I've been doing falls into the purview of what engine shops do. Chances are, there are few - or none - that have the equipment and some of the machines I've been using I got after I took the job. Today I pressed on with the bearing - I'm starting to think it will come out all right and want to see it done. First I drilled out the holes in the upper side of the cap for the 10-24 cap screws. Then counterbored the holes because they have to sit well below the surface. I need 3/8" between the bottom of the counterbore and the inside surface and, lucking the pilot on the counterbore is exactly that. I also set a stop on the drill press quill just to make sure. It's amazing what you can do with this crummy old drill... but you have to be very careful and bolt everything down tight. I then tapped the holes in the other side of the bearing. Always a bit worrying because bronze doesn't tap all that easily and a broken tap here would be a disaster. I also lapped the faces... this is my old way of doing it, a piece of 220 wet or dry on plate glass with a little light oil. This is lard oil - once the standard for fine cutting oil. (That is what Harry Pope used when he cut the rifling in his barrels)... fortunately, you can still get it. I finished up with the lapping plate but this way is faster and probably about 90% as accurate. Everything lined up and it went together as well as could be hoped. It isn't actually perfect... the two halves are probably about .003 out of square with each other but I designed this to accommodate that and never expected it to be any better. The next step is finishing the inside hole which isn't easy because neither the hole or the piece are round anymore. The next idea only came to me today while I was working on this. I measured the dimension across the hole at its smallest...it is .650 which is what it should be, mathematically, but things rarely come out so close. I took a piece of 1" bar - it is actually the original dummy camshaft I'd used in the oil pump, and turned it to .650. The idea is that if it fits smoothly and without any "shake" in the hole it will be straight and I can then indicate the 1" end to bore and ream the now oblong hole. It seemed to come out fine. It slides in but there is no wobbling. If all goes well I'll put it in the 4-jaw chuck tomorrow, indicate the hole in the center and bore it.

More like boring. With the slow spindle speed and slow feed, it takes forever. I suspect I could have fed it faster and could have taken deeper cuts but having it come out good is a lot more important to me than doing it fast. If I do more of this sort of thing I'm sure it will get both easier and faster.

I was at loose ends yesterday trying to think of what to do next so I decided to have a go at making a thumbscrew. I used a piece of 12L14 - free machining steel. I drilled and reamed it 1/4" and then counterbored it 5/16" (the diameter of the socket head cap screw end). I knurled it first... because I wanted all the thickness to withstand the strain. Then I cut it off with the lathe cutoff tool. I looked pretty good, so I brazed the screw in place from the top and then faced it off so that all that shows of the brass is a tiny line around the head and the filled in hex. And replaced the cap screw in the pressure relief valve. I realize this is a little overkill but I get a lot of satisfaction from little details like this. Today I split the cam bearing, something else I've never done before. The first step was to measure the distance between the top of the bearing and the center of the hole to calculate how much to raise the table - hoping to get the slot exactly in the center. It's the distance between the top of the 3/4" shaft + .375 (half the thickness of the shaft) + half the thickness of the saw. Then set it up in the mill and took a light cut. It seemed ok... so I proceeded. Cutoff saws run at a very low speed - I think this was turning at 66RPM and I took very light cuts. The idea is to get as smooth a surface as possible on the inside of the cut. Here it is with the first side done. And finished. All in all, I appear to have done the math correctly. I'm going to lap the inside surfaces then drill, countersink and tap the holes for the cap screws that hold it together - maybe tomorrow. Like that last step threading, this sort of thing is tension inducing and I'm worn out from it. I'll go on to something simple for the rest of the day.

This is how the crankcase is mounted to work on it. Aluminum crankcases are VERY flexible. It was dut to an excellent post by Ivan Saxton on this site that I first realized how critical this was. There are 1/2" steel plates bolted to the upper face of the case using the original threaded holes with lock nuts on the inside. Then the entire case is bolted down to this old lathe bed made into a work stand. This is all critical when it comes time to bore the main bearing journals. I also finished the cap. I don't think I spent half an hour on this - the obvious result of having done it before and having some practice. I think this is the best knurling job I've done so far, another example of the value of doing something enough times that you start to get the hang of it. On the far right is a crankcase breather I bought from McMaster Carr. When I got it and realized how simple it was, I decided I could make one that would look much more "in period" out of an old compression fitting. The thread on the bottom piece, originally intended for a flare fitting, is 1/4NPS so I'll need a tap.