Milwaukee Midget

[Captthundarr]

Here's my thought - With help, if I can eventually make this one go, it will make anything else I ever do appear easy.

[/quote]

Boy you said a mouthfull there Chris. Keep charging forward.

[Rob]

Here's my thought - With help, if I can eventually make this one go, it will make anything else I ever do appear easy.

You know, I said the very same thing about having kids and I've built several cars from nothing to date! 

Keep up the good work, FWIW my current ride has it's oil filter sideways, it leaks like a full diaper every change..... :|

[Milwaukee Midget]

Okay – things are falling into place - falling off of the UPS truck - falling into my lap.

Oh, the gravity of it all . . .

I had a credit and a gift certificate from Moss Motors – now I have gaskets and a taller valve cover.

I'm picking up the Midget next Wednesday night.  I saw the crossmember today – it's a work of art.  Net is hung, but I'll need to send it back to Stroud to have the bottom trimmed up a tad.  No worries, but with every added piece of safety gear, the spacious confines of the Midget have become – well, let's see, I think the phrase is "maximum cram".

I have assurances from Skeeter that my head restraint will be finished next week.  He's had the metal since March, but I haven't pressed him until now.  He's had a bunch of custom industrial jobs for a petroleum contractor with work in North Dakota, but he knows my schedule, and I've impressed upon him the need to get my piddly little two-hour job out of his shop and into my garage.

Fordboy – I was looking at the pedestals to check the size of the oil hole for the rocker shaft, only to realize that you have the one with the oil feed hole.  When you get a chance, give me a call about that – I'm thinking it needs to be "right-sized".

[fordboy628]

Midget,

As per our intergalactic communique this am:

1)  Oil feed hole in rocker pedestal: .12"/.13"   Probably should be .09"/.10"
2)  Bringing my complete selection of 1" ID & 1 1/8" ID arbor shims for Krankenshaften.
3)  Bringing back front intermediate (motor mount) plate.  Required to fit cam/oil pump end play & to set cam drive alignment.
4)  Returning starter, have all the jpegs & dimensions I'll need.
5)  Will check through my Aeroquip stash for any -8/-6 bits likely to be of any use.

Can attempt to contact fairy godfather about any other parts requests if notified BEFORE 5pm Intergalactic Daylight Savings Time.
   (though a straw, )

Stephen Hawking

P.S. Although Milwaukee does not appear to be the center of the universe, it may very well be the 'Beerhaven' you suggest..........

[Milwaukee Midget]

P.S. Although Milwaukee does not appear to be the center of the universe, it may very well be the 'Beerhaven' you suggest..........

I'm not sure I'd be happy in the center - especially when eccentricity has so much to offer.

By the way – I took an old pushrod and turned it into a pushrod measuring tool –





Contrary to derogatory comments made by my friends, the tool is in the top of the picture, not behind the camera.

[Peter Jack]

Years ago that was called an adjustable pushrod and they were a fairly common aftermarket item. 

Pete

[Milwaukee Midget]

Yeah, and they are still available, but for the cost of a couple of threaded aluminum bushings, a piece of aluminum tubing and a couple of dabs of JB Weld, I couldn't justify the cost. 

I'm certainly not lacking for a supply of 1275 pushrods. 

As long as I keep the spring pressure light while I'm measuring for length and checking the rocker arc, this should get the job done.

[Graham in Aus]

Chris,
        I'm very impressed with your fanatical attention to detail on this rebuild, for hard work and endurance I really do wish you the very best of outcomes!    

Keep up the great work, I'm learning a lot here, many thanks!

Graham  

[Milwaukee Midget]

Chris,
        I'm very impressed with your fanatical attention to detail on this rebuild, for hard work and endurance I really do wish you the very best of outcomes!    

Keep up the great work, I'm learning a lot here, many thanks!

Graham  

Given your familiarity with what we've been attempting to do, that's high praise there, Graham - thanks.

It helps having an evil taskmaster about an hour away.  Fordboy has raised the bar on this one, not to mention my degree of understanding and confidence.

Normally, about a month out, I'd be a bit panicky.  I'm aware of the work left to do at this point, but the plan is in place, and I've driven this road before.  While there are concerns, I'm certainly not freaked out.

I've replaced the idea of a thrash with the discipline of a schedule, and it's a refreshing mental adjustment.
 

[38flattie]

chris, it appears you hit the bonanza, with getting assistance from fordboy628!

[Milwaukee Midget]

It's starting to look like an engine again –



Earlier today, I borrowed Fordboy's dial bridge and checked piston pop-up.  It's supposed to be +.008.  The number's I got were as follows –

1.   .0075
2.   .0065
3.   .0065
4.   .0055  

Well, not quite what I was hoping for, but the 1 and 4 were the outliers.  Fordboy convinced me there was insufficient wear to worry about swapping around the two assemblies, so I did, bringing #1 to .007, and # 4 to .0065.



It's not that I really need the extra thou for additional compression in the 4 hole, it's more an issue of limiting the variables come time to set up the cam.

Which brings us to this little conundrum.  A few months back, I posted up a video of the timing chain and the amount of slack it had.  I needed to come up with a way of tensioning the chain in a pretty limited area.

Which led me to the dark side.

Now you're probably asking yourself, "He's already working on a BMC engine – how much darker could it possibly get?"  



That's a tensioner for a TR3.

Although now that I'm looking at it, I should probably put the anchor down toward the crank.

[Freud]

Easier to see.

FREUD

[4-barrel Mike]

Better, Doc!  I guess he's using a Lucas flash.   

Mike

[Milwaukee Midget]

Better, Doc!  I guess he's using a Lucas flash.   

Mike

And I am STILL waiting for the smoke to clear!

I'm beginning to think Doctor Freud could fix a rainy day.   

[Freud]

I am practicing for our rainy days because in the Pacific Northwest it is a lovely 70F day with blue skies.

FREUD