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Author Topic: Southern Cross ETB diesel engine  (Read 21201 times)

EdDee

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Re: Southern Cross ETB diesel engine
« Reply #15 on: February 25, 2019, 07:52:10 AM »
Having 13 acres of man cave plain, a rule has come about: If you don't like what you see, look away...

Walking butt naked from the front yard through the house to my room to shower has happened before... Not because I am going to get shat out for leaving a trail of oil/grease/debris, but because I am the one that has to clean it up... One of the very few disadvantages of being a bachelor.... On occasion, particularly hot weather, the tenants bring me a beer while I am waist deep in grease and grime, closely followed by "Why don't you go have a nice cool shower...I'll clean up after you...." That usually means there are friends over, they bribe me with a frosty to avoid shocked looks from the visitors... ;D ;D ;D

Lol
Ed
12/1 750RPM/9HP Roid 5kVA- WMO Disposal/Electricity & Hot Water Gen
12/1 650RPM/8HP Roid 4.5kVa - Demon Dino
Chinese Yanmar - Silent Runner with AutoStart
Classic Komatsu 1963 Dozer/Fergusson 35 Gold Belly ...
Bikes,Cars,Gunsmithing & Paintball...Oh yes, a 5Ha open air Workshop to play in!

ajaffa1

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Re: Southern Cross ETB diesel engine
« Reply #16 on: February 25, 2019, 08:08:26 AM »
Hi Guys. I have been wondering how Butch manages to insert images in between his text rather than at the end. There is a button on the post screen called "Insert Image" it has a very small picture of the Mona Lisa on it. When I click on this icon it places IMG text on the post but does not tell me how to insert the image. I am guessing that the attachments and other options button is used to insert the first image up to 4 per post. Anyone know how this works?

Bob

ajaffa1

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Re: Southern Cross ETB diesel engine
« Reply #17 on: February 25, 2019, 08:26:34 AM »
Hi Ed, I very much doubt I will be able to persuade the Wife to do the "clearing up after me while I have a shower" bit. If we have guests and I am dirty I just get banished to the shed until they leave. In the past some of the guys have come down to my shed to see what is going on, it`s usually more interesting than the conversation the Ladies are having. One cold refreshment leads to another (all quality home brewed beers), before you know it all the men are in the shed drunk as skunks and all the Ladies are furious with us for our bad behavior. No wonder we don`t have many visitors these days.  :laugh:

Bob

ajaffa1

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Re: Southern Cross ETB diesel engine
« Reply #18 on: February 28, 2019, 10:13:07 AM »
Hi Guys, sorry it has taken me so long to post an update. Even when I was a young man, I was never the quickest worker. Now I am old and buggered up things take forever. That said I have completed the tear down of my ETB engine. Not an easy task for a man who can`t pull on a spanner, every nut and bolt involves beating the spanner with a rubber mallet!  >:(

While this rebuild will take me months I will post some photos as I go.

My first impression of the engine was that a 2.5 HP four stroke diesel engine is rather pointless, my push mower has a 6 HP petrol engine! I have changed my opinion, I can see how a farmer in the 1950`s might want a small cheap and reliable engine to run a small irrigation pump or charge battery storage, it could also have been use for driving conveyor belts or even cooling fans.

I am astonished at the build quality, that a small foundry in rural New South Wales could produce such good castings and then machine them so well in 1950 is extraordinary. Where did they get the foundry men and machinists from, who put up the capital for what must have been state of the art production equipment back then.

A few early observations are that this engine has a duplex drive chain to run the camshaft and a simplex drive chain to drive the oil pump. The crank shaft and all bearings are pressure fed with only the cam followers and open camshaft bearings being splash lubricated. Very advanced for an agricultural engine that must have been designed in the 1940`s.

While I have cleaned and primed the outside of the crank case, I am in two minds about painting the inside. This engine was built in 1955, so, working on the basis that the original owner was lazy and only changed the oil every year, this engine has had 50 plus changes and that should have flushed out any casting sand and other detritus. It has been degreased and pressure washed, there is some rust which I have mechanically removed, should I treat it or not?

Anyway a few photos to keep your interest.

Bob

guest23837

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Re: Southern Cross ETB diesel engine
« Reply #19 on: February 28, 2019, 10:27:12 PM »
Did you have much trouble taking out the head bolt?

ajaffa1

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Re: Southern Cross ETB diesel engine
« Reply #20 on: February 28, 2019, 11:01:41 PM »
Hi Guys, I was expecting terrible trouble with that corroded cylinder head stud but I think that the thing was so wasted that it had stretched and was loose. All the bolt are UNC or UNF, the head studs are UNC into the block and UNF at the head end. I`ll probably have to make replacements. I only broke one stud during disassembly (timing gear cover) fortunately there was enough stud left protruding to get a wrench on it. The engine came with one stud that had sheared off below the surface of the crankcase, I drilled it and got it out with an easyout, happy days!  :)

This engine  is intended to run at around 1500 RPM but the power take off is from the camshaft which will only be running at 750 RPM so Glort`s idea of running a car or truck alternator to charge a battery bank looks like a good one, just got to get the gearing right. I think that I will probably make a small trolley for this engine, it is small enough to easily take to a show.

I have tracked down a man in Toowoomba, where these were originally made, he has a limited supply of spare parts including an injector and pump, saves me the trouble of trying to source suitable alternatives from Bosch.

Anyway it`s time for me to go and get dirty again, got to get as much done as I can before the end of the month when I am having the first of two surgeries on my hands. I`ll post more this evening.

Bob

dieselspanner

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Re: Southern Cross ETB diesel engine
« Reply #21 on: March 01, 2019, 07:02:44 AM »
Well done with the easy out, takes a level of calm and skill I struggle to attain!

Best of luck with the hands.
Stef
Tighten 'til it strips, weld nut to chassis, peen stud, adjust with angle grinder.

ajaffa1

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Re: Southern Cross ETB diesel engine
« Reply #22 on: March 01, 2019, 09:42:12 AM »
Thanks Stef, I am just like you, I hate having to use Easy outs, there is nothing easy about them! They generally work well if you have a steel bolt in a steel or cast iron hole where you can apply a little heat to loosen things up. They are completely useless in the case of a steal bolt in an aluminium castings where they usually just strip the thread out. I remember many years ago having exactly that scenario and deciding to drill out the damaged hole before taping a thread into it, I then made a threaded aluminium stud which I screwed into the hole, this was cut off flush with the face of the casting. My intention was to drill and tap a new hole into the now filled hole, so to secure the aluminium stud in place I got out the TIG welder. Big mistake, turned out the casting was magnesium alloy and I nearly burned the shop down, took two buckets of sand to extinguish the flames and I couldn`t see properly for days!  :laugh:

Not too worried about the surgery, it`s supposed to release pressure on the nerves. If it works then I will have no further deterioration and might even recover some of what I have lost. If it doesn`t work then I am f*cked, but since I am already f*cked it doesn`t much matter. I believe the recovery time is about a month and then I have to go for more physiotherapy. Not looking forward to having to sit and do nothing again, there is only so much Judge Judy and Dr Phil that a man can watch without going mad!  :laugh: Unfortunately as soon as I recover from the first surgery they are going to schedule the second surgery on the other hand,. This will be followed by another round of daytime television and physiotherapy. I can only assume that this is my punishment for being a horrible c*nt in a previous life.

Bob

ajaffa1

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Re: Southern Cross ETB diesel engine
« Reply #23 on: March 01, 2019, 10:58:46 AM »
Well Guys, I got good and dirty again and managed to strip and free up the seized oil pump, this is a very nice little unit with spring loaded impeller vanes, it has some surface pitting but should be OK.  I also had a lot of fun with the oil strainer which was solid with a mixture of dirt, rust and solidified sump oil, it has been soaking in a vat of petrol for a week, hitting it with a pressure washer has cleared out the last of the crap . Both are now clean and functional and have been fitted to the crankcase.

I also had a go at cleaning up the camshaft, it also has some rust pitting but I think I can polish out most of this with some very fine wet and dry paper or flour paper.

Photos attached,
Bob

ajaffa1

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Re: Southern Cross ETB diesel engine
« Reply #24 on: March 07, 2019, 10:24:05 AM »
Hi Guys, Yesterday I managed to get the crankshaft back in the ETB. It has some rust pitting on it most of which I have polished out. I did consider having it reground but having measured the journals I found the main bearings to be only a half a thou under size while the big end shows only one thou of wear. I do not plan to put this engine to work, instead I plan to get it to running condition and then take it to a couple of shows, it will probably run for less than a dozen hours a year. While I would have liked to rebuild this to as new condition I cannot justify the expense, so it is just going to be a toy, I very much doubt that the small amount of rust pitting will be a problem with those sorts of running hours.

The main bearing bushes are solid brass units with a white metal coating and are in remarkably good condition. I spent most of yesterday messing around making gaskets out of various sized material until I got the crankshaft end float down to five thou, the manual states a minimum of two thou but gives no maximum, I think five should be fine.

Today I refitted the camshaft with new bearings, the originals had corroded solid. I could not get open bearings as per the originals and had to pay for sealed bearings and dig out the seals, I also flushed out all the grease as these are going to be splash lubricated with sump oil inside the crankcase.

Tomorrow I am hoping to get the timing chain back on but I have come up against an interesting problem, the manual states that with the crankshaft at top dead center, the two timing marks on the drive sprockets need to be in line. The problem is that there are three marks on the crankshaft sprocket and two on the camshaft sprocket. Fortunately I took a lot of photos during disassembly and should be able to work it out.

Anyhow I`ve posted a few picture to give you all something to look at.

Bob


mikenash

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Re: Southern Cross ETB diesel engine
« Reply #25 on: March 07, 2019, 10:44:53 PM »
Looks good Bob.  Re those "unsealed" bearings.  Do you reckon they'll be OK metal-to-metal if you have flushed them out until some of the splash feed dribbles down to them?  Just a thought.  Will be interested to see it running.  Thanks for the photos & updates.  Cheers, Mike

ajaffa1

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Re: Southern Cross ETB diesel engine
« Reply #26 on: March 08, 2019, 11:25:50 AM »
Hi Mike, all good, everything is being lubricated with a heavy duty diesel lubricant as I go. This engine also has an oil pressure bypass valve with a spring load indicator rod which rises out of the crankcase indicating that there is adequate oil pressure before dropping the decompression lever, the idea being to ensure everything is lubricated before any internal fire begins. A very simple and ingenious alternative to an oil pressure gauge.

I got in serious trouble with she who must be obeyed today, she went out for what was supposed to be three hours, I decided that this would be a perfect opportunity to boil the old timing chain in detergent sump oil to remove rust and etc. I lit the barbecue and filled an old stainless steel cooking pot with sump oil, once it got to temperature I dumped the old chain in it and started stirring, at this point my Wife returned and was very unimpressed that the whole house stank like a car mechanic`s workshop! Wife is still pissed but the chain looks good.

I decided I would tackle the job of cleaning the aluminium flywheel shroud today, what a bastard of a job! The fly wheel oil seal must have been leaking for the last sixty years, the inside of the shroud was covered in a mixture of oil and dust which had decayed into something resembling tarmac! I hit it with everything I could think of: degreaser, petrol, diesel, pressure washer, caustic soda, sand blaster all to no avail. In the end I spent seven hours doing it with a hammer and chisel. I was planning to paint the inside of the shroud with an etch primmer but I think it will have to stay as it is, I just don`t have the strength to clean it any better than it now is. I did manage to clean the outside to a respectable condition and give it a couple of coats of etch primmer. 

Anyway I`m knackered and going to bed, I`ll try to fit the timing chains tomorrow,

Bob

ajaffa1

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Re: Southern Cross ETB diesel engine
« Reply #27 on: March 08, 2019, 11:45:17 AM »
Hey Glort, thank you for your encouragement. I suspect that this engine is probably good for another couple of thousand hours but only time will tell. I don`t believe that the reason for this effort is to produce a useful working engine but instead to salvage a bit of our industrial heritage for the next generations to admire, enjoy and hopefully appreciate.

I am hoping to have this done before my surgery at the end of this month, sadly I won`t have the new injector pump and injector by then so first smoke could be a while.

Bob

ajaffa1

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Re: Southern Cross ETB diesel engine
« Reply #28 on: March 09, 2019, 11:28:18 AM »
Hi Glort, I to love the simplicity of an oil pressure indicator, the one in the photo is f*cked and I will have to make a replacement. The idea is so simple, there is an oil pump which delivers oil to one of the main bearings, this oil then flows through the crankshaft to the big end bearing and then on to the other main bearing. Once the pressure rises to an adequate level it overcomes the spring on the plunger mechanism allowing oil to bypass the main crankshaft journal and spill out onto the timing chain. The oil then flows back down into the bottom of the timing chain cover where it lubricates the oil pump chain which is immersed in it. Engineering perfection, everything lubricated with a minimum of moving parts!  :)

I love the idea that you crank this engine until the pressure indicator rises before releasing the decompression lever, such a simple way of guaranteeing longevity.

I think your experience of women is similar to mine, love them to bits but couldn`t eat a whole one in one sitting!  :laugh:
In fairness I wouldn`t be here without the nursing care my wife gave me and I can`t imagine a life without her.

I am glad you raised the issue of birthdays, it is my wife`s birthday tomorrow (10 March), I`m hoping we can go for lunch somewhere but she has a medical appointment on Monday and the doctors have prescribed beta blockers before those tests can be done. She took the first pill this morning and has been wasted ever since, she took another pill about an hour ago and I will probably have to carry her to bed. On the upside she probably won`t remember it`s her birthday and certainly won`t remember if we celebrated it or not. The best present would be for the doctors to find out what is causing her blood pressure issues and find a reliable treatment.

I had a play with model aircraft years ago, I loved building them and setting up the radio control systems, trouble was I was useless at flying them (sad for an ex-air force man). I built lovely models and then destroyed them during their first flight, I`ll stick to diesel engines on the ground for now, unless we need to drop some on Dresden again!  :laugh:

With respect to what to do with my engines, when I am gone, I have given my wife very strict instructions that they are be gifted to a very worthy cause: The Glort museum of Internal Fire, they are to be delivered by road unless you upset her at which point she has my permission to deliver them from 40,000 feet!

Please wish you lovely wife a Happy Birthday from Bob and Narelle.




ajaffa1

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Re: Southern Cross ETB diesel engine
« Reply #29 on: March 09, 2019, 11:32:30 AM »
Sorry Guys, I forgot to upload the photos, so here they are.

Bob