Monday, November 15, 2010

First steps out of the Shire

Amid copious hours spent playing Fallout: New Vegas this weekend, I was able to peel myself away long enough to start building my Hobbit bottom end.

First, I hand-milled the head. Of the two heads that came in the box o' Hobbit this was the better one. Unfortunately it looked like it's previous piston mate had exploded causing some pretty serious pock marks. I milled it down until I had a decent mating surface; going from 220 grit to 400, and finally 600. Not a mirror finish, but it looks better than it did before. Yeah, I'm not certain its going to work, either.















I gave the case halves a bath in some engine degreaser, and they cleaned up nicely, carefully taking off the old gasket material that had fused itself on.

Bearings pressed onto the crank.























Nice noob mistake with the press caused some nicks in the shaft. Urgh.


















Case halves in the oven for 10 minutes at 350 degrees. This will not (I found out) melt the engine mounts.

Everything slipped together like butter. Bolted down, and step one is complete.


















Other than the nicks in the crank, the only mistake I made was installing the large seal on the wrong side of the crank. I tapped it in and lost it as it dropped onto the bearing. Pulling it out with a micro screwdriver ruined the seal, so I'll be purchasing another one in the next wave of parts. At least next time I'll know better.


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