E: Engine ET162 dimensions

[Cyborg]

Anyone have or know where I can find the dimensions for ET162 steady plate distance piece?
Please and thank you.

 

[Keith Martin]

My mentor Jack Wilson told me " Never fabricate something you can buy cheaper". I paid $4.08 each when I bought some ET162 spacers a few weeks ago. I think this part falls under that category. Of course the stock part may not always work but it is always a good starting point.

 

[Cyborg]

I think he gave you good advice and it would normally hold true. It is a little different situation currently. When going through my shopping list, I looked at the VOC Spares site. There is a note on there recommending colonials to try Coventry in Boston first because of shipping delays. UK deliveries up to 2 weeks to arrive, Europe 6 weeks and the rest of the world up to 9 weeks. I can make a lot of parts in 9 weeks. Coventry was temporarily out of stock, which actually turned out to be a good thing.
As it turns out, thanks to participants in this thread...the ET162’s that one buys may need to be trimmed or perhaps more likely they may be too short? The store bought ones may work, but the idea of making my own and adjusting their height to fit the steady plate makes more sense to me than adjusting spindles or shimming to adjust the steady plate to fit the store bought spacers.
The other thing is that I enjoy making parts and tools. I’m still new to the world of lathes and machinery, so making things helps me learn.
Again, your mentor is a wise man and from a strictly economic standpoint, making small parts doesn’t make sense. I could spend way more than $4.08 worth of time just rooting around under the bench searching for the stock... but then there is also the question of whether or not we should be trying to apply logic to our hobby at all.

If you ordered yours from Coventry, you may have got the last 4. They always have a very high fill rate. Out of 40+ lines, the only thing things out of stock were the spacers and they don’t sell clutch linings separately anymore.

 

[Keith Martin]

I bought 8 spacers from Coventry. Sorry I cleaned them out but while I was building the Lightning replica motor I also accounted for all the parts needed to build the B Rapide motor so hopefully I will have everything needed to assemble it when time comes.
I have an extra set of clutch linings if you need them.

 

[Cyborg]

Thanks for the offer on the clutch linings. I have some NOS ones, but thought I was going to need another one of the longer variety. Then I noticed one of the plungers is covered by a short lining, so should be ok? The long one that is on the other shoe looks like it was replaced long ago, but hardly used. No wear and oil free, so should be ok. They are all the asbestos variety and same so will have to use caution when turning them. Just pulling them apart to sort out the plungers and replace the missing long one.
The Lightning replica thing must be contagious. I just finished making all the missing bits for the rearsets and the tach bracket.
Anyway... thanks again. Should work out ok, but if not, will get back to you.
Maybe I could have swapped for a bushel of NOS G70

 

[Bill Thomas]

Don't forget to change the oil seal in the chainwheel,
I took a chance last time !!, Another Huge Mistake !, They sometimes look OK , But go hard,
And then fail. Cheers Bill.

 

[Cyborg]

Actually the seal did sort of look ok, but didn’t consider using it. The chain wheel has been sitting for probably 40 years. Ordered a new one. Even took a chance and ordered new bushings for both sides. Hopefully they are a good fit.

 

[Cyborg]

Don't forget to change the oil seal in the chainwheel,
I took a chance last time !!, Another Huge Mistake !, They sometimes look OK , But go hard,
And then fail. Cheers Bill.

Speaking of chainwheels. What do you make of this? The one with the smaller 8 holes seems to be the norm. Initially I just assumed one was early and one was from later on, but it was in with some parts that might suggest otherwise. The one with the larger holes hasn’t been drilled, the holes are cast in. I looked at older vs newer parts books and they all show the 8 hole version. Not that the drawings necessarily mean anything. There is no reference to Lightning using a different part # as is the case with some of the clutch bits including the drum, C3/1, C13/1 etc (which came in the same bin as the chain wheel)

 

[Robert Watson]

I think you will find that the clutch drums with the large holes in them are NOT lightning ones, but just the earlier B ones, If they were lightning ones I can't imagine how many lightnings they made given the large number of those type that I have and have seen way out here in the wilds of western Canada! There must be quite a few clutchless lightnings tuck away in old logging and fishing camp sheds!

 

[Bill Thomas]

I think the ones with Big holes Must have been thought of as too weak,
Marcus the other day said how He made one of the small holes bigger ,
So He could get the sprung pawl out of the gearbox cover, Without taking the chain off.

 

[Cyborg]

I think the ones with Big holes Must have been thought of as too weak,
Marcus the other day said how He made one of the small holes bigger ,
So He could get the sprung pawl out of the gearbox cover, Without taking the chain off.

It was actually his post that made me have a look..... thinking about boring a couple out to access the spring if it needs to be adjusted a bit. As mentioned, I assumed it was an age difference thing, but had to ask just in case. The earliest book I have and it’s fairly early... shows the smaller holes. The casting around the edge of the larger holes is a bit rough, so might be a good place for a crack to start.

 

[greg brillus]

If you set up the plunger spring pressure as you go, it wont be necessary......Set the gearbox up so it shifts nicely through the gears without excessive force on the gearshift lever. I had to do one the other day, it took so much effort to change gears I thought I was going to break the lever off.......Just squeeze a new plunger spring in the vice till it's coil bound, this will shorten it by about 2 mm, and that is all you generally need to do.

 

[davidd]

Just squeeze a new plunger spring in the vice till it's coil bound, this will shorten it by about 2 mm

Greg has mentioned this a few times and it is an industry practice with many coil compression springs. New compression springs have to be "set." This means that the spring has to be compressed to coil bind at least once before it is installed. Many springs have to be set for them to be the proper length as they are built with some extra length that will disappear once set. The setting of the spring will often put the spring at the original height as specified in the drawing.

It is difficult to know if a spring should be set, but generally, it is a good idea because the manufacturer will not do it. It is often impossible to set the spring without it being mounted like a suspension spring as an example. Some springs are small and hard to set without making tooling. Setting a spring is a necessary thing, particularly when someone like Greg has found it to be necessary.

David

 

[oexing]

You can also go the other way when wanting more preload from springs: Just stretch them a lot to your liking. I make most lighter springs myself as hunting for suitable types takes a lot more time than do it at home. For compression springs I just wind them on the lathe, minimum speed, all like tension springs, windings all at no gaps. Only after having a decent length of windings I stretch them for "compression" springs and do nice ends. Well, I do all springs in stainless spring steel which are a bit softer and don´t break ( kickstart spring ???) .

Vic