A flathead V-8 engine

Now that the weather in this part of the world is headed to the cold side it will provide more shop time. I'm finished with the block except for installing the cylinder liners and valve guides. Oh yes, and filing and finishing all the tool marks. I usually do this after completing each part but figured I'd wait until I get them all done that way I wouldn't have to take the burrs, stones and files out more than once.

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Absolutely magnificent work!


Regards
Darrell
 
That's an amazing piece of Aluminum you have going on there! Great thread ....you should have video !! Ha, like it's not enough work just doing it , but I'd watch it for sure!
 
Gunrunner you need to order a set of these for the Z axis hand crank. Bill did you just spit coffee on your monitor? :rofl:

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The next pieces of the project were the heads. As with the block they needed some special design work to get water jackets inside them. I laid out a design where one half would have a picture frame around the outside and the bosses for the head bolts and spark plugs would provide the necessary support internally.
I started by cutting the stock to size but always leaving a little for later cleanup. The inside shapes were cut first and then the combustion chambers were roughed out, first by plunging an end mill into the material to provide a witness to cut to and then stepping out the remaining shape with a ball mill. In the last picture the combustion chambers aren't finished, there is another setup to do.

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The other half of the heads was started. For the finning operation and other subsequent machining operations a fixture plate was made. This had the matching head bolt holes with the end two reamed for setup dowels. After the fins were cut the pieces were flipped over and the recessed pocket was cut on the other side.

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These two pictures show the inside of the halves that contain all the bosses.

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The final operation on the combustion chambers was to cut the valve pockets to size with an endmill that had the proper radius on the corners. When these were spotted the deck area from the pockets to the combustion chamber were then finished.

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On the upper corner of each head are the water outlets. Stock was left on this side of the head to cut them to shape. Once cut the heads halves were bolted together and the area was filed and sanded smooth.

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The mating surfaces are machined close enough that sealer shouldn't be necessary once they are bolted in place. If need be a thin layer of non-hardening motorcycle sealer will be used. It's grey in color so it won't be noticed at all. Finally some shots of the finished heads sitting on the block.
gbritnell

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