Ageless 9 cylinder radial engine build thread

[starr256]

OK, it's been a while and the excuses are weak, but here I am with some accomplishments. The last effort was with the crankshaft. It is a five piece component, assembled using tapper pins (3/0). Nothing needed remade, thank you very much. The alignment of those five pieces is a bit of a tricky thing. One that I fussed over for far tool long. And the oil passages were fretful, scared I might break a drill bit. But no such drama was encountered. Pictures of completed component are included.

Next is the cam ring and the jackshaft that drives it. This should be interesting..

 

[macardoso]

OK, it's been a while and the excuses are weak, but here I am with some accomplishments. The last effort was with the crankshaft. It is a five piece component, assembled using tapper pins (3/0). Nothing needed remade, thank you very much. The alignment of those five pieces is a bit of a tricky thing. One that I fussed over for far tool long. And the oil passages were fretful, scared I might break a drill bit. But no such drama was encountered. Pictures of completed component are included.

Next is the cam ring and the jackshaft that drives it. This should be interesting..

Nice work! Is it just an optical illusion or is the crankshaft bowed upwards in the second image?

 

[starr256]

Yes.

 

[macardoso]

Yes.

Is that intentional?

 

[starr256]

Sorry, but it is a vestige of the camera used. No, the crankshafts are co-axial. A result to the fussing effort.

 

[Dhal22]

Still watching. Nice work.

 

[starr256]

With the home repairs, travel and fishing, less got done with respect to this project. I have completed the front bearing, the cam and the cam mount/support for the engine. Nothing special with the parts other than the tediousness of cutting the lobes of the cam. Note that the jack shaft and gears are not included hear. Gotta save some more bread for those items. The internal cam gear alone is around $150+, so gotta clear the basement out and sell a bunch of stuff first.

Just a note to any fool interested in building this beast, the material costs are considerable. And I have not started on the cylinders and the heads. Spark plugs (9) alone will run over $250. Just letting you know....

 

[Larry$]

That has taken a huge amount of effort. Nice job. Congratulations on sticking to it.
Looking forward to seeing it run.

 

[petertha]

Not sure if this helps at all for future reference, but my buddy was going through the same $$ issue for his engine. I stumbled on this seller on AliExpress that sells plugs & ignition modules. Cannot vouch for them, but they do sell DLE engines so looks reputable on the surface. Prices shown are CAD so multiply by 0.75 to get USD.

But being in USA may present better options to you. This place gets good reviews & from what I gather sells the Paul Knapp plugs which are supposed to be very good & possibly more scale size. Spark ignition is outside my current knowledge level. I'm going glow plug on my first/current radial build. Also a money pit, but quite as bad.

Shop - CH-ignitions

ch-ignitions.com

 

[ozzie46]

With the home repairs, travel and fishing, less got done with respect to this project. I have completed the front bearing, the cam and the cam mount/support for the engine. Nothing special with the parts other than the tediousness of cutting the lobes of the cam. Note that the jack shaft and gears are not included hear. Gotta save some more bread for those items. The internal cam gear alone is around $150+, so gotta clear the basement out and sell a bunch of stuff first.

Just a note to any fool interested in building this beast, the material costs are considerable. And I have not started on the cylinders and the heads. Spark plugs (9) alone will run over $250. Just letting you know....

Bought 10mm plugs from Autozone for a lot less. I think in the $60.00 dollar or so range. Used them before very good plugs . They are used in small weedeater and such type engines.

Ron