Valve lash adjustments

Last week we worked on valve lash adjustments on a few different engine brands, Cummins, Mercedes, and a Mack E7. We also adjusted the engine brake on engines that had one.

Cummins

Cummins Marine.

Checking some clearence.

Peace be with you.

Mercedes

Mack E7, finding #1 TDC was fun, the flywheel was a bit rusty and hard to see timing marks, though the book showed a way to find it it easy using holes in the face of the flywheel combined with degree marks on the edge of the flywheel. It all worked out. Manuals are useful, lol.

Setting the lash.

I learned not to just jump into the job, although adjusting valve lash seems straight forward, not all engines are created equal, tolerances set by the factory can change, and doing research will help out. 

The exhaust valve lash setting change from 0.024″ (0.610 mm) to 0.028″ (0.711 mm) for E7 engines was effective with the mid- 1996 introduction of the V-MAC® II fuel economy engines. Always verify the correct exhaust valve lash setting by noting the setting stamped in the lower right-hand corner of the engine identification plate.  

Week 8 hrs:30

Personal Project: 1964 F100. First look and disc brake conversion.

I very recently acquired a new project. This is a 1964 Ford F100. It was originally cardinal red, and has seen some changes over the last 53 years, obvious one being color. It originally has a 223 inline 6 engine, which was swapped for the 292 Y-block V-8 that currently resides in the engine compartment. It also has a Borg Warner T-98 4 speed transmission, and a ford 9" rear end with 3.89 gear ratio.

I have many plans for this old boy, including updated brakes, new wiring harness, and overdrive transmission, re-upholstery, some body work, and eventually new paint(probably back to it's original red color).

It runs and drives surprisingly well for running all original suspension and steering parts. I bought it and drove it 30 miles, mostly on the highway, home from Mt Vernon to Bellingham, Wa.

Enough introduction, here we go.

 53 year old dash.

292 ci Y-Block V-8

Drum roll please, lol. Here are the old drum brakes for the last time.

Drum and backing plate removed

Disc brake conversion installed, everything fits. I still need to remove and paint the brackets and calipers, then put in new brake lines.

More Soon!

Cat 3516

Last week's project was starting work on a Cat 3516 with a partner. We took down a cylinder, removing valve cover, rocker box(valve cover base), rockers, injector, head, piston, and cylinder sleeve. We then measured and compared our measurements to the specs and tolerances given by Caterpillar. Following are some pictures of the tear down and re-assembly of the cylinder we worked on.

Cylinder sleeve.

Here we can see the injector spray pattern on the piston top

Piston and connecting rod, with cap. Notice the splayed rod bolts.

Engine block bore with liner removed.

Bottom of cylinder head before cleaning

Cylinder liner installation instructions. We cleaned the block mating surfaces prior to installation, installed liner, pressed down till the protrusion tool with dial indicator met the tolerance indicated by Cat.

Spacer plate and steel gaskets in place, installing head alignment studs.

Using engine hoist to lower head onto block.

Torquing head bolts to spec and in sequence according to cat specs.

All torqued down

Injector, valve bridges,and lifters in place.

Setting rockers in place

Setting rocker gap tolerance with feeler gauges. .030 in this case on exhaust.  Followed by valve cover installation (not pictured).

This was an enjoyable project, and a good learning experience with a large engine. Though we didn't get pictures measuring all the bearings, journals, and bores, we made sure we checked all of our measurements against Cat's tolerances. We researched and printed out Cat's specs and tolerances for the Cat 3516 before we ever loosened a bolt on the engine.

After seeing block, liner, piston, and rod damage, caused shortly after a rebuild, in another cylinder due to a lose rod end bearing not caught during the rebuild, I learned how important small details and cleanliness are, no matter the size of the engine. We were careful about cleaning parts as we disassembled our power group, set them on clean paper on our table, covered them, and wiped them down again as we re-assembled. 

I also learned that parts with splayed blots, like our rod cap, need to be fit in place before installing bolts, or they won't go in. Dry fitting on the bench helped, though fitting the cap on the rod on the crankshaft was a bit trickier than while on the bench.

7th week: 30 hrs

DT444E partial teardown, measure, and re-assemble

30 Hrs

O2 sensor

Last week I started investigating a Bosch 15733 4 wire universal fit oxygen sensor. They are used in a lot of cars, pickups, and even some heavy duty trucks. All Bosch 4-wire sensors have a black wire for the signal, a gray wire for ground and 2 white wires for the heater. A lean fuel mixture would lead the sensor to produce about .1 volt, where a rich mixture with little unburned oxygen would produce  about .9 volts

Hooked up the meter, and didn't get any results until I heated it up. The heater worked when I connected it to 5 volts, though I didn't get a positive result when I put C02 on it to replicate low oxygen, same result as with straight oxygen. Bad sensor. Or maybe I did something wrong, which is possible. I didn't get many pictures, as I don't have 5 arms, I should've setup a tripod and shot a video.

Getting ready to test

Here we can see what I believe is the ceramic heating element.

I learned 02 sensors, at least this type, don't work until they get up above 600 degrees, and maybe I should have used a torch to heat it instead of a heat gun, which may or may not have made a difference. I also learned I need to do more research BEFORE discounting a part as bad.

week 4 -30 hrs, 

total 100hr