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Oval pistons for live steam...


96RAF

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@Gowest

Remember me suggesting oval pistons for your S69 Ken, well it seems Honda have been busy...

 

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Could work in opposing pairs with a vertical crankshaft for a geared engine. They did say the hard bit was the piston rings.

Rob

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Same here, WTD, in 1959 I had a 1938 Ford 8hp.........took the head off and the bores were oval.......swapped it for a reel to reel tape deck into which I installed a MW tuner.........those were the days......... 😆...........HB

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I see we have a lot of like minded people here that are showing there age and remember days when make do and mend was the norm I to built a reel to reel, radio, record, playing unit when first married and had a Vauxhall 1949 L model which I still have the radio for which had an engine so worn out you could throw the pistons  across the garage and they would land in the bores, I use to put Holts piston sealer down the spark plug holes ever month just to get to work and use the starting hand ever morning. Happy days

as for the oval pistons What next square ones?

but we did shoe horn all the cylinders and pistons along with the cranked axle into the frames in the end.

Have been checking out what to build next in live steam has anyone got a favourite engine? Let us know, did a search on the web and found that the LNER did build a steam turbine loco driving to 4 sets of wheels with electric motors but changed to gear drive later all this in about 1910 I think.

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One of the Duchesses - Princess Royal was built as a steam driven turbine Ken

#6202 Turbomotive

Subsequently converted back into a normal engine, not that the Coronations were normal especially in the power department.

Rob 

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I had an old 1947 Sunbeam Talbot 10 which drank oil faster than petrol, so I applied a,tube of Holt's Piston Seal to it. No great cure was seen so eventually the head came off (the engine was just a Hillman Minx sidevalve motor with a Stromberg carb to pull it into the Sunbeam class) and sitting on top of each piston like doggy-do was this miracle fix.

 

My mate being short of wheels rescued an abandoned Zephyr Six which had a hole in one of the pistons. He merely took the plug out and black taped the plug lead. Ran it for months on 5 pistons, but under the bonnet was a right old mess from the oil it splashed about.

 

Good old days? I prefer modern reliability.

 

Oops - drifting off topic a tad.

Rob

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pistons are the weak link in most engines even the Hornby live steam rely on good lubricantion for the rubber 4mm ring that makes up the piston seal and will need to be replaced from time to time and don't forget the piston rod gland seals Other wise steam loss is a problem and starting the engine off can be a little difficult 

I rescued an old Fordson tractor 1939 from a children's play ground it had stood there for over 35 years and became a rusty danger to the children with sharp rusty bits of metal lots of the main engine parts were missing and on the rebuild the Pistons which are cast iron had rusted in the bores and were knock out with a lump of wood and a lump hammer. It needed one piston replacing and new rings but runs like clock work now.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi Huwsie

i think one problem was the piston rings these need to make good contact with the outside wall of the unit and also slide freely in and out the rota wear on these surfaces was great and did lead to bad starting and poor running I think RR made a compression ignition engine that over came many problems even the economy did fail to deliver when engines became worn. apart from that they are vibration free and I think that the USA used this engine in it's early spy planes Rob might know more.

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