The Hercules gets valve guides

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GlennW
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Location: Florida

The Hercules gets valve guides

Post by GlennW »

Not much action here on this forum so...

My favorite engine (whichever one I'm closest to) has some very worn valve guide bores, and that drives me nuts!
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I have been wanting to fix it for some time now, but never got to it until I realized I had a piece of tooling plate with about the right size hole already in it, so off we go.
I fixtured up the head and indicated the valve seat to miniimize removal of metal from the seat.
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I found I already had a capable boring bar that was the correct dia and length. The guide bore was bored until clean up and then measured.
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I used two 3/4" long bushings to sleeve the 1 1/2" long guide bore as the bushings ended up being .015" wall thickness and I was concerned about distorting a 1 1/2" long bushing upon pressing it in.
Bushings being turned down using an expanding mandrel that was turned to fit the bushing ID so it would be concentric with the OD.
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Before removing the head from the machine I touched the seat with a 45° cutter so it would be concentric with the guide bore.
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The bronze bushings pressed into the guide bores.
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I did the intake guide bore first to see how it worked and then did the exhaust guide bore the same way. Then I drilled small oil holes in the guide bosses to lube them. Note the other bores in the head have already been bored and sleeved with bronze, as have the other small bores on the engine.
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Next was to touch the bronze bore with a guide hone to take it to final size and get a nice finish.
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Guides done, valves lapped, and ready to assemble.
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Last edited by GlennW on Fri Oct 15, 2010 9:20 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Glenn

Operating machines is perfectly safe......until you forget how dangerous it really is!
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coal miner
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Re: The Hercules gets valve guides

Post by coal miner »

Thanks Glen . Another good read and step by step . I closely watch the order of operations , because I sometimes get the horse before the cart , and machine myself into a corner . Also , how does the valve guide get oil and I assumed you reamed the guide after you drilled the oil hole . Opps just reread the post .... ream last . It appears the concentric sealing rings on the head are not in sync with the bolt hole pattern . Of course for that engine to still be running today , some 100 yrs ? later , is indicative of the way things were built to last .
What brand is the big boring head ? It looks very well made .
The more I learn , The more I don't know !
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GlennW
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Re: The Hercules gets valve guides

Post by GlennW »

coal miner wrote: Also , how does the valve guide get oil and I assumed you reamed the guide after you drilled the oil hole . Opps just reread the post .... ream last.
Hello coal miner,

The valve stems rely on someone giving them a squirt with an oil can, that's why I added an oil hole to get oil where it needs to go.
coal miner wrote:I assumed you reamed the guide after you drilled the oil hole . Opps just reread the post .... ream last.
I'm not a reamer fan, so I honed bores to size after drilling the oil hole.
coal miner wrote: It appears the concentric sealing rings on the head are not in sync with the bolt hole pattern . Of course for that engine to still be running today , some 100 yrs ? later , is indicative of the way things were built to last.
Not much concentricity anywhere!
It was manufactured in 1925 and I got it for my Father as he is also a 1925 model and was in charge of the engines on the farm he was raised on. We restored it together.
coal miner wrote: What brand is the big boring head ? It looks very well made .
It's a Wohlhaupter UPA-3 boring/facing head, German made. This one is an older well used one. I have a parctically new one I use on Sundays and Holidays. I pet it every time I use it :)

The knurled ring on top is the size adjusting ring and is .040" Ø per revolution. It is graduated in .0005" increments, and the increments are about 1/16" apart, so even I can see them. It needs no tools to set, just your fingers, unlike the Criterion that requires two hex keys and a magnifier to run...

Thank You!
Glenn

Operating machines is perfectly safe......until you forget how dangerous it really is!
Russ Hanscom
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Re: The Hercules gets valve guides

Post by Russ Hanscom »

It looks a lot like a Jaeger that I had. Probably many of then were very similar in design.
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GlennW
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Re: The Hercules gets valve guides

Post by GlennW »

Hello Russ,

Jeager, Economy, and Hercules were basically all the same. Just marketed under different names with different paint schemes.

The Jeagers were turquoise and sold with cement mixers.

Economy were red and sold through Sears I believe.

I can't recall who marketed the Hercules engines. Been a while since I tinkered with this stuff.
Glenn

Operating machines is perfectly safe......until you forget how dangerous it really is!
loggerhogger
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Location: Tacoma Washington

Re: The Hercules gets valve guides

Post by loggerhogger »

Hi Glen,

I think your engine was actually a Herculese built Economy engine. The economys had the square opening in the water hopper like yours while the engines that were sold by Herculese had an oval shaped opening.
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