Oddball engines and prototypes

[WilDun]

I'd love to check those guys out, but the link you posted points to your mailbox; that doesn't work for us, Will.

Oh dear! - it was an attachment I got in my mail and I'm not really up with the play on how to post it here, but if I find it on you tube I'll send it on. It was at Nurburgring, seemingly on a "free for all" day!

Here it is (at least one bit of it I think) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GAboz7fVv6g

Was good (but you'll have to take my word for that cos I can't find it on you tube) - never mind let's move on

[husaberg]

Oh dear! - it was an attachment I got in my mail and I'm not really up with the play on how to post it here, but if I find it on you tube I'll send it on. It was at Nurburgring, seemingly on a "free for all" day!

Here it is (at least one bit of it I think) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GAboz7fVv6g

Was good (but you'll have to take my word for that cos I can't find it on you tube) - never mind let's move on

Off the same feed

[guyhockley]

Radical old piston material...

[WilDun]

Radical old piston material...

Well, I guess you've got to try everything, but probably it makes as much sense and shows results as good as some of the experiments in steel and ally that we've seen over the years!

BTW where is the best place buy good piston timber? - also "stag" to seal the gaskets

Off the same feed

Brave men - I'd say coming down would be the most scary part!

[Grumph]

Well, I guess you've got to try everything, but probably it makes as much sense and shows results as good as some of the experiments in steel and ally that we've seen over the years!

BTW where is the best place buy good piston timber? - also "stag" to seal the gaskets

Now that's showing your age Will, the last tin of Stag I saw was at a local swap meet in the "collectible memorabilia" category....

Those cases look Jawa to my eye.

[WilDun]

Now that's showing your age Will, the last tin of Stag I saw was at a local swap meet in the "collectible memorabilia" category....

Those cases look Jawa to my eye.

Nothing that has ever been invented which will beat Stag and hemp - if you have found something I would like to see it!

[Grumph]

Nothing that has ever been invented which will beat Stag and hemp - if you have found something I would like to see it!

Next time a traction engine stops outside my gate - they stop for a pie at the local garage - I'll ask what they use on the steam pipes.....

[Ocean1]

Nothing that has ever been invented which will beat Stag and hemp - if you have found something I would like to see it!

Think it was chock full of lead oxide wasn't it? Which would explain why it's become extinct, the ravening safety nazis would have banned the shit out of it.

Never did me any harm...

The other good shit I haven't seen for yonks is caterpillar gasket cement. Which smelled magnificent and was probably mostly latex.

[husaberg]

Well, I guess you've got to try everything, but probably it makes as much sense and shows results as good as some of the experiments in steel and ally that we've seen over the years!

BTW where is the best place buy good piston timber? - also "stag" to seal the gaskets




Brave men - I'd say coming down would be the most scary part!

Now that's showing your age Will, the last tin of Stag I saw was at a local swap meet in the "collectible memorabilia" category....

Those cases look Jawa to my eye.

Think it was chock full of lead oxide wasn't it? Which would explain why it's become extinct, the ravening safety nazis would have banned the shit out of it.

Never did me any harm...

The other good shit I haven't seen for yonks is caterpillar gasket cement. Which smelled magnificent and was probably mostly latex.

This stuff never heard of it.
https://www.autobarn.com.au/stag-joi...ram-tube-sg200

Looks like blackwoods pykal NZ safety or whatever they are called this month imports it.
https://nzsafetyblackwoods.co.nz/en/...e=300&count=50

How cool you buy o-ring by the metre
https://nzsafetyblackwoods.co.nz/en/...e=400&count=50

[ken seeber]

Dunno if I remember STAG, but the stuff we used was I think called Gasket Goo, in a little jar with a screw top lid with a round brush sticking out from inside the lid. This and a weeties packet (using a small ball peen hammer to do the cutting) for the gasket were the order for the day. Mind you, didn't really help on a Jawa 250 paddock bike with only 4 screws holding the clutch cover on, this having to resist the forces from a coaxial kick starter arrangement. Oil everywhere. If the old pommy bikes had Silastic, the world might have been a better place.

I reckon the wood piston had a slow release decompression feature. Cleverly though, they didn't consider putting a Dykes ring in..

[WilDun]

Next time a traction engine stops outside my gate - they stop for a pie at the local garage - I'll ask what they use on the steam pipes.....

Bet they use Stag & hemp.
Guess the Stag was made with a lot of Archangel Tar which is not a particularly good smelling type of pine resin and maybe Iron oxide (or something red anyway). But yes, might've been "red lead".
It seems that with water and steam pipes at least, hemp is good because it expands a lot with moisture.

Ken, I think gasket goo was basically shellac.- everyone used that as well!
I think they used a thinned version of that as wood varnish in the real old days. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shellac

I used a small ring spanner on gaskets by pushing the ring end down hard on the paper and twisting it back and forth (on the hole area) and rub along the edges with a piece of rounded steel(to get the pattern) and just finish it with scissors
Worked ok but wasn't a job I particularly liked doing though!

[guyhockley]

I was talking to a bloke at the local airfield who rides a Scott. He's running with no head gasket, "just a few loops of silk thread or dental floss around the waterways, like Roger Moss recomends".
http://mossengineering.co.uk/ is a leading Scott specialist, but I can't find anything about not running a head gasket, just lots of discussion about different types and how to use them.
I thought it was funny that we were discussing this at an airfield because one of the aviation engine makers used to (still do?) use a thread set in goo around the crankcase joint.
Read an article on 2 stroke tuning in an american motocross magazine, years ago, and he said you had to go to your local hardware store, find the aluminum paint, reach to the back for the tin with the most dust on it, carry it carefully to the counter and break the bloke's arm if he tried to shake the tin and carry it carefully home. When you opened it you pour off the seperated out oil and then use a brush to paint the residue at the bottom onto your head barrel surfaces. Never tried it...

[Grumph]

I was talking to a bloke at the local airfield who rides a Scott. He's running with no head gasket, "just a few loops of silk thread or dental floss around the waterways, like Roger Moss recomends".
http://mossengineering.co.uk/ is a leading Scott specialist, but I can't find anything about not running a head gasket, just lots of discussion about different types and how to use them.
I thought it was funny that we were discussing this at an airfield because one of the aviation engine makers used to (still do?) use a thread set in goo around the crankcase joint.
Read an article on 2 stroke tuning in an american motocross magazine, years ago, and he said you had to go to your local hardware store, find the aluminum paint, reach to the back for the tin with the most dust on it, carry it carefully to the counter and break the bloke's arm if he tried to shake the tin and carry it carefully home. When you opened it you pour off the seperated out oil and then use a brush to paint the residue at the bottom onto your head barrel surfaces. Never tried it...

Pushrod Norton singles have a timing cover with a particularly narrow joint face and no positive location...A piece of thread run around the joint face while your shellac (or nowadays, RTV) is still tacky is the only way of obtaining a lasting seal.
Same principle as putting wire O rings around the bore to increase local pressure.

[WilDun]

I was talking to a bloke at the local airfield who rides a Scott. He's running with no head gasket, "just a few loops of silk thread or dental floss around the waterways, like Roger Moss recomends"........
Moss Engineering is a leading Scott specialist, but I can't find anything about not running a head gasket, just lots of discussion about different types and how to use them.......
....... go to your local hardware store, find the aluminum paint, reach to the back for the tin with the most dust on it, carry it carefully to the counter and break the bloke's arm if he tried to shake the tin and carry it carefully home. When you opened it you pour off the seperated out oil and then use a brush to paint the residue at the bottom onto your head barrel surfaces. ...

Guy,
That is very interesting - also, Moss Engineering seem to have carved out a nice little niche for themselves!

We shouldn't discount the old solutions to sealing problems even though they have disappeared from the market and have been replaced by "wonder compounds".

[guyhockley]

I love this thread, so, just to keep it going...