Almost two months have passed without an update here. This is a tiny refresher for the front page while major remodeling continues in the back of the shop.
Pictured is a Duesenberg Model J crankshaft, as I file the stubs off the counterweight bolts back in 2009. I don’t recall the circumstances exactly… I think we prepared the crank and line-bored the babbitt main bearings, sending it back to another shop for assembly.
These counterweights were bolted to the crank with red Loctite on the threads, then the hex of the bolt was cut off with a hacksaw, close to the diameter of the crank. Don’t worry, a shoulder on the bolt shank under the surface does the clamping. Then I carefully filed the profile to be flush with the curvature of the weight. Finally, the stub was staked in four places to permanently restrain it. You can see ghosts of the original stake marks below, before new ones were made.
In addition to the bolt-on counterweights, the Duesey used an interesting fluid damper, a pair of cylindrical chambers bolted to the crank between cylinders one and two, with two absolutely gigantic through bolts.
The mass of this crankshaft and the iron giant of a crankcase in which it spins are no doubt responsible for some of my many back aches that come and go erratically.
Progress on the new website continues… somewhat delayed by the upcoming tax deadline.
And I’ll be heading South soon to begin assembling the Healey 100S engine that is close to the end of the machine operations that it needed.
Please stay tuned, and thanks for your patience…
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