Milwaukee Midget

[Peter Jack]

I've used those. They make fuel rail fabrication easy. The customer supplied them so I've never known where they came from before. 

Pete

[fordboy628]

http://www.4wd.com/Jeep-Engine-Performance/Universal-Fuel-Rail.aspx?t_c=74&t_s=368&t_pt=4437&t_pn=ACL74734R-2&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=shopping&emlprox=out&ppcfon=1&gp=1&gclid=Cj0KEQjwz-i3BRDtn53Z5Z7t4PUBEiQA23q2AMJcNot2EKtRERgMTjbM_C2zJKgVZAopaiKZ45OVaWsaAsLK8P8HAQ

Build your own...

Something custom, perhaps like this, is going to have to be done.     But at the moment, I am still fabricating T/Body flow bench fixtures.

We are still in the testing/engineering/simulation phase, even as parts are being spec'ed out, ordered and received.

We will pick up some speed as soon as the weather warms enough to work in midget's unheated garage, or when the girls drive us over a cliff . . . . . . .   

Fortunately, we are only 560 or so feet above sea level, with a distinct lack of local cliffs . . . . . .     

 
Don'twantotbeThelmaorLouiseboy

[fordboy628]

midget,

Flatout advises that the head gaskets are finished and ready to be shipped.

I'll have them sent to the ranch.

OBOY!!  Parts!!

 
Fordboy

Gaskets arrived yesterday @ 10 am.     They looked good but I was frustrated about how to check them out.   Offering them up to the LMS sample gasket seemed like they were "slightly shrunken", perhaps from the copying process.

Then I had a brilliant idea!!!!    Offered one up to the cylinder head flow bench fixture!    It's slightly tight on the locating dowels, but matches up to the bores pretty well.   Gasket bore Ø measures 76.6mm on a 76.5mm spec so that is good.    I'll also offer it up to the head, take a photo and post it later.

An "offer up" to the block will be the final check.    Worst case scenario would be some "slight" relieving of the bore edge, something I've had to do before, so I'm OK with it.

Thanks to Mark Adelizzi and everyone @ Flatout Gaskets for producing a totally custom piece for an "orphan engine".     Mark is a long time gasket guy, formerly with Fel-Pro.    We opted to use his proprietary "coated solid copper" gasket material, because of the need to seal the water in the alloy Rover block.    If you are using solid copper gaskets with a water jacket, you might give his product a try.   Available in many thicknesses.    Check Flatout Gasket's site:

https://www.flatoutgroup.com/Default.aspx

I did take some photos, but I'm just not up to fighting with PhotoBucket at the moment.    I'll post them when I have more time.

 
Fordboy

[Milwaukee Midget]

I'm seeing an eerie similarity between the K and the Jag V-12 at about 2:09 . . .

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPxpPYLW4kw#t=130



 

[Seldom Seen Slim]

I see what you mean.  I recognise the character actors playing you and FordBoy -- but is that big guy - the one that's pontificating so onerously - Who is that supposed to be?

Izzat the similarity I'm supposed to see?

[Milwaukee Midget]

I see what you mean.  I recognise the character actors playing you and FordBoy -- but is that big guy - the one that's pontificating so onerously - Who is that supposed to be?

Izzat the similarity I'm supposed to see?

Actually, I was referring to the open deck construction of the engine.

At this point in the game, the British Automobile Industry was largely a fiction - a theater of the absurd - bordering on Greek tragedy with plaster regularly falling from the ramshackle remnants of the proscenium arch of British Leyland Hall.  So you're welcome to ascribe character traits, roles and names in any artistic manner you see appropriate - there's nobody left to slander, and even fewer to argue on behalf of the defamed.

And even if there were, truth remains a reliable defense. 

The show must go on - stiff upper lip - keep calm and carry on . . .

Exit, stage left . . .

[fordboy628]

I'm seeing an eerie similarity between the K and the Jag V-12 at about 2:09 . . .

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPxpPYLW4kw#t=130
 

I see what you mean.  I recognise the character actors playing you and FordBoy -- but is that big guy - the one that's pontificating so onerously - Who is that supposed to be?

Izzat the similarity I'm supposed to see?

Well, I must confess that I am bit disappointed that no one has identified 2 of the best internal combustion engineers and designers to have EVER walked this planet.     

The short fellow is none other than the great Harry Mundy and the large fellow is the incomparable Walter Hassan.    If you don't know who they are and what they accomplished, then you need a history lesson.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coventry_Climax

There is a direct line from these 2 to most of the best British/European engine designers/engineers of the last 50 years.   Names like Duckworth, Costin, Hart, Judd, Ilien, Morgan, etc, just to name a few.    And in their orbit, names like Chapman, Brabham, Tauranac, Cooper, Moss, Collins, Russell, Bueb, Tyrrell, and on and on.

Hey, I know it's April 1st, but I have waaay more hair than the inappropriately named: Harry Mundy . . . . . . .

 
F/B

[salt27]

I'm seeing an eerie similarity between the K and the Jag V-12 at about 2:09 . . .

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPxpPYLW4kw#t=130



 

A bit disconcerting when they say the Lucas electronics will outlast the engine.   

[wobblywalrus]

It must have been a good design.  The Wikepedia article says it was produced until 1969.

[wobblywalrus]

I should have said 1997.  That is a long life considering all of the changes in the auto industry in that period such as tightening emission regulations.

[Speed Limit 1000]

[/quote]

A bit disconcerting when they say the Lucas electronics will outlast the engine.   
[/quote]

A history lesson, were the electronics that good? Did that prediction come true?

[Elmo Rodge]

John, my fear is that you have that backwards.  Wayno

[Milwaukee Midget]

A history lesson, were the electronics that good? Did that prediction come true?

Okay, we all pick on Lucas, especially  those of us obsessed with Brit cars.

In our MG club in Milwaukee, we have an award that is given out to participants in drives and rallies who suffer mechanical or electrical problems at inopportune times during an event - it's called "The Lucas Murphy Award".  

But for the most part - and a rare degree of honesty here, because Lucas is such an easy target - in defense of Lucas, at BMH/BMC/BL, the components ordered by the industry were almost without exception specified as close to the rating required of the circuit involved as possible.

A classic example is the headlight switch on an MGB.  It's a 10 amp switch.  Headlights typically are about 55 watts - a pair equaling 110 watts.  A 10 amp switch is rated for 10 amps @ 12 volts - 120 watts.  It works on paper, but if the alternator and charging system is putting out 13.7 volts - not uncommon - you're at 125 watts.  If you have any corrosion in the contacts, the draw is higher.

In short - in this case, at least - there is no margin for error in the specification or in the application.

I've put 20 or 30 amp relays on as many switches on my MGB as possible in order to preserve the wiring harness and switches.

And it's not like Lucas didn't make better quality switches - it's that BMH/BMC/BL tried to keep production costs down at the expense of longevity by specifying products with insufficient tolerances.

And then what happens?  Over time there's a switch failure, the switch is removed, the name "Lucas" is printed or cast onto the item, and the poor reputation gains legs.

Nobody uses "Autolite" or "Delco" as swear words, because neither Ford nor GM stretched their ratings as close to the margins as BMH/BMC/BL.

Guilt by association is what's made Lucas the butt of jokes.

Yet they remain funny . . .  

[wobblywalrus]

It was the same in the bike industry.  The specifying engineers cut corners.  An example are ground wires.  Most Japanese electrics grounded the circuits through wires to a safe and secure grounding point.  The Lucas system tended to ground at the point of use with no ground wires.  The remote grounds were always more susceptible to problems than a central ground.  Plus, those old bikes tended to vibrate a lot and that did not help matters.

[grumm441]

And the combustion chamber is formed in the piston

and what a good idea that turned out not to be......

to basically improve the combustion, it's a very lively combustion chamber

Too right it's a very lively combustion chamber, it's moving up and down like a a a, piston

G