New thermostat castings etc.

[cardiffrob]

I bought a rare 'Alta' race conversion for the sidevalve Morris engine, circa 1953. Bumps the output from 27hp to about 55hp. There aren't many left and lots of the survivors have some nasty grot in them. This one was quite reasonable but the top water elbow had the usual rot round where the rubber hose goes.

I contacted several casting companies, very few answered and even less wanted the work of making a new one. Harling Foundries, however, said they'd be happy to help. I needed to clean off the grot, filler the area and then get the best smooth finish I could. They think £40-60 for the first one, which I thought was quite sensible. Very pleasant people to do business with.

Meanwhile I also made a replica from some ali tube and bar, just in case the original got lost! (8062 ali and 4043 rods. 2.4mm tungsten (white) and 2.4 rods. I think I got it right!)

 

[500e]

In a A7?as well a rare beast if all there

 

[cardiffrob]

Nah, this is going in the Morris Tourer, a Lowlight splitscreen one that I'm building for my wife. Used to look like this until Gavin ((Clarkey 35 (?) on here) got at it with the gritblaster for me.



Just been out to the garage to finish the 'thingy' and I think I've finally run out of gas!




I had to extend the lugs.

What was that saying..." Measure once, cut twice"? Summat like that. Anyway, I'm still a bit ***** with the TIG but it all seems to be solid enough if I grind through the joint areas.

 

[cardiffrob]

Incidentally, what would be a good material to coat the insides and the area covered by the rubber hose? Duralac?

 

[Shox Dr]

You can't grumble about 40quid for a one off. Is it worth having a few made to resell?

 

[gordon stephenson]

Is the original body good enough to cut the stub off and weld a piece of new tubing on to take the hose?

 

[cardiffrob]

Gordon. Yes, it is quite good but since it would be impossible to ever find another one I thought I'd be better off making a new one or getting it re-cast. That £40 doesn't include tax, postage, service charges etc etc so it could quite easily rise. having looked at home casting it would cost a fair chunk just to make one at home. Bentonite clay (£10), Refactory glaze for a crucible (£10), Gas and charcoal (£10)... and so on.
There are only a couple of dozen of these engines worldwide and some have a different casting shape, so maybe a world requirement for 5 at the most. Probably not worth getting into batch production. Might even be cheaper to weld them up, in the long run.

 

[Cobbler]

Is that the inlet over exhaust conversion? I haven't seen one of those for years, it was about 1966 I reckon! I think yours must be the only one left.

I must be a 'real old f*rt' to remember seeing one!

Cobbler

 

[cardiffrob]

It is a complete OHV conversion where they run pushrods through the old valve guides and run bigger valves in smaller chambers, hence the power hike. "ALTA Conversion", sold by V.W. Derrington Co.

Rob
(Born 1969)

Anywhichways, I blew into the big end to see if there were any air leaks in my welds (Did I mention that I'm cr4p at TIG?) and there was a tiny hiss. I found the pinhole by mixing some cake colouring additive to water, filled the whole casting and let it track along the hole. Much easier. That's a tip I'll keep stacked away for another day. Another weld session to fill in any missing blobs and I'm raedy to drill off the mounting holes.

 

[Cobbler]

Hi Rob,
Was there also an inlet over exhaust version, or is my memory wrong. I remember the push rods going up through the valve guides on the version I looked at but don't remember much more about it. I never had a MM, but had a series 2, that was easy to tune as 948 Sprite engines fitted, with loads of parts available.

Cobbler

 

[cardiffrob]

Hmmmm. Never seen one that was I.O.E., however, there were some other conversions made in foreign parts.

I also have a complete Supercharger for the 948 which would've worked on this engine except this one is already 9.5:1 comp ratio.

 

[Cobbler]

Hi Rob, the one I recall was an Alta I'm sure, it was being rebuilt in one of the local garages in about '66 or '67 as far as I remember. It's a long time ago, My memory isn't very good at the best of times, let alone what the valve layout was! I do remember the mechanic saying it went well though. I see the mechanic (long retired) around quite often, I will ask him if he recalls it & any details I can find out I will pass on.

Cobbler

 

[doubleboost]

Very interesting
The twin SU carbs complete with ram pipes are class

 

[cardiffrob]

Thanks Cobbler. If I could track down another Alta for my other Minor... )

Doubleboost. Just watched a Youtube video on Plasma cutting. Was that you? I learnt some new naughty words to do with welding!

 

[doubleboost]

Thanks Cobbler. If I could track down another Alta for my other Minor... )

Doubleboost. Just watched a Youtube video on Plasma cutting. Was that you? I learnt some new naughty words to do with welding!

Guilty as charged lol

 

[cardiffrob]

All done bar the tapping of the thread and working out what to seal up the inside of the casting with. Belzona 2121? Duralac? I don't want it rotting out again and I don't know what odd problems there might be from the choice (or lack of) of material that I used. I tried to blend the finish to match the rest of the engine. No polishing on this one!

New TIG bottle collected last night. Half the size of the W one I had previously. Thanks to Gavin for the top tip on getting the rental price right down!