BOLTING THE TRIPLE CYLINDER HEADS, and another jig.

by John

The 56 bolts which attach the cylinder heads, were installed today.

First, the heads were bolted into position with a jig.

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The work is held in position on the milling machine table, using 4 hold downs, and 2 T slot locating fixtures. The jig also helps to secure the work to the table.

The jig fits into the milling machine T slot, and the bolts are exactly positioned in the centre of the heads.

The bolts hold the heads in place while the centre drilling, through drilling and thread tapping takes place.

That is 4 processes for each of the 56 holes.  Even semi automating the process using CNC, it took 6 hours, including setting up, making the jig, and finally installing the bolts.

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Drilling the relief holes in the heads, after preliminary centre drilling. Those holes are only 2.5mm diameter, and 12mm deep. Despite the tiny drill size there were no breakages. The drill was set at 2500 rpm, feed rate 50mm per minute, and with pecks set at 2mm. A cutting lubricant was used.

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The head bolts in place. The bolts are BA7, which is pretty tiny, but they look the part, yes? The highest “density” of bolts is on the smallest cylinder head, which is on the high pressure cylinder. The threaded holes in the centre of the heads are for the pressure relief valves.

I have left the set up intact on the milling machine, until I am sure that there are no further processes I can perform with the block in this position.

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