2009 Week 3 in Review
January 11 to January 17, 2009
Work continues on the Catalyst
This week at OTM Inc, I fit in all the rod bearings on the Catalyst. I blued each shaft and placed the bearing half on the shaft, moved it back and forth, then pulled it off and inspected the contact area. If it wasn't fully connecting, I shaped it to fit better. All of the bearings in this set were just a little long. I took off material on the ends with a rasp, then used rounded files to reshape the radius. Each one took a few tries, but number six was a little more difficult.
Once all the bearings connected with the crank with a little fore and aft room, I lapped them in a just a bit. This probably wasn't necessary, but I did get a much more defined contact pattern by using a little Timesaver. To save time, I didn't fit the spare bearings. That will need to be done before they're put in, if they're ever needed.
I also assembled the pistons at the shop. I refit all the wrist pins to a close two-thousandths of an inch. Some felt tighter than that, so I also ran them through with lapping compound for a bit. Then I placed them in the cradle and used "Doctor Squash," our hydraulic press, to press in the pin. I missed the alignment by a little bit on one of them and had to redo it.
Once I got all the pistons out the door, I was able to see the shop floor again. I gave it a thorough cleaning while I had the chance.
Blogging back-stories
As you of course know, Old Tacoma Marine Inc just passed the one-year blogging anniversary. We're very pleased by how many readers follow us, and are very happy that the story of the old diesel engine field is getting told.
However, we did a lot in the years before 2008. OTM Inc has been around for a long time - we incorporated January 1st, 2000, and have been working hard since. To get some of those older stories out there, we posted all of the weekly reviews for the last eight years prior to 2008. Of course, we haven't actually put content in them yet, but we'll fill in the company's history and link you to it once it's up. Stay tuned!
