My unrestored (but renovated where needed) F-14 "Fillis" is back on the road.
Back in Nov last year the front axle seized in the wheel hub, then broke, then the tilted tyre shredded itself (it was near 'new' too). (Fillis has a single front tyre arrangement).
Fillis was also a little hard to start with intermittent spark.
[u:c4cc7412ce]Solution[/u:c4cc7412ce]
1) Had a new axle machined up over sized.
2) Heat shrunk a 'donut' on the centre of the axle as per original.
3) Bored and reamed the front hub castings over-sized. They were so badly slogged out that a bushing was previously used. This puts the arrangement back to 'steel on cast' again with the new axle running on the cast iron hub.
4) Bought a new tyre through Millers - via a local dealer. That made my eyes water, but no tyre = no driving. New tyre is a little less meaty and slightly smaller diameter than the original, but you would never know.
5) All went together like factory fit and looks just dandy.
[u:c4cc7412ce]Magneto:[/u:c4cc7412ce] (IHC F4 type)
1) Replaced the condenser (twice as the first replacement was faulty)
2) Replaced the coil - replacement just fitted in like a glove.
3) Tested mag on a test rig - good spark but still intermittent
4) Decided the valleys and peaks in the groove worn on the Bakelite distributor plate were the cause. As the plate passed by the carbon pick-ups we decided they would skip now and again by bouncing on the peaks in the groove and giving the intermittent spark.
5) Threw the distributor plate in the lathe and carefully turned the face down smooth.
6) While still turning in the lathe, put some metal polish on a cloth and rubbed in well on the distributor plate to smoothen it out.
7) Next got heavy duty automotive 'cut and polish' compound and applied that to the distributor plate - again while it was still turning in the lathe. This polished up the Bakelite real well.
8 ) Assembled and put in the test rig again. No spark at all. Oops, put the magnet back on - still no spark. Ahh, condenser wire was just touching the mag casing. Twisted condenser in bracket and all was well.
9) put mag back in tractor and after timing it correctly - 2 pulls on the crank and away we went.
After this I thought a lap around the block was in order so put Fillis in top and off we went. I was enjoying the drive immensely - until a lady walking her dog over took me.... Ah well, F-14s are known to be slow BUT a whole lot of fun.
I found the IHC Magneto overhaul manual hugely helpful in working on the F4 mag - but beware as it does not explain everything and you will need to work though each step in a logical sequence.[/u]
Back in Nov last year the front axle seized in the wheel hub, then broke, then the tilted tyre shredded itself (it was near 'new' too). (Fillis has a single front tyre arrangement).
Fillis was also a little hard to start with intermittent spark.
[u:c4cc7412ce]Solution[/u:c4cc7412ce]
1) Had a new axle machined up over sized.
2) Heat shrunk a 'donut' on the centre of the axle as per original.
3) Bored and reamed the front hub castings over-sized. They were so badly slogged out that a bushing was previously used. This puts the arrangement back to 'steel on cast' again with the new axle running on the cast iron hub.
4) Bought a new tyre through Millers - via a local dealer. That made my eyes water, but no tyre = no driving. New tyre is a little less meaty and slightly smaller diameter than the original, but you would never know.
5) All went together like factory fit and looks just dandy.
[u:c4cc7412ce]Magneto:[/u:c4cc7412ce] (IHC F4 type)
1) Replaced the condenser (twice as the first replacement was faulty)
2) Replaced the coil - replacement just fitted in like a glove.
3) Tested mag on a test rig - good spark but still intermittent
4) Decided the valleys and peaks in the groove worn on the Bakelite distributor plate were the cause. As the plate passed by the carbon pick-ups we decided they would skip now and again by bouncing on the peaks in the groove and giving the intermittent spark.
5) Threw the distributor plate in the lathe and carefully turned the face down smooth.
6) While still turning in the lathe, put some metal polish on a cloth and rubbed in well on the distributor plate to smoothen it out.
7) Next got heavy duty automotive 'cut and polish' compound and applied that to the distributor plate - again while it was still turning in the lathe. This polished up the Bakelite real well.
8 ) Assembled and put in the test rig again. No spark at all. Oops, put the magnet back on - still no spark. Ahh, condenser wire was just touching the mag casing. Twisted condenser in bracket and all was well.
9) put mag back in tractor and after timing it correctly - 2 pulls on the crank and away we went.
After this I thought a lap around the block was in order so put Fillis in top and off we went. I was enjoying the drive immensely - until a lady walking her dog over took me.... Ah well, F-14s are known to be slow BUT a whole lot of fun.
I found the IHC Magneto overhaul manual hugely helpful in working on the F4 mag - but beware as it does not explain everything and you will need to work though each step in a logical sequence.[/u]
