Kit 2, Steering gear; fully assembled

 

The steering gear is fully assembled and the car is right way up again.  The next job is to paint all the non-moving metal parts.  I had to open out a thread on the steering king pin which I had damaged during my inexpert assembly efforts; the correct screw tap was applied to good effect.  I also shortened each of the long tracking rods by 2-3 threads (carefully this time!) A hacksaw, lubricating oil and a swiss file seemed to make the job easier; I didn't have to use the die which I had in reserve just in case of problems.  How often does one prepare for a mistake and it never happens!  The steering is now showing just a touch of toe-out when the adjustment is at its full limit.  As well as painting, the moving parts will be lightly oiled and inaccessible metal surfaces treated with Waxoyl to reduce the risk of corrosion.  Before the wheels go on, I expect to re-check that all the nuts and bolts are secure.  As I assembled the tiller I wondered what the handle was made of on the original Locomobiles; was it wood, or rubber as per the current incarnation?  I also noticed that the welding might need some tidying up, but I am reluctant to do much to the welds - a well designed and made weld (or other assembly) has an aesthetic appeal all of its own.

Kit 2 - Steering installed

The steering is now installed, after a few mistakes.  Here is the chassis, painted, with the steering installed.

The chassis has been painted.  It is shown here upside down, for ease of assembling the steering.  It was also easier to see the small patches I had missed when painting by floodlight; the painting will have to be touched up when the relevant parts of the steering are being painted.

This is the stub axle as mounted.  The lower jaw (upmost in the picture) was filed until the assembly fitted into place.  The stub axle, the steering bearing and steering arm are supplied as a welded assembly.  The weight of the car is transferred to the wheels through the thrust ball-bearing which can be seen as a short silver cylinder.  The king pin keeps everything together, with a domed nut at one end and a penny washer at the other end.  The king pin is fixed to the axle assembly with a grub screw and a tight fit.  There are steel bushes in the jaws which provide a bearing surface for the king pin.
My insufficient experience showed itself in several ways!  The steel bushes were an interference fit in the jaws - I only destroyed one of the four whle trying to force it into place.  "It should go together with a soft faced hammer, using the king pin as a guide to ensure correct alignment"  Even with deburring, the bushes were a tight fit.  I ended up putting the bushes in the freezer for 24 hours; this provided just enough slack to force it into place correctly aligned. (I calculated that I would gain 0.2 thou by doing this).  Then I had a problem with the king pin getting stuck in the hole through the welded assembly.  I was too impatient and had neglected to check the fit of the king pin before trying to force it home.  It had to be released using 'penetrant' (penetrating oil) from three-in-one.  I remembered how useful it was from the olden days when I once had to remove a half shaft from my old Hillman Minx - it only moved afer soaking overnight.  I then checked the fit and filed down the burrs from within the mounting.  More haste, less speed.

I suspect that I might have to shorten the linkage if the wheels need any further toe-out.  When fully adjusted, one rod has 23 turns, the other 16 turns when the turnbuckle is fully adjusted - perhaps 16 turns each would be better.
All I have to do now is to turn the car right way up and attach the tiller.  Then I can do some more painting.

Here is the Assistant Chief Engineer casting a critical eye over the work.

Ready for painting

Doing preparation work for decorating is one of the least glamorous jobs I can think of – it is needed, a bit tedious and only results in a modest improvement in appearance.  Anyway, that is well in hand with: 

·         all the parts rubbed down with ‘wet and dry’ abrasive paper;

·         sharp edges chamfered with a file;

·         concealed areas treated with anti –corrosive “WaxOyl”;

·         and the whole chassis re-assembled.

When I inspected the rear axle assembly, I noticed that the two halves which will house the half-shafts were noticeably at an angle with each other (about 6mm over a length of about 700mm).  When I asked STW if this was within the design tolerances, Steve thought that it could be a problem; they promptly provided a replacement which showed no obvious mis-alignment.  I hope the original can be re-worked as I do not like to think of effort and materials being wasted.
The chassis is now re-assembled (with the new rear axle), needing only hand force and a small mallet to persuade the lengthways tubes and stays to go into their mountings.  I have not assembled the vertical steering tube, since I think it might need to be re-adjusted when fitting kit 2, which will be the steering mechanism.The next tasks are to wash and paint all the chassis except for those parts which will have later assembly or mating parts to be attached or fixed or adjusted.  Unpainted parts include: screw threads, front stub axle mounting surfaces, leaf spring mounting points, steering tube and its mounting clamps, rear axle half shaft and differential bearing mounting areas, other mountings for later attachments.  I shall be wary of painting anything which has been machined and appears to be a mating surface for a later assembly.  Bare metal may need to have oil or grease applied to protect it until later.  With care, there should be little need of later fiddling around to complete the painting.
I expect to find an electric “blow torch” handy to speed up drying after washing the grease off, which should also raise the temperature of the metalwork up to the paint supplier’s recommended temperature for painting after the metal has been sitting in a cold garage. (Brrr!)

Started

Kit 1 is the main chassis.

22/01/17 – the trial assembly has been completed.  A space had to be cleared in the garage first.

It all goes together, using some spare M10 nuts, I shall leave the Nylock nuts until later.  Some de-burring was needed, (one drilled hole and the steering mounting clamps) as expected – I hate handling machined metal until it has had the sharp edges and swarf removed.  The stays had to be bent slightly to fit, as advised in the assembly instructions.
The next stages are to:
·         dismantle it;
·         chamfer all the sharp edges;
·         smooth and rub down the surfaces to be painted;
·         wash the parts of machining lubricants, to enable good painting;
·         treat unseen surfaces with rust proofing;
·         paint all visible and non-machined surfaces using Hammerite smooth dark green paint.

Kit 1 for my Series2 Lykamobile arrived before Christmas.  I am now settling into a post Christmas routine to include its construction.  First task is to throw out rubbish from the garage and re-organise to make a suitable space for engineering work and storage.  Paint has been bought, Hammerite looked the most suitable brand.  The toolkit has been updated with some new items.  A photo of the kit ready for fitting, assembly and painting will follow.

Update to colour scheme

I have updated my intended colour scheme - see the bells and whistles page for more about this.

News from STW

Glad to hear the news from STW:

Lykamobile Steamer Series 2

The ‘Early Bird’ response has been fantastic with 20 confirmed orders from as far afield as the US and Australia. The Lykamobile Steamer Series 2 will feature a number of improvements to the braking systems, the springs and the controls.

---

LATEST NEWS: For those of you who have placed an order for a Lykamobile the good news is that the recent testing for the new boiler was a success! We are currently waiting on boiler approval from the governing body and launch dates will be announced shortly.