the art of engine

[Nailhead]

Originally Posted by kobudo28

Two of the best arguments I've seen for LOTO.

[ttpete]

I'd like to see what they do to torque the rod bolts....

[kobudo28]

Hodakaguy posted these pic's in the Westy re-build thread. He works in the industry by the sounds of it. Seriously large engines!

[clintnz]

Originally Posted by ttpete

I'd like to see what they do to torque the rod bolts....

Hydraulic nuts or bolt tensioners most likely.

I want that vice stand!

Cheers
Clint

[Kubla]

I want one of those pistons also

[dagwood]

Originally Posted by kobudo28

Yep, it's a piston out of a Ingersol Rand KVS 26CT Engine. This one was over limits on out of round and was pulled. The bare piston weighs 400lbs so it makes a nice solid vice stand.

Here's a few pics.

The piston has two threaded holes in the dome of the piston that are used for attaching a pulling tool to remove the piston from the engine. I just cut a piece of plate and drilled two holes so I could attach the plate to the piston with bolts....worked great.




This is the KVS 26 engine, it's rated at 1000 HP at 330 RPM and drives two integral double acting compressors. This engine is used to compress natural gas on a pipeline and is the smallest engine/compressor on the pipeline.




Inside the KVS crank case taking crank thrust readings. The power rods are removed in this pic so the power pin is wrapped in cardboard to keep it from getting scratched.




Here's a few pics of one of the larger units, It's a Clark 12 Cyl two cycle engine driving three double acting compressors, it's rated at 4500 HP at 300 RPM.









I have more pictures of the Clark here: http://www.advrider.com/forums/showt...ight=hodakaguy

Hodakaguy

if those are two stroke Ports...I wanta see the reed cage and chambers.

[kobudo28]

Originally Posted by dagwood

if those are two stroke Ports...I wanta see the reed cage and chambers.

A little porting and some expansion chambers and that thing will make some real power.

[Hodakaguy]

Originally Posted by ttpete

I'd like to see what they do to torque the rod bolts....

The rod bolts are tightened with an impact gun or Hi-Tork (hydraulic torquing device). The bolts are tightened using bolt stretch opposed to torque, torque is easily affected by thread condition and proper lubrication....bolt stretch eliminates these variables.

The rod bolts have a dimple on each end, before you start the tightening process you measure the rod bolt length to the nearest thousands using a bolt stretch gauge (basically a long micrometer that spans the bolt and has pointed ends that fit into the dimples). You then start tightening the bolts, then measure with the bolt stretch gauge again and repeat until you reach the required amount of bolt stretch on the bolt.

You can see the dimples on one end of the bolt in this picture, right below the cotter key.



Hodakaguy

[dorkpunch]

That right there is cool. I've got a valve out of some unknown large engine (the valve by itself is slightly larger in dia. than a 460 ford piston) I show my students just for conversations sake. Would love to have a trashcan sized piston to show them that they could compare to their Briggs 3.5 horse piston.

[Parsley]

The rod bolts have a dimple on each end, before you start the tightening process you measure the rod bolt length to the nearest thousands using a bolt stretch gauge (basically a long micrometer that spans the bolt and has pointed ends that fit into the dimples). You then start tightening the bolts, then measure with the bolt stretch gauge again and repeat until you reach the required amount of bolt stretch on the bolt.

There's access to measure then on each end of the bolt when installed?

[Hodakaguy]

Originally Posted by Parsley

There's access to measure then on each end of the bolt when installed?

Yep, the gauge is basically a long bar (around 2' long or so in this case) that has a arm on each end that reaches over the ends on the bolts, The top end is fixed, the bottom end has the micrometer built in. It can be a pain to get it in the dimples on the back side, sometimes a combo of feel and a inspection mirror :-)

Here's a example of a small bolt stretch gauge, ours doesn't use a dial indicator (micrometer instead) but functions the same, only on a larger scale.



Hodakaguy

[kamanya]

Originally Posted by kobudo28

Here's a few pics of one of the larger units, It's a Clark 12 Cyl two cycle engine driving three double acting compressors, it's rated at 4500 HP at 300 RPM.

Do the compressor pistons run on the same crankshaft as the engine?

[kobudo28]

Originally Posted by kamanya

Do the compressor pistons run on the same crankshaft as the engine?

"Paging Hodakaguy to the white courtesy phone, Mr. Hodakaguy to the white courtesy phone please."

[Parsley]

Here's a example of a small bolt stretch gauge, ours doesn't use a dial indicator (micrometer instead) but functions the same, only on a larger scale.

Thanks!

[Hodakaguy]

Originally Posted by kamanya

Do the compressor pistons run on the same crankshaft as the engine?

Yep the engine and compressors share the same crank shaft. The throws on the crank are wider where both the power rods and compressor rods connect. The compressor rod (Green Arrow Below) connects to the Cross Head (Red Arrow), the cross head converts the reciprical motion of the crank shaft into a linear motion to drive the compressor. The compressor piston rod (Orange Arrow) connects to the cross head then goes through a set of oil wipers (number 7) to keep crankcase oil from escaping around the rod. It then goes through a set of pressure packing (number 6) that prevents pressure from escaping around the shaft and finally connects to the compressor piston (Blue Arrow).

You'll notice there are compressor valves on each side of the piston ( number 3), these are double acting compressors and compress gas in each direction of the stroke.




Hodakaguy