Engine and Transmission Tech

Scott, since the piece is removeable you can use the torch to boil out any oil and impurities on both sides where you are going to braze. Then use a stainless wire brush to clean, Did you clean with a chemical? Acetone and lacquer thinner are fine but Brake Clean should never be used if welding or brazing as it gives off dangerous fumes. If you did use that, use a fan for ventilation.

My first attempt at brazing was a fail! I cleaned the parts with degreaser and yes brake clean. I read afterwords to use only non chlorinated versions.
Anyways, the problem with the Mapp/oxygen torch is you have to run the oxygen volume high and it only last 20 mins or less. So i ran out of oxygen before the area was hot enough. These bell-housings are thick and a giant heat sink. I ran out of oxy right about when it got hot enough. So, I’m going to try again on a warm day when I can put the parts in the sun for several hours (it was 53 this morning) and then with extra oxygen/Mapp at the ready will attempt again. It doesn’t help that the metal is saturated in grease/oil. Even after it was cleaned I think the porous aluminum has oil residue.

I did manage to get the engine on a stand, so the day had some progress!

Scott, Engine looks pretty clean!

Yes, it’s pretty good. We now think it might have sat for a few years after the original owner passed.

Scott, You don't need the oxygen, Those oxygen cylinders will deplete about 10 to 1 to the gas. You only need about 750F and the Mapp gas is 3600F with air and over 5000F with oxygen. I'd get another Mapp cylinder and the Bernzomatic tip. I'd start on one side and heat until the rod melts a couple inches and then go to the other side then the other side etc,.After you have it stitched all the way around go back over and remelt, then fill holes and any gaps. This is the torch I've had good luck with:

[www.ebay.com]



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/05/2025 12:34AM by mgb260.

Hate to be a broken record but the kitchen oven is your friend. It can burn out all the oil by using the self clean cycle and once it releases the parts should still be hot enough to take care of the preheat, and as you are learning, being able to preheat the parts is a huge benefit, especially when your heat source is limited.

Jim

Ordered a new torch and will try it with MAPP gas only. And I did think about the oven preheat idea. I’m sure that would help immensely!

Jim N wrote:

Quote:

Maybe we should do a NW one? Clark County fairgrounds Vancouver, WA. Curtis you are in Portland, what do you think?

I'd support the effort, but until I'm retired I wouldn't have time to do the job justice. BV8 meets don't typically need a fairground... but rather a nice hotel or motel all participants can stay at. It should preferably have an on-premise hot breakfast and also a meeting room. Its management definitely must be okay with gearheads congregating around their cars in the parking lot day-and-night. It's best if they even supply a hose for freshening up the cars after driving events. The meets usually start on a Sunday with most people arriving after lunchtime. They typically wrap up with a banquet on Wednesday night, with most people departing the host hotel after breakfast.

I could imagine a meet centered around Gig Harbor, Washington. From there participants might enjoy the drive up to the top of Mount Ranier one day, with lunch and an optional short hike at the top. On another day, participants might enjoy visiting the LeMay Collection a.k.a. "America's Car Museum" in Tacoma. (Other museum options include the Boeing Museum.) On a third day, participants might enjoy a track day at Pacific Raceways in Kent - I haven't driven on that racetrack but it appears to have a lot of elevation change and the property is pretty (forested). They host drag racing there too. The paddock is nice, and as I recall there are a lot of racing related businesses nearby. (Maybe we could arrange a "dyno day"?) Perhaps we might try to all get on the same ferry at some point and cross into Seattle for some sort of entertainment there. One wouldn't want to visit that area and not see some of Puget Sound, right?

Vancouver is a nice enough town, but it's just a suburb of Portland. I'd probably prefer a town on the Oregon side. We don't have sales tax and most of the things we'd likely want to do are on the Oregon side. Instead or Ranier we'd likely drive up to Mount Hood, and visit its awesome Timberline Lodge. That drive can be a nice loop. On the south bank of the Columbia River you've got a historic/scenic highway, many waterfalls, Roosevelt dam, Bridge of the Gods, kite-surfing & windsurfing, vineyards, etc. If time permits, there are lovely forest roads back that aren't along the river. (BTW: Mount St Helens is another option from either Gig Harbor or Pdx - especially interesting for those of us that remember its eruption - but there's less to see on the way to St Helens and the excellent interpretave center at the top may be gone by then.) On a second day we could drive toward the coast, maybe through the Willamette valley. The Evergreen aviation museum is excellent. I know a park that overlooks the ocean which features hundreds of old-growth Sitka Spruce, Firs, and Cedars six feet and sometimes way more in diameter. Back in Portland, we're one of the only cities in America with an in-town International Raceway that's operated as a city park. We could possibly arrange a track day there, ideally splitting the cost with another group. Both P.I.R. and Kent used to hosts Can-Am races, but P.I.R. has been modernized to keep IndyCars coming... it's a big deal track BUT it's relatively flat, so not so very fun IMHO for track days. However, on Wednesdays all summer long it hosts a cruise-in which draws about 1000 cool cars/week. Live band and food carts. As the Cruise-In slows down, the dragstrip heats up. On Wednesday's they do 1/8th-mile runs whereas on weekends they run 1/4-miles. It's pretty casual. My favorites are the little miniature dragsters for kids, with Briggs-and-Stratton engines. And most-of-all I love dragracing snowmobiles. They run on special racing slicks, and they're fantastically fierce! However, it's very unpredictable who will show up. We wouldn't have any trouble getting our own runs in. Portland has a very big Cars-and-Coffee event too, but on Saturdays so not as conducive to BV8 participation. (This year, June 28th is the all-British day.)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/05/2025 03:05PM by Moderator.

Curtis. lots of good ideas! My brother lives in Beaverton. Something to think about!

You haven't attended in awhile, Curtis. This will be the third year of it being a full 4 day event. Also, will be the 3rd year of arrive on Monday & leave on Saturday.

I had a blast at Putnam Park, which is flat. Even Nelson Ledges was fun, but I much prefer VIR & Road America. :)

Here we call those Jr. Dragsters.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/06/2025 08:48AM by MGBV8.

How about Silverdale, lots of hotels and amenities, the town is basically a large Mall. Bremerton Naval shipyard tours and Dragstrip, Drive in movie theater a short trip to the Olympic Peninsula, Port Townsend, Sequim and Port Angeles(also Ferry to Victoria BC). About 3 hour drive to Ocean Shores and the Pacific Coast beaches. Curtis, you got me thinking.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 05/05/2025 05:18PM by mgb260.

You guys definitely need to do it in Silverdale! The Naval Undersea Museum is just down the Hwy as well. I’m 18 mins from Silverdale: does that make me an opportunist, yes!

Scott, Me too! I'm about an hour away.

I honestly don't know why it's taken you guys this long to start setting this up.

In the early days the meet was completely informal, no reason why you couldn't do that sort of thing there as well. Set up a sort of ala-carte schedule and do what you like with whoever else is doing it. It worked. Sometimes we had only one or two doing some things but that's all you need really. The parking lot has always been the big event.

Jim

Are y'all trying to snap my attendance streak?!

I thought Colorado Springs was a long haul. Silverdale, WA is twice as far away. I will be very surprised if there is much participation from East of the Mighty Mississippi. We are all getting older & seem less enthused about long trips in our LBCs. When I attended my 1st V8 meet in 1998, I had no idea that it would continue anywhere near this long.

I believe it would likely wind up being a British V8 meet West & East that year. Actually, I would have thought that this would have already been the norm years ago.

That's what the Sunbeam guys do, East and West. They call them Invasions and try to time them with other British car shows. I think they are usually 3 days.

Carl, you would get the longest distance award!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/06/2025 10:53AM by mgb260.

Second attempt at the brazing thing. Supposed to hit 75 today so maybe the sun can heat it up a bit.

Scott, Don't try to heat the whole area. Just a couple inches at a time going back and forth side to side until it is stitched all the way around. Then go back over it with the torch to melt it together..



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 05/06/2025 12:35PM by mgb260.

I was awarded a 32 oz glass beer mug trophy at the Cincinnati, Ohio car show one year for Long Distance award. I drove my B to Jim Blackwood's, then drove the Roadmaster to the show.

At our British V8 meets, we don't do awards & trophies. Although, we do occasionally give out a hard luck award.