connecting rod play (side to side)

[Jebaroni]

Well, now that i've got the 2-1/2 alamo here, i am tearing down my 2 hp Taylor vacume engine. When I removed the piston, I noticed that there is about 3/16" extra clearance between the connecting rod and the bosses on the inside of the piston at the wrist pin. I'm going to have a new wrist pin made and probably have the connecting rod bushed but what would you do about the side play? That seems a little excessive to me?

Also, anybody have an exploded view of the valve setup on the vacume pump body? I took mine apart only to find nothing inside! No valves or anything...kinda surprised me. I'm almost thinking that it possibly should have had some large flat discs to act as check valves like in the fuel pickup tube on a maytag, but i don't know anything for sure. I don't use the vacume pump so it's no big deal, i was just curious. Thanks!

Jeb

[Elden DuRand]

Originally Posted by Jebaroni

Well, now that i've got the 2-1/2 alamo here, i am tearing down my 2 hp Taylor vacume engine. When I removed the piston, I noticed that there is about 3/16" extra clearance between the connecting rod and the bosses on the inside of the piston at the wrist pin. I'm going to have a new wrist pin made and probably have the connecting rod bushed but what would you do about the side play? That seems a little excessive to me?
Jeb

Jeb:

Don't worry about the side clearance at the small end of the rod. That is taken care of by the thrusts on the BIG end of the rod. 3/16" or so is fine.

What you DON'T want is to have too small a clearance between the little end and the boss and have the piston bind when the piston doesn't exactly line-up with the crankshaft all the way through the stroke. This will really stress things.

Take care - Elden

[Chip Watford]

Jeb,As long as your rod bearing is in good shape and adjusted correctly,the side clearance will be fine.Just make sure that the rod doesn't travel far enough to the side that it touches the piston.If it does something is out of line.Get rid of all end play however.As far as the vacume valve,it has a check valve that enables it to pull a vacume one way but can be turned around and used as a compressor.If you can't find any info,I can take mine apart. Chip

[Rick I]

Hi, Jeb-
I too am looking for an actual photo or measured diagram of the vacuum valves. I have a pretty good idea what they should look like, although I've never seen one. (Hopefully) I've attached a drawing.

[Andrew Mackey]

I used to own a Talor, and tried to make a compressor out of it. The engine would stall, no matter how fast I tried to govern it, at about 50 PSI. It would pull about 28 pounds of vacuum though!
Andrew

[Elden DuRand]

Originally Posted by Andrew Mackey

I used to own a Talor, and tried to make a compressor out of it. The engine would stall, no matter how fast I tried to govern it, at about 50 PSI. It would pull about 28 pounds of vacuum though!
Andrew

Hmmmmm......

Frank has one of themthere critters and a couple of medium steam engines. If it'll do 20psi without disintegrating, it ought to run one of them just fine.

Take care - Elden