W/E 5th May 2020

So had a bit of sort through my ‘Atlas stuff’ on a sunny afternoon (yeah there’s a couple of RGS frames and some other stuff but this is an Atlas sort out). Anyways it proved useful in finding a few bits and pieces I’d bought over the years and forgotten. It also made me put things in to boxes so that when I need something I’ll be able to find it. Good job!

The big deal since I last posted is getting the final two allen bolts out of the primary case of Atlas #1 – hurrah! I’d tried penetrating oils but decided it was time to bring some heat to the party. Heated the bolts and then cooled them with water through a few cycles and inbetween gave ’em a good thump with a big hammer and an impact driver. This bolt at the foot of the cylinders proved the most stubborn but eventually it succumbed.

The first picture shows the ‘smeg’ around the bolt and here you can see how ‘crusty’ the bolt had become. I was surprised that the corrosion is on the edge of the cap and not at the base – so is it this outer ring that held the bolt so tight?

Still I’ve sourced copper crush washers to go under the bolt heads on reassembly so hopefully seized bolts is now a thing of the past!

I’ve decided that with Atlas #3 having a restored cylinder head stud that it’s best to go back to the original cams in Atlas #1 and Atlas #3 – so I’ve got to swop them round. I also decided to use the scored cams out of Atlas #1 but with the new cam bearings sent over by OCT.

The work still isn’t done because getting the cams to move freely is proving tricky. Atlas #1 has a sticky exhaust cam and #3 a sticky inlet cam. I’m not overly surprised with #1 as this was the case to start with. I suspect a slightly bent cam as it only tightens when the final end nuts are pulled down i.e. it’ll run fine if only one outer cam-block is tight. On Atlas #3 all looked good until the cams were torqued and this produced a very tight inlet cam – which is not how it was when stripped down. This is time consuming but getting the best ‘spin’ on the cams is the key to a good motor (you don’t lose power).

Watch this space…

Nick 🙂