Lyka Kit #12 Engine Part 1b

After waiting not quite 7 days for the red brake caliper paint to cure, the paint seemed to be tough enough for handling.

I begin by placing the cranks onto the mainframe shaft.

And I quickly realize now what Steam Traction World's instructions meant by "You will need to remove a small amount from the rib of the Bearing Housing so that the Crank Web has a bit of clearance". You can see that the crank is touching the bearing housing and the crank shaft will not rotate. So disassemble and once again utilize my right angle sanding disc to remove some of the material. But first I mark the area of the rib that doesn't need to be cleared with blue tape.

Turns out that I didn't need top mark the rib with blue tape because I decided to just reduce the whole rib for clearance.

Now that both ribs have been modified, I once again assemble the cranks onto the crank shaft.

You can see everything works.

Now on to the steam cylinders. I sent a inquiry to Steam Traction World on whether or not I should paint the steam cylinders. Before I heard back, I had already painted the "non-critical" surfaces with the high temperature red caliper brake paint. Steam Traction World basically told me it was my preference, but they would not recommends it due to the high temperature the cylinders would experience. I did a little research before painting and our Lykamobiles will be operating in the 200 psi (pounds per square inch) range. This equates to about 300° F for saturated steam. The paint should hold up - but time will tell.

Next mount the two backing plates to the cylinders.

I used the bearing grade adhesive to lock the threads. I tried to dimple the flat head screws with a punch, but wasn't too successful because of my setup. I'm going to rely on the adhesive. Next I mounted the cylinders to the mainframe.

And I couldn't resist, I placed the whole assembly temporarily into the Lykamobile (also for safe storage) to see how it all fit.

And just to do a little check on alignment between sprockets, I placed a straight 2x2 wooden stake to eyeball everything. It looks good.

One last item that I'm posting which is unrelated to this kit is that I found a gasket for the fuel tank. Costs about a $1 to $2. Got it from Sanitary Fittings LLC online. Fits perfectly (1 1/2" OD Tube spec).