Beck TD, Part 42: A Flat Flywheel

As part of the ongoing engine swap for Beck TD, I decided to include a new clutch. I had originally planned to reuse the better clutch of the two I had, but neither was that good, and when Joe Lazenby told me the reasonable price of a new clutch, I decided it was well worth it.

Any time you add a new clutch, you should have the flywheel resurfaced to give a clean, flat surface. After researching a few local options, I decided to try Reardon Machine Shop, just a few blocks from my house in the city of Lancaster. The result looks great!

Pat Reardon is a third-generation machinist. His grandfather started an automotive machine shop in Lancaster in 1916, just down the street from my house. He now has a single-man operation on North Concord Street in Lancaster.

When I talked with Pat on the phone, he asked questions about the flywheel that made me feel confident that he knew his way around doing that job. I dropped it off, and just a day later it was ready to pick up. He was just finishing up when I arrived, which was great. I asked if I could come into the shop and he said yes. Here's about half of it - filled with older, well maintained equipment, neatly arranged and with all the necessary tools and accessories close at hand.

My flywheel was surfaced on this 1935 vintage flywheel grinder:

Pat said he found it much preferable to more modern machines. But that wasn't the oldest machine in the shop by far. When Pat was a youngster his dad had a shop with a line shaft providing power to multiple machines, including this 1897 vintage lathe that was made right here in Lancaster. Note the city at the bottom of the data plate in the second picture:

The lathe is now powered by an electric motor, via an old Chevy 3-speed transmission - an easy way to have multiple speeds. He also had this lathe that was made in York, PA about 30 miles away. You can see the city cast into the legs in the second picture:

Pat is very interested in Lancaster history, especially in regards to manufacturing. I described where I live, in a house that was once part of a warehouse. He was able to tell me that the rear portion of that building used to be an automotive machine shop. Maybe that's how I got infected with the desire to become a machinist. He also pulled out a 1940's pamphlet from the Lancaster Historical Society, showing that just a block or two from the Grant Street Garage, in the 1860's there was a company that manufactured huge steam locomotives.

While working on my project, Pat noted drill damage to the flywheel. When the "prior meathead" tried to drill out the pilot bearing (see Part 41 for details), he drilled through the flywheel too. But Pat cleaned up the burrs and all is well. He was astonished when I showed him the photos from Part 41.

He also noted some light damage to the pins that locate the clutch, where they had been previously removed with vise grips. He cleaned that up too. He showed me this vintage tool that he uses to pull pins like that, and I want to make one! It's a combination of a collet chuck and a slide hammer. Look at this annotated photo:

At the left side is the collet, just like the collets I have used in my milling machine. Those are threaded on the back side, and the long shaft is threaded to match. The sleeve has an internal bore to match the collet and close it tight around the pin or stud. Pat added the bearings to the outside to keep the sleeve from cracking under the heavy forces involved. The slide hammer is used both directions, first to tap the sleeve tight on to collet, and then to hammer the part out against the bolt head to the right.

Collets are very inexpensive now, and I hope Phil Oles will read this and get right to work helping me make a puller just like this one! And after that, we can attempt this more complex project. It's a collet-based threaded-stud remover. The screw that tightens the collet is left-hand threaded so that attempting to turn the stud will cause the collet to tighten as you bear down. I have no idea if you can buy left-hand threaded collets anymore, but it's worth a try. Here's a photo of that tool:

I wound up spending about an hour at Pat's shop, spinning stories and admiring his equipment. I can certainly recommend him to you! He only does automotive machining, and he has a lifetime of experience at it. After I left, he went back to preparing a vintage Chevy 327 block for a restoration. I'm sure Pat will see more of my junk show up in his shop!

Continue on to Part 43...