The Howell V-4 IC Engine Project

Video of Engine Running

Click on one of the images below* to view a video of the engine being started and run. Jerry disconnects the battery so the starter becomes a generator that lights two light bulbs and then revs the engine. 60 seconds.


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Engine Specifications

Designer: Jerry E. Howell, Colorado Springs, CO

Type: 4-cycle, water cooled, twin cam, 90° V-4

Size: 7.6" L (with radiator) x 5.75" W x 7.07" H (on skid)

Displacement: 1.95 cu. in. (32 cc)

Bore: .875"

Stroke: .812"

Flywheel Diameter: 3.0"

Carburetor: 2 jet

Ignition: Hall effect distributor

Fuel: 30% white gas/70% methanol

Project began: 09/25/07

*NOTE: For smoother viewing we recommend you right click on one of the video link images and choose "save target as," saving the file to your desktop or a videos folder. Then play the file. You may save the file for replay later without having to download again.

BUILDER	NAME/DETAILS	COMPONENTS BUILT
	Jerry Howell, Colorado Springs, CO Designed engine, drew CAD plans and built first running prototype. Jerry is shown at the left holding the prototype V4, which gives a good idea of its size.
	Tom Boyer, Escondido, CA Tom is the museum shop foreman and resident craftsman. He will machine the block, make small fittings and parts as needed and do final assembly.	Tom holds the billet of aluminum that will become the engine block.
	Joe Martin, Oceanside, CA The museum's founder, Joe created a machine and a program to grind the camshaft on a specially modified Sherline CNC mill. Joe will be building the crankshaft for the V-4.	Joe is shown making helical distributor gears for the Seal project.
(Photo to come)	Bob Seigelkoff, Hayward, CA Project: Four aluminum pistons plus a fifth for a spare.
(Photo to come)	Adam Krichbaum, West Lafayette, IN Project: Engine/Radiator Mounting Skid Rails	(Photo to come when skid rails are completed.)
	Dave Eggert, Mission Viejo, CA Project: Air Cleaner
(Photo to come)	Mike Holloway, Goodletsville, Tn Project: Positive Crankcase Ventilation Check Valve	(Photo to come when completed)
	Craig Libuse, San Marcos, CA Craig maintains the web site, takes the photos for this page to document the project and is coordinating the program and keeping the builders and public informed on progress.	N/A

	This is what we are shooting for. Here are some excellent photos of Jerry Howell's completed V-4 that can be found on his web site at http://www.jerry-howell.com/V-Four.html. Eventually these photos will be replaced with ones of our own completed engine. Compared to the photos at the top of the page, these photos show the longer rails (cut on a Sherline CNC mill) and generator at the end of the engine. Mounted on the end of the generator is a small LED engine hour meter. Jerry also made some tilting covers to keep "rain" out of the vertical exhaust pipes.
	The billet of material has been squared up to size and is shown in the first photo bolted to a fixture on a faceplate while the crankshaft hole is bored. The second photo shows the other side of the block after the flange on the second side has been turned and the two internal counter-bores have been added. (9/25/07)
	Ya gotta start somewhere... Here is the block of 7075 aluminum Pam cut out on Sherline's FlowJet water jet cutter. A US Quarter shows size. It will become the engine block of the V-4. Tom is seen holding it here in hopes we will soon be able to take a similar shot of him holding the completed block and eventually the completed engine. (9/19/07)
	1. One of the surfaces for the head has just been cut smooth with an end mill and finished with a fly cutter. 10/4/07 2. The cylinder holes on the first side are drilled to make a clearance hole for the boring tool.10/4/07
	1. A boring tool is seen bringing the cylinder holes to size. (10/5/07) 2. Both cylinder holes on the first bank are completed. The scribed line in the red Dychem shows where the second face will be machined for cylinders 3 and 4. (10/5/07)
	1. Tom has machined the second cylinder head flat, and now the block is beginning to take on the "V" shape. A drill is set to make the clearance hole to bore the second bank of cylinder holes. 2. A boring bar is used in the mill to open up the cylinder holes to exact size. (10/9/07)
	The block with all 4 cylinders bored. (10/9/07)
	The block is mounted to a large faceplate on the lathe and a dial indicator is used to find the center of the cylinder holes. The second photo shows the block removed from the faceplate after each cylinder hole has been counter-bored. (10/19/07)
	The bottom of the block as of late November shows the access to the crankcase. At this point about half of the original material has been removed.
	This setup on the Sherline mill was used to open up the five lightening holes called for in the intermediate cam gear. The holes were first drilled and then (as seen in the photo) a 3/8" end mill was used to true them up. The plans for the part can be seen in the background.
	December 26, 2007 1. Machining the spark plug hole and counter bore at a compound angle. The silver vise is being held at a 12° while the head on the mill is tilted to 8°. 2. Using a ball end mill to form part of the combustion chamber. 3. A different angle of view for the above process.
	The head with spark plugs installed seen from what will be the top side. From the bottom side you can see tow pairs of holes for the valves and the spark plug holes nestled between them.
	January 3, 2008 Photo 1 shows a small end mill being used in the Sherline 2000 mill to cut the cooling slots in the top of the head. Photo 2 shows the two heads with the cooling slots cut.
	January10, 2007 This setup shows the radius on the end of the rocker arm brackets being cut using the rotary table. Note the special clamp Tom made to hold the brackets during machining.
	The finished rocker arm brackets. After machining, a couple of passes on a stone or piece of fine sandpaper on a flat surface remove the machining marks and allow the part to transition smoothly from flat sides into the radius.
	January 24, 2008 One of the heads with rocker arm brackets and spark plugs installed.
	Bob Seigelkoff's made these four aluminum pistons plus a spare.
	Tom Boyer machines a round boss on the distributor drive housing/camshaft end cover using a rotary table on the museum shop's Sherline Model 2000 mill.
	January 30, 2008 The finished distributor drive housing (L) and camshaft end cover is shown before and after it is split. The two halves will be installed separately side-by-side on the finished engine using two common bolts in the center.
	February 7, 2008 The distributor spark advance arm was milled from a solid piece of brass. The curve in the upright portion was done using the rotary table.
	February 8, 2008 The brass distributor housing was completed and the spark advance arm seen above is now attached with two small screws.
	February 20, 2008 The completed distributor and drive unit is shown assembled and disassembled.
	February 21, 2008 The body of the brass oil pump inlet elbow is being milled to the 1/8" OD using the rotary table.
	Two different views show the completed oil pump inlet elbow. Though small, this part required a number of different machining operations. The finished elbow is smaller than a dime.
	March 10, 2008 The timing gears are complete thanks to some help fromFred Smittle. They were made utilizing a Sherline mill and P/N 8700 CNC rotary indexer.
	The air cleaner cover has been completed by Dave Eggert of Mission Viejo, CA and he sent photos of the part. He is still working on some of the brass fittings for the cover and we won't need it until the engine is completed, so for now we just have his photo to enjoy, but it looks like he did a really nice job.
	March 20, 2008 The front face of the block has been relieved, leaving an oval boss. The front cover exactly matches this shape and also has a raised circular area that fits into a matching countersunk area of the block in front of the main bearing. The second photo shows the cover in place but not bolted on. These operations required several different setups on the rotary table to cut the oval shapes. So you beginning machinists won't feel bad, Tom had about four hours of machining in the cover the other day and stopped to take some video of the curve being cut on the rotary table. Distracted by trying to shoot video while making the cut he turned the handwheel the wrong way, scrapping out the part. We won't be showing that video...
	April 10, 2008 Tom snapped the left-hand photo while the block was still mounted to the Bridgdeport mill table. The sides of the block are shown being milled away, removing the hold-down fixture holes used earlier and finally leaving the classic "V" shape profile. The second photo shows the block after it was removed from the mill and the sharp corners were broken slightly with a file. The raw block of 7075 aluminum started out at a weight of 6.32 pounds. At this point it now ways just 1.42 pounds. Almost 5 pounds of metal has been removed by the many machining processes over the past seven months. With this many hours of work invested in one part, each operation is approached with great care, as Tom would definitely not want to have to start over now. Refer back to the earlier photo taken on 9/19/07 of Tom holding the raw billet block to see how far it's come.

The Internet Craftsmanship Museum Presents:

Building a Howell V-4 IC engine

A second group project with parts made by model engineers around the world

Video of Engine Running

Engine Specifications

The Howell V-4 Engine Project—How you can be part of the build team!

A list of parts available for construction

The Build Team

Plans available for the Howell V-4 and other interesting engines

Here are photos of the Howell V-4 engine in progress:

New Submissions Welcomed