Anyone have an idea where I can get a reamer or a honer for F-1 steering box sector bushings???? Welded a Model A flange to an F-1 box per Tardells direction for my AV8 but having a little trouble coming up with the right bushings. The Model A bushings work OK but are too long and a little to tight. Thus the need for the reamer honer. I only have about a an inch and an eighth cylinder and am having difficulty finding that small of a honer.
I highly recommend you have it done by the machine shop on the big hone. Since those bushings are split and there are two, the little brake cylinder kind won't make them concentric. Trust me, you need them to be right on or driving the car will not be fun. Don't make them too tight either.
The best way, as "alchemy" said is a honing machine, but it depends on whether the honing stones will be long enough to hone both bushings at the same time. My suggestion is to get some round metal stock or even round wooden stock. Use a broom handle or dowel rod.......... It just has to fit in a drill. Cut a slot longways in whatever you use. Use a bandsaw to cut the slot reasonably straight and about 6" long. Longer slot may be needed if those bushings are too far apart. Get a piece of abrasive paper and cut the length to be just longer than your slot. Width of the abrasive paper should be about triple the diameter . You might have to play with the width a little to get the right size. Fold the abrasive paper in half width wise with glue inside the fold. Then center it in the slot. You may want to put glue in the slot or a couple of set screws to hold the abrasive paper in place. Slide it in the slot from the end rather than the side so you don't get much glue on the abrasive. When its all dry, you should have a shaft that has abrasive paper sticking out each side for a 6 inch (or whatever) length. Carefully bend the abrasive paper slightly so you can put it thru both bushings at the same time. Since your drill will be turning it clockwise, the flaps should be bent counter clockwise before you insert it. The tool should pretty much self center when the drill is started. I'd use about 400 grit paper if you don't have to remove too much metal. You said it was tight, so I assume it almost fits. You should be able to keep everything in alignment......if its already in good alignment when you start. This removes metal pretty slowly. If on the other hand you have several thousandths to remove, then I would try to buy a used "adjustable" reamer on line. Honing is only for minor resizing and fitment, and not for moving more than a .001 (thousandth) or so. Reaming will get you close and then hone to final size. If the bushings are in good alignment naturally when installed, they can be bored in a lathe to get rid of excess material, and then finished with the crude hone I described. One more thing. After the abrasive paper is inserted, you might want to twist some small wire around the end of the shaft where it protrudes past the abrasive paper, to give it some strength. What you are trying to make is a crude version of the flap wheel in the attachment below.......only longer so they can be honed in place. https://www.zoro.com/dewalt-flap-wh...MI1sW-x9rB5AIVBpSzCh3VZA9GEAQYBiABEgKdAPD_BwE adjustable reamer
I was under the impression( by the posting) that it was a singular sector shaft bushing in a steering box and not king pin bushings also he needed just a touch more inside a 1 1/8 bore, How is a "BIG" hone going to work in that respect????
Early Ford boxes have two bushings.Inner/outer.A good machinist will,hone,and fit the steering sector shaft to the bushings for a snug,but free fit.
Yes, F-1 boxes have two separate bushings with a small gap between them. The new ones supplied are usually split, and just thin brass. Not steel backed and not very thick. Might be a good idea gluing them in with bushing loctite. And my machinist buddy has a hone in his home shop that's long enough to do both bushings at once. I'd bet any good automotive machine shop will have the same. About a half hour job for them.
I would check with your buddy to be sure he has stones long enough to pass thru both bushings at the same time when installed. My guess is that his stones won't be that long. If you locktite the bushings in place before asking, you may have a problem. Why not have him hone them individually for a slip fit and then install them and check how well they work? That way you can remove them easily if there is still a problem.The shaft may pull them into alignment when installed.
OK, Again going by the original post (because that the only thing we have to go by) He was looking for a small reamer or hone because the bushing(s) was a "LITTLE" tight. Maybe there is no local shop where he is at or they don't have a pin bore hone, Now what??? Reamers are expensive because if the bushings are split, the blades must be spirelled to avoid getting hung up on the split, and if you are not paying attention, easy to cut oversize when all you need is a couple tenths. 4 seconds with a brake hone or even a "Ball" hone might be all he needs, and will not miss-align them. Like so many posts, they ask a question and never reply or post again on the final result
Brake cylander hone worked just fine for me when I did this same converstion. As @dreracecar said, keep it lubed. He suggests ATF, I used brake cleaner.
Here is the thing......if he only needs a few "tenths" of a thousandth, a simple flaps wheel type of abrasive should be fine and cause no misalignment. Even if the bushings are honed prior to installation, there should be no problem if the bores they are installed in are in alignment. The problem comes when they don't align perfectly and someone continues to hone till the pin slips thru. It will still feel like a good fit, but may have minimal actual surface contact. It may still work fine, but may wear out more quickly. As far as a reamer goes, it is NOT for removing 2/10ths (machinist speak for two/ten thousandths) Any tool that cuts a chip must have a reasonable amount of material to cut in order to make an exact size. Then you can actually cut something to a precision size. If minimal metal will be removed (less than 1/2 a thousanth or 5/10ths), you pretty well have to rely on an abrasive to remove the material.
My buddy has the stones. He did my job just fine and it is fully honed so the contact is the same all the way around. Not "plenty of clearance", with only a few contact points remaining like the spring hone will give you. The reason I recommend the bushing loctite is because the previous set of bushings I installed wiggled. Not good to keep consistent clearances if the bushings turn in the bore. Maybe my housing was too large in the bore, or maybe lots are like that?
My buddy just screwed up a set of KP bushings with a brake cylinder hone. He had one of his guys in his shop do it and they made a mess of them and let them leave the shop without fitting the pins. It's a mess. You're looking for an Adjustable Blade Hand Reamer / Critchley Expansion Reamer and maybe a matching pilot. Most of the new ones you're going to have pop up when you look are made in China or India. There are plenty of good, old, used USA made ones on ePay from Sears, Craftsman, Montgomery Ward, etc.
Thanks for all the reply's here. It's always appreciated. What I did was weld a Model A frame mount to an F-1 box. I bought Model A bushings and find that they fit the model A flange OK but are to big to go into the F-1 side. You can press it in but it distorts it. The Model A bushing fit the sector shaft tightly like you would expect. They just don't seem to like the F-1 side of the box. I ordered a small honer from Summit and I purchased F-1 bushings as well. We will see this weekend what I come up with. Maybe a combo of Model A & F-1 bushings. The bushings are two piece like Alchemy correctly point out so maybe I need to use the Model A bushing in the Model A part and the F-1 bushing in the F-1 part. The steering sector I bought was a NOS Simpson from a 37 to 48 car which is identical to the pitted F-1 sector shaft that was i my housing. It came with brass bushings that are way to small for this application. Again thanks for the help.
I welded the flanged end of a 32 box to the cut off F-1 box. The ID of both of mine were the same. I actually have a 40’s passenger car sector in mine (same as the F-1 sector).
Greetings fellow racer and HAMBer!...I believe the hone being referenced is a connecting rod type hone . 1and an eighth is not uncommon in large tractor engines on the small nj of the rod.....
A little update....I bought a cheap honer at Summit (three stones) and slowly worked the F-1 part of the box to fit the Model A bushings. They slide in tight and fit my sector shaft perfectly. For the life of me the bushings that came with the sector shaft are so thin I just don't know how one could use them. Even if you glued them in. I certainly didn't. Thanks for all the help and I am on to the next step since this one is behind me. One step at a time right???
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