You can not have a steam engine without a whistle!!!
My good friend Frank testing the valve action.
Lets start at the beginning.
About the second thing I bought on E-Bay after I signed up for the Lyka process was a steam whistle. I paid too much, got a hand made but still serviceable two-chime made out of copper. It also included the whistle control valve and handle. That was worth the price I overpaid for the whistle.
4 Years later - The car is done, and I want a whistle. But I decide I want to show it off visually as well as audibly. So I go out and buy a pretty 4-Chime Brass unit from the UK.
It has a 1/4" solder connection so it will fit in great with the rest of the tubing system. Back when I was plumbing the boiler I made the decision to rework the runs to the pressure switch and the gauge. I chose to loose the metric sized tubing as I needed to supply some of the missing pieces, so instead I converted it all to 1/4" copper with compression fittings.
I also rummaged thru my junk drawer and found a brass bracket and fashioned a band that would allow me to mount to the front panel. I used a little JBWeld to secure the band, just to keep it from moving.
The injection point for the whistle is a compression T inserted in the Switch/Gauge line. I chose a point at the top of the initial loop right before the tubing turned to head off to the pressure switch. I routed the tubing over the top of the right cylinder and then down on the far side of the left one.
This brought raw steam down to the front of the engine, and I worked hard to find a place where I mount the whistle valve. The biggest issue was the strength of the spring in the whistle valve, and I found a way to mount it so I could reach back with my heel and press down.
The other issue was that the valve was 3/8" and the tubing was 1/4" so there were some other demands to be met. I ended up with multiple adapters.
The little red handle is for a ball valve to allow for a restriction to control the amount of steam allowed into the whistle valve. The max pressure of 265 PSI is just too much for the whistle to handle.
I made a brass plate and anchored the outlet port and then used a metal zip tie around the lubricator to stabilize the motion when the green valve handle was pressed down.
The outlet points down and has a reducer down to the 1/4" inch tube size. The tubing drops down about 5 inches and then heads over to the side of the car and turns forward along the edge of the frame.
Once the tubing clears the front edge of the fuel tank, I added a cover to the tube, just to look cooler. Then the tube curves up to the underside of the whistle.
Another look in the pile found a bracket to add support to the flex tubing. Makes it very stable.
AND THE FINAL RESULT IS . . .
Finishing up the whistle, I wrapped the new piping in the same insulating wrap I used on other steam piping. I wanted to accomplish two things, one protect fingers, and second, conserve steam.
Improving the wrap of the boiler.
Heat - lots of it.
Sitting on top of the boiler with the engine panel off, you can really feel the heat. So much so that I have seen some of the electronics ( the relays controlling the lights) get cranky and stop operating when the engine panel is on.
I found a source for "muffler wrap" that is a dimpled aluminum with a layer of ceramic wool. I used it to start the insulation process earlier, but still had some parts that only had the original cladding from STW. I used large stainless steel zip ties to add two large pieces, one panel in the front between the steam outlets, and another larger one wrapping the rear, from side to side.
The front panel in place.
That wraps up the whistle installation. You might have noticed that the hand pump is missing from the rear cavity. I will discuss that in the next post.
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