11/05/2026
Riga engine part two.
It didn't shift...it refused to shift..it locked somewhere half between the gears.
And its probably made for big Russian boots, the shifting action itself takes plenty of force, hard to do by hand. Which makes the search for the problem harder.
But I think I found the mistake, a mistake that is typical for these kind of very rare engines, which are in fact hand made piece by piece from a drawing. (I had exactly the same problem when I was rebuilding my Tatran racing engine)
The mistake is: parts from another similar engine.
After first examining the gearbox parts for unusual wear patterns or damages, which it didn't have, I finally found out it was impossible to slide an engaged gearwheel off the axle.
This should be possible.
Then I noticed the gears are actually new, never used, new old stock parts I guess.
But...the cutouts in the gearwheels for the balls are not deep enough (maybe 1/10mm) to combine with this blocking rod.
In the rare occasions it engaged a gear the whole thing then got stuck and needed brutal force to disengage again.
So I adjusted a few cutouts and the shape of the blocking rod.
Now it seems to work. Hurra 🥳
