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The very start bits and bobs everywhere, chaos. In the background line shafting, a Fowler 1PA and at the very back another Lister 'A'. Behind the bike handlebars on the right is the head, this got liberally greased up inside the bore, then the piston with new rings shoved in for safe keeping. That is a new big end bearing, I had that made up for me; that was beyond my capabilities but I did end up turning a new small end bearing out of phosphor bronze. At the very top right the mag, the rest is on that shelf I hope. The trolley beams were made from one bit of oak from a timber reclaim yard sawn lengthways to make 4x4 inch square sections. The wheels came from either Sodbury or Enstone (can't remember) bought as rough castings with no 'ole down the middle, the axles were made at evening class/club.
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The trolley looks promising now. The crankcase was just 'rested' on there to mark out the holes. The crank has new main bearings and was fitted, greased up and bagged to protect it some months ago - found under the bike just visible bottom of the previous picture. A petrol tank (placed on the rear), straps and mountings were homemade out of sheet copper recovered from an old water cylinder; the new ones are too thin and come covered in foam insulation. Franks tanks supplied the fuel tap and built in filter, the other fittings were unsoldered off an old and squished petrol tank.
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The crankcase is mounted but the main effort has been the cooling tank mounting box. A metal frame was made (visible painted in 'red lead') and the wooden strips bolted on with coach bolts. The bottom of the tank rests in those grooves made with a router on the end of a bit of rope. The modern equivalent of creosote has been liberally painted on, I quite like the smell but it ruins clothes - probably find it's not as good but far less cancerous.
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Valve guides, followers, push rods etc. greased fitted and timed to TDC - easy to see the crank at the moment with no head. The timing gear had a tooth missing and an auction site provided another second hand. Interesting to see what must have stopped the engine working years ago, part of a bolt from the breather was recovered (and missing tooth) from the bottom of the oil and gunge, this had a nice chunk taken out. Better view of that petrol tank too, on top is a homemade gasket ready for fitting once that face has been cleaned of over enthusiastic painting. That head in the background next job, this has had new valve guides pressed in and a good couple of hours grinding in those valves.
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A small, (cleaned out) recycled oil drum was pressed into service; the mounting rods were heated and beaten into shape blacksmith style, at the top they curl over to catch the top lip and they are threaded at the bottom. Must have done something right as that lower pipe on the tank is slightly higher than the engine one.
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The next two were taken together after great progress following a day off - always helps as the weekends seem to fill up. The water tank is plumbed in now and the carb is on plus petrol pipes, although that fuel tank paint finish is giving problems - taken off again here. Both flywheels added and governor seems to work, well when operated by hand anyway.
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Magneto on and timed up, it even has a good spark. Impatience getting the better now - with a bit of old wire for a plug lead and some petrol poured in the top of the carb I get a few farts at least.
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Got it going for about 20 seconds, then I realised it was spitting all its water out, and what a noise. Those beams are old oak at least 3inch square but seem to have some 'give' in them somewhere; the engine and tank need to be closer together, perhaps the wheels moved in more towards the centre - some experimenting required. The height of the 'waves' gets slowly worse so something is resonating at the same speed as the engine. That tank is on a solid metal frame also supported with wood, you can't feel any play or movement.
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Looks more like it. |
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By using a car jack under the centre of the beam the violent shaking seemed to be completely cured, it must be flexing in the middle. The engine ran for several hours as I tinkered with the mixture, found and fixed some small leaks. The bits of angle iron (40x40) on the floor are going to be bolted to the inside of the wooden bearer, shouldn't be seen too much and will provide extra rigidity.
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