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Here's the recut valve seat and the reground valves, The exhaust valve now sits a little lower in the seat due to the amount of material needed to be removed to get a un-pitted seat. The valve should be ok and not burn up! Here's the block, cylinder head and sump all painted in this 'lovely' shade of green, Linden Green!

Wasn't sure where to locate this, so as it will be 95% Metal, here's as good 'a' place as any. Wanted to use the spare Villiers Mk2 Midget Engine I am rebuilding to power something stationary?, but will also need to have additional cooling. I've been thinking about what I already have laying around in parts n materials I may need and started digging them out from various storage places. Blowing the Cobwebs from my memory, I recalled back in the early 90s salvaging some parts from a 1948 Ransomes Simms & Jeffries Lawnmower, namely 2 hefty brass bearings in Plates that carry a heavy lump of (rusty) cast iron that acted as a PTO Clutch, rpm increase Gear Box and stored a lot of inertia. The Mower itself was way past fixing up. Shame, as it had a large Starter Hand Crank, the likes of which I have never seen anywhere since. Anyway, I managed to recall where they were. There's 2 remote Screw Capped Oilers, an old Line Shaft Bearing block (5/8" bore) with Brass Screw Down Greasers. Length of Box section Steel and 15/16" AF high Carbon Steel. Also dug out some stubs of 1" and 5/8" AF Brass from my Garage Door Counter weights which turned out to carry several other useful bits. Previous owner/resident of my property (60s/70s) must have been a Turner judging by the very dusty tarnished evidence- The inside of this PTO Clutch is similar to a Diff which spins freely when drive is not engaged. A large Brake Band clamps the outer surface and the planet gears inside transfer the drive to the opposite shaft at a 5:1 increase in RPM. I plan for it to act as a speed reduction unit and PTO Clutch. Condition inside is fairly good, considering there was water amongst the old grease. I need to make new heavy bushings, fit new bolts and machine the outer friction face which is pitted, but still has the 'Witness' and number marks Stamped in by the guy who first assembled/finished it- . My main intention on this project is to refresh my limited familiarity with Lathe and metalwork practices on a fair amount of old Brass, Copper, Bronze and Steel parts. I'll be using BSF, Whitworth and BSP thread forms , and I won't be in any particular hurry to finish it, so please bear with me, as even I don't know what it is to look like yet! .

Yesterday I collected my Jacobsen built Ford 100 from Chard in Somerset. The owner, Tony, gave me the background on the Ford as referred to below: "I have what I believe to be the only Ford 100 imported into the UK . It has a mower deck, beltdrive rotorvator, bulldozer blade, and most of the bits of a trailer plough.The story I had back in the late 60's was that "it was sent for evaluation as a saleable item and used by the then boss of Ford UK. He found it too small for his needs so traded it in with a local tractor dealer for something larger. They were supposed to remove all the Ford markings before re-selling it, but they left them on!" My late father bought it. It was in use as a grass cutter for many years by my late father who passed it on to me when he moved to smaller housing. I used it either for grass cutting or rotorvating, but it has been stored now many years with only one minor attempt at renovation 7 years ago. I have no further use for it and I guess I want to sell it, but I would rather it goes into the hands of someone who can properly restore it, maybe that means it needs to return to the USA?" He carried out a light rejuvenation of it in the 70s as detailed below: "If this turns out to be successful attached are some old pictures I took abaou 20years ago before my last attempt at refurbishment. The decals, from a ford 2000 were added in the 1970's following a repaint and DO NOT really suit this old lady, hey I was a lot younger then. in my refurb I made a new seat can cover. not easy and could not source the rib moulded material, but looks MUCH better than the ragged old one. The off road tyres were a 1970's purchase when I hoped to get some 12" rims adapted to suit the hubs and gain more grip for the plough. project submerged by marriage failure. The potato ridger was added to the plough frame from a merrytiller and is not original. For some reason I dont seem to have pic of the rotovator but the drive/attachment mechanism is in the third pic along with the plough attachment. The original exhaust was side delivery but this vertical one (now defunct) and a later one now added, though awful to a purist somehow make it look more macho." I contacted the vendor and agreed to meet up in late August and a deal was struck. He was keen that it went to an enthusiast. Yesterday I collected it and drove it up the ramps onto my pickup after it was jump started. It is the first time it moved under it own power for 7 years. Previously prior to that some 30 years ago, as mentioned above, it was fired up and back in the 70s it was given a fresh coat of paint to freshen it up. The decals are from a Ford 2000. Today I unloaded it and gave it a good wash whilst assessing what needs doing. I pumped up the tyres, grease the suspension and to drive and cleaned the plug. My plan is to give it a service (oil change, air filter, spark plug, drain the tramission oils,replace the fuel line etc) and buy a battery. It's missing a belt guide on one side but it's all there and original ( apart from the stack exhaust). The Ford is based on the Jacobsen Chief model from that era. I will be picking up the Ford Tiller and front bulldozer plough in a few weekends time. Ford 100 on collection Ford 100 washed and given a quick grease up with tyres pumped up. Surprisingly a solid lump of metal.

At least if it's only you at the show Alain there won't the normal long que for the toilets which is normally found at shows I wish it was that easy over here, I hate getting insurance just in case someone manages to trip over a big red machine that you can't miss! I hate having to pay for someone elses stupidity!

They won't be junked Richard. Just need time to go through the rest of the tools to see what is still usable before listing here or possibly on eBay.

My wife took this video of herself grabbing a Cicada bug. Kind of funny so I thought I'd share it.

A nice find Andrew.. And its good to see something different

It's my guard kitten Norm, Tiddles stops the pixies from pinch my swarf Well I had to cut him in half so I had a flat surface for gluing him to the ad board (No Kittens, ad boards, bandsaws or tubes of glue were harmed during the typing of the above)

I've just caught up with this, Glad you decided the engine is rebuildable Darren.. Your not hanging about with the rebuild are you

I'm having my own show next Saturday, so I am cleaning and washing the tractors anticipating a big crowd of Me, Myself, and I. Giving the 1978 Ariens GT14H a little spin, Snow melts and dirt hides when it see this Ariens

The C-121 (Black Horse) has been standing idle for a while, awaiting a damage hub having a new key way cut. That done and hub back on, everything seemed to work as it should. Except when starting the engine. Or I should say, trying to start the engine. All that happened was the solenoid made strange noises. Flat battery? Check and fully charged. Solenoid only just over a year old but gave it a tap anyway. Nothing happened. Bypassed it. Nothing. Touching a wire from battery live to starter motor, spun the motor and turned the engine. All earths and battery terminals cleaned up with emery cloth and tightened. Still nothing. By now I was running out of ideas so what could I try? Now the battery leads do not have clamps on the ends. Eyelets held to the terminals with hex head self tapping screws. I know, not the best of ideas, but been ok for well over a year. Anyway, I'll put new screws in thinks I, even though the existing ones hold things tight. New screws and washers later, normal service was resumed. Pity I didn't change the screws in the first place, but who'd have thought it?. Terminal clamps WILL now be procured at the earliest opportunity.

I like the "over centre" type clamps that Countax and Westwood used to use when they had pillar type batteries. Easy to whip off in an emergency - no tools required.

The fault was with the screws going into the terminals, Alain. Though tight they musn't have been making good contact with the terminal. Maybe the type of coating on the screw threads. From silver, they'd turned black.

Had the exhaust valve seat recut today, ground the valves in, honed the worst of the damage from the bore, then stripped, cleaned and primed the block. Found some original paint in a inaccessible part of the sump, so took this down to the local paint supplier and had some of this green mixed up. The closest match is a colour called "Linden Green"

Whats public liability insurance, our laws do not rquire any such regulation. You come, you go, what happens in between is between you and God

Thats a fast paint job Andrew!! Thats a good machine. I swear there was another one like this on ebay a while back. It made strong money

Have anyone got a Kohler belt guard like the one pictured (black) available ? If you do please contact me via PM. Thanks.

The problem was that Ian put the cat in my workshop norm , like in my bandsaw

You really shouldn't let that kitten get so close.