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Morning all, a bit more progress on the lathe bench even if it is slow progress... Well, every things so heavy you see In order to bolt the lathe down I needed a couple of big thick steel plates (or so I thought!), but as I didn't have any it was time to slice up some of this nice 1/4" thick angle and do some welding.. You can never have too many clamps Welded.. The almost finished plates.. As somehow the drip tray is a bit warped the lip was left on the plates so it could be carefully ground down to level the plate up.. Can you spot why I just wasted a lot of time? The lathe has small feet thingys where the bolts go through which means I only needed a couple of small plates rather than the full feet length one I had just made!! Oh yes, and there's the small matter of a foot long crack in the tray!! Not much I can do about this other than drilling small holes at each end of the crack to stop it spreading (done) and sealing the crack up with something to stop it leaking.. (Not done yet!) Yes the crack does go right through.. Big electric motors... For those time your legs are just not long enough Lot's and lot's of drilling later (thanks Nigel and Rob ) the lathe and tray was bolted down to the bench and I could think about how to mount the pulleys and motor.. This WH chassis looks like it could come in handy With the chassis flipped around an easy solution presented its self.. The chassis will be hinged where it makes contact with the lower bar on the bench to adjust the tension on the top belt and make it easier to change speeds.. I have the mounting plate for the motor which will be hinged off the chassis to make it easy to tension the main drive belt.. Were see how far I get today

Makes it easier to move with the digger., didn't take that long to cut up and thanks for your help Alan.

Don't just take a chainsaw, take a mini digger as well. Chris was busy today earning extra brownie points. Anything to keep Pam off his back. Plus, the more wood taken home, the less chance of Pam seeing the red bits hiding behind in the wood store. Apart from the sawn up tree, ( still another chunk to be recovered ), a large quantity of other wood also found it's way into the Sprinter.

Probably one of the truest statements that I've ever read. Years ago I gained a bit of a reputation locally as a Gx Honda guru, ( before all the Chinese stuff got about)people used to ask me what my secret was in sorting out so many problem engines and I said there was none, simply pop the head off,de coke, grind the valves in, new plug and air filter plus fresh fuel and then 99% of them would be sorted. It was rare that I had to delve deeper,usually took less than two hours from start to finish.

Hello Ray, Just to say that I fully agree with the advice offered re Valves etc, as I'm an advocate of pulling the head off of any engine I get irrespective of condition and give the Top End a good going over. The result is very few issues with starting and running. Only other thing to mention is that the 'Sooty' appearance of the Exhaust emission is usually caused by Over Rich Fuel settings, it will also retard your chances of an easier start. The 'Book' says the INITIAL Needle Valve setting on a 5hp Pulsa Jet/Vacu Jet Carb is 1 1/2 turns from a gently closed position. It is further adjusted (finely) to obtain the best running setting. This is assuming the Needle Valve Tapered end is not damaged or worn. Check your Plug gap is 0.030". Lastly, even if your Carb setting is correct, if your Air Filter is tatty and clogged up, then your fuel mixture becomes Rich. Always worth replacing it and servicing it regularly. Let us know how you get on. Regards.

Certainly good valve sealing and adjustment is the basis of a sweet running engine. Don't just do the exhaust, I've found that the thirty degree inlet vales on 5hp BS engines seem to suffer a bit and benefit as much from a re- seat as much as the supposedly harder worked exhaust. Quite often poor starting on 21s and Ospreys was down to nothing more technical than throttle cable adjustment not applying the choke fully. Back in the day it did seem that the standard fit throttle control only had just enough throw to give both full choke and stop. Couple that with a bit of wear and slop in the pivot of the lever on the carburettor throttle plate and it was a choice of one ore the other but not both. We would often set them up for a reliable full choke and fit a handle bar mounted kill switch to look after stopping.

Carrying on with the build up...

I think that's a great little machine. Very original concept.

The Loafer at the Meet and Greet at the South Downs Heritage Centre today...