Leaderboard

About 3yrs ago I acquired a rather sorry '75 Raider 10. A none runner but complete. I got it going but it only ran briefly before stopping and refused to restart. After the usual spark and fuel test, and having no cover on the flywheel I tried to turn it over by hand. Turned one way but locked up the other. Off with the head and the piston was at the top of the bore. Pressed down on the piston and down it went with no resistance. Yes, you've guessed it, broken rod. On stripping the engine I found the sump had quite a lot of sludge in it. When the oil was last change is anyone's guess. So most likely that was why the rod broke. Anyway, the engine has been sitting completely stripped on a shelf and the rest of the tractor stripped and in a heap in a corner. This morning I thought it was about time I did something about the engine. The crankshaft has been checked and is fine. So is the bore. So I did the valves and started cleaning up other parts. Finally the turn of the head. The gasket was still attached and had to be pried off with a scraper. No wonder really, as it was stuck to the head with SILICONE. So out with a piece of plate glass and sheet of 180 grit. The first photo shows the start of fattening the head. The second after about 2hrs.   I did bit more after the last photo' and it looks a bit better. There's still a bad patch at the bottom between the two bolts holes, but most of the rest is mainly clear. I'll finish it of tomorrow and order rod, rings, seals and gaskets next week.

A bit more than I could deal with without finding more large tooling like bending rolls and a larger welder Norm. A long search for the correct size may be the only way. I reckon sorting the mower will be quicker. Not sure if it was worth the wait for people, but hope it is seen for what it's worth. An overdue update which has established the drive chain dilemma and now has at least linked the Counter Shaft to the engine, so it can be turned over with the handle. Also, I mentioned I was not happy with the badly worn split bushing that holds the Armature plate on the engine's crankshaft bushing. Marathon job for me, machining it from 40mm solid EN8 bar. Pressed out the old one- Careful measuring so the new one fits as well as the old one and the bore finished undersize (0.9970") to fit the crank bushing with an interference fit- Loads of swarf later, moved it to the Mill still in the chuck to put the first slit in- Could not see why the slit needed to be as wide as the original, so kept it 1/32" (.8mm) and back on the Lathe for parting off- I could then fit it in a machine vise for the second slit and pressed it back into the plate- I bottled out in the end and replaced the HT Coil - Points wire just to be sure, so was now confident that it was as good as I could get it Mag- wise. The Armature Plate went back onto the engine as planned, a good interference fit with zero movement on the bushing before tightening the securing screw. Final check/clean and the flywheel replaced to set the points gap and timing and the anxiety was building. I knew the magnets were reasonable and had 'Keepers' fitted while work was done. So had no excuses left and started to check for a spark. First few cranks of the handle produced nothing, then next turns, spotted a few faint, inconsistent sparks. I knew the mag needed to be re-energised and could take a while. That was last week. Today, I set to it again and more cranking and checking. Finally, the sparks were more consistent and brighter, but not sure if strong enough. Went for it and primed the cylinder with some petroil, shoved the original Spark plug in. Cranked it up with the De-comp open, then closed it and it fired up briefly !!!. So after over 80 years, the old Villiers has a pulse and a brief mechanical heartbeat. Next week, I'll hope to run it for longer and get some heat into it. It will be a while before I can run/drive it....nothing to hook it up to yet.

Tractors all ready to go. Got camping gear out of storage. Just got to fill up the Disco with diesel. Get petrol for the tractors. Food. And last but not least a few bob. Load up tomorrow and good to go early Friday morning.

Finally got it finished today. It's probably take something like 5hrs total. Worst bit was the patch in the first photo'. With a straightedge across you could see daylight. The second photo' is how it looks now. I decided to temporary fit the head just to keep things together, till I get the parts I need. That is when I found another PO's bodge. One of the head bolt holes by the exhaust valve, has been tapped out the 3/8th UNC. Plus the bolt used is slightly longer with a longer shank. Not much I can do about the hole, but the bolt I will cut down to the length of the others and run a die down the shank, to get the same amount of thread. I get any parts from Meetens, Preston, Lancs. I've found them very good and help full.

Wow that head was a mess but it looks like you are doing a great job with it. Do you buy your Kohler parts in the UK or in the US?