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The finished Nash Boadicea powered by O&R got a photo in my article in the latest issue of LAGT...

After a long search I’ve finally found a round hood! It’s far from perfect but should be a nice little project. it came with the original engine (Tecumseh 6hp electric start) so first job is to get that running and fit it. It also came with the original deck so once the engine it back on I will source a new belt and see if I can get the deck working. I also need to try and source some different wheels and an original steering wheel.

Came home from a walk today and spotted this little fellow down the track. Helping himself from to some apples dumped there. Not seen any deer for quite some time. He's the second one I saw today. First was as I was walking round far off in a field

I took the flywheel off to clean the points. When I reinstalled the flywheel I was tightening the nut with about a 6" long combination wrench. Suddenly it didn't feel like it was tightening anymore or like something was yielding. I didn't know the torque spec but was nowhere near 90 inch lbs. Anyway I fired it up and it ran fine for a minute or so while I measured voltage and frequency and then the engine quit. I noticed the flywheel had slipped and sheared the aluminum key. After making the new key I reinstalled it and used my torque wrench, this time set to 90 inch lbs, and the stud broke at about 70 inch lbs. Examining the break, from the color I could tell it had been partially broken long before I got the generator. Since then I have drilled and threaded the crank for a stud. The crank seems to be hardened and is difficult to drill but I got sufficient depth to install the threaded stud. Tomorrow I'll probably try reinstalling the flywheel and running it again.

I would never consider using a steel flywheel key in a soft aluminum flywheel. It is just asking for trouble. It is common misconception that the flywheel key locks the flywheel to the crankshaft. That is not at all true. It only locates the flywheel for proper timing (in this instance). The taper on the crankshaft is what holds the flywheel in place. In olden days, racers would leave the key completely out of there hotrodded L head engines. As long as the flywheel was sufficiently tight you did not even need one. This allowed operators to change the timing of the engine to whatever their heart desired. Chris