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Wow! I wish I had the time and mind set to put that much work into my engines. I'm just about to start rebuilding a kohler magnum and hope to get it half as good as your k series.

Thank you Richard. Yes I've had running but it still needs a little bit of running in as every bearing is new im pleased to say all the gear select properly with now funny noises which is a relief after having had every piece out of the box and no workshop manual to aid assembly and the design of the missing items.

Thanks for the compliments, it's been a lot of work ( and expense) but at least it's another one saved.

Here's a shot will get some better ones once the final detailing is done.

This gem is now all but finished, if anyone is interested it will be at tractor world in a couple of weeks time.

Also does anyone know how I can desiphre the serial number to get a date as the engine one has been painted over.

Just purchased one of these locally to me. It looks a bit rough but runs sweet. Does anyone have a copy of the manual particularly the workshop manual or something covering wiring diagrams and the transaxle please? Does the axle need oil or is it sealed for life? Many thanks if you can help.

A bit like Hoover for vacuum cleaners and Wacker for plate compactors.

Arthur Clifford Howard started in Australia, ( I do have the dates somewhere) then in the 1930,s moved to the uk and set up Rotary Hoes Ltd with a Captian Griffiths. The Australian company kept going I believe as a separate concern. In the 1960,s Howard bought out the manufacturer of Clifford and for a short time the company was called Howard-Clifford. Then the name reverted back to Howard Rotavators. In 1985 the company went into receivership. The most famous rotavator the gem stayed in production by Dowdeswell as the 650 until 1997.

Heres a few shots of the handles reunited with the gearbox. Also after all the effort I put into saving the original engine with G206 Ive decided to do the same with this Gem. The engine earlier on in the project only contained a few parts of the original but ive now sorted out my bits and bar the cylinder again I hope to save most of it. The one shot shows 3 out the 4 units that I had just put into my industrial parts washer. Bet there cant be many in Britain with so many in it at once. The fuel tank has been cut open to allow me to do a proper job on repairing it. As only 1944 and earlier Gems used this type of tank I just hope I can do a nice job of welding it back up. For safety I made sure that I burnt the tank out then steamed it before putting a grinder near it. The final shot shows what must be contamination in the original casting. They may of been quality at a later date but as mentioned before during the war materials were in such short supply that a lot of castings would of rivalled todays cheap Chinese imports in terms of sub standard finish.

Heres the photos, not totally happy with the finish on the tool box so this will be redone.

There is and one effing big one as well now.

Thought I'd try burning it out, however that just made it worse so its time for drastic measures!

There's an old version of one of those trailers in our yard, problem is it's so heavy that you are restricted these days what you can actually put on it and still stay legal. Very handy for loading though.

Some times though the price is irrelevant, it's more important that something like this is preserved and shown to the public .You've done a fantastic job getting back up and running, is there no way you could move it about? Would it be within the lifting capability of a high ab on a trailer? ( I've no idea what these would weigh).

On my Howard gem I've just got the tank back from the blasters and there a couple of small holes in the bottom. I've got some por15 sealant, however when I came to clean the tank ready I noticed that somebody has already been in there before with sealant and unfortunately it's started to crack and lift in some places. Does anybody have any thoughts as where to go from here? Do I just poor the por15 over the top? Or how can I go about removing it?

On my Howard gem I've just got the tank back from the blasters and there a couple of small holes in the bottom. I've got some por15 sealant, however when I came to clean the tank ready I noticed that somebody has already been in there before with sealant and unfortunately it's started to crack and lift in some places. Does anybody have any thoughts as where to go from here? Do I just poor the por15 over the top? Or how can I go about removing it?

Just received a call today off the blaster, my frame and a few odds are ready, he must be going out for a drink tonight as he's panicking for me to go and collect them today and pay him!

Managed to get all the orange finally painted, just a bit of black now left. Will try and get the photos on later.

Finaly got the timing set up today after nearly a week of trying! I ordered some new pullers to try and get the sprocket off the mag, but no matter what I tried, NO! Simply wouldn't shift. In the end using some brute force on the drive on the cam end I got the bottom sprocket off and used this instead to time everything up. Hopefully wont be to long till she fires up for the first time.

Hi pat, nice to see you back. Re the wheels, after putting up the photos of the wheels I've had quite lengthy discussions with people who were around when these machines were newish. There seems to be no definitive answer as to what wheels were used and when. The early type here I've used for the time being on g206, unless I can turn up another early set I may have to use the later type on this gem, it may not be incorrect anyway as by 1944 the later type were definatley in use on allmost all gems accept the very rare few that came with pneumatics in those days.

Whilst im waiting for a puller to arrive to set the timming on my other gem and with a view that the blaster may get round to doing the top frame sometime soon ( its only a week after he said it would definatley be ready at the moment) I wire brushed and etch primed the gearbox.

After the day I've had with this trying to get the timing right I can see why people smoke! No matter what I tried I couldn't get the timing spot on. After speaking to a friend he said I've got to remove the cog off the taper to get it right.Heres where I hit a problem, said cog will not shift! No matter what I do, it may as well be welded in place. Not a happy bunny as its been hours wasted. Also just found out I've got to be in Bristol for 7am to tighten up 2 hoses for a customer because he reckons he can't!!! Time to go to the pub.

Thank you for your words of encouragement . Ive been cleaning up some of the copper pipes and plumbing them in today. Ive also fitted the mag and set the engine to 1/4" B.T.D.C and marked it up. Tonight on the way home I bought a pack of rizzla's (Ive been told these are the best thing to use to tell when the points are just starting to open) and tomorrow morning if im awake enough ill have ago at setting the timming and fitting the chain.

Hi Richard the engine is approx 1946, I believe this was before villiers involvement, I'll double check the threads when I back at the unit but I'm sure it was 19, couldn't get any other of the thread gauges to match.