S1g

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.

Spent nearly 3 hours today fitting the rear rotor covers. Am a little disappointed with the quality of fit considering how much they cost. Took a lot of fettling to get lined up properly. Even had to resort to taking a grinder to it. Got the final decal from titch fitted and the Brass plate I had made a while ago. The chain was tensioned and instead of oil I used Pecker grease as I have on other Gems, its very messy stuff but saves the risk of leaks.

With a view that it wont hopefully be long till the old girl is ready for running, I decided to sort out the magneto. Heres where I hit a bit of a problem. Only Bth mags will fit these early J.A.P's due to the angle of the chain drive and thus clearance under the carb inlet. The only one I could find was in the hedge across the yard on a scrap engine. A mate of mine had a look and thinks it will be ok, it sparks now at least. Just needs a bit more cleaning up before fitting. Ive never timed up one of these before so should be intresting.

After the paint had a couple of days to set I started building her back up. With the selector rod refitted and adjusted I'm pleased to report all 3 gears and neutral seem to select. I painted the black bits on the various levers and fitted the closest match to the original handle grips that I could find.

A couple of weeks ago I finaly felt up to doing some more work on the old girl. I fitted a N.O.S oil filter that I obtained a few years ago. The starting handle pivot was freed up by getting it very hot. I also prepped and sprayed most of the small fittings. I hadn't been very happy with finish obtained on the rotor shields etc so these were re rubbed down and given another top coat. One of the missing parts on this Gem as mentioned was the chain cover. Early Gems had plain chain covers, going through my store I had a sound but battered one, so as they are like hens teeth I spent days straightening it and smoothing back the filler.

I lost most of June and over half of July due to a combination of having some time off work and also not enjoying the best of health. However the one thing that I did manage to do is to apply the truly excellent decals that Titch from Machinery Decals sent me. Thankyou so much Titch, they really lift the appearance of the Gem.

Heres the rotor shaft and shields painted.Sorry for the poor quality, they were taken on my phone.

Thanks for the information, i'll check it out.

Next up was the rotor shaft. Yet again a new bearing was needed. Most of the blades are a recent replacement however Ive managed to obtain a N.O.S set of genuine Howard blades, rather than the Dowdeswell ones that are available now. Note how the rotorshaft is almost the same as the earlier Howard Junior, rather than the more common gem type. Howard must of been using up old stock on these early machines. I purchased a new set of Rotor shields a couple of years back off Standen Engineering. I paid more for them than I paid for this whole machine! The rear soil flap wasn't used on these early machines and they both needed extensive modifying to look like the correct type, with pieces being let in and the seems being welded up.

The handles were refitted, very difficult job to do on your own with fresh paint. I also fitted a new rotorchain, normally I try to salvage one off a scrap Gem, however as this is such an historically special machine I felt only a brand new one would do. This machine is starting to get expensive.

At this stage I had reached the middle of May. Work started on the jackshaft and rotorshaft plate. The rotorshaft bearing took over 2 hours to remove! Even our 75 tonne press wouldn't shift it, lots of banging and swearing followed. But as a pleasant surprise it was a common metric one so only cost a few pounds. After fitting new bearings and seals it was rubbed down and resprayed along with the oil filter housing.

The main frame required a lot of work as it was suffering from heavy rust. After wire brushing down and treating with rust killer it was built up with weld, ground back and skimmed in filler. This took about a week to do. The fuel tank was actually in quite reasonable condition and only needed a light skim of filler. The intresting thing is it has the outlets welded on the other side to normal meaning that it has to be fitted back to front. Was this deliberate or a cock up in the factory? that due to shortage of materials means it had to be sent out as it was?

Wheels refitted, these again came off G 367. The locating plates have been blacked. These early Gems even used different retaining springs to the later ones. As luck would have it I had enough to make up a full set in my store. The air filter was also overhauled. Boy didn't the brass plate take some work to clean up!

I was now up to the end of April. A forklift proved a god send assisting with lining up the engine and gearbox. As you've probably seen in the other photos the gearbox flange was broken. As cast is hard to successfully weld, after recommendations I used J-B Weld to bond it in place. Then after rubbing down and prepping a respray followed. For the first time in nearly a month I actually felt like I was actually making some progress.

My next job was the engine. These early Gems were fitted with J.A.P's from the factory. The factory records confirmed that this was still the original one so I have done my best to save what I can. When purchased it was seized solid. A full strip down followed and I couldn't see any reason as to why it was? Anyway it now turns freely. The engine had already been bored to + 060" and was in a bad state. Its only the cylinder and piston that I have changed on the internals the rest is original. A lot of elbow grease followed and I don't think it came up to bad.