S1g

Tried to upload a phone video of the show on to you tube says it will take 163 minutes to upload a 4 minute video !!!

my internet would take me at least 4-5 hours to upload a video of that length. That's why most of my videos tend to be around 30 seconds or less. Even though bt has got a fibre optic box at the end of my garden they still won't let the villiage use it.

Heres a few photos

 

The last time I entered I was in the bottom hall and it was nice and warm, even the top halls had heat to a certain extent, but apparently its been ditched on cost grounds in the top two halls. Surely though they could of closed the doors and perhaps considered putting 50p on each entry ticket to cover the cost of space heaters again.

This time the very posh severn hall and the hall with the paying stall holders was heated.

Just got back from what on the whole was a good show, just very disapointed with the way in which the organisers didn't have any heat on in the marquee and top two halls and thought it was wise to open all the doors to let as much cold in as possible. I heard a lot of exhibitors and even some spectators saying it is to cold to go next year.

Congratulations to johnathan. Will see if I can get some photos to upload once I've finished unloading the truck.

Looks cold there boys

Nice display you have there gareth

Thankyou Nigel, I certainly wasn't cold by the time id finished unloading.

Took my display along this morning, heres a couple of photos of the set up day.

Met up with a few members, including Expeatfarmer and Stormin. (thanks again

Norman for the Baloon, James Loved it)

Looking forward to tomorrow., hopefully will get lots more photos.

Good to see you finishing the Gem projects Gareth! Would love another big project but space is my problem and prices for storage are outragious!!!

Ive decided its about time that I wrapped up these projects before my health gets worse.

Ive had quite a few in my day to day life as well that ive hopefully overcome now.

I haven't yet worked out where im going to store them yet, im sure I can allways squeeze

a couple more in my sheds, lol.

 

Thats a tidy restore! Nice welding too

 

Wish I could take credit for the welding, however I had someone do it for me, as at the time

my welder was broken. My welding is strong but not that pretty.

Hi pat, it's not a million miles away, however my painting standard has improved scince I did this one so it will be rubbed down and re sprayed again. The idea is to carry on with this one when I'm delayed on my 1943 gem.

This is my resurrected project that I started many years ago on tractorbox, but due to a number of issues never got finished. I purchased this machine in 2009 as a very good runner after wanting one for years. Overall it was very sound just needed lots of silly niggles sorting.

Here's where I'm up to with it, but some things are going to need improving on.

Another project that im going to be working on when im waiting for

paint to dry etc is my 1963 Series V Gem twin cylinder. Ive got about

half way, but its looking very dusty and sorry for itself at the moment.

Both machines are to be finished before next years tractor world.

20 years apart, in some ways they are very similar, yet in others very

different. Rather than get this topic muddled up ill start a new topic for this one when I get a chance.

I will be delivering my exhibits on Friday, should take a whole 35 minutes to get there. Lol.

I usually come round birmingham in the evening on the m6 without trouble. Avoid the toll section as it is quite expensive. You must really be looking forward to the show to travel that far.

That's nice, Gareth. I take it you no longer have it?

it's at the back of one of my sheds, there's a couple of things that I'd like to improve on, like a bit of slight pitting on the fuel tank that showed up under the artificial lights at t.w. I will perhaps dig it out one of the days, will need re commissioning as it hasnt run scince the show. She is a January 1968 kohler gem, one of the first made with this engine.

As tractor world is nearly apon us, I thought I'd post up a picture of my last gem that I rebuilt,at the show in 2011. Hopefully this new one should finish up about the same once completed.

That's a big lump.

The piston alone probably weighs the same as thr whole gem I'm rebuilding in this project.

...

Started building up the mag today, have soldered in a replacement coil,

also have given the exhaust a coat of high temp black paint. The valve

cover also received a coat of aluminium finish.

As an aside the last photo shows what ive been working on over the last

couple of days. The forklift should give an idea of scale. Once in its case

it will tip the scales at just under 4 tonne. The 4 main bolts cost £1400

each!

Been cleaning up the engine today. The ali was very tarnished in

places so after scotch clothing it, I etch primed it then sprayed it

with aluminium refinishing paint.

The barrel and head were also etch primed and then sprayed gloss

black.

Thought id make a start at the front of the machine with the engine.

First job was to remove the flywheel, then the fan housing. I ideally

would of liked to of remove the silencer, however it is fused to the

cylinder outlet in a big way! So instead had to remove the timming

chain cover and jiggle every thing off in one lump.

At first glance the piston doesn't look too clever, however previous

experience tells me that with a light polish and a hone of the cylinder

the engine will run just fine.

Will have to give the aluminium a big clean up tomorrow, then I can

start reassembling it all once ive obtained some more thin gasket paper

to remake a couple for the engine.

These shots are how the clutch and flywheel looked when I first split the engine off the gearbox. The early type clutches don't appear to have the locking wire like the later ones so will be reassembled with a good dollop of loctite on the threads to make sure.

Its good to see you back in the 'orange' Gareth

I thought I'd have a break for a bit. Was starting to see orange dots in front of my eyes lol. Will hopefully get this one done over the next year, and hopefully it will be almost as nice as your series 1.

Internet seems to be playing up again, seem to be struggling to upload pictures.

I'm sure it will end up as well done as your other projects have.  

Thanks for your vote of convidence. This one is going to be a struggle.

Heres a few of the present day photos, I made the mistake of stripping all the paint off it,

then after losing its dry storage at short notice, it went temporaily outside under a tarp, for

a couple of weeks, this then turned into a couple of years and the tarp blew off at some point

without me noticing it. The metal has gone even more rusty and the engine has suffered from

water ingression, fourtunatley it didn't sieze, but the mag is full of water so it has been drying

out for the past week in front of the space heater. The rear end was mostly beyond repair so

due to a shortage of space, this has lived outside any way.

Next to it is one of the last gems, (a Dowdeswell 650), even though nearly 50 years apart,

bar the handle bars and engine very little of the design has changed.

G621(no wheels) and G367, production started at G101, making both machines very early examples.

Due to my exhibits for Tractor World being all but ready, I thought I'd turn my attention to some of my backlogged projects. The one I've allways wanted to get finished is a very early type howard gem, with cycle type handlebars. Some of you may remember me starting it on tractorbox, however due to having a child, ongoing bad health( arthritis and shingles amongst others), plus quite a few issues in my day to day life, it ended up getting left under a tarpaulin. When I extracted it the other day, time had not been kind to it( I hold my hands up, guilty as charged) so I will have to basically start from scratch again.

My original early gem had an even lower serial number(g367 1942)however what ever way you look at it the old girl is beyond saving. To rebuild it would mean replacing about 95% of its parts so therefore it will sadly be a doner for this project.

This project was supplied new on 20/12/1943 to an A.J.Burgess in Cambridgeshire ( it would of been a very nice Christmas gift). I acquired it in October 2012, but unfortunately don't know anything about its history in its intervening period. When arrived the engine was still the original J.A.P but in a shocking state. The wheels, mag and exhaust had all gone AWOL, and the rear end was very rotten.

I will upload the photos to date later tonight when I'm by the PC as the iPad always makes it too hard.