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Extracted the engine from the frame today, the one av rubber snaped, but apart from that it lifted out fairly easily, just very heavy for its size of 10 hp. I also removed the oil cooler in the hope that I would find a date on it, unfortunately the label has gone awol. Jcb didn't bother replying to my request for information on the year of my machines, but reading the serial number Ive come to the conclusion its probably from 1983.- Older than my wife! Under the oil cooler housing I found yet more confirmation that this machine is supposed to be yellow. Unfortunatley the exhaust is rotten on the bottom, does anyone have a spare please? Also does anyone have any thoughts on how I can clean the aluminium up on the block as its very corroded.

Thankyou for the compliment, however there is a couple of ripples left in it. For painting it I just used a can of vw alpine white from halfords, I wouldn't say there was anything better to the finish to what you archived with your wheel horse.

Whilst I'm soaking the Beaver II in freeing oil I thought I'd make some progress with the Solite. All the bolt on parts have now been overhauled, unfortunately some haven't come up quite as nice as I would of liked, however they are not too bad and will surfice until better replacements turn up, which may be some time as Parts for the G400 Honda seem to be very hard to locate, not suprising really though as it was discontinued 30 years ago. Just waiting on a decal for the air shroud. Now that the head is off the bore can be seen to be in very good condition, just a little glazed. I would say this machine has done very little work in its life.

Also make sure it isn't below freezing as it was the first time I tried it, made the rubber very hard.

Buy a set of cheap tyres levers off ebay snd do it your self,quite easy with a bit of practise.

I've moved worse, I'm hoping after some soaking a blast with the impact gun will shift them.

Thanks Richard, there's nothing particuarly complicated about hydraulics, but they can just get very expensive. The hammers will be a learning curve for me too as allthougth I repair breakers mounted on excavators daily, I've never done a hand held one yet.The health issues are getting me down, however things can only get better. For the frame I've got a couple of thoughts using the press and some tube along with a blow lamp.

Today I got the head off, the engine looks in pretty good condition internally, just quite a bit of carbon. The valves have been reground and ive now decoked it. Also the exhaust studs have been soaked in freeing oil in the hope I can remove them intact.

Today is the first day in a few weeks that ive felt well enough to carry on with this project. Ive stripped the engine down and got as far as the head,now ive got to find out my special spanner that I adapted years ago to enable the head to be removed without taking the exhaust off because the nuts are blocked in by the oil tank/fan housing on most power packs. Somebody has already moved the fan along the crank and because it has been exposed to the elements for so long its again fused itself together. For some reason this fan doesn't have any threaded holes(as every other one ive seen does) to attach the puller to so may be intresting to get it to move again! Now the engine is out of its frame I can see just how much work there is going to be returning this machine to factory. The axle support hole has gone on the one side, theres also some bad bends in the chasis that will take quite a bit of straightening. Plus the engine support bar has been crudely beefed up with some angle iron, even on the latest models this part is very prone to distorting. Ive sourced a piece of 20mm bar and a new set of 5" wheels to sort the axle out, and ive also turned up a couple more manuals for my collection.

Got to admit I wouldn't mind owning one.

It got a lot of attention all the time I was there.

Popped along to my local show today, heres a few photos.

Allthough unintentional, Ive now acquired a number of old power packs, so rather than the thread get mixed up I felt it is more appropriate to do a separate topic for each one. This is my Beaver II power pack that I collected yesterday morning. Basically the problem with the Beaver 1 was that the frame was just not up to the job, so after only 2 years in production in 1988 a much more substantial version was introduced. Having said that this one has suffered quite a bit in the frame department, with a few kinks and the axle is missing altogether. Also someone has dismantled the hydraulic side and lost some of the parts. I plan on getting at least 3 of my packs frames sorted so I can spray them all together.

Warning! Never look at ebay when you're bored! I was browsing the other night, whilst waiting for the missus to get ready and accidentally bought this beaver 2. In my defence it was very cheap. Should be picking it up on Saturday.

I have in the past had some good deals, however 9 times out 10 these days you seem to get messed about. One thing that really doesn't help is ebay has the assumption that the buyer is allways right, at least that's how it seems, plus their fees are starting to get extortionate. In the past I've had people buy a car with chasis leg ripped off in an accident recokoning they were going to drive it home, and I've also put at the top of the listing in big red letters that under no circumstances could I pack the item for a courier, and what happened, yes you've guessed it. My days of selling on there are over.

Reduced to £25 to make space.

Does anyone else? I've just"sold" my howard 300 on there, and the winning bidders just left me an answer phone message saying that he thought the line sold strictly as a non runner meant it was a runner?!?! It's not the first time this has happened on there either. Perhaps I should go back to school and take English again because I'm buggered if I can think of any other way to describe it! Any other thoughts where I can sell some of my machines as I'm getting desperate for space.

After being constantly let down by the lad from work (my fault for paying him in advance)- I finished stripping all the paint off the compacts frame myself, just need to grind back the weld that holds the mesh in place, straighten then re weld. I also today collected the Panther Power Pack, (involved a 200 mile round trip) but very happy as it starts first pull. The plan is to take a couple of the better engine parts off this and fit to the solite, then redo afterwards. Does anyone have any thoughts on how to clean up the top frame please?

All I did today was to make and weld in another av rubber support bracket. just got to slightly adjust the profile so they match each other.

Thankyou for the compliment. I'm off work for a week from tonight so progress may slow down for a bit.

Been doing some more piping up on the beaver, at least at work we have a crimping machine so I don't have to pay for hoses. Just need to sort out some jublie clips for the low pressure hoses and then I can give it a flow test. My new air filter cover also arrived today for the compact. All I need to do now is to find an elbow to match it.

Been cleaning up the pump on the beaver today, then started to sort out some of the hydraulic connectors. Lastly I repainted and refitted the power on demand valve.

As the Beaver and Compact are getting closer to being finished, I thought i'd start to take a look at the Solite today, in case I need to source any hard to find parts.Partially dismantling it, Ive also come to the conclusion that it was originally painted yellow, and received its white coat not that long after it was made, companycolours perhaps? Any way to help balance my display out I will be returning it to the original yellow.Going through my parts Ive dug out a new oil cooler, plus found a couple of other parts to improve the cosmetic apperances. With the cover off you can see its theexact opposite of the Beaver, The whole frame is built very robust, probably why it is so dam heavy! Also maybe out of stupidity Ive just purchased a Panther madepower pack that uses the same G400, as it was the main completion for the JCB at the time I would like to also restore this one, however I may end up having to use it for spares in order to complete the JCB, time will tell.

Just remember that jcb got there first! Lol. One thing that I didn't like on the compact is the air filter cover, at present I'd fitted a Chinese one, but the design is slightly different. Genuine honda ones have also been changed, was very pleased when I spotted a new old stock one on ebay last night.

17,4 Just a few updates,got the compacts frame dismantled ready for the chap to strip the paint. I also did some work on its engine,- a decoke and valve regrind, I fitted the original chrome cover to a later exhaust off a GX 160 (black cover), painted up the air shroud and recoil, sorted out a good condition badge, and oil alert switch. Also fitted a brand new old stock fuel tank and a new air filter assembly.