expeatfarmer

At least today was productive, managed to bend up a new bumper out of steel strip fortunately I was able to take a template off 225. So started the day as a blacksmith and then spend many hours trying to figure out how the floorboards were meant to be. I thought I had gained some time by buying some part built sets from Neil only to realise that 137 had a totally different arrangement using two boards suspended under the cross shaft by four U bolts which I now have to make. I have made one complete board which required a lot of trial fitting and messing about, the second board is simply a mirror image so it should not take long to make that in the morning. Fortunately I had a couple of lengths of pitch pine ex church pew which are wide enough and thick enough.

Made the bumper, have nice new copper period HT lead and now working on the floorboards.

Thought it was too good to be true 137 would not start this morning, found a major air leak on the engine side of the carb through the slot which clamps the carb to the manifold, sealed that up ,still would not start, I have never had any dealings before with a Lucas magneto but looking at it I thought the cam ring in the clamp did not look right when you advanced the timing the whole ring moved outwards. The cam ring has a notch cut out of it to limit the advance retard which locates against a pin. When you move the running lever to 20 degrees advance the cam ring moved outwards and was obviously disengaged from the limit pin. I made some adjustments to the advance lever and refitted the ring which showed that the ignition timing was out, I have reset the timing to top dead centre starting, still would not run. Now I have discovered that the main throttle slide is not snapping shut against the bottom of the venturi when no throttle is applied. I have now dismantled the carb with a view to ensuring the slides are free and snapping shut for starting. In the morning I am going to make the floorboards and front bumper before I go near starting it again.

Norman if you bring your camera maybe you can take a video and post it.

The one you sent me for Christmas has not arrived yet!!!!!

1 37 is alive and well!!!! After three solid days of trying everything I could think of to get it running I was at the point of despair and so knackered from cranking that I thought it safer for me not to try again whist my wife was out in case I had a stroke or something daft. Whilst she was out walking the dog I put the decals on and just sat and looked at it trying to think of something else to try. Some time ago I came across a very rusty ancient mica insulated three point spark plug which was in one of the heads that came with 137, I sand blasted it and polished it up as a keepsake. 137 had fired a few times, once it fired a five bang run so it was not far away. I took the plug out put some oil down the bore and then sat for about half an hour just turning the engine over to try to loosen things up. Put the plug back and tried again, fired once and stopped. I then took the plug out and fitted the three point ancient plug turned the crank and off it went running like a dream. I ran the engine for half an hour checking for oil flow in the dry sump and any leaks. Stopped the engine and had a celebratory coffee and then tried to start it again hey presto off it went again. Thank goodness for that . Now I can make up a bumper, fit some floor boards and then crack on with some other machines for Malvern.

So frustrating when you know this engine has probabley not run for fourty years, there is a combination of fueling ignition timing and sod' s law that will make it run but I have the blisters on my right hand to show that it is not going to give in without a fight.

You would think so but I still make rookie mistakes, discovered after a huge amount of effort that when setting up the valve timing I had mistaken a mark on the crank sprocket for the timing mark hence no suck as valves were 180 degrees out. Sorted that out and now I can get one firing but try as I might I cannot get enough fuel through to wet the plug. Going to take some oxygen and have a lie down before I try again in the morning.Norman came over to give me a hand which was much appreciated.

I wish it did sound good, spent hours trying to get it to fire but combination of ignition and fuel is screwing things up plus it is an absolute pig to turn over a real arm muscle ripper.Have left it to think to itself that it better behave in the morning.The lucas mag has been rebuilt by a specialist so that should be ok I have used the jets that were fitted to the carb but not sure if they are the right size ,not even had a bang out of it yet!

I ordered a complete stainless exhaust with fish tail and then discovered from the mounting points and photos that no fish tail was fitted so Neil made me a one off long pipe.

Thanks Norman quite special, the old guy that approached me to restore it had seen my digger and asked if I would take it on, I said yes without knowing what I was in for. I just hope he is pleased with what I have done.

Today was track fitting and lubricating hubs,final drives and track rollers. The arduous task of tensioning both tracks was also finalised 29 track pads per side, two bolts per track , 116 bolts to tighten to achieve a spacing between track plate faces of 21/16". Boring and laborious but has to be done, planet rock on the radio a glove on the right hand and get stuck in! two hours later ,job done! Using a ratchet spanner on one side and a long spanner on the other makes it bearable. Both tracks set for pitch and then tensioned to 1 1/2" below load roller for correct track tension. I used three clamps to hold the tracks in position whilst I made the join. Tomorrow I will top up the engine and main gearbox oil and then fingers crossed start the engine, no idea how long it is since this engine ran but I hope I have everything at optimum to achieve a good start without breaking my wrists as these engines are notorious for doing. I have a secret weapon which I hope will make it both easier and safer. Final jobs are to make up floorboard sections, front bumper and then final touch up. And finally to apply the two decals to each side which are the only Ransomes reference on the whole machine. Over it's life 137 was serviced by a main dealer and had a number of later fitments such as a tool box and track mudguards but my ideal has been to restore it to a condition in which I believe it left the factory some time in February 1936.

Have to wait until next year now!

Made a bit more progress over the last two days, cowling fitted, decompressor lever set up, exhaust fitted, main wheels and load rollers fitted. Next job will be to fit the tracks and then fill up all the oils.

Quite surprised at just how many differences there are between 137 and later machines, I have been studying the photos of 151 ,the cowling is different, exhaust, floor, mudguards, once you get to 252 even more changes were applied.

Final painting today apart from touch up of scratches when I fit tracks. Fitted the starter chain today one of the chain tensioner links snapped so will have to make a new one.

Very similar to Holts but much finer like toothpaste .You can literally fill one coat of paint depth and very fine scratches.

Had a day off today for Christmas shopping. Meant to say that I found a brilliant product for filling rust pits, it's called Motip cellulose putty, you spread it with a plastic spatula, it is so fine that you can literally fill the individual pits and leave virtually no surplus to sand off, dries hard in minutes ready to paint. You can use it after topcoat spray to fill any minor imperfections. I used it to recover the paint I cocked up with my masking tape mistake. I tube was enough to fill all the pits on the tub.

Lots of small jobs today, made a replica of the Vokes air filter pipe, fitted fan belt, I have used a joinable belt on the basis that to replace the belt you have to remove the engine or at least slide it out of its mounting. Fitted the patent flash at the back which is 1/16 of an inch bigger than later ones of which I have a stock so Chris at Vintage Brass plates scaled one up for me.Timing chain cover fitted and logo painted. Bought some cycle chain for the starter mechanism only to find I had such a thickness of paint and filler on the sprockets that I had to file them all down to get the chain to sit properly. And Finally I have sprayed a topcoat on the engine cowl which has taken hours and hours of bashing,brazing,filling and sanding to get it to look as it should.

Engine back in today, bolted gearbox top back on with new studs, fuel tank mounted with leather cushions as per spec. Can't fit drive wheels until I have completed pin-striping, waiting as long as I can to make sure paint is dried through.

left off the photos

Made a very stupid mistake yesterday, I masked up the pinstripes on one side and painted them in only to realise that the side I had masked up was only final painted the night before as I peeled of the making tape it removed the topcoat down to the grey primer! Managed to redeem the error with the amazing cellulose putty I have which filled the removed paint.l137 is now turned around and the right way up ready to accept the engine! I have protected the vulnerable parts for onward restoration using pipe lagging rescued from the mice in the loft that seem to thrive on it. next step is engine back in. Rebuilt the second track today, I set out all the various parts on the bench and then using a 2x 2 aluminium extrusion I happened to have I set about reasssembly the two by two is invaluaable in that it kicks up the pads enough to make fitting the rubbers and washers without hassle. I used an air wrench to take up the slack in the bolts up to the Nylock. I find that if you tension the tracks to final spec at this stage the tracks are un manageable in terms of wrapping them around sprockets and making a join I leave them loose to the Nylock until after final fitting and then tighten them to spec once fitted and joined up.

Second final drive fitted today , just waiting on some 1/4" bsf bolts for the bottom of the casing. Lost the chain for the starting mechanism , sure I put it to soak somewhere but no idea where no doubt it will show up when a new one arrives.Luckily Sturmey Archer used bike chain! Next job will be the second track, then the floorboards and then fit the engine! I am leaving this as long as I can so that the paintwork has max time to harden off. Painted the fuel tank today with last coat, it has taken many hours of preparation to remove the rust and pitting but the results are good so far.

A bit more progress today, fitted the rebuilt brake bands, gearbox cover and steering levers and then struck a problem, when I was dismantling the tractor the one thing that needed extreme force to remove was the gear lever, I had not realised that the threaded part of the lever shaft has been mushroomed by the force of the puller I used to remove the lever off the taper and keyway, try as I might I could not get the nut to fit back on and unfortunately I do not have a 9/16" 20 tpi thread die, I filed at it with a thread file and fortunately I did have some spare nuts so using grinding paste and hacksaw cuts in a spare nut I eventually managed to restore a thread and get the nut back on but that was three hours later!