expeatfarmer

Can anyone tell me how to get the text to wrap around the pictures better?

A bit more progress today now that my 1902 Drummond lathe is back up and running with a new chuck. A number of the original head studs that also hold on the fan mounting were missing so I made up a new set from 1/2" hex bar threaded UNF one end and BSF the other. had some fun oil bluing the finished items. Second job was brazing up all the cracks and rust holes in the engine cowling, I was not looking forward to this as it looked to be in a very poor state however after a bit of hammering, brazing and a dip in the acid bath it has come out quite well.I annealed the copper head gasket and we now have a complete engine.

I have heard of tapping the end of the stem with a copper hammer to ensure the collets are seated but not smacking the valve head to create a bruised seat.

I thought the same thing but it is very specific in the instructions that if you are cutting the valve to 45Degrees and the seat to 46 if you lap it you just blur the interface. I also sought advice from some race engineers who both said the same thing. We shall see !

137 engine is now virtually complete and restored with a new piston, rebuilt clutch ,re cut valve seats, made up an adapter to fit the 12tooth mag timing sprocket and set the ignition timing whilst I had the head off. Starting to look like an engine now instead of a pile of bits. The combination of thread types is a nightmare, UNF,BSF, Whitworth and UNC all on the same engine, I seem to spend hours ratching for the right nut or bolt in my various bins and boxes and failing that have to set to and make them. Just need to machine a set of new head bolts and then basic engine will be finished and sealed before I start on more rubbing down and grinding.

I have spoken to Mark Woodward today, the new website "Tractor World Shows" should be up and running over the weekend complete with application forms for exhibitors to download.

Discovered yesterday that someone had snapped a tap off in the end of the camshaft, fortunately I have several spare cams so all in bits again swapping it over. Also discovered that the fully rebuilt Lucas Magneto had a 10 tooth drive sprocket whereas the Wico type has a 12 tooth and the cam sprocket is 12 tooth, that would have made the ignition timing interesting if I had not thought about it.Going to refit the flywheel today after making a 12 tooth sprocket up out of the 10 and a Wico cog.

Today's job was re lining the clutch, making new pawls for the ratchet start mechanism and cleaning up or making new threaded studs for things like the magneto mounting and barrel seals, In the process I managed to drop the flywheel and broke a great chunk out in two pieces so added fun was brazing it back together!!

You are right it is an ITC. I thought there was another one some time ago.

Yes I think so.

Does anyone know if the modified skimmer up in Scotland has clear i.d. plates and is the machine still around?

Jumping about from one job to another to keep momentum and interest going I re-cut the valve faces and seats today using a Neway cutter set, one kit cuts the face to 45deg another kit cuts the seat to 46 deg amazing pieces of kit and apparently no lapping required. The complete set costs about 2 grand so I was very lucky to be able to borrow a set. I also cleaned up all the studs and nuts for the crankcases ,timing cover and made a complete set of new gaskets for the barrel crankcase and final drives. A nice quiet day without compressors or grinders running.

Yes turns out it is consecutive number to the one I found in Blandford both ex Bristol water Board. Engine was also bought in Bristol .

Does anyone have a skimming tractor chassis i.d plate ? Or a tractor with one on, my machine has a plate but the centre section is obliterated there are some numbers above the serial number 1311 that look like "750/ 1927 "but I cannot see what they are. A photo of a clear plate would help to get some new ones made.

Whilst the track pads are cooking in the phosphoric acid I decided to tackle the damaged flywheel pulley which is made of cast iron. I thought about heating and welding with MIG but decided that with my luck it would be the flywheel that would crack and not the weld so I looked at the three big chunks missing where someone had tried to lever the clutch apart instead of simply using two long bolts to push it apart. The chips were rounded and I had just found some really big thick washers which were just right to fill in the missing bits. I ground out the chips to an exact fit on the washers which I held in place with a magnet flush with the outer face and then brazed them in, cut the surplus washer away with a cutting disc and then using a power file I rounded off to the o.d of the flywheel. A lathe would have been better but too big for mine. As the washers were about 6mm thick it matched in well with the vee belt groove in the flywheel, I shaped away the surplus washer with a sanding disc to match the sides of the vee. Quick smear of plastic metal to smooth them over and a coat of paint, 3 virtually invisible mends!

Might try that with the next one but ideally you would need to separate the pads and a big tank.

One of the most laborious jobs restoring MG Crawlers is renovating the tracks, the old bolts are difficult to get at with any power tool to aid removal. I have tried sabre saws, angle grinders and a hacksaw all of which are a pain. I recently tried a Fury Evolution steel cutting chop saw which works very well, the blade slips between the track plates and cuts through both the centre rubber and the two bolts on each pad without touching the pads. Result lots of smoke and mess but much quicker. Cleaning up the pads is also a chore, each pad takes about 10 minutes with a bead blaster longer with a power file and wire brush. I decide to see what happens if you dunk the pads in a tank of dilute phosphoric acid for 24 hours, another result clean shiny pads with all but the thickest rust removed. quick brush with the power file and ready to paint.

1311 Skimmer 2 arrived tonight, after dark but managed to get a reasonable look at it. Still not sure which machine it actually is, looks to have quite a few differences to my other one. Kohler twin is cool, electric start alternator etc, not my cup of tea though I will move it on I think. Looks to be a fair size could it be 18/20 Hp? I will try for some better photos tomorrow.

You are welcome to an hour or two on my blast cabinet if you need it Norm.

Thanks Norm sorry it was 2.30 when I arrived at Tom's after a tour of his workshop and then a tour of his toys and a coffee it was 4.30 so had to scoot.

I now have the main body sanded,acid treated and spray putty primer coated ready for a skim of filler to take out the rust pits. I am steadily working my way through all the bolt on bits which have been through the electrolysis tank, shot blasted, acid treated and then primed. Because 137 is such an important machine I am trying to restore it to as it left the factory 80 years ago. using a spectograph i have analysed the original paint colours and ordered some trial aerosols to match the colour as near as i can, they arrived today so i had to have a bit test. I have chosen Ruby red and a turquoise fore the blue, both in satin finish as I believe the original would not have been a high gloss finish. At last the load rollers and idler wheels are finished. The idler rollers were worn undersize so these were skimmed true in a big lathe and then 1/2 " square bar rolled to give 181/2" dia od. which was then brazed on to the skimmed wheels. For the drive rollers, 8" dia x 1/2" thick slices of cast bar were purchased, the original roller rims were turned down to a common size of 7.25 " The cast slices were then bored out in the centre to an interference fit and sweated on to the original wheel located with rawl pins and then brazed. All in all good progress but still a load of blasting and filling to do before re assembly.

I bought it, chuffed to bits, the three speed and clutch are intact and also has the pto output gearbox which is missing from mine and different to MG6.

I am already on the case thanks, the running gear will help me restore my skimmer to original.

At last many thanks for those involved in sorting it out. Photos from yesterday and some from today when I cleaned off half the body and acid treated it with phosphoric before a protective primer coat.

According to payPal I have now paid twice but still showing as pending in MOM ,