Westinghouse-Rosebery Restoration

Date: Sunday, 2 March 1997

A small country school at Lockwood, near Bendigo in central Victoria, Australia, held a fund raising auction this weekend and had 3 stationary engines listed for sale.

Surprisingly, there was not a lot of interest in the engines and I was able to successfully bid for an Australian made Westinghouse-Rosebery 3C engine and 32v generator set. The engine, base and generator cost me Aus$30.00 which was quite reasonable. The engine is a single cylinder, vertical petrol/kerosene engine of 3 hp and is tank cooled. Operating speed is 1000 RPM and it was originally set up as a 32v lighting plant by the firm of A.P. Sutherland in Melbourne, Victoria. The engine came with the base, generator, switch gear, starting handle and was complete except for the muffler, spark plug wire, drive belts, correct petrol tank cap and the cooling tank.

The unit was used up to 20 years ago as a power plant for a shearing stand on a farm at Durham Ox in northern Victoria and had been left standing since that time. The original owner had decided to keep the engine and restore it but had not been able to do any work on it. The Rosebery was not 'stuck' as the flywheel turned over but there was no compression. The switch gear and 32v DC generator (an Australian made GMF) had been removed at some point with little obvious care and sat beside the engine.

The engine did look a little sad as there was a good 1/2 inch thick layer of mud and accumulated oil and grease covering it from the head down. Today, I set about cleaning away the mud and muck away with a decreasing agent and kerosene and found that apart from a few places, the original paint on the engine is in good condition. I may not need to repaint it if I decide to retain that 'working engine' appearance.

There is some relatively minor pitting and surface rust on one side of the crankcase and the head, and the paint on the outside of the fly wheel has faded. The deals and makers/agent's plate are in good condition and may only require a clean up and polish. Looking more closely I found that the petrol tank was half filled up with debris and has been dented on one side which has sprung the top seam.

The engine runs an English made Lucas KP/Lister SR1 type magneto and apart form the missing spark plug lead, visually appears to be in good shape.

Date: Tuesday, 11 March 1997

Cleaning the engine revealed that the fuel tank was in worse shape than I originally imagined. After several attempts at cleaning out the accumulated gravel, mud, sticks etc.. I found that the tank had several seams that were seeping and needed repair.

A local radiator repair service agreed to carry out the work but also found several spots where the parent metal was badly corroded. They were able to repair this and luckily the worst affected spots were in places which will not be seen once the tank is re-mounted on the engine. Cost for this work was Aus$30.00 which was still cheaper than having a new tank made (Aus$50.00) and more importantly, allows me to retain the original part.

Date: Saturday 15 March 1997

I decided to begin dismantling the engine today and after removing the rear side plate to reveal the valve springs and adjustments, I was pleased to find that the internals seemed clean and to be in good order. The exhaust valve adjustment seemed to be loose and out of alignment but otherwise I was pleased with the overall condition of the lifters. However, removing the head revealed what I had already suspected - a stuck exhaust valve (below, left). Although I can not find any obvious breach in the head gasket, the value was frozen in the open position and showed signs of being rusted.

The valves looked to be in good condition, albeit rusty on the surface and seat, and there were no signs of scoring on the bore. Presumably there must have been a leak at some point and water has entered the combustion chamber. The original KLG spark plug is in excellent condition and with a little gentle cleaning should be good for service again. The water jacket was full of scale and rust and this took some removing with compressed air and a vacuum cleaner.

A couple of the water ways were completely blocked and a number of deserted insect mounds were found to be blocking most of the major passages. Still, it is marvelous what you can achieve with compressed air and high pressure water! The vapouriser assembly was coated in a layer of rust and corrosion but cleaned up nicely after some soaking in Penetrene (a penetrating oil) and a little wire brushing. Although the fuel adjustments are free, one lever has been frozen by an accumulation of carbon and this will require some additional work. The sump is still full of oil and does not show any signs of water contamination. However, the pulley end of the main shaft allows some free play and I think that the bottom end bearings may be worn.

Date: Sunday, 23 March 1997

Work on the Rosebery goes slowly but surely. I have acquired a copy of an original manufacturer's instructional manual and this has helped me to identify many of the parts and controls unique to this engine. The engine was designed to be run either on "Power Kerosene" (with petrol start) or on straight petrol. As power kerosene is not widely available in this country anymore I have decided to run the engine on unleaded petrol when it is restored as 'home' (lighting) kerosene, which is still available, is unsuitable and was not recommended for use .

I have managed to free up the stuck valve and the timing seems to be okay after all with .006" clearance. I have returned to disassembling the vapouriser assembly to remove the surface rust and carbon build ups etc. by patiently soaking bits in Penetrene and wire brushing with a soft brass brush. The metal has been coming up very cleanly and is about ready for painting.

The mechanical components of the vapouriser seem to be in good order except for a point on the auxiliary fuel jet which is worn and some of the governor linkages. All I have to do now is to remove the old exhaust pipe as the muffler has rotted away but the pipe is well and truly rusted in place!. I had thought about cutting the pipe out or even leaving it there and threading the end of the pipe and using an union to attach the new one. Another course of action would be to heat the metal to loosen the rust but I am a little apprehensive about cracking the soft metal of the casting so I will cut the pipe off near the body of the vapouriser and attempt to carefully cut the pipe radially with a hacksaw blade.

From what I can tell visually, the internals of the engine seem to be in excellent condition. However, I will have to

re-grind the valves and valve seats and think it will be wise to pull the lower half down to inspect for any damage the blown head gasket and 20 years laying idle may have caused.

The internals of the magneto look to be in reasonable condition but there is 'slop' in the main shaft. The end plate (drive end) shows signs of many adjustments having been carried out over the years and will not stay tightly in place. I have decided to have it professionally overhauled and this will cost me about Aus$90-$140.

The location of the cooling tank had been concerning me since I had bought the engine. The logical location would have been between the engine and the generator set but there was clearly not enough room. A retired farmer friend of mine eventually solved the problem by describing a similar set he used on his farm where the tank sat alongside the engine with long hoses connecting the water inlet and outlet pipes. A new cooling tank will cost me approximately Aus$85.00 and can be made locally.

Date: Saturday, 12 April 1997

I have been gradually cleaning up the head and block to remove the old gasket material and carbon build up. My usual method is to use a gasket scraper or paint scraper to remove the 'heavy' material and a very fine emery cloth (120 grit) to lightly 'polish' the surfaces clean. This creates a good surface for adhesion but you have to be careful to not 'warp' or distort the surfaces by grinding or scoring the metals. As the residual gasket material was heavily 'caked' on I decided to use a commercial gasket removal spray which quickly softened and loosened the remains. This also avoids the situation of accidentally scoring the surface metal.

The copper fuel lines had accumulated years of grime and grease and were coated in oxidation. This was easily removed by rubbing the exterior surfaces with kerosene and steel wool.

However, in my enthusiasm and haste to dismantle this engine, I neglected to follow the cardinal rule of "Look before you begin work". The fuel line for this engine is in 2 pieces, joined behind the fly wheel with what appears to be a simple brass union. I removed the line from the tank and vapouriser and then separated the sections in order to clean them. After cleaning I carefully placed the parts in a plastic tub, where I store all of the pieces from the engine together. [This is a practice I have always used in order to keep all of the components for one engine together, with individual parts grouped in plastic bags or glass jars.]

Closer inspection of the union at this point revealed that it was also a non return valve most likely containing a small ball bearing which was lost during the cleaning process. While a replacement can be easily obtained, this situation wouldn't have happened if I had been paying closer attention at the time.

Copyright M.H. Kennedy, 1997

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