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Another Rosebery 3C Restoration02 April 1999Early last year I purchased another Rosebery 3C at a farm sale in Geelong (a coastal semi-rural city in the state of Victoria, Australia for those who aren't from Oz). It seemed mostly complete. I partially pulled it down and stored it in my shed for later attention. Later attention never came up until today when the bug bit again.I dragged the engine bits out of the shed and into the workshop for a look-see.
Condition ReportThe fly-wheel is beyond repair and would be likely to shatter if used (it is cracked). Fortunately I have a spare one from my last restoration which for some unknown reason had two fly-wheels when I got it instead of one.
Missing are:
FridayPiston, Bore, and ValvesI finished stripping down all of the external components and had my first look at the piston and valves - they are immaculate. The bearings are basically new, the rings are perfect, the surface of the bore is nice and clean with no pits at all and the valves look just about new. This is very surprising since the spark plug and silencer were missing and the piston was at BDC with the exhaust valve just starting to open.
The governorNext surprise was the governor, all of the parts are there and the carrier which holds the weights looks almost totally unused. The pin which is pushed out when the engine over revs and then closes a butterfly valve in the carby via a lever was broken off at the point where it sticks out of the casing. I "machined" a new one from a bolt of the same diameter using my angle grinder and then a file and sandpaper to get it smooth. The bottom of the pin rubs on the governor weight carrier all the time so I rounded off the bottom to reduce wear here (as the metal of the bolt is almost certainly harder than the older metal).
The carbyI took apart the carby (a very simple device) and it is is fantastic condition as well. The atomiser is very clean and the needle which goes into it is also in good condition (my other Rosebery 3C still sucks in this department and will stop running after it gets hot). When this engine was run, I'd say it was run on Kerosene as there are heavy deposits within the carby. After cleaning up the carby I got another mild surprise, it is painted black (from new - no green paint underneath it). I've never seen another one black - always green. The springs which provide tension on the adjusting wheels are red - again, these have always been green. For some reason this engine was much more colourful than any other Rosebery 3C I've seen in its original state. I'm going to restore it with the same colours - that should set it apart pretty well.
Zap... The MagnetoWhile the carby was soaking in hot water and dishwashing liquid - don't laugh it works :-) I checked out the magneto. The points are in good condition and the magnets have so much charge that there is a point which feels like the compression stroke of a piston when you spin the mag. I put a new copper braid lead on and connected it to a plug. I wired the plug ground back to the mag and spun it - good spark alright, right up one arm and right down the other. After putting the ground wire back on (it fell off on the first spin - leaving me as the ground connection) I tried again - this old Lucas RS1 can jump a three millimetre gap - amazing, if I remember correctly it is something like 10KV per millimetre (can anyone correct me on this?) - impressive.
The GasketsAll of the gaskets have had it. If I could import some of the Kelly material I would - I checked with Australia Post and they will not allow asbestos to be sent :-(. This engine still had its original copper gaskets (copper/asbestos/copper layered) so I will try and find something similar to make the new ones out of - but asbestos is probably out of the question. The head gasket is different to the other 3C I restored, but the head and block are the same - go figure.
My HelpersI had the "help" of my four (Alexander) and three (Matthew) year old munchkins all day - they did a great job finding my tools for me (right after the hid them from me).
Next StepI'm planning on continuing the engine tomorrow. I'm aiming to get some gasket material in the morning and some copper pipe. I doubt I can find a check valve before Easter is over there are only a few places who even know what they are let alone stock them. The ones they do stock are also too strong for the low suction of a small one lunger like this one. I think our current olive oil can is almost empty - there is my fuel tank - they look great, but dent easily - make sure the filler cap has a hole in it to stop the tank getting crushed during operation as it empties.Usually I clean everything up, make the gaskets, fit it all together and give it a run before I bother to paint everything - this one is in such good condition that I am tempted to skip that step... I'll decide in the morning. The block is not going to need ANY paint at all - the hopper is pretty bad (it was actually very good when I got it, but the oil coating I put on got washed out without my noticing some time this year and it rusted up pretty badly). I'll order it a silencer - there is a manufacturer of them someplace... TOMM (the Oz version of GEM) will have an advertisement I hope... In the mean time I'll use the one from my other 3C and pinch the fuel pipe and check valve too. Depending if I decide to rebuild or paint tomorrow I might have a running engine some time in the evening (just in time to annoy the neighbors).
SaturdayThe search for gasketsYesterday I spent the morning searching for a replacement for the buggered head gasket from my latest project the Rosebery 3C. The original is a sandwich of copper/asbestos/copper.I went to five stores, Bursons, Repco, Autopro, Autobahn, and some little local one not in a chain. At each store I explained that I was looking for a sheet of gasket material to cut a head gasket for a farm engine (stationary engine just gets blank looks from most of these people) that I am overhauling (restoring seems to be unpopular unless you are working on a car). I showed them the current gasket and explained that it is copper/asbestos/copper and I am seeking something equivalent. At Bursons the female clerk was very interested and we had a good chat about the work in progress. She looked out the back but could not find anything - they used to have the exact stuff but don't stock it anymore. Even though they did not have what I needed I left happy that someone was interested and had wanted to help. At Repco, the guy looked out the back, but also could not find anything, and then had a look through his suppliers books to see if there was anything he could order - zip. Again I left pleased that the guy had taken the time to try and help. At Autopro, Autobahn, and the local guy, all the clerks told me "no problem" and went out the back only to return with a sheet of paper "oil-seal". I asked each of the same question - "Do you think that this carbon impregnated paper is going to stand up against the temperatures and pressures of the cylinder head while also keeping the contents of water jacket out of the combustion chamber?" Unbelievably each of them actually said yes. I asked each of them to have a look at the pre-cut car head gaskets and tell me if they could find any made of oil-seal paper. One guy got really mad and said that farm engines just don't generate the heat and pressure of a car so did not need strong gaskets - remind me never to go back to Autobahn for anything, ever. The other two had a look, came back saying they were all metal - what a surprise. I have no objection to a clerk suggesting an alternate material to what you asked for, but perhaps it would be better if they were motivated by knowledge and a need to help you get a job finished, rather than by how much money they will get in the till at the end of the day.
SundayDegrease, Soak, Scrape Down, Sand, and PaintSince I could not get any gasket material, I decided yesterday to clean and paint without the intermediate reassembly. So far I've scraped down the hopper and given it the first coat. The carby and a few random other parts have had the treatment. I have disassembled the governor and cleaned it all out the reassembled it giving everything a light coating of Penetrene to keep the rust away (since the metal was chemically clean). Today I'm off to easter lunch with by brother in law so I doubt there will be much more progress today, except perhaps to 2nd coat the items already painted later this evening.I'll include some photos later on... 2000 UpdateI've actually finished this engine with a complete overhaul gasket kit from F.A. Maker in Laverton (a suburb of Melbourne the city in which I live). It chugs away happily now. The only real problem that I came up against was that I somehow managed to break the push rod which is part of the governor mechanism. I made a new one out of a bolt which was about the right size, but I'd like to get hold of a real one. I do not want to run the engine using the bolt as the bolt is harder than the metal it replaced and is likely to wear through the mechanism sooner or later. |
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Last modified Sunday, 20-Jul-2003 15:28:00 BST |
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