Saving Old Seagulls

Oyster 49 wrote: Now for the SD rally. I will confirm the venue is ok to use, and firm up a date. Who can make the around the third week in August? Assuming all is ok, venue would be Long Eaton, Derbyshire.Junction 24/25 on the M1. An alternative would be Red Hill Marina close to East Midlands Airport on the Rive Soar, but I have not checked that out yet. More to follow.

I can do 20th -"21st Weekend any idea of which venue it might be, I will also need to camp if possible.

When I got in this evening I checked to see if the old girl still runs.
Started easily and ran well.

H-A

Thats the same date I was thinking of. The canal venue is OK, reasonable slip and plenty of parking however there is a lot of weed in the canal, and camping is not likely to be available. I'll chase up the river venue and let you know. I've got a couple of other ideas in the locality also.

There will be a lot more weed by August if the sun shines!

That's what I'm worried about. The river is about a mile down the canal, but there is a lock in the way also. Far better to be on the river I think. I'm on the case.

Jan wrote:Ceandess in Wolverhampton reproduce caps for classic motorcycles.

They have 2 inch bayonet oil caps without the air bleed screw for RE motorcycles (I think).

I don't know if they fit on SD tanks and/or can be modified with an air bleed screw.

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Jan

Actually Ceandess made the original caps. I have spoken to their sales guy and he believes they have a cap that fits though looking at their catalogue I have my doubts. Does anyone live near wolverhampton? Need to take a tank there to check me thinks.

http://www.ceandess.co.uk/index.php?opt ... &Itemid=12

I have a pdf of their catalogue.

It is 57 miles away from me so I could pop over. If they were to have a suitable cap, and if we could get one modified to take a replica air bleed, how many people would be interested in having one if the price could be kept to the minimum? I dont think the air bleed is essential though as a filler cap can be loosened?

Lots of "ifs" but if the demand was there I can pay a visit.

I would probably take a couple if they were suitable for fitting a replica air bleed nipple, without which I don't think you can fit the safety chain & if the price isn't stupid.

If your going there can you ask if they make the tank necks to suit?

OK, I'll see when I can slip a half day off, might be a week or two, as I'm a bit busy. I have 2 brass bayonet tanks to restore, both of the filler caps are ok but have seen better days. Next winter projects!

If they can help I'll view the parts and obtain a price, and we will then need to find a man with a lathe and who is very good at making things...

Hugo do you have the details of the guy you spoke to? Can you email your pdf catologue?

Peter Killey is your man. Pm me your email addy and I will send pdf catalogue.

Cheers Hugo.

I came across an oil filler cap on eabay, that looked like it might do the job. So I ordered one for £2.75 to see if it would fit. Good news is that it does fit, and it has a spring loaded diaphram similar to the original. It is sold as a replacement Massey Ferguson part.

Bad news is it is zinc plated rather than the chrome we are after, also it does not quite "look right"?

Any thoughts? In the meantime I will still pay a visit to Wolverhampton and make contact. Who knows what they might have hidden away at the back of the stores

Now the SD is finished, I thought I would look at some the parts that came in a job lot recently, to see what is any good. First out of the box is this gearbox. It has the lubrication nipples, no ministry stamp and is direct drive. It was also unwilling to rotate

The end cap came off easily so things were looking up, here is what I found! It looked like oil mixed with sawdust, as well as a good dollop of grease for good measure. "Oh dear" I thought.

However it is cleaning up nicely, and there is very little wear in the bushes. So I will rebuild it and keep as a spare, along with the water pump housing it came with. With it not having a ministry stamp I wonder what it came off?

Can anybody advise the size of the lubrication nipples on this gearbox? 1/4 BSF x 26 or 1/4 whitworth x 20? I've found 1/4 BSF grease nipples so far, but not oil nipples. Will grease nipples suffice?

I remember as an apprentice using an oil gun on old lathes, most of it went of the floor!

Ta.

Oyster - nipple threads are 1/4" BSF, and you can use the grease nipples with an oil gun. I bought a Draper oil gun a few years ago, which is essentially the same as a grease gun but smaller (don't know if the internal seals/valves are different in any way), but the actual nipple connector is a 'C' cup (lovely!) as opposed to a colletted cup for grease, with a rubber seal inside. things can get a bit messy, but generally OK if you keep the gun in line with the nipple.

Thanks Rick, I have found a supplier of 1/4 BSF grease nipples so that will do nicely. I'll try 140 grade in the grease gun and see what happens. All this talk of grease, nipples and c cups is getting me a bit hot under the collar! I'm off for a cold shower

Well, this SD is proving to be a troublesome little thing. I had it on the boat running last week at a fast tickover to warm up, nipped to the car to get the fuel can, and the engine ran down and would not restart. After an hour we gave up and went to the pub

Just tried again in the test tank and still no joy. Also the engine feels a bit "tight" when pulling on the starting rope. Good spark, plenty of fuel, timing correct. So I'm going to strip down the top end to have a little look-see.

The unrestored AC I have starts nicely first pull, everytime and ticks over very smoothly