Forty+ Wonky flywheel.

[arripay]

Hi Guys,
hello from one of the home towns of Seagulls!
On a whim bought a 1964 Forty+ (SJP1627G4), all Villiers, from fleabay. Looked pretty much together, not seized (50% OK), reasonable feeling compression (70% OK). Paid the monies. Checked for spark, all good on an 8 com plug (90%OK!) Nice clean black piston crown, bore looks OK through the plughole, what could possibly go wrong??
Points looked good, gapped OK but thought I would pop the flywheel anyways. After soaking with WD and some Plussgas, twonked the nut a few times but nothing doing, from distant memory I don't remember hitting the nut that hard so didn't want to over do it. I then noticed that the flywheel isn't running true, using the back plate as a reference the flywheel raises and falls about 4mm through a revolution. There is a suspicious burr on the underside of the flywheel as if someone has whacked the flywheel from the bottom.
Potentially looking at:
Bent crank?
Flywheel not square on taper?
Mangled Flywheel?

What to do next:
1. Keep soaking flywheel and "gentle" twonking the nut for further inspection
2. Heat & Beat the flywheel off and convert to WIPAC (assuming flywheel doesn't survive H&B)
3. Assume the crank is bent and get a replacement
OR
4. Start the thing up and stand back!!!
OR
5. Polish it up and stick it on a shelf

Any thoughts greatly appreciated!

[andrew]

Approach really depends on what you want to get out of the motor. If you want to run it on the water, would definitely address the wobble, 4mm rise is a lot. Or, polish and display in your living room!

Could be bent flywheel or bent crank shaft, caused by dropping or attempted flywheel removal. In my experience it is more likely to be bent crank, in which case swapping for a WIPAC won’t help.

Flywheel will come off with soaking, time, a 2nd person and a large mallet. See removal instructions on the SOS site if you’re not familiar.

Small crank wobbles can be fixed (enough) at home with care and a rubber mallet, there are plenty of YouTube videos on the topic; V blocks and a dial gauge are ideal for this if you happen to have them...

If crank is beyond simple repair, it is usually easier and cheaper to replace than repair. You can check with John @ SOS for spares.

Good luck and hope you decide to get it running!

[arripay]

Thanks for your reply Andrew, have been informed that displaying in the house is a definite no

After a period of soaking, the flywheel popped quite easily.
It is out of true, as you say must have been dropped or as I suspect walloped from underneath.
On the upside the Plusgass had found its way to the base of the barrel, could see bubbles when turning it over, discovered a completely done in gasket. Would have run like a pig with all that air getting in.
So replaced the gasket, found another flywheel, hopefully get it on the back of the dinghy this weekend before everything gets put away for the winter!