Back to the shed and work on the Alpha Laval (Ronaldson Tippett) 3 HP Petrol.
I finished putting the Wico magneto back together and was satisfied with the assembly.
The base plate I realised could still be used but this time it will be a spacer.
The attachment plate bolted to the motor had different holes drilled in it that did not match the drilled and tapped holes on the magneto.
To align the magneto up properly on the drive flange there needed to be new holes drilled in the attachment plate on the motor.
I drilled these holes, bought new 1/4 inch unf thread bolts to suit and secured the magneto in the correct position, good job.
Had to take magneto on and off to go through the timing procedure, finally getting the timing spot on and spark.
Put fuel tank and exhaust back on, connected governor rod to carby and gee lets crank her over and let her run.
Guess what my arm is still sore from cranking that machine over.
Put some oil down plug hole and aero start cranked over, a small spit from exhaust so weak and that was it.
I the proceeded to remove the head,
Big surprise, the head gasket is made from sheet lead, home made of course and maybe a bit thicker than traditional copper gasket which wouldn't help compression, Don't know what happens if engine run too hot, maybe meltdown.
Gasket wont be going back on.
Valves look fairly good. Piston at top dead centre looked really good tight no slop, put piston to bottom of stroke, and looked at bore,
Oh dear not happy with what I saw, lots of corrosion in several places, about 1 /3 down from the top of bore.
Too deep to hone out I would say.
I think as the piston came up on the compression stroke it reaches the bad bits and discharges some of it pressure back past the piston rings, so not enough combustion to fire.
Next job will be to remove Piston.
I am travelling away tomorrow with a trailer to have a look at several engines being sold mostly for parts, might pick up a decent bore and matching piston and rings.
This engine has certainly kept me on my toes.
Anyway time will tell, I really am looking to get this little critter running again.
Lead head gasket? Brrr brrr ughh
Cheers
Grasshopper Max