Lurch in need of a transplant
Posted: Tue Nov 01, 2022 9:08 pm
Last Treffen Lurch went to, the Cotwolds one, resulted in A: one puncture - first one I have had taking Lurch anywhere. B: Loss of power, engine still ran, but was definately down on power and also sprung an oil leak(s). As you know, oil leak very rarely get better by themselves. So Lurch's oil leaks have been getting worse and as I had a couple of days off, I decide to do an engine swap for the "original" engine. I say "original" in that it was the engine that was in Lurch when I bought the Haflinger. Some of you may remember, it broke the crankshaft. It was rebuilt with a replacement crankshaft by Alf.
In the mean time I had a "big bore" engine, again built by Alf installed so I could continue to use Lurch. This is the engine that has sprung a couple of leaks and is down on power - my guess is rings have stuck in the groves of a piston and so it has been pressurising the crankcase. The engine on the left is the "original" one and hte engine on the right is the "big bore" (700cc) one. Engine is now back in place and I still have to swap various bit over from one engine to the other as I don't have quite enough bit to have two "complete" engines with all ancillaries connected that I can just swap in and out.
Of course, whilst doing the swap, discovered various things that have to be mended before they can be put back on, like some holes in the Carb preheat pipe. Also need to clean the commutator on the Dynastart before it is put back on.
One thing which I will have to read up on is how to swap the Distributor over from one engine to the other correctly. I assume if I time up the "big bore" cylinder no: 1 to TDC, then remove the distributor and time up cylinder no: 1 on the "original" engine, I should be able to just to slip the distributor straight in and it should be more or less in the correct position to work.
Once the engine is back up and running I can turn my attention to cleaning and checking the "dead" engine - It's still pretty mucky under all the tin work even though I did a clean before taking it out!!
Why do we end up doing rebuilds during the winter when it is cold and wet?
John
In the mean time I had a "big bore" engine, again built by Alf installed so I could continue to use Lurch. This is the engine that has sprung a couple of leaks and is down on power - my guess is rings have stuck in the groves of a piston and so it has been pressurising the crankcase. The engine on the left is the "original" one and hte engine on the right is the "big bore" (700cc) one. Engine is now back in place and I still have to swap various bit over from one engine to the other as I don't have quite enough bit to have two "complete" engines with all ancillaries connected that I can just swap in and out.
Of course, whilst doing the swap, discovered various things that have to be mended before they can be put back on, like some holes in the Carb preheat pipe. Also need to clean the commutator on the Dynastart before it is put back on.
One thing which I will have to read up on is how to swap the Distributor over from one engine to the other correctly. I assume if I time up the "big bore" cylinder no: 1 to TDC, then remove the distributor and time up cylinder no: 1 on the "original" engine, I should be able to just to slip the distributor straight in and it should be more or less in the correct position to work.
Once the engine is back up and running I can turn my attention to cleaning and checking the "dead" engine - It's still pretty mucky under all the tin work even though I did a clean before taking it out!!
Why do we end up doing rebuilds during the winter when it is cold and wet?
John