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Todays tasks have been plating the carburettor parts, throttle lever,rebuilding fuel tap and reassembling carb. The slides of the carb were originall quite worn and a sloppy fit in the body, by plating the body and main slide with Nickel it has now restored the slide function to a neat sliding fit in fact I had to rub the slide down a bit with 1200 grit. Useful tip if you have a worn carb. loose fitting slides give rise to lumpy tick over or poor slow running. I am very pleased with the results of my nickel kit, I have tried to achieve a sensible balance between retaining an element of the patina of age whilst restoring the original finish so nothing is too shiny and some of the dings and scratches remain.
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Yesterday I sandblasted the kettle because it was black and very dull. Today I set up my nickel plating kit and spent a lovely time sitting in a comfy armchair watching molecules swap over. Chuffed with the results the sand blasted fuel filler bowl from the carb has come out a dull finish ( what I wanted ) and the de compressor lever has come out shiny ( also what I wanted ) I tried to buy a new lever but could not find one identical. My ethos has been if I could recover an original part then I would, this lever was corroded to B ——-ery but after an hour with my power file dremel and some 1200 wet and dry it looked half decent. The main carb. is in the tank as I write.
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Yesterday I sandblasted the kettle because it was black and very dull. Today I set up my nickel plating kit and spent a lovely time sitting in a comfy armchair watching molecules swap over. Chuffed with the results the sand blasted fuel filler bowl from the carb has come out a dull finish ( what I wanted ) and the de compressor lever has come out shiny ( also what I wanted ) I tried to buy a new lever but could not find one identical. My ethos has been if I could recover an original part then I would, this lever was corroded to B ——-ery but after an hour with my power file dremel and some 1200 wet and dry it looked half decent. The main carb. is in the tank as I write.
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Today I have been restoring the carburettor which is a brass cast Amal, nickel plated. Over the years it has been bruised and bashed and had a number of nasty vice marks. I polished these out with my Dremel but did not like the shiny finish as the original would have been peat flour sand cast. After a bit of thought I dug out some brass plumbing fittings and polished them up with the Dremel and then shot blasted them with glass beads to see what effect it produced. Very pleasing effect and by a strange coincidence the carb is stamped “JC 648” must be an omen! Next job is to Nickel plate it .
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Seems I was wrong about the Ransomes number stamper being dozy, Anthony has found an ITW which is numbered 350 and so it would appear that Ransomes had a different numbering sequence for some of the industrial machines. Has anyone else come across this?
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Malvern is beginning to seem awfully close and I still have a lot to do on 137. Progress is slow but steady, basically every component was badly rusted and in need of rebuild. The engine is now fully rebuilt , new clutch, track rollers rebuilt with new bearings and seals, final drive bearings and seals, new steering brakes,cooling fan rebuilt, tracks refurbished with new bolts and rubbers. Idler wheels restored to original size, drive wheels restored , track load rollers restored to original size. The 1936 machines only had side decals which were the scrolls off lawnmowers no decal on the fuel tank front and no Royal warrant tempting though it is to add a few extras I am resisting and sticking with it as it was which includes no track roller mudguards , no final drive casing protectors and no extra signage. Where practical I am restoring and re using original nuts and bolts but when they are badly rusted or abused I am replacing with new.
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Reached a milestone today finally managed to complete the rebuild and paint of the drive wheels I seem to have been on with them for months. Having to be careful that I dont get carried away with finish I keep looking at other original machines to see what level of marks/gouges etc were sent out from the factory I do not want it to be better than original I just want original and that means defects. Skimming with filler to reduce the pitting is a chore but the effects are very pleasing.
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