New Project Petter A1

New to stationary engines. Collected a Petter A1 at the weekend and seems pretty sound and all turns over freely with the handle. Currently wondering how to remove the Gib Key from the Flywheel. If anyone has any advice or recommend a tool then please get in touch. I have seen various pulling tools and wedges used but any advice would be great along with any other helpful advice or tips.

Thanks

Stu

Hello and welcome!

Some info Gib head keys here: https://ukengineforum.forumotion.com/t9465-gib-key-extractor

There is a 2 part article on Gib head keys in the July/August issues (Nos 556 & 557) of 'Stationary Engine' magazine.

I  was lazy and bought one from ebay - have a search for gib key pullers.
Quite a few members seem to favour the 'curved wedge' jobbies

@mattblack beat me to linking my post about making an extractor probably took me about an hour to make

Like this.....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PpXGxtr534M

Thanks for the tips with the Gib key. Managed to make a home made wedge and came out fairly easily, now just need to get the flywheel off. Have tried cranking with the handle in the hope it might spin of but to no avail .Any tips to remove.

Make sure the shaft is free of rust and any other crud.

Propane, Plus Gas and Patience.
Now you've got the gib key out you could squirt a good dollop of penetrating oil / rust remover down the keyway.

That was going to be my next suggestion...oh and a big hammer!

Take the inspection cover off, wedge a block of wood under the big end, be careful as it has a dipper to splash oil around and then after cleaning the shaft and oiling it well rock it back and forth against the block of wood as hard as you can, the weight of the flywheel should help to break the seal of the shaft and flywheel, then spin it off. lube well on refitting.

Thanks for the advice. Plenty of lube and block of wood under the big end as suggested and flywheel came off a dream. Looked at Wico magneto last night and looks knackered. Impulse spring is snapped(not a big problem to change) but think the coil has had it. If I check resistance between the brass tab on the coil and the case I get around 40-45 mega ohms. I have cleaned up the tab and case so good contact. Is this is way to high. If so should I be looking for a replacement mag.

Not being rude, but are you sure you had set correct scale on your meter? Resistance should be around 4.5 - 5.0 K ohm.  
I would have thought that, despite impulse spring being duff, you should get some sort of spark if you whip it over smartly. Have you cleaned and reset points?

How it looked 2 weeks ago.

How it looks now. Stripped down and cleaning underway. I also now have a working Mag and the Carb has been stripped down, cleaned and rebuilt. Progressing ok so far.

Like the look of that. Nice "modification" with the bowl on the tank, they "should" be the carb end on a short pipe.
Best engine in the world the Petter A1 I reckon.

A few questions if anyone can help.

1,Before I start to paint any suggestions on what to use to degrease it?
2, Any suggestions on how to clean out the fuel tank. Have heard white vinegar and some small nuts shaken regularly over 2 or 3 days then thorough rinse out and drying.
3, What size is the thread on the exhaust manifold that the exhaust (if fitted) screws into.
4. Any recommendations on heat resistant black paint for the exhaust manifold and cylinder(if I decide to paint it)

I always degrease mine with paraffin then once I've finished that and I've let it dry and cleaned it up as much as possible I then give it a spray over with thinners to finally "kill" anything left behind, surprising what comes of with that!

Fuel tanks I use paraffin and stones, bolts, nails, whatever and rattle that about a bit.

1 inch BSP

I use stove spray paint for woodburners, seems to work ok.

Appletop wrote:I always degrease mine with paraffin then once I've finished that and I've let it dry and cleaned it up as much as possible I then give it a spray over with thinners to finally "kill" anything left behind, surprising what comes of with that!

Fuel tanks I use paraffin and stones, bolts, nails, whatever and rattle that about a bit.

1 inch BSP

I use stove spray paint for woodburners, seems to work ok.

Great tips thanks I'll give them a go

I used black BBQ paint on mine and it seems to be lasting well

So read that Citric Acid was good for rust/paint removal. As I had a tub in the cupboard that was out of date thought I would give it a go. 6 tablespoons of citric acid to 1.5 litres of water, left one half of the fuel tank soaking for 24 hours. Took it out quick wire brush and rinse and voila great results. Now to do the rest. Should make the flywheel in particular fairly easy to de rust!!

Impressed with that!!!

See my previous post ref mixing with cheap wallpaper paste so your can daub it on bigger parts. Wrapping in cling film or plastic bag reduces evaporation.

So pretty much all ready to start up. Have to say quite impressed for my first engine and learnt a lot along the way. Need to find an exhaust for it.

Very SMART! Looks a nicely turned out engine, you should be well chuffed with that. Now the big start up...

Looking good

I got my silencer from SEP, but it looks like they are out of stock at present