Another Douglas SV 54

dunitrong wrote:I must say that engine looks well! Re the rusty nuts I clean with a wire brush on bench grinder.Then warm with a gas torch and drop onto tin of old engine oil.This gives them a nice black finish. Of course referring to the the engine nuts! Arthur

Good idea, a bit like gun barrel bluing.

Got a bit more done in the last couple of days. Fitted carburettor, governor rods, magneto and put the first coat of 'Violet Blue' (RAL 5000) on the cowling. Did the ignition timing according to the manual which states the Wico impulse should 'flick over' at 4˚ BTDC.

Timing


Cowing colour


Carb, mag ETC

You're making good progress, will it be going to any shows this year?.

Robotstar5 wrote:You're making good progress, will it be going to any shows this year?.

Maybe, but as an OAP and disabled I find it difficult to get engines in & out of my small van.

Garak wrote:

Robotstar5 wrote:You're making good progress, will it be going to any shows this year?.

Maybe, but as an OAP and disabled I find it difficult to get engines in & out of my small van.

Have you considered a small winch on the van bulkhead behind the seats? (if it has one)

Had a bit of spare time during the rain this morning so I made an exhaust gasket and a fine brass mesh filter for the petrol tap.

Put most of it back together as a mock-up, I've not fitted the flywheel or starting dog as most heavy parts will have to be removed again prior to it being lowered off the workmate and onto a temporary wheeled dolly which will free up some space for me to work on the newly acquired trolley, the engine is VERY heavy so anything I can do to lighten it will help until it's fitted to it's new trolley.

The fuel tank, exhaust silencer and starting handle are not original to the engine (I have the original fuel tank but it is badly rotted-out and can't be repaired) but the seller included a tank from a JAP and a silencer (from what I don't know), I found a starting handle on Fleabay from a Ransomes Crawler and had it machined to fit by a local engineering company. Parts for this engine are very hard to come by so I will have to wait and look out for a tank and silencer but the installed ones will do for now.

More to come when it's finished, on its trolley, and running.

Starting handle from a Ransomes Crawler


Outer diameter reduced so it fits the Douglas starting dog




Exhaust pot supplied with engine, not original but will do for the time being




JAP fuel tank supplied with engine will suffice until an original can be found






All bare nut and bolt heads and exposed gasket joints will be touched-up when the engine is finally fitted to trolley

Looking good. Have you given it a run yet?

Woodsman wrote:Looking good. Have you given it a run yet?

Not yet, at the moment it's too heavy for me to lift of the Workmate (even with most external parts removed), I am going to enlist the help of a family member to put it onto this dolly temporarily until I get it's trolley finished.

Using this I can easily move it around in the workshop while I work on it's trolley


If I get time I may try to start it..........watch this space!

Garak wrote:

Woodsman wrote:Looking good. Have you given it a run yet?

Not yet, at the moment it's too heavy for me to lift of the Workmate (even with most external parts removed), I am going to enlist the help of a family member to put it onto this dolly temporarily until I get it's trolley finished.

Using this I can easily move it around in the workshop while I work on it's trolley


If I get time I may try to start it..........watch this space!

Just make sure the dolly doesn't get damp/wet or it will end up like mine...



I was lucky that a handy wall stopped the engine toppling right over when it collapsed.

Yeah, MDF is c**p if it gets soaked, I'm going to treat mine to a couple of coats of yacht varnish.

This is the trolley I may use for the Douglas. It's all steel and is of fully welded construction. It has a bed of 48" x 15 1/4" with a steerable front axle with five spoke, 12" wheels. It stands 17 1/2" high. I have cleaned it up, re-painted the axles and wheels and treated the underside and inside skirts with black stone-chip paint. The top and sides I have removed the surface flaky rust and most of the old paint and treated with a rust converter fluid. I like the finish that is left so I intend to wax these surfaces to keep that patina.

This trolley may not be quite right for the Douglas as it has quite a long bed size and is more suitable for an open crank engine or an engine with driven equipment say a pump or compressor as there is plenty of room for both. It is also quite a tall trolley and I don't know if it will fit inside my small van due to the total hight once the engine is installed so I may sell it on to fund the purchase of a smaller sized one.

Anyway here it is, its heavy but very strong and surprisingly easy to manoeuvre due to the steerable front axle. I like the finish on the top and sides which I have yet to wax.

Tried to start it today but the carburetter is bleeding fuel from the main jet. The jet needle is sealed within the jet body by a 5.5mm x 2mm (approx) cork washer that has shrunk and perished and no longer seals around the needle.

I have spoken to the good folk at http://amalcarb.co.uk/ who inform me that this spare part is not available for such an early carb (Amal 225/7) so it looks like I will have to try and make one myself but it's tiny and it's not going to be easy. Here goes..................

Maybe a good place to start making a new cork washer would one of those fitted to Ewarts fuel taps. I used to make my own fishing floats and know that if you stick a nail down the hole and mount in an electric drill you can reduce the diameter with fine emery then you could take slices off with scalpel.
Good luck.

Woodsman wrote:Maybe a good place to start making a new cork washer would one of those fitted to Ewarts fuel taps. I used to make my own fishing floats and know that if you stick a nail down the hole and mount in an electric drill you can reduce the diameter with fine emery then you could take slices off with scalpel.
Good luck.

That's a good idea and I do have some Ewart corks but the central hole is far to large.

Here is what I have had to reproduce:



I used some silicone impregnated cork sheet that I had purchased to make some gaskets for an antique oil drip lubricator. I drilled a tiny hole in the sheet (a little smaller than the needle jet it would be sealing) and cut the cork circle a little larger than required and carefully sanded to the correct diameter (I had to do this twice as the cork sheet was not as thick as the original seal so I had to use two).

These new seals have meant that along with a couple of new fibre washers on the float chamber to carb body the whole thing is now dry with NO fuel leaks.

I did start and run the engine for a short time. It started easily but requires a lot if adjustment to make it run nicely, I will be trying this over the weekend (I don't have any initial carb set-up instructions so this will have to be by trial and error) when it's running OK I will post a video.

Good news ! Well done