My first water cooled engine.

Have just bought a Wolseley WD8, it hasn't run for several years, it's had a poor paint job sometime in the past & has no compression, (suspect stuck valve). The good bits are it has good spark & is on a really nice trolly with four 10 inch cast wheels. It will have to sit in the shed for a while though till I finnish the Villiers mk25, really looking forward to it.

Cheers Tony.

hi tony..
sounds like a simple restoration,sticking valves are a common thing on the wolseley when they've been laid up for some time,ive had a few of them for my boys over the years..well i still have 2 a WD1 +a WD2,once the sheds sorted etc i will be back out to sort them...i think there nice engines and easy to maintain...
if you need any bits give me a shout as i have some spares for them...
if you get time can you put some pics of the engine for us all to see...
regards,mike..

Thanks for the offer & advice Mike, I'll try to upload pics next weekend as I'm not home till then, you may be hearing from me soon!

Tony C wrote:Thanks for the offer & advice Mike, I'll try to upload pics next weekend as I'm not home till then, you may be hearing from me soon!

i think worse case scenario it will be the springs will need replacing.....
mike.....

What a cracker of a engine to start with simple little ones , most of the member will agree .

any advice needed just give us a shout .

matt

Thanks for that Matt, I must admit I can't wait to get started.

Tony C wrote:Thanks for that Matt, I must admit I can't wait to get started.

I bet you cant , get some pictures up when u can

Lovely little engine nice and easy to work on and they are a nice looking engine
Jonesey

yeep wolseleys are a joy to work on
easy to look after
and start like a dream
i have a couple of them wd2 and a wld6 thought they would take all summer to get going again as stuck valve leaking water joints ect
and 2 days they were bolth repaired and running
thanks kev

i think ive done something wrong ..as my WD2 wont start,all i get is a fuel pumping out of the carb..
any ideas what the hell ive done wrong???????
regards,mike..

is there crap in the float valve or chamber
also is that thin piece of wire still on the float holding the needle ,if so is the wire in the grove of the needle and not higher or lower
as this couses flooding,cant remember if it a bottom or top feed lol of memory
also if wire gone i used a rubber oring on the needle into the grove worked a treat and still does 7mnths later
kev

Couldn't resist having a peek inside the valve chest & both valves appear to be popping up & down as they should, so now I presume lack of compression must be due to valves not seating properly, so will be ordering new head gasket ready for strip down.

Cheers Tony.

sounds like you know what your doing with this one
wait for further posts of progress and hoping for a video at the end
thanks kev

Is that going to be a full strip down and repaint ?

Hi Matt, thats probably the best way to go, but not sure just yet. On looking at things a bit closer its begining to look as if someone has had it down put it back together but failed to get it running again. I took the plate off the water jacket & its as clean as a whistle inside no corodding to speak of, I also checked the oil which looks new as if its never been run.
I'm keeping fingers crossed that the lack of compression is nothing more serious than valves needing lapping.

Cheers Tony

Looks great thank for posting photos
Jonesey

hi tony..
thanks for sharing the photos with us all..
looks like you have a WD8 tank on the engine,so it mite well be a WD8...
looks like it a straight forward job for you...
mike...

Hi, what a lovely little engine you have there, im trying to convince my boy to part with his trusty old D and have a wolseley for a change,
unfortunatley getting him to part with his D is like getting mike to open his wallet, B###dy impossible,
anyway good luck with your engine hope all goes well,
Ian

mike d wrote:hi tony..
thanks for sharing the photos with us all..
looks like you have a WD8 tank on the engine,so it mite well be a WD8...
looks like it a straight forward job for you...
mike...

mike its not a wd8 tank , looks like a petter A1 tank remember my wd2 had one on ......

Looks to be a good clean engine I think I'd sort out the running before doing anything else. My WD8 was a none runner when I bought it, I found it was fuel problems, sorted them out then stripped it for painting.

Stu.

Removed the wd8 head today & inside its not a pretty site, but once I cleaned all the gunge away which was soft as sh*t things don't seem so bad. there is no burning on the valves & they seem to seat fine, my question is what tools will I need other then a sucker stick & paste to remove the valves, ( is a vale spring compresser needed ) for a wolseley.





Cheers Tony

Just a screw driver and a pair of plyers, sit the head back on then leaver the valve spring up and pull the dowel pin out
Jonesey

It's a bit fiddley Tony and you need to take the side cover off behind mag (one bolt holding it) and careful you don't loss anything.

Stu

Thanks for that Stu & Jonesey, I will give it a go, just ordered new copper gasket & cutting paste so may make some progress this week.
cheers Tony

Thanks for the instructions Stu & Jonesey, I spent a few hours on the WD8 this weekend I ground in the valves & replaced the head gasket with a copper one, it's turn out to be a great success, I nearly fainted with shock when she fired up on the third swing and running a treat

Now going to start the repaint & hopefully she will be ready to show in a few weeks time.

Happy Days, Cheers Tony.