Here We Go Again! Tarpen Take 2

Looks like I've just won myself a new project. Fortunately it's quite a familiar engine to me....

Can you guess what it is yet???

Maybe you don't want to, but I'm just about to go off for a weekend in the caravan, joining a few friends just down the road from me. I will reveal all on my return.

I know one thing, its going in my garage (You'll be in trouble otherwise )

It's going to be a stealth restoration this one. Small pieces will be taken off, brought back home & restored before being returned to the engine for reassembly.

I tell you what, anyone would think I was married!

What are you a man or a mouse
Jonesey

JONESEY wrote:What are you a man or a mouse
Jonesey

a mouse by the sound of it ....

I dont really see it men who seem to be under the thumb with engines and there various hobby's ... I keep getting more engines or things to do and Annmarie dont care ... She says at least she knows where i am and not pi55ing money up the wall .

At the moment the Fowler is in the small box room drying good job the room is stripped ready for the celing to be skimmed and decorated

man up ..... and just bring it home !

matt

we maybe just luckyer than me laddo with are wifes
my wife and 2yrs old todler are always helping or hindering with the engines and restoration jobs work or hidding the wire brushes lol

helped dad get the crank out of his amanco 2 1/4hp

wife and daughter at work

and shes good with lefty loosey/ righty tighty on the nuts and bolts too

team work
no secrets "its more than my lifes worth "
marseille will only tell on daddy "mammy look look ,daddy got another duff duff "its dirty but pappa make good.
only two and has 4 names for me allready
pappa == best dad mode or wants a present
daddy == just after general bottles or nappiesd===
dad === ive asked you twice
kev ==== im in big trouble with one of the girls lol
kev

Blimey Kev, you've got your work cut out with that one

Trouble is with Nutgone, if he rocks the boat too much he'll have to live in his caravan full time and end up with no workshop Being married would be easier. My wife is mega strict but that didn't stop me coming home last weekend with that Petter diesel, I apparently only paid £30 for it

Thing is, my dad doesn't mind, & it's his workshop. The old woman is the stressy one. I guess with a wife you're with each other for a reason & can kind of mould each other a bit to accept these things. A mother is a different kettle of fish entirely.

I'm sure this one will end up back here at some point, but space is at a premium here as well, if it comes back here it will most likely have to live outside under a tarp, & I'm not happy for any of my engines to be stored like that long term, I know the damage it does.

I think we all know what our mother's can be like, there always right even when there not and you can't argue against them. So if it's the only way to get it Nuts then it has to be done your way.
We should do a pole and see how many of us have told our other half the correct price when buying an engine or spares etc. I think we've all told a few little lies along the way.

SStu.

i can imagine that stu .... oh dear i only payed £200 for it and really its over £600

never done that myself . annmarie thinks im crazy buying the engines but she does like going to the rallys and caravaning etc

matt

stationary stu wrote:I think we all know what our mother's can be like, there always right even when there not and you can't argue against them. So if it's the only way to get it Nuts then it has to be done your way.
We should do a pole and see how many of us have told our other half the correct price when buying an engine or spares etc. I think we've all told a few little lies along the way.

SStu.

Less than scrap value dear!
If it turns out to be fubar, I can always weigh it in.

Hubert

My Mrs, Elle dont mind at all she says she understands them thinks i do a great job restoring them since had no back ground in that sort of thing but also says that she plays second fiddle to them too lol, and her view reference buying stuff is i can afford it then its up to me but dont come crying to her if it turns out to be a duffer, but i know she enjoys the ralleys and she's one in a million

Abes wrote:My Mrs, Elle dont mind at all she says she understands them thinks i do a great job restoring them since had no back ground in that sort of thing but also says that she plays second fiddle to them too lol, and her view reference buying stuff is i can afford it then its up to me but dont come crying to her if it turns out to be a duffer, but i know she enjoys the ralleys and she's one in a million

sounds like Elle and Annmarie are on the same level ...

you must be running out of space Abes . You need to get another shed up mate

Mine keeps saying you buy another engine then I am off that was over 30 years ago and she still here there's another crate coming over the sea as I write lets see if this one works
Lover her to bits really did I really just say that
Jonesey

whats in the crate Chris .... something interesting i hope ?

As we speak the fowler is in the spare room im redecorating .... nice and warm in there for drying enamel paint

matt

You will have to wait and see swimming pool plant room I use , perfect dry 24 hours a day
Jonesey

JONESEY wrote:You will have to wait and see swimming pool plant room I use , perfect dry 24 hours a day
Jonesey

I will look forward to it mr Jones .

What does er indoors say when she wants to take a dip and there a engine block drying on pool side

matt

JONESEY wrote: Lover her to bits really did I really just say that
Jonesey

Bring me a bucket

Stu.

Righto, lets get this one back on track. (not that I mind at all, I find it quite interesting hearing about all the different ideas where wives & families are concerned).

I finally picked up the engine yesterday, but as I was still on my long weekend camping trip (I stayed reasonably local) I haven't been able to report until now due to dodgy mobile internet signal.

So, here she is....









She might look a bit bad, but she's all there, everything's moving & turning as it should be & the fuel tank is pristine on the inside. I even got some history as well.

Apparently it was originally sold, from new, to a place called Scotney Castle near Tunbridge Wells on the Kent Sussex border. They were taken over by the National Trust & eventually the Tarpen was sold off after a clear-out & went into the hands of the owner previous to me, so it's almost a one owner engine!

There are a few very slight differences to my other one, there are some pieces of metal around the throttle governor mechanism....



There is a double socket, instead of a single....



& the wheels are of a slightly different design, but are still pressed steel, not the later cast aluminium ones....



But, identical to the other one, this one only cost £25. The only thing is the other one was purchased by my family around 1986, so I reckon I did quite well.

This was advertised as being possible 1950s, but I know well that this particular model was around in the mid-late 1930s (I've seen adverts for them from 1936) so most of them are in fact pre-war (it's a common misconception, even I always dated them around 1948 until recently). I now believe the engine to be a Villiers derivative, but I'll get to that later.

My plan is to restore her over the winter & sell it on in the spring, but I might well end up keeping her (I like the fact she comes with such a comprehensive history), we shall see.

She is now safely tucked up in Ian's garage, I will start to dismantle her over the next few weeks, bring some lumps home, restore these lumps & return them to Ian's garage for later reassembly. Well, that's the plan. My dad might just find a Tarpen slowly grows in his workshop over the winter as I move it in gradually (I like to keep them close if possible).

That looks the same as the one that I scrapped as that had two sockets etc. I do have the Wipac mag stored somewhere as it was the same as a JAP 2A, the genny went on my mates Lister diesel for lightup rallies and the engine etc was dumped. A few in our club ran those at rallies with clippers etc but I think that they have all been sold on as I haven't seen one for several years now. Should be a nice easy project.

Pete.

Foden wrote:That looks the same as the one that I scrapped as that had two sockets etc. I do have the Wipac mag stored somewhere as it was the same as a JAP 2A, the genny went on my mates Lister diesel for lightup rallies and the engine etc was dumped. A few in our club ran those at rallies with clippers etc but I think that they have all been sold on as I haven't seen one for several years now. Should be a nice easy project.

Pete.

I've got a feeling your one was a Type 42, which is slightly later & has a kick start, but I could be wrong.

There used to be one or two on the rally circuit round here as well, but I haven't seen them lately. It's exactly the same model as the other one I restored (my first resto thread on here) but there are those slight differences I mentioned above. I think these engines were pretty much made to order, so I expect there are no two exactly the same. On the old adverts they say "Other voltages available on request" so there could well be higher voltage ones of the same shape, but I expect most of them disappeared during the war, as they have a lot of aluminium on them, as well as a lot of cast iron & copper, which is probably why there aren't that many left.

Still, they're not exactly an "A-list" engine. I'm hoping to do it up, make a little profit & invest it in another project, something a little more special. I know it kind-of goes against the grain with me, as I don't usually like the idea of using this hobby to "make money", but this isn't exactly the Thatcherite "greed is good" notion I'm so dead against, this is just me trying to work my way up the ladder, so to speak, & hopefully supplying someone with a nicely restored & highly usable engine in the process, as I'm well aware there are many enthusiasts out there (& some people wishing to become enthusiasts) who don't have the knowledge or know-how to restore their own engines, I would love it if it were to go to someone like that when I'm finished with it.

That's if I don't keep it for myself & maybe start a Tarpen themed exhibit for future events.....

No it was rope start as I still have the starter pulley 'somewhere' in the vicinity of my home! I hadn't realised they were that old though, I assumed that they were from the 1970's which is why it got broken up as it was a good runner but a little too new for my tastes, plus I aint keen on two strokes either! Might have held on to it if I had know it had some age about it.

Pete.

Is it a smooth flywheel? If so then it probably was one of these, they don't have air vanes on the flywheels, they have a fan driven by belt placed behind the cylinder inside the cowling.

TBH it is difficult to tell their age. Once you remove the cowling it looks like an old engine, but there's so much aluminium on them it's an easy mistake to make. For years we used to enter our one as "c1948" which was my dad's best guess. It was only due to the "power of the internet" that I found out their real age. Good to know most of it was put to good use though. Someone stopped me at a rally on the August bank-holiday asking if I knew where to get spares for one, he had one with no tank, no mag, no carb & possibly some other missing parts. I pointed him in the direction of this very forum to look at my previous resto thread, dunno if he ever made it. I really don't fancy his chances of ever getting the thing going though, but I didn't like to say so at the time. I had to admire his enthusiasm. At least this one is complete, & once restored should fund something a little more special (not that Tarpen's aren't special in their own right, it's just I've already got one )

Very nice find Nuts it looks as if your going to get hours of pleasure restoring it. It looks as you say there was small differences between them and this one with having the twin socket must be a higher output but I'm sure you'll sort it and let us know.
As for selling her on once shes restored, I can't see anything wrong with that as your in the hobby to restore not just look at shiny engines so sell it or the other and get something a little more rare as you can sort this rare stuff and make a good job not just give up when it gets tough to find parts etc. My plan is to eventually sell my engines and buy a top notch open crank and sit back a listen to it with just the small restoration job to keep my hands busy, it's not as if your buying runners to break for profit.

Stu.

I got to work dismantling this one today & I've ended up with most of it in the boot of my car. I'll let the pictures do most of the talking....

I started by removing the carb, throttle governor & some cowling....



Then I thought I might as well whip the head & barrel off, but found the top piston ring to be stuck solid....



So I gave it a quick spray with GT85 & checked out the barrel & ports. The barrel is fine, but the exhaust ports could do with a de-coke....




So, less than 5 minutes later I go back to that piston ring. After some very gentle rocking I get both ends to spring out (need to be careful here, they're cast iron rings, very brittle & I don't want to have to replace them!) But sure enough, within 5 minutes it's free once more....



Great stuff, that GT85. I've used it on rings before, but the main trick is patience. However, there will always be those times when you're never going to get it out without breaking it. Gladly this wasn't one of those times.

So I carefully put the head & barrel back on, finger tight, & continued with the strip down. I removed two of the nuts from the canvas coupling between engine & genny, took out the 6 bolts holding the engine to the chassis & lifted out the engine....



Getting a nice little pile of bits together now....



I also removed the fuel tank, the wheels & the front & back covers from the chassis/exhaust system. I felt I had to leave something behind in Ian's garage (it would be rude not to) I also didn't want the full weight of a Tarpen in the boot of my car (something would likely get damaged the way I drive!) So here's all that's left....



& what do you know! You CAN fit a Tarpen in the boot of a 1980s BMW 5 series!....



Well, almost.

So it's back home, but my health has got the better of me once again, I wanted to spend the evening working on her, but I was so knackered after my weekend's camping & being so busy last week, it all caught up with me & I fell asleep in front of the telly.

Never mind, I'll make a start tomorrow, if I feel up to it. There's no rush with this one.