Kohler 4 cylinder engine.

glowes3 wrote:Just to say I found all your info very interesting.
Will watch the progress and completion with interest.
Regards Graeme

Cheers, it's always good to know people are following.

Even if someone thinks they have nothing to input, it's still nice to know they are following & show an interest.

I suppose I should 2nd coat the engine today. I was going to hold off until it was going together for the final time, but I think I would rather get both coats on while the first is still soft & give it time to harden off properly while I'm waiting for parts to arrive from Canada. Despite it only being a 1/4 litre tin (a tiny little pot really) I still have more than half of it left. This is what I meant by being fed up of buying huge great litre tins of paint. Mind you, this stuff is very thin, but seems to coat well anyway. It could almost be a one coat job, if done with a little more care & attention.

Oh yes, my core plugs have just arrived, & a long piece of 3/8" UNC threaded stud for me to make the bottom radiator long through bolt. Suppose I should get on with that really.

All going well Nuts and looking great. I wasn't to sure about the shade of green but it does look well, more so on the pic with the carb etc fitted to the engine. I'm going to reserve my judgement as I'm not sure about the red fan till you get it all rebuilt.
You might as well get it second coated while you wait for the parts. I was wondering if you rub down inbetween top coats?

I checked the tin of paint that came with my Stuart (from the Stuart dealers) and I can't make out any numbers or any colour/shade info that's if it was ever on to start with. All I can tell you is it's Blakes Marine Gloss paint. Blakes is a paint manufacturing company down your area so it might just be a regular order they placed and have the codes on file.
I've done a quick look up on the web and can't find any info on Blakes but it looks as if it may have been taken over by Hempel UK. Now Nuts as your nearly finished you can have some homework and find out if marine paint would be better for us to use rather then tractor/machine type enamal we use now. It sounds good so does there varnish.

http://www.youngsboatyard.co.uk/product/334/942/Hempel-Brilliant-Enamel---Chodo-Green-43000

http://www.youngsboatyard.co.uk/

Stu.

Will have to have a look into that. The only thing I can think of, is weather marine paints are as resistant to workshop fluids as engine/machine enamels are. They're probably all much the same thing, but with a different price tag (it's well known anything for boats has an extra 0 on the price).

As for rubbing down between coats. It's not really necessary if you are re-coating before the first coat has cured (say, within a few days up to maybe a week, depending on paint type & temperatures, I suppose some could even take a month to cure, especially if the paint is old & the temperature is cold). As long as the first coat hasn't completely cured the 2 coats will chemically mingle, so there shouldn't be any problems with onion peel effect or anything.

But I still do it anyway, firstly to help flatten off any imperfections, but the main reason I do it, especially with paint like this, is so I can tell where I've been & where I need to go. You see, this paint is exactly the same colour wet as it is dry, so it's really difficult to tell.

Also, I just like doing it (rubbing down between coats), it seems like the right thing to do. I use a light abrasive sponge pad (not the hard sponge blocks, but the thinner, squidgier sponge pads) & literally just mark the surface, unless there's an imperfection there I want to get rid of. Usually though, most imperfections like brush strokes, are in the primer.

I'm less fussed by a few brush strokes though, as these engines are mostly only seen from a distance, & I'm sure the manufacturers never put as much attention into the finish. I like to make sure the paint is doing it's job, so will always paint on a sound, well prepared base, but I'm not fanatically fussy about the finish. Although probably more so than a lot of people, by the looks of some of the stuff you see about!

Hi Nut's
When i mentioned painting nut + bolt's it was mainly the nut side trying to get a nut over painted thread is a little awkward Any way she's looking good soon be running.
Dont forget the vid when finished
Andrew

That looks great nuts! Just wish I could get my lister stripped and painted that fast...
Great work!
James

Well, I went out to the workshop today & my dad was already in there , seems his new carb for his Velocette arrived from Amal this morning (they took their time! BTW they're now reproducing many of their old carbs again, with modern materials & production techniques, but they are out of the price range of most stationary engine enthusiasts), so there wasn't much room in the workshop for me, but I did manage to get a couple of photos of the fan assembly in the rad surround (it will be mostly hidden when assembled, but I haven't got the rad to go in there, as it's round Ian's place for pressure washing)....

This side will be hidden by the rad....



This is as much as will be seen when it's assembled, picture it behind a black honeycombed rad with shiny brass tanks....



When he'd finished with his Velo I got on with giving the engine a 2nd coat of paint.

I fitted the new core plugs this afternoon as well (before painting). They were pretty loose in there, so I stuck them in with some of that Green Hermetite stuff. It's old stock, so I'm not sure if mine's gone off, it came out quite thin at first, so I whiped it off, gave the tube a good shake & had another go. It should be OK I suppose.

That's about it really, I've just been playing about with various bits & bobs, trying not to make too much dust or mess with all this wet paint about. I've also been racking my brains trying to think of a trolley design. I searched eBay last night & found some wheels.

I can either go with the cheap option, with plastic plain centres, for just over a tenner a set (4 wheels)....



Or I can go with the more expensive option, with metal centres & ball bearings, at just under £20 a set (again, 4 wheels)....



They can both take the weight, but the orange ones are slightly smaller, & as I'm trying to get this thing lower I might go with them (engineering-wise they are a much better wheel).

Both wheels take 20mm axles, for which I can use either tube or bar. The trouble I've got is finding brackets to hold this 20mm axle. I've searched eBay for pillow blocks, bar blocks, tube blocks, bar clamps, tube clamps, bar mounting dveices, you name it, I've looked for it & nothing can be found. So I think I'm just going to have to mount the axles directly through the trolley wood, which is a bit of a pain, as I wanted to make it with one steering axle, I now doubt this will be possible with the height restrictions (total trolley height from floor to deck cannot exceed around 6 inches! At the absolute maximum

Might have to think about making up a metal trolley instead, or maybe go for even smaller wheels (4" instead of 6"???).

I fitted 4 inch wheels on my Wolseley so to keep the height down, they work fine on a small engine but not sure about the size and weight of your engine.

Thanks for the info regarding Amal carbs, good to know that the carb you've been looking for is now available. As for prices I can guess there not cheap as I wanted one for my small BSA and the new/old stock carbs were £75, considering I'd paid a tenner for the engine a new carb wasn't going to happen. I picked up one at an auto jumble for a fiver including the cable and hand control.

Stu.

I thought I would piece it back together today, to let the paint harden whilst I wait for the last bits to arrive from Canada. Also, it takes up less room as a complete unit & I'm less likely to lose any bits if they're all attached to each other. I've also been playing about with a possible exhaust system (notice in the background the door now has a cat flap. That was my "other" job I had to do today )....





here's the bits of exhaust I've got to play with....



I had a play around with the blow lamp & sorted out the last bits of the system (the first elbow will be clamped, as it'll be too hot there for solder)....







As long as it all holds up, & isn't too loud, I see no reason why it shouldn't stay as a permanent system. It makes more sense than an up-swept tractor style pipe, as they really need a condensation trap, especially with a 4 cylinder engine as there's always a valve left open, for moisture to corrode.

I know nothing about soldered joints but how hot will that exhaust get? I'd have thought it would get hot enough to melt the solder more so if the engine is run under load. Apart from that small concern it all looks good and I'm now waiting for the parts from Canada as I want to hear her run.

Stu.

Well, I didn't think an exhaust would be hot enough to melt solder, but I used some of this pipe & fittings on my little JAP model 3 & it actually blew molten solder out of the joints!

I'm guessing as this is water cooled, & probably an altogether slower & more relaxed engine, it probably won't be a problem. But the top elbow has had the hacksaw treatment to give it split ends (like an exhaust) some time ago (when I was messing about with that little JAP), so I've ordered some clamps for it. I haven't ordered the old fashioned U bolt type clamps, I've gone for these ones instead....



If it's too noisy I will have to get a box for it. I've been searching high & low on eBay for possible silencers, when it occurred to me that many smaller cars have (or had, I'm really talking about older cars here) a small silencer in the centre part of the exhaust (like small Renault 5s & 11s, Metros, Polos, that kind of thing). So I just put an eBay search in for "Exhaust centre box", sorted it by price & found the cheapest (I'm also trying to help Ian out here as he's looking for something for his Stuart Turner). I won't go ordering anything, as this one may well be fine without a silencer, but at least I now know where to go if I need one.

I've also been looking at the pulley which came with this engine. It looks like a generic engine flat belt pulley, with a bore of 1+1/4". Trouble is the crank shaft on the engine is a strange size. It measures (with the digital vernier, which isn't the most accurate way to measure stuff but is better than a tape measure or rule) 1.148" approx (which comes out in fractions as 1+4/27", or 29.16mm). Anyone know what size shaft I might have here??? (no sniggering or filthy answers please )

The pulley has no key-way, nor does the shaft. But the pulley does have a grub-screw. It was put on there with some sheet aluminium (I think it's ally) wrapped around the shaft as a spacer, but I would prefer a proper spacer, or preferably the correct size pulley.

I'm going to clean up & paint this one anyway, & put it back on as it was. I would prefer to put some kind of locking bush on the end of the shaft though, just in case this pulley should decide it wants to leave the rest of the engine. The very end of the shaft is smaller, with what's left of a key-way. Originally these had over a foot of crank shaft sticking out, to accept the bolt on genny. Obviously someone has cut that off of this one. I will get some pics of it today & show you all what I mean.

I think this engine should have a pulley, as I don't intend to just run it with no load. Mind you, it will probably have to run with no load for a while, just until I can find something for it. Dunno what to run off it though. Being a 4 cylinder it is ideally suited to a generator, but I'm getting a bit bored with gennys, I quite fancy a water pump. She's only got around 3-5 horsepower though, so won't take anything too strenuous.

Nut's rather then buying expensive clamp now could you not try it with a normal hose clip just so it holds it in place till you see how things go and how hot it gets, as I think it being a 4 cylinder it will be hotter then a single cylinder IMO

Stu.

Those clips were only 99p each. I would probably pay more if I went to my local car spares shop & bought hose clips. I have got a box full of assorted jubilee clips, but none were quite right for these joints. Bloody typical!

EDIT:
I almost forgot to say, I just stopped for a late lunch, but today I was searching around for trolley ideas when I found a length of suitable timber, so I have cut it into pieces, ready to start building the trolley. This one should bring the base of the engine within about 5" from ground level (which is pretty low). It should be easily narrow enough to take 500mm axles, which will cut down on postage costs.

All I need to do now is finalise how to mount the rigid axle, & how I'm going to make it steer. I've got a few ideas.

The wood is some stuff we got about 18 months ago to build the workshop. It is just basic building grade stuff, probably from Wickes. It looks like 2X4 but is slightly smaller & has been painted with bituminous black paint (which I still have, somewhere). I will paint the cut ends (it's very good at keeping moisture out, that wood's been stored outside all this time & is in perfect condition) & will put the trolley together when Ian returns my screw box with all my long fixings in.

Well, I managed to knock together a trolley chassis today. Nothing very exciting really....



I decided to make my own axle clamps, out of wood (seen here with an old piece of 20mm conduit, NOT the axle I will be using as I don't have them yet)....





The front wheels need to steer, so the clamps will be a little different....





The axles will be 20mm diameter, so I will be using this as a steering pivot point....



It's all very basic, but should work. The conduit box will have the M20 threads removed from 2 of the holes (unless I go & buy a 25mm T box) so the 20mm axle will pass straight through. It will have a hole drilled through the base of it & a coach bolt will pass straight through it & the wood to act as the pivot. Hopefully there will be enough clearance to pass the axle through with the bolt in place, otherwise I will go for a countersunk machine screw. I'm hoping to drill the pivot hole through the wood slightly oversize & put a metal bush/spacer in there to add strength & avoid too much wear on the wood.

As the conduit box is a T I can get a piece of 20mm metal conduit, which will make up the steering handle. But it will probably have to be a steering handle only, not a pulling handle, I don't think it'll be up to that, but will have to wait & see how tough it all is.

I get some money on Tuesday, so will order the bits (wheels & axles) then. Also need to look for some 20mm flat washers for the wheels, unless I make up my own.

Sounds like you found a way to make a cheap steerable trolley, nice one mate.

Stu.

Nice going Nut

If I were able and that ambitious.., I'd run out of things to do!
You work fast and furious But I'll bet your other half hasn't found a way to adapt you to her honeydo list yet

Great looking and fine engine Nuts, I'd been wanting something similar, but more like an old 1 or 3 cyl boat diesel. (yeah right, good luck!)
That would be my one time long term prospect. But then again.., I want everything everyone else has anyway, so I'll stick to commenting on the ones I can't have.

You are just an amazing phenomena IMHO. Keeps me going!

Cheers mate, John.

Cheers John. Maybe my secret to all this is that I don't have another half. I've been single for years now, & still really enjoy it.

I met a bloke last year who makes half scale, fully operational replicas of famous British motorcycle engines. He also made a half scale working model of a Bentley Rotary aero engine. He made everything, right down to spark plugs & carbs. The only thing which didn't work as it should was the magnetos. They looked right, but just contained the points. He used an electronic ignition system to run the engines.

There are some photos on my Photobucket page & a couple of videos on my YouTube channel, I can dig them up if you're interested.

Anyway, why was I telling you about this??? Oh yes, this guy was around the age of 80 & had obviously been building these engines for many years. When someone asked what his wife thought about it all, he replied that he wasn't married, & I don't think he ever had been. That was his secret you see, & my inspiration to carry on in my own little world, free of emotional ties

The single life's not for everyone though. We're all different. If we were all like me the human race would probably be doomed!

Anyway (again! Maybe I say that too much?) how long does it take for a package to arrive from Canada??!!! I've just checked my emails & he posted that stuff 2 weeks ago now! I must be getting impatient, he did say it could take a month, maybe more.

I've got the trolley ready & given it another coat of Bituminous Black paint....





Today I have ordered the wheels (I went for the cheapest option in the end. I had some bad reports on the orange ones & the better looking plastic ones were all gone). I also ordered the axles, a metal conduit box (the one I have will not work as it's got M20 threaded holes, which will not pass a 20mm axle through) & some coach bolts.

I'm thinking about the steering mechanism. I'm not sure it's going to be strong enough. I have the perfect fitting I could use, but it's all based around an M8 bolt, which I think is just too small to take the loads involved. I know the wooden trolley will take most of the load, via the axles, but the steering joint will still be called upon to take a fair amount of loading at various times, & I don't want it breaking when I need it most. I think the steering bolt needs to be M10 at the least. I have a BSF or UNC equivalent, but the coach bolts I've ordered are also M10, so I might end up using one of those.

Not sure weather I'm going ahead with my idea of a mock-up concrete engine-room plinth. With the height restrictions the tops of the wheels will now come above the engine bed height, but the axles will stick out a bit, so I could still make this happen, but the wheels would still be visible, which kind of defeats the object of making it in the first place. I might just have to see what it looks like on the completed trolley.

That radiator you gave me is coming on a treat!
I've managed to bash out most of the "Kohler USA" embossed on it and scribbled "Stuart Turnip" on it (never was any good at spelling) with a permanent marker. I managed to mount it on the Stuart pretty well with some old bed slats and some self tapping screws. It'll leak a bit but I'll just crack an egg in there and hope for the best.

Just remember I'm holding your circlip pliers to ransom!

(I never was very good at hostage taking).

Good to hear you've sorted your radiator out now Ian :stick lol: :stick lol: :stick lol:

Stu.

nutgone wrote:Cheers John. Maybe my secret to all this is that I don't have another half. I've been single for years now, & still really enjoy it.

I met a bloke last year who makes half scale, fully operational replicas of famous British motorcycle engines. He also made a half scale working model of a Bentley Rotary aero engine. He made everything, right down to spark plugs & carbs. The only thing which didn't work as it should was the magnetos. They looked right, but just contained the points. He used an electronic ignition system to run the engines.

There are some photos on my Photobucket page & a couple of videos on my YouTube channel, I can dig them up if you're interested.

Anyway, why was I telling you about this??? Oh yes, this guy was around the age of 80 & had obviously been building these engines for many years. When someone asked what his wife thought about it all, he replied that he wasn't married, & I don't think he ever had been. That was his secret you see, & my inspiration to carry on in my own little world, free of emotional ties

The single life's not for everyone though. We're all different. If we were all like me the human race would probably be doomed!

Anyway (again! Maybe I say that too much?) how long does it take for a package to arrive from Canada??!!! I've just checked my emails & he posted that stuff 2 weeks ago now! I must be getting impatient, he did say it could take a month, maybe more.

I've got the trolley ready & given it another coat of Bituminous Black paint....





Today I have ordered the wheels (I went for the cheapest option in the end. I had some bad reports on the orange ones & the better looking plastic ones were all gone). I also ordered the axles, a metal conduit box (the one I have will not work as it's got M20 threaded holes, which will not pass a 20mm axle through) & some coach bolts.

I'm thinking about the steering mechanism. I'm not sure it's going to be strong enough. I have the perfect fitting I could use, but it's all based around an M8 bolt, which I think is just too small to take the loads involved. I know the wooden trolley will take most of the load, via the axles, but the steering joint will still be called upon to take a fair amount of loading at various times, & I don't want it breaking when I need it most. I think the steering bolt needs to be M10 at the least. I have a BSF or UNC equivalent, but the coach bolts I've ordered are also M10, so I might end up using one of those.

Not sure weather I'm going ahead with my idea of a mock-up concrete engine-room plinth. With the height restrictions the tops of the wheels will now come above the engine bed height, but the axles will stick out a bit, so I could still make this happen, but the wheels would still be visible, which kind of defeats the object of making it in the first place. I might just have to see what it looks like on the completed trolley.

It would be interesting to see the model engines Nut,

Just post the links and we can all enjoy them.

As for being single and having no ties or a governing body at home as it were :stick lol: , I am a happy man!!! Sometimes I get a bit ...umm.. melancholy for the finer things of marriage, but well.. you know, freedom has its price and there's nothing wrong with a good short term relationship

I've done my job, had my children and obeyed God in that respect, The kids are all well off and papered to the necks, so I am not just a delinquent lol, but having the authority to do engine work in the home can just not be had any other way! Cheers to singledom!

The attributes a woman marries a man for are the same ones she will hate only a year or two later, and that's the reason the world will eventually have nothing but Listers and all sorts of other engines littered all over it with only a few families to perpetuate humanity, and the rest working overtime lol.

I have had post and shipped items to wait for as long as 6 months from the blokes below the line here Nut, some stuff seems to evade all the bother and some of it seems to pay for it in return, hard to say what's up with that.

Customs, I know can be a bit of a pain as our engines and parts could be bombs or terrorrist devices, and as such a perfect reason to justify their existence (and charge for it!), but in the overall view even from Canada here, it can take 6 weeks easily, although from the UK to here was not 3 weeks for the stuff from Stationary, so hang in there and I'm sure it will arrive.

The cart looks like it is coming along quite nicely , just a few more things and away you go.

Regards, John.

Well, the axles turned up today, so I've finished the trolley off, I just need to think up something in the way of a handle/steering device now. I've got a few ideas but they all involve spending money. Once again my lack of metal stock is holding me back, I may end up having to string a piece of rope round the steering axle, like a child's go-cart. It'll work (in one direction), but it won't look very good. I'll take some pics tomorrow & see if anyone else has any bright ideas.

I measured up & I think when it's all finished & mounted up it will clear the top of the boot-line on my brother's (or my dad's) car by about half an inch. Which is plenty. I can always take the rad cap off & make it a full inch if necessary .

I also did the HT leads & brass terminals today. I used modern crimp terminals at the magneto end, but covered the modern blue plastic insulation up with some old-fashioned-looking, self amalgamating, rubber tape (I can't believe I lived so long without that stuff!)

I used cheapo plastic HT lead in the end, & found someone selling cheap brass plug terminals. I really hate lining Tim Green's pockets, Greens Sparkplugs have a bit of a monopoly on vintage ignition parts, & they really make the most of it with their prices. I love it when someone comes along with cheaper HT lead or brass terminals. If anyone has another source for braided black HT lead I would be very interested to know. I'm sure it doesn't have to cost over £5 a metre!

I've taken my little plumbing job apart on the bottom pipe. I wasn't happy with it, it appears I've either cut one, or both, of the pipes too short by about 3mm, or have not bent it to quite the right angle, or possibly both. It would have sealed with a load of silicone sealant, but that's not good enough for me. I've got plenty of 22mm copper pipe left, I've ordered a couple of 45deg obtuse elbows & am going to have another go when they arrive. I also found out what a "street elbow" was & ordered one of those too, just in case. (If you don't know what it is, it's on Wikipedia).

Ian bought the rad back yesterday & I fitted it back to the frame tonight. I had a go at stripping the last stubborn bits of paint with a tiny little screwdriver last night, but it was a tedious job. Eventually I plan to spray paint the core black, but I'm not going to paint it until I know it doesn't leak, because if it does it will need to be soldered, & as we all know; solder doesn't like sticking to paint.

I will get some more pics of all this stuff tomorrow. If the weather's OK I will wheel it outside & take some. But it won't be going on the new trolley until after I get the bits from Canada, as it needs to come apart to go from one trolley to the other (it's far too heavy to: lift on, mark holes, lift off, drill holes, lift back on again accurately over the bolts etc etc etc). Hopefully the bits will be here before I go crazy & we can all see it grow on it's new trolley.

Nuts I get some of my handle from the recycling centre (tip) I go round taking all the lawn mower handles if I think there suitable or any that have long straight lengths so I can cut n bend as I like with them.

You say about Greens for bits n pieces, I find it's best to shop around as there lots selling the items sometimes cheaper sometimes more expensive. I find that on ebay the motor bike suppliers are cheapest for HT lead, then just do a search for terminals. I manly only use greens for spark plugs but one thing I have found is there prices / postage prices on ebay and his web page can be dfferent so worth checking both out before buying.

Fingers crossed the rad is ok but after all these years it doesn't look to good.

Stu.

I think the rad is still water tight. I left water in it over night & it was still in there the following morning, but it's a bit inconclusive as I've had mixed results in my various tests of it.

I put it all back on the engine, sealed up the flanges as best I could (with dry gaskets, as it will all have to come apart again) & I blew into the top of the rad. It seemed to hold the pressure from my lungs OK, but again this isn't a conclusive test.

I think the only way to be sure will be when it's all together. It is all brass & solder though, so can't rust. I've also got to think about the head gasket joint as well. I know I say not to do it, but I will have to seriously consider weather or not to add some kind of compound to the joint faces or the gasket. The trouble is I am re-using an old gasket, which also should never really be done on cylinder heads (in an ideal world, of course). But this isn't an ideal world, so I may be getting the Hermetite Green out again.

I may ask for a quote on having a new gasket made up. There's a company based in Thailand which gets good reports on SmokStak, & there's a few British companies as well. I bet it's not cheap though. Anyone know???

Nuts in the past I've always just laid the rad onto some newspapers then filled with water and leave over night and then see if the newspaper gets any damp spots.

Nuts the use of gasket compound some times has to be used and you know it's something that's used sparingly so as not to cause any problems. and non of us are going to say we told you so. :chin: :stick lol: :stick lol: :stick lol:

Stu.

nutgone wrote:I think the rad is still water tight. I left water in it over night & it was still in there the following morning, but it's a bit inconclusive as I've had mixed results in my various tests of it.

I put it all back on the engine, sealed up the flanges as best I could (with dry gaskets, as it will all have to come apart again) & I blew into the top of the rad. It seemed to hold the pressure from my lungs OK, but again this isn't a conclusive test.

I think the only way to be sure will be when it's all together. It is all brass & solder though, so can't rust. I've also got to think about the head gasket joint as well. I know I say not to do it, but I will have to seriously consider weather or not to add some kind of compound to the joint faces or the gasket. The trouble is I am re-using an old gasket, which also should never really be done on cylinder heads (in an ideal world, of course). But this isn't an ideal world, so I may be getting the Hermetite Green out again.

I may ask for a quote on having a new gasket made up. There's a company based in Thailand which gets good reports on SmokStak, & there's a few British companies as well. I bet it's not cheap though. Anyone know???

Nuts,

I have used red copper flashing (for a head gasket).., the stuff that goes on in the corners and angles and ice barriers on more expensive roofs to replace the soft tin stuff. (only up here I suppose ) before the tiles go on to stop water from seeping through.
I know..., I'm cheap, but not easy! and it did work!

Some time ago I had a piece from a friend who has a roofing business, he had it laying about as scrap when I needed a gasket for a single cylinder russian bike engine (well it looked Russsky to me), it worked well on that, and on the old Harley I had (they were mostly paper or copper sandwiched sometimes for the '20's to '70's.)

Now.., I know that a four banger is different, but it could do, never know till you try.
I wouldn't think that the clearances are rocket science on the aux. engines so it may be something to think on.
Stuff's a bit thin, but very soft and it did the job well.

I don't know what it would be worth to buy as mine was scrap leftovers out of their re-cycle bins out back (bloody fortune back there!!), but at the prices for gaskets this day and age I wonder if that may be an idea.
You asked and I was reminded of that episode. Far as I know the Russian moped still runs.

Another thing we used to do for squashed copper washers out of the old radial engine banjo fittings and the like, was to heat them red hot and throw them into a bucket of Carbon Tet (I think it was Carbon Tetra Chloride) and that would re-soften the washers to a re-usable state, ready to be used one more time after a bit of filing to take the damage off.

Now that I was reminded :chin: , I am going to see if there is any more of that as scrap as it wouldn't hurt to keep some handy now that I'm back messing with engines.

Cheers Mate.
John.