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Author Topic: Ruston College Engine & Dynamometer  (Read 28710 times)

listerdiesel

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Re: Ruston College Engine & Dynamometer
« Reply #15 on: August 12, 2013, 11:27:35 AM »
Trying to keep the posts down but the information displayed, up.  ;)

Lots of bits in the pipeline, looks like we are going to use a CS Lister fuel tank, because we have it, and the pipes for the cooling tank are here, just got to get the stubs sorted out for the tank, plus get the tank holding down bits sorted.

The tank itself contained commercial food grade Vitamin E from BASF in Germany, pongs like hell but fairly easy to clean out.

Also need to get a tin of Deep Bronze Green paint, my last one vanished, although I found the lid over the weekend....  ;D

Peter

listerdiesel

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Re: Ruston College Engine & Dynamometer
« Reply #16 on: August 25, 2013, 07:25:14 PM »
Got the axles onto the trolley chassis:











Peter
« Last Edit: August 28, 2013, 10:31:22 AM by listerdiesel »

listerdiesel

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Re: Ruston College Engine & Dynamometer
« Reply #17 on: August 28, 2013, 11:11:22 AM »
More bits and pieces:

Water tank spouts ready for welding:



Lister CS fuel tank, dents in the bottom being straightened:





Straightened out a couple of dents in the water tank that came from Simon Jennings (Thanks, Simon!) got the label off after a fight, then as we had the top cover for the framework, I looked at how we could arrange the fuel and water tanks:









The exhaust and water are very closely positioned, so might need some fancy pipework/elbows to do it all.

Peter

listerdiesel

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Re: Ruston College Engine & Dynamometer
« Reply #18 on: September 02, 2013, 08:58:41 AM »
More work over the weekend:

Getting the handle legs ready for welding:



Welded in the gussets for the control panel uprights:



Welded up handle:



Main handle gussets:



Assembled to the trolley frame:



Quick-release pins:



The handle clears the chassis beams in the straight-ahead position, and if pulling by hand the kink allows the handle come up to waist height without fouling the chassis beam ends on the turn.

Peter

listerdiesel

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Re: Ruston College Engine & Dynamometer
« Reply #19 on: September 02, 2013, 08:59:28 AM »
More after lunch.

I wanted to get the drive coupling Metalastik bushes refitted, but the boys had the engine hoist down in Bedford while they were changing an engine for one of Rob's neighbours, so it had to wait until today when I got it back.

I cleaned up the drive pins with some fine emery cloth and checked that the bushes were fairly free:



Next I cleaned out the bores for the bushes in the coupling:



Then I made up a bit of M12 studding and some spacers to pull the bushes into the coupling. A bit of grease on the outers helped them go in. I had a thrust bearing on the M12 rod to help the torque required to turn the nut. Being stainless, it has a habit of galling on itself and locking up. The black piece is the bush, this was the last one going in:





All the bushes in place:



Last thing was to grease the drive pins and fit the dynamo back into place:



Initially, rotation of the engine doesn't produce any lifting of the dynamo or the engine, so it looks as though the height is OK between the engine and dynamo, just have to align along the axis of the crankshaft now before tightening it all up.

Peter

listerdiesel

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Re: Ruston College Engine & Dynamometer
« Reply #20 on: September 16, 2013, 02:30:54 PM »
We've got our last two shows of the year, last weekend and next, here are some pictures of the trailer and the two engines at Barleylands:

Trailer all set up:



Both engines running:



Ruston 1YB:



Ruston 1ZHR:



Peter

listerdiesel

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Re: Ruston College Engine & Dynamometer
« Reply #21 on: December 18, 2013, 02:46:54 PM »
I arranged for another set of re-tyred Bren Gun Carrier wheels from Holland, and got a friend of Anton van der Cruijsen, Bert Marinus, to bring them over to the UK in his truck. Bert copmes over here monthly and is very obliging about moving old iron and parts thereof  ;)

I collected the new wheel set from Bert who had brought them over from Holland for us at a very competitive costs compared with a pallet carrier.

Bert sells antique furniture and stuff and had a load of goods on sale at what was an antique furniture and bric-a-brac sales day at Kempton Park racecourse.

This set of wheels are wider than the last set we bought, 75mm tread width against 60mm for the first set, so we will probably transfer the first set onto the 1YB and this new set onto the 1ZHR which is a heavier setup, not by much but enough to make it worth doing.









As they have rusted a bit after their shotblasting prior to the new tyres being moulded, I'll get them done again plus Zinc spray as usual.

They are away at present, should get them back before Xmas so I can repaint them over the holiday.

Peter

listerdiesel

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Re: Ruston College Engine & Dynamometer
« Reply #22 on: January 28, 2014, 03:29:46 PM »
Missed this post out from August 2013:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As we had got that far, I took some box section home to cut up for the panel vertical supports, and after opening out the original panel holes and drilling the supports, it all looks OK:





It isn't welded up yet, as Philip and Rita are down at Bedford for one of Robert's partner's kids birthdays (pseudo Grandchildren) but I've got it ready to weld up and the MIG welder is outside ready for him as soon as he gets back, hopefully before it gets dark.

I really ought to learn how to use the MIG welder, but Phil is so good with it, it just isn't worth the effort.

There are some 100mm X 100mm 90 Deg gussets to be welded in at that bottom joint, I'm not going to rely on just the weld, however good his welding may be!

Peter

listerdiesel

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Re: Ruston College Engine & Dynamometer
« Reply #23 on: January 28, 2014, 03:38:16 PM »
Got the new set of wheels back from the shotblasters today, they had gone a bit overboard with the hot Zinc spray, but it scrapes off the rubber OK.

I'll get some paint on them as soon as I have cleaned the excess Zinc off.

In places I had to cut it off with a scalpel, it was really solid.





Peter

honda lee

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Re: Ruston College Engine & Dynamometer
« Reply #24 on: January 28, 2014, 05:26:36 PM »
Very nice thanks for sharing with us! Every one in the USA is jealous. Engines like that don't come around at least that I have seen.

listerdiesel

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Re: Ruston College Engine & Dynamometer
« Reply #25 on: January 29, 2014, 10:34:11 AM »
There are obviously far more here than in the USA, but Ruston were big exporters, and while the US had its own indigenous makers of engines, vast number of Ruston, Petter, Lister, Crossley and others went out to Africa, Australia and Canada.

The 'College Engines' are particularly sought-after as they are usually in excellent mechanical condition, having had little use over their years in service.

Peter

listerdiesel

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Re: Ruston College Engine & Dynamometer
« Reply #26 on: March 13, 2014, 10:12:21 AM »
06/02/14  (or 02/06/14 for the North Americans!)

Unexpectedly, the Zinc layer was really thick inside the bearing housings, so much so that when I tried to fit a bearing it just wouldn't go in, so I had to scrape out the excess down to bare cast iron, after which the bearings went in on the first wheel:





Took ages to sort that one out, but now I know what to do the others shouldn't be as bad to do.

5 coats on paint on there....

Axle diameter is 2", those are quite large bearings, 6310 2RS.

Peter
« Last Edit: March 13, 2014, 10:13:56 AM by listerdiesel »

listerdiesel

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Re: Ruston College Engine & Dynamometer
« Reply #27 on: March 13, 2014, 10:14:22 AM »
10/02/14

Got all four wheels more or less finished, two fitted on the trolley this afternoon, the last two had to have their bearings fitted and final painting tonight.

Pictures show the area being cleaned up, the cast iron was fairly visible as a darker grain against the bright silver of the Zinc. I greased the housings before knocking the bearings in.





The little Dremel copy worked very well in getting the excess Zinc out of the bearing housings, much better than I would have thought possible.

The cylindrical emery rollers either lasted very well or fell to bits as soon as you put pressure on them, but I had a box of them at pennies each so apart from dodging them as they flew off the arbor, that wasn't a problem.

I'll do the rims on this pair in the morning, then get them mounted in the afternoon.

The wheels that have come off don't have a home yet, I'm toying with the idea of something new, possibly related to the Lister 10/2 that I have, so I may well get these re-tyred next year and use them on that trolley.

Peter

listerdiesel

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Re: Ruston College Engine & Dynamometer
« Reply #28 on: March 13, 2014, 10:15:51 AM »
11/03/14

Together with the 1ZHR, the 1YB got some attention today.

A large oil puddle under the engine looked ominous, but it was a loose banjo connection on the fuel tank tap, which was quickly solved, plus a bit of a leak where the tap goes into the tank, which I'll look at tomorrow.

The fuel filter hasn't been changed while in our possession, so that was the first job. A huge amount of fine rust from the original fuel tank was in the bottom of the filter, and the filter element doesn't look as though it had been changed since new.

Cleaned the filter bowl out and put the new element in, no problems. Took a while to bleed it though, there wasn't a huge head of fuel so it took a while to fill the filter bowl and run through to the injection pump.

Startup was immediate, but there was still air in the pipes and it took two further goes before it would settle down and run properly. Oil pressure 40psi.

The Stationary Engine Parts silencer is a bit flimsy, the base joint is looking as though it is going to bend and fail, not good for 40 hours running.

The DC side was fine, volts came up as soon as the engine started, didn't load it as there was no water in the tanks.

Fitted the last of the new wheels as well.

The infusers that we bought to hold tea bags in have turned out not to be the stainless steel as advertised, the newer one has holes rusted through the mesh, the older one isn't quite as bas but not far off.

Will have to have a closer look when we buy the replacements.

Peter

listerdiesel

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Re: Ruston College Engine & Dynamometer
« Reply #29 on: March 13, 2014, 10:16:32 AM »
11/03/14

Remembered to take some pictures of the new wheels while I was taking shots of the 1ZHR fuel filter:

New front wheel:



1ZHR front wheel, thinner tyre and wheel:



1YB wheel close up.



Both engines just need a good clean and oil up and we are good to go. I might have a go at repainting the 1ZHR wheels to the right colour, I still have some paint left.

Peter