handy1882

Hi All,

I have got a box of these, has anyone ever seen them before? Any idea what they are used on? They came with some motorbike bits so I’m assuming that that may be bike related 

I’m pretty sure they are spark plug caps, however they must be for plugs with a very small diameter ceramic as the hole is only 10mm

The knurled bit with Smiths on is a captive nut that screws on the top of the plug. The last picture is a set up with plug ( too big) and HT lead with olive and nut. 

If you struggle to find replacement valves, these guys are really helpful.

http://www.gsvalves.co.uk/

Most of the valves on my Vulcan were in a similar condition to yours and I had a full set made. Very pleased with the results.

Sorry, it's been spoken for I'm afraid..

PM sent

Thanks Tim. 

At the last house, I had spare time but no space, now I have space but spare time is at a premium! 

Thank you. 

Not sure what this is from, but it looks very similar to a WLF gearbox?

If it's any use to anyone you are welcome to it.

Hi all,

Just to keep in touch, the Vulcan is still progressing, but at a much slower rate. 

My wife and I bought a house (pile of bricks with a door knob on!) that needed a complete renovation, so have spent over a year getting it habitable, it still needs finishing, but we are in. Also we have had a baby girl who is now 6 months old, so as you can guess I've had to put the Vulcan on the back burner for a little while. However the house did come with a double garage and a rather nice workshop which will more than happily accommodate an assembled Vulcan plus other clutter.... 

Vulcan is still under progress but has slowed up considerably due to a house move/complete renovation and a baby girl which arrived in October...

It looks very similar to a Ward LeFrance box......

There may be some numbers somewhere but I've not really had a good look, guessing 6 speed and reverse. I assume the rod on the gearstick is a reverse interlock  

It came attached to an Albion en286 engine which had been used to re engine a trencher so engine and box are probably not an original pairing? The bit of tin on the back is part of this conversion. 

Certainly looks 40's to 50's, and it is a very heavy lump so must be out of something quite substantial

Hi All,

Does anyone know what this gearbox is out of? Definitely green paint under the yellow.

If it's of use to anyone, you are welcome to it as its in the way. 

Hi Joey,

I have the only other Vulcan VSW 6x4, chassis number 13... I'll PM You my contact details.

Hi Sam,

Great work! I had a look round your truck a while back when it was in a sale.

I'm really glad that it is being brought back to life, fantastic stuff!

Hi Pete,

Thank you very much for your kind comments. Hopefully you will see it in one piece someday, its been it bits for a long time. I think Pete and Roy bought it sometime in the late 70's.

It certainly given me a huge appreciation for the amount of work that goes in to other peoples restorations.

I managed to find an old Austin carb that still had the correct choke assembly on, this fitted straight on.

All ready to fit one day...

It all came apart with a lot of very gentle heating and tapping. The aluminium insert was nearly completely rotted away, I'm sure there is a clever name for this bit..

I machined up a new one.

also machined a new butterfly shaft and main jet.

The inlet filter was a but worn,

I managed to get it apart and fit a new filter mesh.

The float had a few small holes, so i soldered these up.

The carburetor has also been done. It is a Zenith 30 HZ which was fitted to a lot of different vehicles such as the Austin 12/4 etc, however the Vulcan one is a slightly rarer version as is it left handed compared to the more available Austin version.

It was seized completely solid and has been having a soak in WD40 since i started the project.The large air intake looks to be a later modification, and the right angle bronze casting does not really match the carb.

The manifolds have been done. The exhaust manifold is in quite good condition just requiring a good sandblast and heatproof paint.

The inlet manifold had a large hole in it, luckily I had the hole to fill it back in with. it was sifbronzed back in to place (Thank you once again Dad!)

A few more bits and pieces done. The main prop shaft was overhauled in the same way as the axle drive shaft a few pages back. The joints were in quite good condition once they were cleaned up.

The cap head is just for assembly purposes.

Hi Pete,

Thanks, that stuff should do the job. It's a sand casting so should have a decent enough key already, bit more roughing wouldn't do any harm though.

Thanks for the replies everyone. I think I'll probably leave the crank case as it is and hope for the best. It doesn't seem too porous, if it starts to show problems in service I'll have to have a rethink.

The sump however is a different matter. It is also an aluminium casting, but looks like it has been dropped/jacked upon/pushed about etc.. and has a few small cracks in it, I think I may give it a thorough degrease and apply some glyptal to these areas to seal it up, unless anyone else has any good ideas? Unfortunately the material does not respond well to welding...

Hi All,

Bit of an odd question for you all!

Internal engine paint: has anyone ever used it?

I’m starting to work on the Vulcans engine, the crankcase is a large aluminium casting which is painted internally in a kind of beige paint/varnish which is tough as old boots to clean off. A lot of it is already off anyway where the engine has been in bits for years and corrosion has got underneath the coating.

I’ve done some research and apparently it was used to seal the aluminium to stop oil soaking in to the very porous casting and also to stop muck coming back out of it.

Has anyone come across this before? And if so has anyone ever replaced this coating?

Have you cleaned it off and regretted it later as oilstarted seeping through your casting?

I’ve found some of this stuff, Glyptal, which is used to smooth uprough castings and make the oil get back to the sump faster…. Can’t really seethe point of that, but it would probably work well for the purpose of sealingup porosity. Pricey…

http://www.frost.co.uk/glyptal-red-enamel-946ml-us-quart.html

I’ve seen this sort of stuff in tractor gearboxes andengines and seem to remember it being in a Triumph car engine that I restored. It’s that thin coating of red oxide looking stuff that is hard to get off.

What are people’s thoughts on this? Seems a strange thing to do to slop paint around inside an engine…

There is some electrical coil insulation paint on our favourite auction site which looks the same and is heat, oil and acid proof so would probably do the job, I’ve ordered a small bit of this as a tester to see what it comes out like.

Hi Keith,

Thank you! There may well be a few rims over our favourite yard, having a wander round there is on my to do list now that the vegetation has died back for winter.

I shall have to come over and have a look at your new projects one evening.

Welcome to the forum Keith!