andypugh

Interesting coincidence that the modern chase vehicles were Ford, Mercedes, Renault and Dennis.

I think that the idea is that a tank full of water is verifiably not full of petrol vapour. You can then arrange the tank to allow you to work in a bubble.

Also:

I think it is worth pointing out that this isn't just Steve's widely publicised lack of welding skills. A number of professional welders have had a go with WW1-era Dennis crank-cases and sumps and have never been successful.

Pity that yours is CP&Co, the Brasso van would be cool.

Talking of acetylene generators https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Vintage-Acetylene-Generator-Welding-Machine-1920s-1930s/113173171128?hash=item1a59a58bb8:g:fTEAAOSwlOJbU0ga Not right for lighting, but for a mobile workshop it might be just the thing.

I pushed the seized pistons out of my Ner-a-Car engines using a grease gun. Obviously this is easier with a 221cc 2-stroke than a several-litre 4-stroke, but if you can close the valves this might be an option if more conventional methods fail.

Sticking EGR valve 🙂 (More seriously, perhaps a leak into the inlet air warming path)

I think that the post says that it is just a hole in a piece of plate. That certainly works. You can use the original plastic end nut / spanner, but it looks like Steve has machined a metal one with the right thread. If you have a 3D printer then there are some designs that might help: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2846032 as a random example. If money is no object: this machined aluminium routing adaptor might be a good starting point. The correct thread, with a split-clamp is probably optimal. If you are going to do a lot of grinding then it might be worth getting something with better bearings to make a dedicated grinder. One of the cheap eBay router spindles perhaps.

I am trying to work out if there is any point in the knob at the end being spherical. It seems like all the location should be on the bronze blocks, so a simple T-shape would have worked just as well?

I just measured the angle of dangle of the wings on LP8389 and the answer is 18 degrees.

I don't have one of those angle blocks (how embarassing) but might be able to sort something out at the weekend. Looking on Google, LP83989 seems to have a few degrees of flare: https://goo.gl/images/fRX49c But FA1075 (One of Asciidv's ) seems to have completely flat wings: https://goo.gl/images/1oKCos Barry can probably do a statistical analysis, he has an infinite number of N-types (for statistical purposes)

Is that a Dennis / White and Poppe engine? It does suffer from the common crank-too-high problem mentioned by Ben, but does look to be fairly narrow.

There are some photos here of me bodging together our brass radiator (A neater job has been performed since, I feel the urge to add). https://union.ic.ac.uk/rcc/rcsmotor/gallery/index.php/2010s/2014-15/Fresher-s-Week-inc-Radiator-Rebuild/20141008_183443 I was hoping that there would be pictures of the back of the top tank, but there do not seem to be any good ones. However working from memory I would say that your existing top-tank has all the normal fittings, and might well be a modified original brass radiator top tank mated to a later core and side members.

That doesn't look like a cast top tank, apart from the bolt-on flanges. Is it brass or aluminium?