restoration IWM Duxford Centurion Mk III (that one off the telly)

[sexton]

Paul,

Sorry to hear about your health woes. Sounds painful!

We have made some progress. We have a spare clutch in poor condition and one of the clever guys here suggested  using just the clutch shaft as an alignment tool.  Seemed like a good  idea, so I stripped the old clutch down and it looks like we can drop the engine in, slide it towards the front, install the bare clutch shaft (well, not completely bare, it has the drive gear mounted at the crankshaft end and the output shaft flange at the gearbox end), slide the engine backwards to locate the drive gear in the end of the crankshaft, bolt the flange up to the gearbox input shaft flange, and check the alignment by mounting dial indicators on the clutch shaft and clocking the crankcase face and the gearbox flange face using the two surfaces shown on the drawing below. The parts of the old clutch we will use are coloured in (faint) orange below.  

I think it will work! Thank you, Mike! 

So we're getting closer to having her running. All the wiring associated with running the engine has been repaired, the driver's instrument panel and switchboard have been rebuilt, alternative instrumentation for coolant temperature and engine rpm has been installed (the original stuff was not repairable), new batteries and cables are in, the clutch has been overhauled, all the control linkages from the driver's compartment to the throttle, brakes, clutch and gearbox have been cleaned and lubricated, the long range fuel tank has been cleaned out and will be used as the main tank,, new fuel tubing run to the engine, the fuel filter rebuilt with a new element, a repaired fuel tank selector valve installed, all coolant tubing and the engine mount frame have been repaired and pressure tested, the coolant header tank has been repaired and pressure tested with rebuilt pressure relief/vacuum breaker valve, the main and steering brakes have been cleaned and lubed, the oil tank cleaned and pressure tested, the oil cooler cleaned and pressure tested, one rad has been cleaned and pressure tested, the other is in progress, the air filters have been cleaned and rebuilt, the gearbox selector forks and shafts removed, cleaned and lubed, suspension lubrication is in progress, one exhaust pipe between engine and hull has been repaired, one still has to be done, the fans have been rebuilt with new bearings. 

The main outstanding tasks are the rad repair (leaking end cover gaskets) and the engine/gearbox alignment. We're getting close.

 

Malcolm

 

Edited September 17, 2019 by sexton