IAN_B

Probably not very relevant, but here is progress on our new wheels as of Tuesday. Ian

We have wheels of similar construction on our 1918 International. New ones are being made right now, having already had new rubber vulcanised onto the rims. Our wheelwright will heat the steel bands and fit them over the felloes, with the finished outside diameter of the steel band about 1/8" greater than the rim ID. He will then heat the rim sufficiently for it to fit over the steel band and then cool it to achieve a tight fit. The rubber is vulcanised at about 200C, and with 29" inside diameter, he believes only moderate heat will be required to expand the rims sufficiently. We are placing our trust in his expertise! Ian

I see that you have prepared the springs for cleaning. Do you not dismantle them and clean all the leaves? We are at this stage on our 1918 International project, and I had thought we should take them apart. It does of course involve a lot of additional work. Would you recommend any form of lubrication between the leaves if they have been disassembled - we had to replace several leaves of our front springs? Ian

Could that be a frost crack? Ian

Here is a photo of the shackles and bolts for the front axle of our International truck project. The holes were very badly elongated, and we chose to bore them out until true, press in solid plugs, then drill them at the correct centres again. We think it will work. You can see the eccentricity of the inserted plugs quite readily in the photo. Ian

Looks like you filled in the entire corner with brass. I have done the same job by locating a piece from a similar flange, cut the corner off and matched the two pieces together to a reasonable degree, then brazed them together. Are these pieces the water passage between the two cylinder castings? Ian

We are restoring a 1918 International truck, and have found the original Timken bearings in the gearbox still available. However, the rear hubs had Hyatt bearings that were in a very bad way, and when we surprisingly found the bore diameter to be 100mm, we were able to adapt pairs of 32211 (100 x 55 x 27) tapered roller bearings and made sleeves for the axles. 32211 were available in a range of qualities, and we opted for ones costing only AUD25 each. Our truck will travel maybe 5Km per year and never on public roads. There is something to be said for metric over imperial bearings on price. The International has planetary drives in the rear wheels, so the hubs are free running on the axles.

First time I had heard of this book, however at the prices being asked will not add it to my library. Nevertheless it would be a good read, I am sure. Ian

My 1938 Lanz Bulldog has imperial threads with metric heads. Ian

When I had a bit of an attempt at getting off the manifolds, I was amazed how tight the threads were in the nuts and bolts of the day - a much closer tolerance than today's offerings, on top of the Aussie dust of course. They were also so close to the castings that I was unable to use anything other than an open ended spanner, risking round the nuts. Oxy - acetylene is the answer, though perhaps not near the aluminium inlet manifold. Glad it is shaping up well! Ian

Looks like your stars are aligned! Ian

Great to see your project under way. I will follow it with interest. Ian

I have seen a few starting aids using engines or geared starter motors. The main thing to be aware of is the immense reactionary torque. They have to be secure - just holding a battery ratchet driver will turn you somersaults! Ian

I mentioned previously the similar problem we were experiencing with our 1932 Leyland Cub truck, and it appears to have been solved by fitting hotter spark plugs. Although it seemed to be idling satisfactorily, a close listen at the exhaust revealed otherwise. The hotter plugs have overcome this and the manifold vacuum reading is much better. Our man recommends you use the hottest plugs you can obtain, as these engines are often run for short periods (not that yours has run for long at all!) and may rarely reach 'self-cleaning' operating temperatures. This results in sooting up rapidly, causing spark leakage over the insulators under cylinder pressures. Ian

Just realised the pdf file is a bit useless, so here it is as a jpg. ian

Here is yet another timing diagramme for an early Australian made engine. It is just another example, I guess. On the question of volatility of modern fuels, when unleaded petrol was mandated here in the late 80's, it would not run vintage engines satisfactorily, continuously fouling spark plugs. It was 91RON, which is still the main fuel here (the worst in the world!). We have to use premium grades 95 or 98RON for our hobby machines, at significant cost premium. It is generally held they are LESS volatile, being formulated for fuel injection rather than evaporative use via carburettors. Ian Timing diagram.pdf

Congratulations to all! Great to see and hear it running. Does the magneto have impulse fitted (I don't remember if this was mentioned previously)? We have a couple of tractors fitted with impulse magnetos, and for starting require just one pull over compression, very much easier than having to turn it over many times, and less likely to cause injury. Hope you sort out the lack of throttle response. Again, we have a similar problem with our 1932 Leyland Cub, and after extensive tests checking timing, vacuum, compression pressures and carbie cleanout, still have not nailed it down. We are going to fit a new set of spark plugs as a last resort, not that this is likely to be your problem. Ours has been running for a number of years on the existing plugs, and they are sooted up somewhat. Ian

What a disappointment! We were looking forward to a video of it running. You are fortunate in one thing - every time I have to dismantle anything I always seem to destroy the gasket involved, which just makes for more work. Being 9 hours ahead of you, I shall check with great anticipation tomorrow morning. Ian

Strange that every engine seems to have lost its oil filler assembly. I hope you keep your drawing/s for other restorers. The big day (engine startup) must be getting closer! Ian

In the extract from andypugh's post above, I am wondering what kind of insurance is being referred to, not being familiar with the UK's system. Here in Oz we have insurance known as Compulsory Third Party (CTP) which is a precursor to registration of the vehicle. This is quite different from accident insurance, which is optional and available in several forms including from specialists in historic and classic vehicles. Ian

Yes, It is a Meadowbank. For some history go to: https://cobahcastiron.weebly.com/meadowbank-horizontal-engine.html. BTW, the comments about a video - are they directed at the photo of this engine? It is neither a video, nor was it taken on a mobile phone! Ian

Yes, it is varnish-like, and gives a very natural looking dull finish of reasonable durability. This is an example on one of my engines. Ian

At risk of taking the discussion off the target again, I have for years used a preparation for "painting" old engines etc to retain their patina, which comprises 40% mineral turpentine, 40% boiled linseed oil, and 20% terebine. It takes a day or two to harden, but gives a nice even natural looking finish to cast iron. Of course it does need to be cleaned and lightly wire-brushed first. I dub this concoction "linturbine". 500ml of this goes a very long way. Ian

Here in Oz, half a million Km is quite common in a year by trucks plying the likes of the Newell Highway from Melbourne to Brisbane (about 1700Km each way) when the trucks are only shut down for oil changes. So reliability is an absolute must.