alsfarms Posted October 23, 2020 Share Posted October 23, 2020 What is the diameter of this carbide generator? I have a couple of pieces of brass tube that is about 12" OD, if anyone desires to build one of these generators.. Al Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave76 Posted April 5, 2021 Share Posted April 5, 2021 Hi selling this on Ebay if anybody interested http://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/710-53481-19255-0/1?icep_ff3=2&pub=5575378759&campid=5338273189&customid=&icep_item=284246864651&ipn=psmain&icep_vectorid=229508&kwid=902099&mtid=824&kw=lg&toolid=11111 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alsfarms Posted April 6, 2021 Share Posted April 6, 2021 Hello Dave, I tired several ways to see what you are selling on US EBAY and also UK EBAY. Please purify your EBAY listing as it does not work as is. It may be good to suggest what it is that you are selling, you may have more interest. I am curious but lost! Al Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andypugh Posted April 6, 2021 Share Posted April 6, 2021 (edited) 37 minutes ago, alsfarms said: Hello Dave, I tired several ways to see what you are selling on US EBAY and also UK EBAY. It's item 284246864651 - http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/284246864651 But utterly irrelevant to this thread. Edited April 6, 2021 by andypugh 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alsfarms Posted April 6, 2021 Share Posted April 6, 2021 Hello Andy, Thanks for your reference. Yup, Dave was just trolling for a sale of a radiator shell that has ZERO to doing with this WW1 Thornycroft rig. Thanks for helping us to sort out the EBAY listing. Now if that piece was from an original 1917 Riker........... Al Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Great War truck Posted May 16, 2021 Author Share Posted May 16, 2021 (edited) Steve fitted the second of three gas generators to the Thornycroft. The platform which holds it has required something on it to stop people using it as a footstep. After fitting he took the bolts off again for some adjustment, so not a permanent fit yet. It does look nice though. Thanks again to the forum member Peter for putting me in touch with the previous owner. Edited May 16, 2021 by Great War truck 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Bill Posted July 11, 2021 Share Posted July 11, 2021 We had the great good fortune to be invited to the Shuttleworth Flying Day at Old Warden last weekend and took the lorries. We had a super time and was our longest run to date with the Thorny. On inspecting it later, we found that the HT leads were beginning to bubble and one of the magneto terminals had melted which is a bit concerning. The magneto is very close to the exhaust manifold but is exactly the one (Simms SR4) called up in the parts book and, as far as I can make out, has been installed exactly as it was originally. There is nothing I can do to move it further away so I have bent up a piece of aluminium and made a heat shield which I have bolted to the main shield. I don't like deviating from factory build but see no option here if I am not to suffer a failure on the road. We have not seen any signs of a shield in the old photos but surely they must have suffered the same issue. Very curious. Steve 🙂 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Asciidv Posted July 11, 2021 Share Posted July 11, 2021 Steve, is your engine running hotter because of the modern petrol? It would be interesting to have an exhaust gas temperature probe in place and try different petrols. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andypugh Posted July 11, 2021 Share Posted July 11, 2021 1 hour ago, Asciidv said: Steve, is your engine running hotter because of the modern petrol? It would be interesting to have an exhaust gas temperature probe in place and try different petrols. And maybe different timing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tomo.T Posted July 11, 2021 Share Posted July 11, 2021 (edited) Steve, There was a modification to the heat shield by the military and it is mentioned in 'Auriga's' Book of the Thornycroft, in the section following p. 45, 'Alterations in details of J type W.D. Lorries.' Nov., 1914 Hot-air Oven. - Oven deepened. The army version curved round more and may have protected the mag better. One of these military heat shields has survived and is in place on the X type M4 engine on display at Milestones Museum. This vehicle was originally military. Tomo. Edited July 11, 2021 by Tomo.T Not finished. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Asciidv Posted July 11, 2021 Share Posted July 11, 2021 The Polyoxybenzylmethylenglycolanhydride (Bakelite to you and me) knob terminals on the magneto have a melting point of 150C. Not particularly high when in close proximity to the exhaust. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Bill Posted July 11, 2021 Share Posted July 11, 2021 Thanks Tomo and thanks Barry. I assumed that the knobs would have been a Phenol-Formaldehyde thermo-set and would have had to get a lot hotter. Only 150° is a bit more reassuring although it is probably not good for the mag itself. Something to keep an eye on. Andy, what would you do to the timing? I have it set to fire on TDC when fully retarded but could probably advance it a bit more. Steve 🙂 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andypugh Posted July 11, 2021 Share Posted July 11, 2021 I think it might take a thermocouple to figure out which way to go. Possibly richer would run cooler? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gordon_M Posted July 11, 2021 Share Posted July 11, 2021 3 minutes ago, andypugh said: Possibly richer would run cooler? That's how they do it with rockets, deliberately adding too much fuel to reduce combustion efficiency. You would get less MPG of course. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Hall Posted July 11, 2021 Share Posted July 11, 2021 Looking at how it’s melted, I would have expected the others to be displaying melt damage in the same way but not as severe. Are you confident it’s the exhaust that’s caused it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rangie Posted July 12, 2021 Share Posted July 12, 2021 On 5/16/2021 at 2:22 PM, Great War truck said: Steve fitted the second of three gas generators to the Thornycroft. Is there an external water supply or is there a reservoir/drip-valve sitting in the top of the generator assembly? Alec. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
super6 Posted July 17, 2021 Share Posted July 17, 2021 Poor electrical connections also generate heat via arcing, presumably there would be other symptoms though Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Bill Posted July 17, 2021 Share Posted July 17, 2021 On 7/12/2021 at 10:16 AM, Rangie said: Is there an external water supply or is there a reservoir/drip-valve sitting in the top of the generator assembly? Alec. Hi Alec. Yes, there is the water tank and valve arrangement inside. What you can see is just the casing. I'll dig out some pics shortly. Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Bill Posted July 17, 2021 Share Posted July 17, 2021 2 minutes ago, super6 said: Poor electrical connections also generate heat via arcing, presumably there would be other symptoms though When I fitted the heat shield, I did look for signs of arcing but the terminal was quite clean. I wonder if it is something to do with the modern volatile fuels? If we had been running lean, I would have expected the engine to boil up as well but it all ran very well. A bit of a puzzle but one for Tomo to look out for. Steve 🙂 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markyakyak Posted July 17, 2021 Share Posted July 17, 2021 Try putting a gallon of paraffin to 8 gallons of petrol. We have done this for years and they run a lot cooler. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mammoth Posted July 17, 2021 Share Posted July 17, 2021 I am reading a book on the genisis of the Rolls Royce Merlin engine. The author states that in 1915 the typical petrol was of 40 octane (vs at least 90 today) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Hall Posted July 18, 2021 Share Posted July 18, 2021 Wasn’t WW2 pool petrol something like 60 Octane? A guy on YouTube did an article on the Willys Go devil engine and how to tune it on modern petrol as the factory timing doesn’t work well with current fuels. Weve got E10 coming in soon which apparently lowers the octane rating. I found a good YouTube video by a Brit, describing an easy way to remove the Ethanol which I thought was very good and worth a watch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flandersflyer Posted August 6, 2021 Share Posted August 6, 2021 Check all terminations are tight including any switching within the mag... Switching DC currents behave very differently to an AC waveform... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Bill Posted August 6, 2021 Share Posted August 6, 2021 Thanks. I did look at the terminals to see if there was any discolouration but there were no signs. We are going to Quainton on the 30th so will have to see how it performs then. Steve 🙂 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Bill Posted February 12, 2022 Share Posted February 12, 2022 (edited) Just for a change, I have been doing some more to the Thorny, ticking off another job in the shape of the doors. These have been in stock since Jim Clarke did the rest of the canvas for us. They are simple panels attached to the scuttle at the front and with a steel rod through the back edge secured with a bonnet catch. First job was to make up the pins. They have a mushroom head on the top to stop them falling through the canvas. The bottom of the pins are secured to the bottom of the seat box by inserting their ends into a piece of plate screwed to the underside of the seat. The front edge is secured to a piece of timber bolted to the scuttle. This is a tricky exercise as the hood bracket gets in the way and I puzzled over how to do it for some time. In the end, the timber is in two pieces with a thin piece to make up the thickness of the bracket and a thicker piece behind to which the canvas is secured. I drilled and fitted them roughly first before taking them home to finish them off and paint them. The canvas is staple gunned to the timber and a bonnet catch was pushed through the canvas around the pin. It was then bolted up sandwiching the canvas between the strips. The stowage strap was fed through a slot in the timber and trapped by the bolts. In spite of my best intentions, it still ended up in line with the pressure gauge! Success and another job ticked off. Not many left now! Steve 🙂 Edited February 12, 2022 by Old Bill 10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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