petter m 5 hp piston wanted

That's a bugger - con rod collision? If no one on the groups comes up trumps, you do regularly see bits of M at the sales (Enstone etc) or an ad in SEM might produce. Don't even think about weighing it in for scrap, as a last resort you'd probably recoup your outlay by breaking for spares.

NHH

W-e-l-l, I know I'll be shouted at by the real engineers here, but if you really cannot run one to earth, you could consider using the piston again. This is, of course, contingent upon the missing piece of skirt not breaking into a port or its lack uncovering a port too early etc.As long as there is sufficient piston to stop it trying to rotate sideways in the bore, filing off the broken sharp edge will allow oil up the side without too much loss.

I'd certainly consider it if the circumstances were right.

It isn't as though it will be run every day or do heavy work & one WILL come along in due course.

Others here would probably buy it as it is, but please don't consider scrapping it.

Regards,

Kim Siddorn

Good point - at least there are no inlet ports to worry about on the 'M'. My Bradford 'King of All' has a hairline crack in the skirt (again looks like the result of sharp contact with a swinging con-rod while dismantled) which has shown no sign of growing during the limited running the engine has had in my ownership.

NHH

If all else fails just whittle a new one. A nice piece of ash would be best and would last for years running for a few hours at shows. I had a Series 2 Landrover for a few years and maybe 20,000 miles before I stripped it for a head gasket leak and found a wooden piston.

Ash? Surely the densest (African) mahogany you can find. Also fit an aluminium flame shield to the top surface. Dad and I had one in the White and I think it was in there 20 years before we got it.

I quite fancy the idea of a stationary engine with a quick-release head and a wooden piston, just to be able to show people! It might even make that rusted-solid Lister D in the other shed worth sorting out...

In other news, I spent today walking up the banks of the Wye from Chepstow. Now I want a steamboat! I've wanted one for ages, but if you're in the UK and unless you live somewhere like Windermere or Kielder, there's nowhere to run one. But the Wye looks nicer and nicer, in those bits away from the roads.