I've just acquired an old Thwaites Orion dumper. I think it dates back to the 50's or 60's because it has a chain drive from the engine to the gearbox.
I'm stripping it down for a restoration job and am in the process of replacing gearbox bearings which are in dreadful condition due to there being more water than oil inside it :-) The good news is that the rest of the gearbox internals are pretty good and fit to go again.
Anyway, next task is the engine. I believe it to be a Petter PH1. I've already found one snag with the governor arm which is very loose in it's bushing/bearing and needs attention before it drops off and the engine destroys itself. So at least a partial strip down. Does anyone know of any good sources of spares or reference material for this engine? I've found this page of Peter's
It's a weird arrangement, it looks like the drive from the engine is taken from the camshaft and not the crank - let's hope Petter used a good beefy drive there! I'm pretty hopeful that the engine is in good(ish) nick regards the major components because it starts first time from cold (May weather admittedly) without the excess fuel selected and settles instantly to a smooth idle - plenty of black smoke when given some throttle like all good Diesels :-)
Julian.