L'Aster on Webshots

Truly a thing of beauty, Kim.

I saw it during my first round of Enstone when it didn't have sold chalked on it, but passed by, daunted by the possible amount of work and zero parts availability. Another big factor was that I didn't know the first thing about this maker.

Do you think a lot of work is needed?

Any chance of a macro shot of the brass plate?

Regards, Arthur G

"New stuff".

information in this message and/or

confidential information. If you, the

notified that you may not further disseminate,

herein. If you have received this E-mail in

or may not indicate the established

hard copy communications in dealing with

the responsibility of the recipient to

I'm glad you were frightened off Arthur as I am much enjoying working on it ;o)) Close up of the maker's plate at

It requires a magneto & mounting plate. A flanged pipe to supply coolant & another to lead off to a silencer. The valves are exposed & need a cover fabricating. The flywheel may not be original, but certainly looks the part. There is a newly-made flange that fits the tapered mainshaft & this needs to be drilled and bolted to the flywheel. AFAI can see, it requires hand work & fabrication of a few bits - and that I can do.

And that's about it, I think. It is smooth turning & silent within, has compression, no leaks or severe staining or cracks that I can see whilst examining it with a spectroscope, a horoscope & a telescope.

I found a suitable bit of plate & drilled it to fit the four holes in the base of the timing case. I was surprised to find the holes are tapped 5/16" BSF or a Metric equivalent so close as to be a perfect fit. At least initially, I shall run it with a modern Why Pack Up now magneto, as it is the only one I have to hand that is both clockwise from the drive end and actually works. I have a couple more suitable in date, but they need money spending.

Looking at it again, it has big crankcases & there may well be large diameter flywheels within. I shall investigate, as the external flywheel is very massive & will impart a big load upon what is almost certainly an occasionally lubricated bronze bushed main bearing. That being the case, I shall be looking for a suitable pulley.

A Google search turned up little & I would like to know more about the breed - any ideas, anyone?

Regards,

J. Kim Siddorn, Regia Anglorum

This e-mail and attachments are intended for the named addressee only and the information in this message and/or attachments may contain protected health, legally privileged, or otherwise confidential information. If you, the reader of this message, are not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that you may not further disseminate, distribute, disclose, copy or forward this message or any of the content herein. If you have received this E-mail in error, please notify the sender immediately and delete the original.

Any views expressed in this message are those of the individual sender and may or may not indicate the established policy of Regia Anglorum. It is the society's principal to rely solely upon hard copy communications in dealing with contractual matters.

This computer is protected with daily updated anti-viral software, but it is the responsibility of the recipient to ensure their incoming mail is virus-free.

I did wonder if there might be a connection with Aster of Wembley, and lo:

Not much other info sadly.

Regards, Arthur G

"Arthur G" wrote

Shamelessly lifted from Nick Baldwin's all to brief book on proprietary vehicle engines:-

"Sidney Dawson Begbie organised a British outlet for French Aster engines in

1899 and then opened a factory at Wembley in 1900.....................By 1912 Aster claimed to have built 18,500 engines, though not all had been for vehicles."

The text is accompanied by a 1913 ad from the British end of the operation illustrating one and two cylinder stationary units together with a six cyl vehicle engine.

"Nick H" wrote (snip):-

Interestingly the single illustrated has a horizontally split crankcase, as does this one:-

date to Kim's, or perhaps a French/British variation?

Despondent about Atomic experiments with the JAP Model O, I moved the L'Aster to the front of the bench today & had a look inside.

The lightweight cast iron piston boast three compression rings, deep in section, but thin and diagonally cut at their ends. They are all above the gudgeon pin & there is no oil control ring. The pin is captive in the rod eye & the piston has bronze bushes to act as a small end.

It is all in the most gratifyingly good order & I'd judge that it is many, many years since it ran, what little carbon there was being soft and easily removed with a cloth. The bottom ring was stuck at one end but responded to some careful work. The rings were removed, carbon scraped & wire brushed out of the ring grooves & the bore wiped clean. It has a very long stroke/ bore ratio.

A valve cover was fabricated from 3/16" ali sheet & given a brushed finish & a suitable fixing bolt found. All the threads are Metric & the modern variant at that. Very useful ........

The thick paper gasket at the cylinderbase survived & a thin layer of blue Hylomar saw it back in service, the lightly greased rings sliding easily back into the bore.

The principal reason I looked inside was to establish whether or not it actually needed the massive external flywheel it came with. The deep crankcase looked to be full of large diameter internal discs of spinning iron & thus it proved. I am pleased about this as it allows me to fit the big "wood chip" pulley I found on E-bay, providing a useful driving pulley comfortingly close to the main bearing. In particular, it will reduce the all up weight to a manageable level and make a two wheel trolley feasible.

It went back together easily & the previously low compression is much enhanced. I shall try spinning it up for a while tomorrow & see how it fares.

Regards,

Kim Siddorn. Mechanical Engineers build weapons, Electronic engineers build radar, Civil Engineers build targets.