I've had a chance to play with this now, and it has some features that I hadn't come across before. I was expecting to have to strip it down before doing much else, as it had stood for a while. As it turned freely, and the lubricator was passing oil freely to all points, I decided to see if it would go, after cleaning out the lubricator & flushing the fuel system through, and checking inside the crankcase that it wasn't full of nasties or the big end falling off
The sprayer is different from any semi-diesel sprayer I've seen before. The jet looks suspiciously like a Primus stove jet, giving a solid stream of fuel directly into the cylinder when on load. I can't imagine that gives very good combustion, but they made these things for over 30 years, I'll have to wait & see on that. For starting & idling, an angled, convex deflector is swung into place beneath the jet. This turns the solid jet into a spray, which is now directed onto the walls of the hot bulb (one side only) and the heated plug. Starting routine is to heat the plug, prime the hot bulb with fuel & then swing the engine hard against compression in the opposite direction to normal running. The fuel already in the cylinder should then burn, forcing the piston back off compression hard enough to take it over compression in the proper direction.The book says to get the plug red hot, I only had a little MAPP gas torch handy. This would get the plug to a dull red, & there was absolutely no life at all.
Yesterday I got the proper Sievert propane torch back, & tried again with the starting plug properly red. Instant results! A bit too lively though, as it ran away for a few seconds on the accumulated fuel & lub oil in the cylinder & crankcase from previous attempts, and from making sure that everything was very well lubricated. It is a hazard with this general type of engine that there is no way to control them in that situation. Particularly exciting in this case, as it was just bolted to the two pieces of 5" x 5" timber that it came on & did a merry dance as I tried to hang on to the fuel pump lever to keep any more fuel out of the cylinder.
Another try a bit later was much more controlled, but it really needs fixing down to the floor before a proper run!! Playing was actually ended when the lubricator bracket fell in half. It's a cast iron plate bolted to the side of the cylinder, & it's been repaired in the past by some rather feeble brazing. The stress of 250 miles on a trailer & then being shaken around on the floor proved too mush for the repair.
The governor will also need looing at. The book describes it as a Pneumatic governor, but it's nothing like the CAV type used on some Perkins & Bedford engines. All it consists of is a dashpot with bicycle pump type leather plunger, with an adjustable bleed valve. This controls what they call a 'pendulum', basically a spring-loaded crank which reduces the stroke of the fuel pump if the engine is running too fast so that the dashpot piston can't keep up. Has anyone come across this idea on other engines?
So far, I'm very pleased with the new toy.
I'll try to sort out some pics next time I play.
Cheers Tim