As I suspected, it has been in water at some time & the aluminium is quite white with corrosion. This is being stripped off & as it is so poor, I'll polish off all the black paint & exhibit it as is in brushed & lacquered aluminium.
It was solidly seized, the barrels & pistons were stuck at TDC. The previous owner had put oil in the cylinders some months ago & it didn't take much to get them moving. The RH cylinder was pitted at the top of rhea ring travel, so I dug into my spares box & found the pistons & cylinders in there were fine.
It is a complex little beast & I want it to look cared for, so am stripping bits off to get at the nooks & crannies of which there are many even in its reduced state. Many brass brushes of all kinds will be required!
We have a D-Day crank up in June & I hope to have it running there.
Regards,
Kim Siddorn