[SEL] Sydney Rally

[Patrick M Livingstone]

Another weekend another great engine rally. This time it was my club's rally
held at Hawksbury Showground at Clarendon (in the north-west of Sydney).
There was an impressive array of engines and tractors as well as vintage
cars and trucks. I arrived early on Saturday morning (as I worked Friday
night) and set up my Austral and the 1hp R&V. The Austral ran fine all
morning until the timing valve spring failed. A repair was made with a
spring that was fairly close in size and a bit of wire off the fence. The
engine then ran perfectly for the rest of the day.
Saturday night the list member encampment made their way to the nearby pub
for food and refreshment. On our way out the gate one of the tractor guys
came flying past in his truck. He had come back to check that he had not
left one of his tractors running! We will forgive him as he had brought 15
tractors to the rally. (BTW He had left it running but it had long since
stopped as it had run out of fuel).
We had a good night at the pub (some more than others, Brock!) and returned
to our camp and a roaring fire.
Sunday we uncovered the engines and I found the Austral had seized
overnight! This was a big surprise as the engine is very worn. It took
loosening the big end and bumping the crank against it to free the engine. I
think that a combination of heavy oil and cold running has gummed up the
rings. The Austral was soon running again but later in the day stopped and
refused to restart. Some maintenance is on the way this week! The piston has
not been out for a long time and it has done a lot of running without a load
recently which is not great for a kero engine.
There was a small swap area and some interesting stuff to be found. I bought
a 8hp Buzacott which is a fairly rare find. It is missing the head and some
other bits but I may have a head to fit it somewhere.
It was a great weekend and I enjoyed catching up with a lot of engine
friends. 
I have put pictures of some of the engines up on my site at:
http://www.oldengine.org/members/pml/samc041.html
Enjoy!

Patrick M Livingstone
Leichhardt NSW
http://www.oldengine.org/members/pml/Index.html
http://www.users.bigpond.com/pml/