[SEL] Sideshaft Monday

[Patrick M Livingstone]

Today I did some maintenance on my 3.5hp Austral. The piston had a crack in
the skirt from when I had first got the engine some 20 years ago but a
recent check found that the crack was getting longer. I cleaned up the spare
piston which came with the engine and put it in the engine today. I also
replaced the governor cam with a spare as the original was badly worn
affecting the operation of the fuel valve. A bit of kero and a lot of heat
under the hot-bulb and the Austral was soon running. There is a little bit
of blow by from the new piston and rings but it will bed itself in.
Since I had the blow torch handy Ron decided we should start up his 3hp
Blackstone which had not been touched in nearly a year. I had to free up the
fuel pump, which had seized, and apply a lot of oil to the engine as it was
completely dry of oil. We tried to start the engine once it was hot enough
but there was not enough compression for it to fire. I turned the engine
over until the piston skirt protruded from the cylinder and then Ron tapped
around the piston skirt with his copper hammer. I wound the engine back over
and it finally had some decent compression. Ron's little trick with the
hammer had obviously fixed some sticky rings. The little Blackstone then
started easily.
A nice New Year public holiday spent running a couple of sweet little
sideshaft engines :)

Patrick M Livingstone
Leichhardt NSW
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