TO STRIP OR NOT TO STRIP ?

 I’ve been dreading this week, do I strip down the engine fully or leave as is and clean up the casing ?   I’m not too au fait with engine innards and as it was functioning at the outset I see no point in a total dismantle. So I removed everything from the casing that could be removed and bunged up the holes very tightly with rags. I read somewhere that however tempting never to use a sand blaster to clean an engine as grit will inevitably find its way inside. So heeding this advice I started by soaking the engine in Gunk then scrubbing by hand with a stiff paint brush.

I had already removed the flywheel for cleaning but it’s worth recounting this experience.  I followed the instructions on the OLMclub website but as the engine had been removed it was necessary to clamp the shaft tightly in a vice and then wack the nut undone. This was scary indeed as the first turn to loosen went well but the second turn to prise the conical flywheel mount from the mating taper on the crankshaft took an almighty wack to get it unlocked. I had visions of the entire engine shattering.

When removed the very tarnished brass flywheel had been cleaned up with a polishing wheel on my bench grinder. There’s something very satisfying about polishing brass as the results are instant.On advice from OLMclub "the magneto flywheel contains a pair of permanent magnets and the original Villiers maintenance advice was to place a piece of iron (e.g. a spanner) to bridge across the poles thus preventing loss of magnetic flux."  That's too technical for me but I did as I was told ! 

At this juncture a fascinating discovery. When I removed the flywheel case I noticed some very faint hand writing had been scratched on the inside .It read:

“Reconditioned by R C Whitcombe

1983 September

West Pennard

Nr Glastonbury.

Ellison”  (Don’t know what that word meant)

Thanks Mr R C Whitcombe you did a fine job which, 27 years later I hope to emulate.

The engine fins were badly rusted so these were rubbed down with a wire brush and wet&dry and will be painted with black Hammerite. The  crankcasing being alloy was easy to clean on those sections that are accessible but an absolute nightmare in all the nooks and crannies. As an experiment I’ve left part of it soaking overnight in neat lemon juice and await the results in the morning.

 The spark plug was surprisingly just how it should be. Having over the years wire brushed or replaced hundreds of plugs on the machines we use in the business I’ve learnt to tell just from a visual inspection whether it needs replacing or if the an engine is running rich or otherwise but obviously I’ll test for a strong spark when the engine is installed.
Update. Photo shows engine prior to any restoration work but with the mounting plates re installed. After removing  I noticed that the front port and starboard plates (not front and rear) were not exactely the same vis-a-vis hole alignment, only fractionally out but sufficient to prevent them being interchangeable. So after removing a second time each was marked L and R as viewed from the front.    

The clutch lever mechanism was dismantled for cleaning, painting and replacing all the nuts. A straight forward job except that the four actuating links and fixings* are hardened steel and very difficult to polish. Nevertheless I’m satisfied with the outcome.
*These are yet another thread type ! More on this later.