Tuesday 1 January 2013

Happy New Year, we have a runner!

For the first day of 2013 I decided to see what we could do about starting the rebuilt 50 year old Mk1 Hillman Imp engine?

Note the 18mm thick chipboard support frame, there is another one at the rear of the engine. MDF (supawood) will make a better job of it really as its harder and stronger, 16mm thick will work fine.
The support jigs are secured to the bench to stop it wandering off!



Click on the picture and check out the spinning flywheel!

 
The same flywheel, stopped dead in time by my Canon G11 camera, how does it do this!
 
 
At the actual speed we can see with the naked eye.
 
 
 
Note the engines temp gauge, the coolant water circulates well and does its job, a 74c thermostadt is fitted.
 
 
The engine is running in this picture.
 

There were a few false starts caused by a leaking water theromodstadt housing and the pully on the waterpump needed a spacer, now we have had the engine nice and hot, some oil leaks are being checked out.

This very early Mk1 Imp engine has not run for decades!

The engine was gifted to me by fellow Imp Club member Eric Wells, it had seen better days and had lost the top of one bore which caused the head gasket to fail. This was fixed with JB Weld (find an earlier blog on the process) the job so far has worked.

Pistons on this engine are 0.030"oversize, the rings were well and truly seized into the piston ring grooves, this was cured by two weeks soaking in an oxalic acid mixture, a week in petrol and diesel mix having done nothing.

The engine number on this motor is very early B41/1/501572 and I assume will be one of the first Imp motors to be imported to South Africa?

The Imp Club has quite a few members in South Africa, more Imps are being worked on and driven each year.  www.theimpclub.co.uk

Roy