Continued work during April has seen on the power unit the fuel cam followers have all been taken out, stripped for inspection and refitted. On the engine where the cylinder heads sit, these faces have been cleaned up and painted in grey gloss and the v of the engine has had a clean and another coat of gloss paint
External to the power unit all the conrods have been cleaned up and little end bearings pushed out. The conrods were then warmed up with a heater so they would expand and the bearings were put in dry ice to shrink them and doing this made fitting the bearings a lot easier. Attention on the conrods has now gone to the other end as the new bolts are being fitted and pre stretched, which has been completed on 8 conrods. The gudgeon pins have been cleaned in the parts washer and measured. We have crack tested the pistons, good thing we have, as we have found one that is cracked between the oil holes. 8 overhauled cylinder heads have been painted in grey gloss paint and the last 4 have been sent away for overhaul. The rocker and fuel pump covers have been painted into grey gloss. More pipes have been stripped and are being repainted.
In the radiator compartment cleaning has been completed and it has been painted in primer, then the walls and centre body into gloss and the fan has been painted red gloss. One bizarre thing that has been found was the fire extinguisher pipe had been cut in the radiator compartment, no idea when or why. This has been joined with a suitable compression fitting. Final jobs in here are some touch ups of the walls, the pipe work needs to be painted into its correct colours and the floor needs painting.
The boiler compartment is now under going the same treament as the radiator compartment. A number of sections of the walls have been cleaned and painted in primer / gloss. So has the concrete block and the traction motor blower outer case.
A rotten area of steel around no.1 cab has been replaced, this took alot of time to make due to the different angles.
