Continued progress, new metal and engine work on 31463 so here we go.
Since my last update upon inspection of the floor, we traced the rot and found as well as under the brake frame it was under the walkway and had gone into the no.1 cab all the way under the second man’s seat. We also found the bottom of the wall and part of the floor from the brake frame to behind the concrete block was also rotten. This was going to be too much work for us so I W Locomotive Fabrication Limited was brought in to carry out the remedial work. We had the concrete block craned out to give maximum space in the boiler compartment and stripped out the seat, floor, and wall panels on the second man’s side of the cab. Ian from I W Locomotive Fabrication Limited completed all the required work and has done a fantastic job. We have painted all the new metal and soon the rest of the boiler room will be repainted and the cab will be put back together.
During the above work the brake frame has been receiving further attention, it has been painted into gloss. With the new floor welded in we could measure the height from the wall fittings to the floor and make the new bottom part of the legs and feet as the originals were so rotten. The new feet have been drilled and was test fitted in the loco, the brake frame has since been removed so we can paint the boiler room.
As with every simple task we attempt, we find yet more horrors which require tedious yet careful repair. We can now reveal a major piece of power unit work we have had to do on 31463. In June it was discovered a lobe on B bank camshaft was moving on the shaft and these should be fixed solid in position. For those that don’t know the camshaft opens the inlet and exhaust valves and operates the fuel pumps in time with the engine and is a critical component as if this fails, it will damage the engine.
The whole camshaft was removed from the B side of the power unit and split into 3 sections as designed. The whole cam was inspected and it was found the hardening had deteriorated on another 2 lobes.
The section with the moving lobe had all the lobes and journals removed using heat and the hydraulic press. It was found the keyway in the shaft was worn so allowed the lobe to move. The shaft itself was also worn and is essentially now scrap.
We didn’t have a spare camshaft in our spares pile so we had to go to our spare power unit and remove the fuel pumps, rocker tops, rocker covers, cam follower, engine overspeed and various other components to release the camshaft.
This shaft was taken to Ruddington and all 3 sections were inspected. The best of the 3 sections was chosen and stripped to measure the keyways and was rebuilt with the best lobes and journals.
Another shaft that had a lobe that the hardening had deteriorated was also stripped and rebuilt with the best lobes and journals.
The camshaft gear was lapped against the camshaft on the bench. The gear was then fitted back into the power unit and the shaft was installed in the power unit. The process of timing the engine will be carried out next.
The cam followers and engine overspeed have been fitted. When the engine overspeed was tested it tripped fine but wouldn’t reset. It was found the dog drive in the reset mechanism had wear on it, this has been repaired by building up with weld and then filing back to the correct shape. The engine overspeed is now rebuilt and fitted.
Once the powerunit has been timed we will next refit the fuel pumps and measure and adjust the stroke as the camshaft turns around. Then we will continue to build the power unit as the pistons have come back from machining and the new rings have arrived and we have all the other parts required.
The flywheel covers have been removed as part of doing the timing, and the covers have been steam cleaned and are currently being repainted. The flywheel and surrounding areas have been cleaned as far as we could reach and we can clearly see the timing marks on the flywheel.
Thats all for now folks, please see our video of the moving cam and photo’s below.
