jon v8 Posted March 20, 2014 Report Share Posted March 20, 2014 Well because I'm sat here bored out of my skull slowly recovering from bronchitis,I thought I'd report on my recent engine rebuild job on my rigid 350 Ajay. I've only done one trial on it since the rebuild,the Golden Valley March Hare,but a good amount of practicing and gentle running in around the lanes. I'm pleased to report that it was worth the effort,the engine starts and runs a treat,pulls like a freight train on a whiff of throttle and idles like a Burrell steam engine.... Another nice bonus is the vastly reduced vibration through the footpegs and bars when at cruise speed on the road - its much smoother.So the dynamic rebalancing of the crank has certainly worked,its a really nice engine to use,and the reduced vibration must mean the engine is not fighting itself,just making power to turn the crank.I probed the exhaust a few days ago when I was testing a Range Rover,and with a very small adjustment of the air screw it sat happily idling at 4.5% Co and 275PPM Hc's the Co is as lean as I'm happy to go and the Hc's mean the combustion chamber is doing a good job of burning the mixture.To be much better would mean an exhaust catalyst..... The coated piston seems to be settling in well,on building the engine it turned over very smoothly,I measured the bore and there was less than 1/2 a thou difference anywhere I checked it.This might seem a strange thing to say but my neighbour brought round the barrels off his pre unit Bonneville for me to remove the tappet blocks.It too had just been rebored,so I measured it out of interest and there was up to 3 thou difference from each side and up and down each bore. Finding a good machine shop is hugely important for good results.... When I finished putting it back together it fired up first kick,(Which is always a good sign) and felt crisp. I'm sure a big part of the good starting and rock steady idle is the quality of the mag rebuild which was done by Paul Lydford of APL magneto's,he is a true craftsman,cheers Paul - absolute top job. I'd also like to thank Steve at AMC classic spares for helping me to sort out the mish mash of junk my engine was built from,it spans late 40's,( Alfin barrel) to mid 50's,(Crank) and a load of other stuff in between.With his knowledge and excellent stock he supplied 100% correct parts first time. I've no idea how much the crank balancing would normally cost as it was done as a favour by a good friend,which will be repaid in firewood.I can only say that when I get around to building my short stroke Ariel 500 I'll be having that done too,as my current long stroke 500 is like a jack hammer on the road. So now I'm looking forward to riding the Cotswold Cup and Sam Cooper trials,see if I can keep up with Andy Roberton. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stanmet Posted March 20, 2014 Report Share Posted March 20, 2014 hi jon im pleased for you its nice when it all comes together right stan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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