Puma / Dorman 6LE / MacFarlane B46B / 110 kVA Generator Resurrection

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awemawson:
First thing this morning I re-installed the heater housing to give the Loctite 577 time to go off.

A little while later I re-filled the water system with the coolant (with anti-freeze) that I'd previously saved. I say re-filled, I had a full 2 gallon bucket that wouldn't go back - obviously an air lock. I put the cap back on the radiator and ran it for a while to get coolant circulating, then after loads of gurgling things sorted themselves out and the rest of the coolant went in.

I then re-started the engine and left it running for ten minutes, but to my horror - an oil leak from the same place as before, dripping from the gasket flange between the main body of the heat exchanger and the adaptor that houses the heating element and conveys water from the engine water jacket. :bugeye:

I went through the sequence of bolt removal, re-tightening and replacement with those pesky interfering bolts yet again but to no avail - still oil dripping from the gasket joint.

Now it's a new gasket made from quality oil & water resistant material, smeared in Blue Hylomar, and I had scrupulously cleaned and checked the mating surfaces for truth - it CAN'T be leaking, but it apparently WAS :bang:

Accepting that it would all have to come apart again, I went off for a spot of lunch , but lunch was delayed for twenty minutes due to domestic issues, so I went back for one last check with torches, mirrors and clean rags. Sure enough oil seemed to be oozing from the gasket joint. Sitting up to check the time (only twenty mins don't be late !!) a small movement caught my eye - what was that!

On the cylinder head the rocker shaft and tappets are lubricated by a network of nylon pipes, and what had caught my eye was a drip from one of them PRECISELY above the flange where I had an apparent leak. It only dripped about every five minutes but here was the smoking gun - here was my oil leak :lol:

Oh the irony, all that faffing about dismantling, making new gaskets, trying to source the unobtainable odd shaped 'O' ring probably wasn't necessary!

Never mind, there HAD been a water leak (that is no more) and there HAD been an oil leak which also is no more !

And while typing this TNT have just delivered the 35" x 39" sheet of 4 mm poly-carbonate which is the last safety shield in the control cabinet so there's a job for the weekend.

John Rudd:
Dont you just love it when things go right for a change?😀

Lucky you spotted the leaky pipe when you did..👍

awemawson:
Yesterday morning was entirely taken up with a conducted tour of a high end Jaguar restorer and race preparation company (that I'm not allowed to name!) Unbelievably well set up and equipped. Hardly a vehicle there worth less than a million (sterling) and several apparently worth well over ten million :bugeye: I hate to think what their security bill is !

So in the afternoon I manged to fit the poly-carbonate safety screen to the lower part of the main generator cabinet.

It didn't quite go to plan, as although the ideal size to cover the whole lot up would have been 39 inches tall by 35 wide, due to the door opening size with a 'kick plate' I could only physically squeeze a bit 34" tall. Never mind, my jig saw carefully removed the offending 5 inch strip.

Then the issue was locating the rectangle for the isolator toggle switch and the six retaining screws with a fair degree of accuracy. Once more I resorted to 'length sticks' marking a wooden lath up from two reference edges. Not wanting to introduce stress risers I made the rectangle with pronounced rounded corners.

Once that was done I could hang the poly-carbonate on the isolator and mark the mounting holes by eye, as now having peeled back the protective coating for an inch down the sided I could see the threaded holes. The mounting holes are drilled and smooth finished well oversize, and the screws pass through nylon 'top hat' bushes that take the screw force so that the panel 'floats'

Today I've been running tests on the water jacket / oil heater, and I'm pleased to say it's working as expected, so previously it must have been an airlock preventing the heat spreading.

tom osselton:
:thumbup:

awemawson:
Today I tried to make up the "Flexy flange to 2 1/2" BSP male adaptor" for the exhaust. Making the components was no trouble, and I had intended to TIG them together. However a bit of practise on similar thickness parts convinced me that my TIG skills were not up to the job - far too easy to burn through the thin material when creating a puddle in the thicker (8 mm) flange material.

So I decided to SIF Bronze / braze it instead, but frankly my efforts weren't much better - I managed to burn through the outer woven jacket of the flexy with a carelessly placed flame (it doesn't take much) :bugeye:

What I've ended up with probably is functional, but certainly not pretty - it will let me progress with sizing the support for the exhaust at least, and hopefully make that, but I've decided to seek help from an as yet unknown person (!) to do a proper TIG job on it.

To that aim I've ordered another Flexy joint and already made another flange, just need to turn down the end of the 2 1/2" BSP short spigot to fit and find someone who has the TIG skills

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