Decent progress but at a standstill.

We were due on the boat a few weeks ago to do a spring trip up the Llangollen canal and it would have been a stunner in this locked in high pressure we are experiencing. But as a friend says when life gives you lemons ( or covid) make yourself a Tequila ! 

So we got to the boat on Friday  - here's a thing, neither of us can remember what we did on the Thursday... age I guess ! 

So a test for my memory was to recall may last week, as is normal it was a busy'ish week. 

Monday I visited my old mum in her care home with my youngest sister, she's pretty much bed bound now so I have not been sharing the pictures but we always take them for our record and to share with my other sisters. Monday evening I did a 7pm - 11pm blood bike shift, first one this year, last one I did was Christmas eve when I was brewing Noro virus for my Christmas day treat. 

I've owned two of these superb machines, BMW1250 RT my last one took me to Colditz and into the Czech Republic.

Tuesday it was a catch up over in the east with a good friend who I tour on bikes with, we have a tour to Normandy planned in July. 

Wednesday I was out walking with another friend  - it was the Cromford canal/ Black rocks walk 

Thursday was on my bike to see a bike I had ordered to check the colour was right.... and it was not so that got cancelled sadly... then home to give the cottage a good clean prior to the trip to the boat. Always nice to leave the boat tidy and clean then come home to a clean and tidy cottage .... my thing ! 

Friday I came to the boat to start the engine work.... last year I did the 500 hour service and checked the bottom end work I had done ( all good) but on reassembling the engine there was an annoying weep from the crank case door. So I had ordered another expensive gasket pack from stationary engine supplies as its the only way to get the crankcase door gasket. 

However on a previous visit I'd replaced the inverter and discovered the breaker had failed closed so I first replaced that with a proper mega fuse  (130 amp) for a 1kw inverter. the inverter can peak at 1500w so using the calculation...

Amps (A) = Watts (W) / Volts (V)

1500/12  = 125 amp fuse 

I was warned these are not the best.  

I set to stripping the back side of the engine to enable me to get to remove the crank case door to replace the gasket and clean the sump. Percy uses SAE30 oil which drops any carbon into the sump as it does not carry it to a filter as there is not one... its a 1929 design.

There was an annoying design issue that means the crankcase door cannot be moved out unless the lower cooling manifold pipes are removed and they are a tight fit to get out... this is all due to the cold start bypass pipe... basically a closed loop of cooling that does not allow coolant to the skin tank until the engine warms up to open a thermostat  - means the engine warms up quicker. However this is a run of 15mm copper with a check valve on it from the thermostat housing that gets in the way... This time I bit the bullet and made an alteration ... more on that later.

Any how Friday I got much of the engine bits off and the block drained down then went home for a deep bath as despite the engine room space its still a few hours in the same position = not good for an old blokes joints 

It's a slow but satisfying drain down... I did but parts to add in a drain point but ran out of time to fir it this time. 

Lower manifold off and crankcase door removed  - I've now cut the bypass return and put the check valve lower 

New gasket ready to go on after the engine big ends all checked and the crank case cleaned out. Used a bit of gasket seal this time. I've kept the old gasket as next time I'll make my own as I've the punches 

A bit of clever design I copied  - Tony Redshaw crimped on an olive to make the seal on the flexible hose  ( it needs flexible hoses as the engine is rigid mounted ) tighter, simple but effective 

Saturday we got to the boat early afternoon due to a lazy morning at the cottage. I was able to get a bit more done mainly pumping the old oil out and cleaning the sump. However I was held up as I needed some flexible heater hose which I ordered from Amazon to the shop in Woodseaves. My thinking being I cut out the rigid copper bypass that got in the way of the crank case door removal and replaced it with a run of nice heater hose clamped onto two copper 15mm pipe stubs with olives crimped on. This was done Monday as I had to collect the pipe Sunday evening.

Check vale moved down stub added with some ptfe and pipe compound for belt and braces. 

Back to Sunday as I could not finish the engine we went for a lovely walk over the back of the moorings via farm yards and lakes over to Knighton. Just short of 5 miles and it was lovely. 

Yesterday ( Monday 7th April) I replaced the impeller on the water pump before putting it back on. Ignore the vanes due to moving the pulley wheel no doubt. 

New one fitted ... must order a new 'spare' 

I always carry a spare after my heaven and hell cruise back in 2018 when I relocated single handed Percy from Fradley to Shebdon and the engine overheated due to a worn impeller 

My 2018 relocation (overheating) cruise  

I finished the engine and ran it up to purge the air from the coolant system . Hopefully if it's me who does the next 500 hour clean out.  - must check that it might be 1000 hours ? The whole process will be easier. 

Then I checked the domestic water pump catch tray as it had some water in it last visit and yes we've a leaking domestic water pump. This one is 10 years old so can't really complain. I could gave got one from Amazon for £104 but I decided to give Norbury some business and paid £113 but I was able to drive down and collect it... it's my job for today. BOAT - Bring Out Another Thousand as they say 

We celebrated with a nice walk along the lanes to the Anchor (closed) then a walk back up the canal. 

I even managed some fishing  - a few skimmers and Roach before a meal and another clear star lit night.

For the record the oil was changed at 1183 hours 

This engine is looked after.... just checked and I did the engine oil in June 2023 at 1025 hours and again in May 2024 at 1054 hours. However I always maintain (excuse that ) an oil change it the best maintenance for any engine... my Bikes get regular oil and filter changes  - they take 1.6 litres the lister is about 9 litres !! 

 

Hopefully the picture below explains the change  - the black 20mm OD heater pipe replaced some fixed copper. The check valve at the bottom of the black pipe was adjacent to the lower engine block manifold making it impossible to get the crank case door off without removal of the said manifold.

Right, this stay is up to date just need to set to on the water pump now !!