Serial No 2093DH5 which translates as engine no 2093, Type D, H for hopper cooled, produced in 1955 (1950 +5).
Dry stored at the museum for decades.
Origin unknown.
Current social distancing guidelines has given us an opportunity to work individually on some of the smaller projects that always seem less important than the bigger ones.
Here is one such example, an early restoration, once somebody’s pride and joy, neglected, dry stored for decades and obviously used as a donor engine by previous owners.
Having completed the mechanical restoration and made a trolley, the investment in time and parts makes this project a true labour of love.
Whilst restoring these engines provides great learning opportunities for the beginner, they can also run away with hard earned money. Fortunately we have spares and expertise that can minimise how much cash needs to be spent.
An initial assessment revealed broken head studs, no compression, major magneto issues ( no spark and a drive chain which was rusted solid ), no carburettor, no silencer, otherwise in perfect working order!
A Strip down showed further problems. The piston rings were seized in their grooves and there was a rather misshapen inlet valve.
Fitting and grinding in a new valve, patiently freeing off the rings, glaze busting the bore and reassembling with a new head gasket and studs from our stores, solved the compression issue.
Our resident electronics wizard refurbished the magneto achieving an excellent spark. We had a silencer on stock, just the carburettor issue to resolve.
We needed a carb for the standard left hand inlet, we only had a right hand on stock, as used with a vaporiser.
No matter how you try, the style of the butterfly prevents an engineered conversion from right to left hand governor control. E bay provided us with a carburettor for little cost.
Lister D’s need to be on a frame or a trolley as the flywheel is lower than the engine base. We decided to go for a top specification, a steering trolley! to be made from steel offcuts, some free issue timber and wheels from “our stores”.
Apart from the wheels looking a bit small, a good job.
This has been left as a mechanical restoration, not spending time and effort on the cosmetics.
A good clean down with degreaser and lots of “duck oil” applied to both bare metal and painted surfaces.