Coleby Restoration Villiers 25A

[ssorthiek]

And on to my next project, a Coleby with a Villiers 25A engine. I’ve manged to strip the Coleby down to it’s component parts, Gearbox, Clutch and Engine and I thought would attempt to strip the engine down. It’s almost there but I need to separate the two halves of the crank casing. Before I do too much damage, has anyone out there had any dealings with stripping a Villiers 25A two stroke engine, not to be confused with the Mk25 four stroke.

So far, the strip down has been easy. The crankcase was full of water but it certainly looks and feels more than salvageable.

The only other worry at the moment is the magneto. Once I’ve cleaned the crankcase out the I’ll take a closer look at this and make sure I can get this going, shortly after we should have a viable engine (fingers crossed).

I’ll be taking photos tomorrow, so watch this space.

[vhgmcbuddy]

I’ve a Danarm Mk II chainsaw fitted with the Villiers 25A two stroke, but it is stored awaiting it’s turn in the ‘to do’ queue. I do have a user manual with parts list. If you need a copy, let me know and I’ll post a link to download it from.

Sean

[andyfrost]

Once you’ve removed the flywheel and clutch (and obviously cylinder barrel) , you should be left with two taper ends , remove all crankcase joining bolts. Using the clutch retaining nut , wind it on to protect thread, hold the crankcase by the top half and GENTLY tap the crankshaft with a lead or hide mallet and it “should” move out , it may leave the main bearing in the crankcase , either way it doesn’t matter.
Above all else do not force anything , take your time and if need be leave to soak in a barrel of red diesel for a week.
The magneto will be no problem as all parts are still readily available , Paul Childs at Meetens will put you right on parts , they will not be cheap , but it will ultimately mean a machine that will start and run easily.

Good luck Andy.

[ssorthiek]

Thank you very much to both of you.

Sean, I have the spares and user manual and that has helped hugely. I also scanned it and then coverted it to pdf so I can print it out on a bigger sheet of paper and actually read it. (My eyesight isn’t what it was).

Andy, a very practical summary which makes perfect sense. I was less than keen to bash it around without knowing what I was doing. The wifes computer has broken down which has meant far to much time trying to sort that out rather then getting cold in the garage. Tomorrow is another day.

Keith

[ssorthiek]

I sneaked out to the garage and started to bash away at the drive shaft. The crank case in now apart which is great news. I thought I would share the state of the crank case before I started to split it.
I’m going to try an replace the bearings in the crankcase, but am a little reluctant to attempt changing the big end bearings. I think I’ll change the easy bits and then if the engine rattles too much, take the thing apart again and have another go.

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[charlie]

Not a pretty sight. I assume the big end bearing is a roller bearing. When I had the engine on my SIMAR Rototiller 10 rebuilt I had to have anew big end bearing made. The biggest problem the company doing the work had was splitting the crank at the big end.

[ssorthiek]

Charlie, this is nothing compared to the last Coleby gearbox, but the big end bearing is rollers I believe but thankfully it does all move freely so I intend to clean up, apply copious amounts of engine oil and then reassemble The bits I have done have cleaned up surprisingly well.

The big issue is I don’t want to spend huge amounts of cash on an engine that can’t be restored so it will be a case of cleaning and replacing anything that is essential to get it running and then do a proper rebuilt if needed.

[andyfrost]

Replacing the big end rollers is a horrendously expensive job , remember it has to be re-balanced , which requires specialist equipment , along with specialist prices. If it appears reasonably smooth , and no undue play , I would just thoroughly clean it. It will run perfectly OK with a small ammount of wear , and as you’ve said it will not be used in anger anyway.
To replace the main bearings is relatively inexpensive , these along with the gland seal bushes are far more important to good running.

Andy.

[ssorthiek]

This is probably a long shot but it looks as if I am missing the fan for my Villiers 25A engine. I wondered whether there is anyone out there who has spares.
I attach a picture of the OEM manual showing what I am missing. I suspect there are going to be many more bits missing so a source of spares, or even a spare engine wouldn’t go a miss.
Any help would be much appreciated.

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[andyfrost]

George at Villiersparts may be able to help you , it’s worth a shout.

Andy.

[ssorthiek]

Thanks for that Andy.

I’m not sure about George at Villiersparts. He seems more than a bit abrupt. It’s not the first time I’ve had dealings with him and if he was a little more friendly I would be happy to deal with him. The last order was not right but managed to make the best of a bad job and sort out the issue I had.

Pity really, I love to support the smaller guys even if it costs a bit more.

[andyfrost]

I couldn’t agree more , but he does keep quite a bit of secondhand obsolete stuff. Paul Childs at Meetens is worth a call , at least with Paul you can speak to him on the phone.If you quote him the part number(C6677) he may be able to tell you whether another Villiers fan will fit , it’s not something I’ve tried , so can’t really pass comment.
I see there’s an engine on the well known auction site , but sadly no fan.

Andy.

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