Vintage Horticultural and Garden Machinery Club

The clanging sound is coming from the centrifugal clutch drum. They all do it when the clutch is on the point of engaging- another few revs and the clutch shoes are flung hard against the inside of the drum and the clanging stops. Similarly if you drop the revs a little from the clanging point the return springs will pull the shoes away from the…[Read more]

The question has been asked before and the definitive answer is that a two-wheeled Trusty is a pedestrian operated machine. The Bogey Seat is an attachment, in the same light as a plough is an attachment, and it doesn’t alter how the tractor itself is classified for insurance purposes.

In comparison, a Trusty Steed was designed as a ride-on…[Read more]

I’ve been in the workshop tonight with the camera and here are the pictures as promised. The exhaust is an original one that I picked up from the factory before it closed, so you’re not going to get much better for originality.

I have an original exhaust. I will take some photo’s for you with dimensions if you want to make your own.
Geoff

Well done, Alan. A few years ago they tried to introduce it at Newark- I think it was going to be £5 entry- and so many people raised objections that it was never implemented for the show.

Organisers need to understand that it costs us enough as it is to attend their shows. Admittedly these are hidden costs with things such as fuel bills,…[Read more]

It is a very distinctive name and that’s why it attracted my attention in the first place. It is definitely the Holttum that appears many times in the sales records of Tractors (London ) Ltd; I have never come across the name spelt with one “t” and so I suspect it may have been a typo if your memory is correct.

Holttum have come up quite a few times with my Trusty research and were a very active horticultural machinery dealer in the Cambridge area, so it doesn’t surprise me that they would come up with such a novel idea.

It’s the first time that I’ve even heard of it and would make an interesting exhibit if anybody found one.

I use the Brick and Patio Cleaner that Jewsons sell. It’s quite a dilute Sulphuric Acid and so it is kinder on the metal than some others. Either way it seems to work well enough but you need to do the soaking in a well-ventilated place because it will give off Hydrogen Sulphide (H2S) which can be harmful (and flammable) if allowed to build up.…[Read more]

Now that you’ve seen the horror story of the internals of this engine here is the proof of the effectiveness of the acid treatment method. Compare the pictures of the cleaned items with those of the same items in “as found” condition and be amazed!

It is important to keep them covered in oil once cleaned up as the moisture in the air will start…[Read more]

I’ve been a little busy over the last few days, but here are a few pictures just to keep your interest alive. The crankshaft, camshaft and intermediate magneto drive gear went into the acid bath for a clean up; they are now getting a bath in bicarbonate to neutralise the acid and looking very good already. The barrel still has it’s valves in- both…[Read more]

I didn’t realise there was no quick reference section, so please don’t waste too much time looking for it.

From the conversations that I’ve had so far with his niece it appears that he only had dealings with BSA Engines, Enfield Engines and Villiers if that narrows it down at all.

Hi, Angus,
The edit button seems to work for me. What can/can’t you see on the posting at your end? Have you got the row of buttons to the right of the date and time?

No pictures this time, but I’ve managed to separate the piston from the barrel. After boiling in oil then cooling down for 24hrs whilst still in the oil bath I was just cleaning it off ready to have another look at it; tapping with a piece of wood onto the piston got me nowhere and I was thinking of taking it to work to press it out when I had an…[Read more]

Thanks for that, Andy. No doubt you remember the track rod ends fitted to the Ransomes Motor Triple- they were off the Hillman Imp as well!

I think I’m leaning towards the prototype camp still. I have just sent Paul Childs an email detailing all of the part numbers that I’ve found inside the engine. We’ll see if he can identify it from the photo’s, otherwise it may be that the person that built it used a combination of parts from established manufacturers to cut down the cost of…[Read more]

I’ve now got as far as I can get with it. The crankshaft is out, the big end is off, camshaft out and the barrel removed from the crankcase. One thing that I can’t seem to do at the moment is to unstick the piston from the bore as it’s corroded itself together. I don’t want to damage either and so excess force is out of the question, at least for…[Read more]

In the background is a drill press and my Clarke compressor/jump start pack behind that. Unless you’re referring to an earlier photo with the Tecumseh ignition tester in a purpose-made case?

Not home and dry yet, but much closer. I’m not too concerned about the surface rust on the crankshaft and camshaft gears. It can make things look much worse…[Read more]

This engine definitely isn’t giving up it’s secrets easily. I’ve spent hours tonight trying to get the two halves of the crankcase apart and finally succeeded. The problem is that all of the bolts are badly wasted away and are in such inaccessible positions that you can’t get any tools near them to remove them. In the end I had to resort to…[Read more]

Not a bad idea, Charlie. I’ll wait until I’ve dismantled it completely first before I start to put pen to paper.

I’ve treated it to a steam clean at work today so tonight’s effort won’t be quite so difficult (I hope). I’m starting to wish that I’d left the muck on now!

Here are tonight’s pictures. It’s turning into quite a saga, isn’t it?

To recap, I made a puller to tension the flywheel and was intending to heat it whilst under tension. After I put a tension on the puller I thought that I’d tap the puller with a copper mallet and to my surprise the puller became loose. I kept turning and the flywheel kept…[Read more]