springy

If they measured the headroom in the back cabin it may well be correct - remember the shaft runs under the floor boards and therefore the floor will be approx half the stern post height plus 3" - 6" clearance above the base plate - I'd guess a minimum of 18", probably 20" - 24". springy

IIRC the original hydraulics were true hydraulic i.e. water powered and they had corrosion and seal problems, the recent replacement system is oil based "hydraulics". Is there a proper descriptive term for the use of oil flow between cylinders to transfer work/energy ? springy

I've always thought of it as two basic types of engine - Spark Ignition (petrol, parafin, TVO, methanol etc.) and Compression Ignition (diesel, heavy oil etc.). Within the group of CI designs there are many variations in starting methods - true Cold Start diesels - which do not require any special starting activities - include many Listers, Petters etc. On the other hand there are all the other methods of getting a CI engine running, it may simply have some sort of excess fuel setting on the pump or pump control - again many listers & petters, Glow Plugs in a pre-combustion chamber - BMCs & many others, excess fuel injector in the inlet manifold - many perkins engines, Spirit burner to provide warmed air into the inlet manifold - National, Petrol start diesels - Kelvin, and then all the Hot Bulb variations either blowlamp or glow plug heating, or even Sabb "cigarettes". Im not quite sure where you would fit Cartridge Start engines (marshall tractors) or Air start (larger bolinders & many other hot bulbs) as this may be just a way of getting the engine to turn over - in the same way as some have an electric motor, some have a hand crank, a spring starter, a kick start, or even on some large caterpillar engines a smaller engine (usually Spark Ignition) known as a donkey engine to get the main one going. However you want to look at these variations they are all Compression Ignition once the engine is up and running. You could argue that the only true diesels are the ones which do not require any starting aids and that anything else is just a semi diesel, though I'm not sure how many kelvin owners would be happy with that. springy

Some of the "modern" semi diesel/hot bulb engines did use an electric glow plug as a starting aid. (modern = 1930's - 50's) springy

Sometimes it depends on the weather - some days the fire draws well right from the start, some days it just doesn't. A longer larger flue can help but you can only go so far. As Baldock says getting it up over your head is a good thing, but sometimes means you have to be ready to pop it off for a low bridge. Many working boats would have a short extension piece which they would put in the top to give a bit of extra draw and headroom where the bridges allowed it - often most recently made from dried milk tins. springy

Engine There will be a good (?) reason - quite what is yet to be determined. Questions - some of which may have to wait till your next visit to answer, Does it free up when completely cold ? How hot did the barrels feel ? Oil Pressure - ? You probably need to connect a guage even if its only a temporary lash up. Can you try turning the crankshaft (rather than the camshaft) - you may be able to feel a tiny bit of backlash IF its the pistons seizing in the bores, if its big end or main bearings picking up then you are less likely to feel any backlash at the crank (this may be disguised by the cam drive train so rocking the crank directly if possible may be more informative) Gearbox When you say you can select forward and neutral - is that with the engine running i.e. the hydraulics are operating correctly and disengaging the forward cone ? or is it an action of the "override" bolt ? - either way it sounds like you have successfully parted the stuck forward cone. To still stall the engine in reverse is unusual - the only thing I can think at the moment is that the planet gears in the reverse epicyclic gear train are seized on their axles. I would be very surprised to find them seized so solid that a few attempts to engage reverse wouldnt free them. What you could try is :- Insert bolt B to overcome the spring pack, then OVER adjust the reverse brakeband so that it locks the outside of the planet carrier (as if reverse was being engaged) then rock the output shaft back & forth to try and free them. I thought it should be brown sauce. Thou ketchup is better for helping me to polish off sausages. springy

Is it Direct reversing - i.e. fuel pump timing is identical in forward or reverse (as per Bolinder) or Reversible - i.e. fuel pump timing is changed depending on rotation (as per for example a rather large 3 cyl petter 2 stroke I have seen) ? what breed & vintage is it anyway ? springy

If you can arrange some "load" then OK but I would be very wary of "locking the output" even if you do ensure the engine can't start. I think the essence of this is that the CONE is stuck, and unfortunately a cone will tend to pull itself together under load - this is why a cone is used but also why they have a tendency to stick. What might work is this - lock the output shaft (in Both directions), insert bolt B to overcome the spring pack and then rock the engine back & forth somehow at the same time as (if possible) trying to encourage the cone to disengage. Partly an aside but relevant to all this - when you start an engine with an LH150 you will always briefly get forward drive untill the pump in the gearbox builds up enough pressure to disengage the drive. springy

I think the end float is less of a problem, and may actually be necessary - to "engage" neutral requires item E to move backwards away from item D although E should just slide on the splines. As Tim said when you refit the reduction gears (or fitted an output housing for a 1:1) this may well eliminate the end float. springy

Hi Paul This threads grown a bit since last night - its just taken me half an hour to catch up! I've also gone back to your video & come up with another question. First am I correct in thinking that the video was made with "Bolt B replacing Bolt A" to overcome the pressure of the spring pack i.e. hold the box in neutral ? If so then the slight rotation play could indicate one of two things - which one is not clear in the video, but you may be able to see the difference in situ. When you rotate the shaft :- Either item E moves a small amount but item D does not - if so the friction material has probably broken up and is jamming, Or items E and D are still locked together and the movement is the backlash in the splines/geartrain. you may be able to tell the difference if you look carefully but in the video the reverse brake band effectively obscures the two. If the friction material has broken up then you have no option but to strip the box, if the E and D are still stuck together then I would be tempted to see if a point of leverage could be found to use a large screwdriver and try carefully to persuade item E to move backwards away from item D, with the bolt still in position to overcome the spring pack of course. Because the forward band is a Cone section they are more prone to just sticking. springy

IIRC forward band is attached to item E, reverse band is attached to the thin steel band which surrounds the whole assembly. Is the selector arm still attached to the morse control (if applicable) and does that give the appropriate mapping ie forward/reverse. Actually, pushing the selector arm forwards to engage forward and pulling it back to engage reverse does make sense. springy

Not 100% sure but it does ring a vague bell that there is a slight difference - on the gearbox ignoring reduction, ahead is direct drive - for efficiency, reverse goes via epicyclic and is IIRC a slight reduction. springy

Hi Paul In the following image the forward friction band is the double hatched item between D and E, on your second photo it appears to be sticking out a bit at 3 o'clock and 9 o'clock positions. The Reverse friction band is the double hatched item on the outside of item D. In forward gear D is locked to E (held in place by the spring pack), in neutral the spring pack is overcome by the hydraulic piston J, and for reverse the outer brake band is applied thus locking D to the body of the gearbox and the drive passes through an epicyclic gear train to provide reverse rotation (not very clearly shown on the left of this image). If D and E stick together or the friction material breaks up and jams them then you would get the situation described - always in forwards & locks up when reverse is selected. springy

Curious The fact that it stalls means that it is trying to engage both gears at once. The fact that this happens when you operate the gearchange means that the the pump & associated valves pistons etc must be operating (to some extent at least) Implies that the forward friction band is stuck in the engaged position or broken up and jaming in the engaged position. springy

Having watched the video I would say no it shouldnt be doing that. I'm wondering about your description "you get forward in neutral or reverse and stall in forward - doesn't make sense. If you got forward in forward and neutral, and stall in reverse - makes perfect sense - forward friction band stuck in - hence you always get forward, but when you apply the reverse friction band you try and get forward and reverse at the same time - hence stall. Does the reduction gear reverse the rotation ? At least it does mean that the hydraulic pump is working because it succesfully activates the friction band. Cant remember if this has already been mentioned but these gearboxes are held in forward by a spring pack, hydraulic pressure is used 1) to disengage forwards (ie engage neutral) and then 2) engage reverse. Consequently sticking in forwards is always a potential problem - particularly if the box has been submerged. On the other hand if the hydraulics fail for any reason you STILL have fowards gear - will get you home (even if you have to use the harbour wall for brakes). edited to add - looking at the photos - is the "forward" friction band breaking up (ie the inner one) - it looks somehow uneven. springy

suck-squeeze-bang-blow IS imperial, if it was metric it would be sucez, serrez, claquez, le coup or possibly lutschen Sie, quetschen Sie, knallen Sie, Schlag springy

Sounds about right to me springy

I can only presume that your "expansion tank" is functionally the same as an accumulator i.e. a vessel with a rubber bladder dividing it into two compartments - water one side and air on the other - in which case AIUI provided the air side is pressurised before you turn the pump on then it will not need bleeding - when the water side is un pressurised the bladder will be forced into the "water end" of the vessel. There are several threads on here explaining the correct way to set the pressure. (cant find it just at the moment) springy

mmmmmm.... engine porn springy

Also see this thread Previous thread springy

One other thought - if it is the gearbox oil cooler to blame then when you disconnect the pipes from the cooler you may find that water leaks from from the heat exchanger through the fittings that these pipes came from. springy

Edited cos I've just read the other thread and realised that you're not thinking of using it on a boat. springy

When you say it has "never worked" - how long for ? It could need re-gassing, I seem to remember something about the refrigerant also lubricating the compressor so perhaps that could explain the behaviour ? I'm not sure about this & it may depend on the refridgerant type used (which will depend on the age of the fridge) - I believe it is true for air con systems on cars. springy

I'm pretty sure that Radio-Ga-Ga is right, PP waste fittings just aren't BSP. Though given your measurements you could try an 1 1/4" -> 2" bush, or even take the fitting with you & try different bushes till you find one of a suitable size - If the thread form is near enough then the plastic will give a bit ! springy