Monthly Archives: November 2013

Heads 5, 11,12 and 13 removed also cylinder No.5 removed

November 27, 2013Cylinder Head Removal, Cylinder RemovalPatrick

This weekend we had a good couple of days working on the 264, we managed to remove No. 5 , No.11 ,No.12 and No.13 cylinder heads.

No.12 Cylinder head proved to be quite tough to remove , we pulled it off until flush with the head studs,

then made a new beam so we could push the head off from the main engine casing.

Cylinders No.s 5 and 11 came straight off with a slide hammer, these cylinders had a lot more oil present.

Here you can see the supercharge inside the rear casing, it looks in very good condition.

Also we had a look inside the magnetos , they are absolutely in perfect condition.

We then pulled off No.5 Cylinder, even though it looks bad, it came of with little effort, just used the jack once to brake the hold on the rings then used the 3/4″ UNF threaded rod to tease it off.

Cylinders 11,12 and 13 ready to be removed.

Only a few more to go!

A quick Peek at the 759

November 23, 2013Bristol Hercules 759Patrick

Here we have a quick look at the 759, as you can see it is immaculate and inhibited!

All we need to do to this Bristol is find a suitable prop and make a ground running trailer so we are leaving this one in the pod and concentrate on the 264 for now.

Engine Stand

November 19, 2013Engine StandPatrick

For us to strip down the 264 we decided to make a engine stand that would allow us to rotate the engine through 360′.First we bought some castors rated at 750 kg’s each, then make some mounting plates for them.

Next we fabricated the front frame to attach to the engine mount and add a 3″ bush to allow us to rotate the engine.

Next we test fit the frame to the main engine stand to make sure we have got our clearances worked out right.

All seems good, so lets pop the old Bristol On!

We then fabricated an “A” frame support for the front of the engine ready for its short trip up into the top shed.

With the aid of the Kawasaki Quad and forklift truck and Big “G” (AKA Graham Potter) we move the engine into the top shed.

It was a tight squeeze but she made it.

Big G asking Pete, where the hell do you start dismantling!

Every project should have a beer wall!

I think we may need to address the size of the prop we have acquired!

Here we are having a small refreshment to re-hydrate!

Engine Mount Rebuild

November 13, 2013Engine MountPatrick

The engine mount was quite badly damaged so we stripped it down and fabricated new tubes.

One side done.

The original tubes as well as pinned they wear soldered so we did the same.

After making the new mount we mounted it onto the first part of our engine frame we are making, which will allow us to rotate the engine to make it easier to dismantle. We used a laser to align every thing up.

The last job to do on the mount was to fabricate a replacement pin mount for one that had been hacked off when the engine was removed from the plane.

In between doing these jobs we have re-roofed our top shed ready for the Bristol’s to be moved in once the maintenance frame is completed, just not enough hours in a day!

No4 Cylinder Removal

November 13, 2013Cylinder RemovalPatrick

The first problem to over come to remove cylinder, is the 40 point spline nuts used by Bristol to secure the cylinder, we tried for many hours to track down a base nut spanners , so in the end we decided to make one.

First remove one of the nuts using vice grips , then measure the size of the spline and drill some plate to suit, heat up to red hot