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.
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!
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!
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
Then use the nut as a broach and press into the plate,
Cut out and weld to an old 3/8″ extension
Next heat up to cherry red and submerge into carbon , in our case some crushed up BBQ bricks! and allow to cool to case harden.
Job done works a treat.
Next job was to make a puller plate to attach to the cylinder and a plate that fits down the bore so we can push on the piston evenly.
A bit more milling work for Pete!
First we tried 15 tonnes to remove the cylinder.
No movement, so we stepped up to 30 tonnes!
That did the trick, as soon as it started to move we could use threaded rod and a windy gun to pull off the cylinder.
That’s one down , thirteen to go!
There is a few items we are looking for.
The first thing we are looking for is propellers with hubs that can be cut down, if you know of any likely candidates please let us know.
The 759 Hercules is ready to run just waiting for a prop!
Once we had a good look over the 264,after modifying an old spark plug socket we removed the spark plugs from No.4 and poked an endoscope camera down to see what the internal looked like. It was grim but ever the optimist we pressed on, We looked very closely at the problems that Terry Jones had at Aero Engines Carlisle when he tried to strip down a 230. so we changed tack a little and made a puller plate that sat on top of the cylinder head studs with two bolts tapped to suite the spark plug threads, one of them gun drilled so we could pressurize the cylinder if it is at TDC or there abouts.
Low and behold with a bang the head popped off.
Next Job try and remove a cylinder!
After two years of searching we still couldn’t find suitable engines to restore. Pete was due to fly out of Gatwick and had a couple of hours to kill, so he decided to visit a nearby aero engine museum. There inside was a perfect Bristol Hercules, while chatting to one of the curators, Pete said he was interested in finding a engine to restore, He took Pete’s email address and left it at that. A couple of weeks late he got an email from him with a name that he said he might know where there is a couple of engines. When I saw the name I realized that I knew him, he was one of our customers! that I haven’t seen in ages. Two months later he called in to our workshop so I asked him did he know where there was a Bristol Hercules? he replied I know where there is two, clever Trevor has them and he was only seven miles away! How bizarre is that. So Pete and I trotted off to see clever Trevor and do a deal.
A pair of Bristols arrive!
And our main sponsor was present
