28/06/2026
We’ve had a good weekend. The engine team were available, and as everyone will know, it was guaranteed no rain, so we could have the hatches open. It was still ridiculously hot in the engine room though. We have made a start on fitting the injector pipes, the trays that they sit in and all the associated parts. The pipes sit in rubber bushes in a clamp inside the tray. The bushes that came off 118 were so old and brittle that they disintegrated when being removed from the pipes. New bushes have been purchased, made to the original design and spec. The injector spill pipes are made from a nylon material that is clipped to the push rod guides with Terry Clips. Most of the Terry Clips that came off 118 just snapped, and the nylon pipes were also so brittle that they too were not fit for re-use. Central Birmingham Springs made us a batch of Terry Clips again to the original design, and the nylon pipes have been replaced with genuine english electric items that were old stock sat on the shelf at Everllence, (ex MAN, ex Ruston) at Stockport. New nitrile rubber hoses have been purchased that connect the injector trays to the cylinder head intermediate covers. The only bit that we haven’t had to source this time round are the jubilee clips that hold the hoses in place. We have boxes in stock from the early 1990’s ex Stratford Works. These have been sat in the store waiting, for just a few years. The timing chain tension was rechecked at fixed intervals to ensure that there was no localised stretching as recommended to us previously. Fortunately, although the timing chain is at its limit of the permissible wear and stretch, it is still within tolerance and there is no localised stretching. Thanks to Stuart Hurst for the advice. Good progress has also been made with restoring 3 phase power to our workshop, although the completion of this bit of the project is still a few weeks away. The photos show the progress at various stages of the work.
