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Old ED Diesels


Olaf Pedersen
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Got a couple of old diesels on the weekend, don't know why as they were rubbish back in the day and won't have improved over the years, one was an ED mk1, the original bee complete with tank, the other is a mk 2 competition special.

Both were seized absolutely solid and the mk 2 had lost its carb, the adaptor having desoldered at some stage.

As per usual the engines bore all the hallmarks of pre-teen engineers, mullered cheesehead screws and pliers hieroglyphics all over.

Managed to get all the screws out of the mk2 and eventually got the front cover and seized crank adrift, ditto with the cylinder and piston .

Gentle heating and the alloy cylinder head unscrewed then a brass drift and a hammer and tapped the contra-piston down til it contacted the piston then tapped them both out together, a few drops of auto transmission fluid after tapping the c-p back up the bore and then onto the crank, bit more heat and the crank came out, more atf, reassembled and it's now plopping like a good one.

The mk 1 bee wasn't as seized and only needed a few seconds with the heat gun after removing the tank and carb tube and it freed up, some more atf and it, too, now plops beautifully.

I'll have to try to find a carb and so on for the mk 2 but the mk 1 is ready to run.

I had several of these engines back in the day, but was extremely fortunate in that my father had a set of cabinet makers screwdrivers and taught me how screwdrivers should be ground so that screws didn't get mullered, sold all the engines at the nats one year.

I've had a Tomboy itch for a couple of decades and now I have the engine around which it was designed iirc, ie the mk1. I have heard that the mk2 has been known to power a j 60, I am refurbing mine so if I can cobble a carb together may try it in that.

ed junk.JPG

Edited by Olaf Pedersen
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5 hours ago, Olaf Pedersen said:

......and the mk 2 had lost its carb, the adaptor having desoldered at some stage.

 

Olaf, 

 

I also have a carbless ED2, but have managed to convert it to RC.

 

An old carb (with venturi restrictor) was epoxied to a short length of old TX aerial.  The other end is soft-soldered to a nut which matches the thread on the inlet spigot.

 

This lash-up works very well, and makes the ED very usable in an RC model.

 

Tim

2018-09-22 19.18.20.jpg

IMG_2899.JPG

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The example I have has desoldered from the cylinder, I'll have to make an adaptor to fit both the cylinder and any carb I choose to fit.

It's a bit awkward as the transfer port at the front is also soldered on and they used soft lead solder which will be at risk if I'm too heavy handed. 

But I've nothing to lose as it's US without the carb.

ed mk2.JPG

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13 hours ago, Olaf Pedersen said:

Forgot to mention, looks horribly like the flange at the bottom is also soldered on.

 Yes the whole cylinder assembly was set in a jig and soldered when manufactured . Tricky to re solder one bit  without melting the other bits but nothing to loose in trying .

Edited by Engine Doctor
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Lead/tin, I didn't dare use the modern, less toxic stuff for fear of either melting the transfer case solder or distorting the liner or both.

I have a litre of diesel fuel unopened from the late 80s but I think I'll buy a new tin as ether seems to find its way out of everything.

Edited by Martin Harris - Moderator
Mild expletive removed
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3 hours ago, Martin Harris - Moderator said:

Ether?

Ether is a "light volatile flammable liquid C4 H10 O used chiefly as a solvent and formerley as an anaesthetic."

 

In model aeroplane fuel it is mixed with parafin and oil. Its highly combustible nature provides the ignition in so-called "diesel" engines, ie, those with variable compressions like the ED engines of this thread. In commercially available fuels, amyl nitrate is usually added to the mix. 

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2 hours ago, David Davis said:

 In commercially available fuels, amyl nitrate is usually added to the mix. 

Most commercially available diesel cetane improving additives seem to work in my model diesel engines.

 

I used to use IPN (Iso-propyl-nitrate) but as it is becoming difficult to acquire I have found that something like this (just a typical example) works quite well at 1.5%

https://www.best-synthetic-oil.com.au/diesel-cetane-boost-16oz.-bottle

 

Just one bottle lasts a lifetime and my Oliver Tigers love the stuff.

 

chris

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14 hours ago, Olaf Pedersen said:

 

I have a litre of diesel fuel unopened from the late 80s but I think I'll buy a new tin as ether seems to find its way out of everything.

About 20 years ago a friend sadly no longer with us was given an old unopened bottle of ED diesel fuel found in one of his mates cellar It must have dated from the early ED days , 1947 ish ?  Eventually he opened it and tried it and it was still in perfect condition and a test engine started second flick. So your can might,  just might be ok. If the can is full then it should be OK as ether makes upon third of the mix. If can has space then need an ether top up.

If the ether has found its way out you can by cans from Dave Watts of Southern Model fuels to top it up.

 

T

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Thanks Pat - yes, quite right.  I’ve been well aware of ether since I got my first DC Merlin around 1968…actually a couple of years before that when my Dad bought some from a chemist in order to facilitate the removal of a piece of balloon from our semi-wild cat’s throat!  It survived the experience…

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Fuel was from 1982 ish, about 40 years old, opened it, can was rusty outside, perfect inside.

Mk2 started but I couldn't stop it v.v. noisy with a graupner 10x6, omitted to clean the fuel cut off orifice.

The bees tank was incontinent but eventually got it running.

God the smell from that fuel was far worse than I can recall.

Both engines the contrapistons are very tight, I shall have to tap them out and polish the liners.

I shan't be reporting back as I see you have some pathetically woke moderators here, so I'll subscribe elsewhere, probably RCG. Bye all.

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