Productive Weekend

The VW heads are back and looking very schmick and got 526's cylinder bore back as well.

The last 2 days Dad and I reassembled 526's primary Wisconsin engine and swapped it back in. Good thing too as the back up engine suffered a blown head gasket. The carburettor also got overhauled, surprisingly enough genuine carby kits are still available for the L106 Walbro. Anyway, this now marks the last of the mechanical work on the Wickham. Everything thing has been either restored, remade or replaced.

We also fitted a UHF radio for use with the Goulburn Crookwell Heritage Railway. It is a commercial radio with GCHR having it's own repeater on a hill. The Wickham is off to Crookwell over Easter for some running. It will be a good opportunity to run in the overhauled engine. 


The VW was to be worked on and should have been in paint  but I suffered a pinched nerve in my back and was laid up for most of last week. So we will have to see what happens after Easter. There can't be any excuses for delays now, everything I need to complete the VW is sitting in the shed waiting for me.

Backup engine



The primary engine

I swear they are different :)

The Wisconsin bore, new 0.020" oversize piston, pin and rings

VW heads all shiny and (almost) new.

The frame is back

The frame has been to the sand blaster, it has identified some corrosion that will have to be removed and repaired.  The battery cradle will have to be re-jigged to accept two 6 volt batteries. Efforts to convert the starter from 6 volt to 12 volt proved futile, it will remain 6 volt while everything else will be 12 volt. The starter will draw from just one of the batteries.

Paint will fly once the frame is ready.

On the engine front, I'm still waiting for the heads to be overhauled. This was delayed when the engine shop broke a very expensive tool and had to order a new one to complete the job. In the mean time, new parts were ordered and delivered. New distributor, alternator, spark leads and other little odds and sods. The mechanical fuel pump had to be removed to make way for the alternator and has been blanked off, I'll fit and electric fuel pump near the fuel tank. This should help when the VW will sit still for long periods and the fuel bowl dries out, I won't have to crank the engine until it fills.

I'm dreading all the other clean up jobs for all the smaller parts that I didn't trust to go the sand blaster (for fear of damage from the sand itself). These include the control rods, brake rigging, clutch housing, gearbox and axles. This will take many hours with an angle grinder fitted with a wire wheel. I'm waiting for the weather to cool off, the shed gets pretty hot.

The budget has been blown into the middle of next week. It's been 7 years since I have done a full restore on a trike and the cost of everything has gone way up. I've spent almost all of it and the VW is not close to being reassembled. I was hoping to have it finished for may birthday in March, that is unlikely to happen now. The new wheel bearings alone cost more than 1/4 of the budget. All in all though, it is going well and when the VW is finished it will be as good as new, even better in some ways.

On the 9th February I went to Oberon Steam and Machinery weekend and saw these animals sitting on the track.

Merry Christmas

NSWGR Trikes wishes everyone a MERRY CHRISTMAS and a HAPPY NEW YEAR.

Die neue Auspuffanlage angekommen

I recommend Wolfsburg Motors in St Peters, NSW if you require air cooled VW parts. Great service and the hard to get parts are no worries.

It took a 9hr round trip to pick up the new exhaust and head studs for the VW trike.

When the heads come back from reconditioning the engine can be put back together.

Progress on the VW project

All is going rather well with the VW. As of this post the car is 99% dis-assembled. The chassis is ready for sandblasting.

The engine was removed first and given a blown down test. This test involved a modified spark plug to hook up compressed air to the engine. By listening in the exhaust and inlet ports for air escaping it told you if the valves were leaking or not. If air was escaping through the crankcase filler, you would know the rings were worn. Cylinders 1 and 2 inlet valves and 3 and 4 exhaust valves leaked. The heads were removed and taken to a machine shop to have the valves re done. Wickham 526 cylinder bore is also in the shop for re boring (more on that later). The clutch and the flywheel was removed, low and behold the clutch is brand new, someone put it in and never used  it, still got the paint markings on it. A new flywheel seal was installed and the clutch re-assembled.

The tin ware is awaiting stripping and cleaning then to be painted and waiting on new head studs and exhaust before the engine will be re-assembled. Engine parts are plentiful for the old donk, lots of aftermarket gear available but try getting a muffler for one. The rear axle of the car is so close to the exhaust it must have a stock one fitted. A search of over 30 vendors resulting in just one being able to supply the muffler and that one still had to order it in for me.

 My Father has been doing the mechanics on the VW engine, it's one of his specialities.  

Many things are rusted beyond repair and had to cut off, lots of stuff will have to be rebuilt or remade. Just today the axles were taken off and the gearbox split off the front axle. Scored well with the gearbox, it is tip-top shape. Just the gearbox axle seals need to be replaced, this will involve taking the wheels, hubs, axle boxes, and bearings off. I sincerely hope I have better luck with setting this axle up than the Wickham's, that was a nightmare.

From here, there is a lot of parts need stripping, cleaning and repair. From my other restorations it has taught me this is a slow process but certainly worth it when a shiny trike rolls out of the shed.



The tin ware.

The motor with the heads on

without heads

Clutch and flywheel

Rotten timber panels

Caren shaft, front and rear axles



Crown gears on the from axle. I'll have to get a comparison photo to the Wickham's gears.



The gearbox.

Clutch housing

The bare chassis

 Now, what's up with Wickham 526 you ask? No? Well I'm going to tell you anyway.

526s primary engine turned into an oil pump. The bore I used was worn 0.008 of an inch oversize. This was an oversight on my part, I assumed the bore was good as there were no signs of wear and no lip in the cylinder. At the time I had no way to measure this wear. Anyway long story short, the engine was a smoke machine and emptied the sump in a little over 2hrs of running.

I got hold of a brand new 0.020" oversize piston and ring set, bundled them up with the cylinder bore and they are in the process of being matched.

Currently 526 is fitted with it's back up engine.

Some motion pictures

Here are a few videos I took, over the last weekend in Crookwell...

Enjoy!

The butt kicking continued...

...thankfully not for much longer.

Last Friday evening 526 was loaded ready for an early departure to Crookwell on Saturday morning. Having not towed a trike for some time I had forgotten how heavy they drag from weight and wind. None the less, Dad and I arrived safely and on time.

We unloaded 526 onto Crookwell goods siding. The area has the earth level with the head of the rail to load and unload trikes. Started the trike, we all got on, moved half an inch...SNAP! there goes the throttle cable. For 3 weeks I have been wrestling with 526's problems, it seemed it didn't want be repaired. It didn't help either when we found out that the key for the 'C' frame has been lost and we couldn't get 526 out of the siding. A trip to a hardware shop to get yet another soldering iron, solder and some cleaning fluid to solder the end back on the cable.  

Despite the hassles, hold ups and money poured into 526 recently, once it was back on the rails for the next 2 and half days it ran perfectly. The induction weekend was a success with 526 passing it's inspection and issued a certificate of accreditation to operate within the GCHR.

I also got to catch up with a friend, Allan Robinson. He was the one that organised 526 to be sold to my uncle back in 1988. I learnt that 526 was used on the Mudgee branch and stationed at Kandos. Wickhams on that branch were in numerical order. Kandos had 526, Rylstone had 527, Lue had 528 and Mudgee had 529. I have 529's way and works plate.

526 at the Crookwell Railway Station

The 'Works' convoy ready to head out for track repairs on Sunday 16th

Wickham twins 526 and 617 together again. 617 was mine, I sold it in 2010

526 requires a couple more tweaks. A new throttle cable to be fitted and replace the ignition coil resistor. Other than that it's ready for anything...I hope ;)