Villiers MK20

I think I will give it another coat of primer then a top coat, lightly flat that with a sanding pad then a final top coat. Less chance of going through to bare metal that way I feel.

mattblack wrote:I think I will give it another coat of primer then a top coat, lightly flat that with a sanding pad then a final top coat. Less chance of going through to bare metal that way I feel.

You could try a high build primer, example Ebay item No.124672661116

I usually wait for each coat to dry, then scuff it with a Scotchbrite sheet which gives the next coat a key, don't forget to panel wipe it before the next coat

I have used high build primer in the past, I think it is OK for light scratches ect but I dread to think how many coats I would need to fill the rust pits in this case...

Today I did a bit more, gave the the tank another coat of primer and ground the heads off the screws on the flywheel cover on the cowl before drilling them out. Then I gave the cowl a scrape to remove the cement and crud before knocking out the worst of the dent in the bottom.





Not brilliant but the folded edge is distorted and it's hard to get anything right into it. It won't be very noticeable anyway (hopefully)

When I was restoring my Petter A1 the flywheel housing was a bit bent so I took it a bodywork chap I knew from my days at Rover.

Before




After




Only cost a few quid and he said it was nice to work with proper metal instead of the tinfoil used in todays cars

Having unseized and stripped the fuel tap, today I cleaned it all up. Had some frustration when the spring decided to 'twang' out of the vice as I was wire brushing it, after a fruitless search on and around the bench I checked my stash of springs and has luck would have it found an almost identical one that just needed a coil grinding off. I then rolled a piece of fine mesh to replace the missing filter.



I also cleaned up the flywheel cover and gave it a couple of coats of rattle can red oxide, as I will be spraying it gloss black, and gave the tank it's first coat of gloss.

Cleaned up the cowling today, was planning to get a coat of primer on it and maybe flat the tank but a DIY job took longer than expected...



Sadly the date stamp is illegible, looks like an '0' and an '8'?

Managed to spend a bit more time on this recently.

Top section of cowling cleaned up, O/H had the washing out when I did this so wire wheeling in the garden was out, so it got a wire brushing and 60 grit papering in the garage. Turned out OK. Then it had 2 coats of red oxide and a colour coat.



All the parts got a quick going over with a sanding pad...



...followed by a final top coat on the outside.



It feels like I'm on the home straight now.

Certainly looking good. Luckily I'm able to wire wheel outside at any time, I put the washing line down the bottom of the garden out of the way, it keeps "her" fit, walking up and down. You will soon be listening to that engine purring away.

Neil.

neil (LE) wrote:Certainly looking good. Luckily I'm able to wire wheel outside at any time, I put the washing line down the bottom of the garden out of the way, it keeps "her" fit, walking up and down. You will soon be listening to that engine purring away.

Neil.

Thanks, I think 'purring' might be a stretch, I'll be happy with 'chugging'...

Looking forward to hearing some chugging!

Alan

Had a blitz on this this afternoon and got it back together, the photos flatter the paint finish but I'm pleased with it bearing in mind what it looked like before...

Must be pleased with that, looks super! Can we hear it running?

Alan

Alanengine wrote: Can we hear it running?

Alan

Maybe next weekend...

Nice job. Very tidy.

Rigged up a makeshift trolley.



Oil in, fuel in... and it started first pull! . It was very rich but adjusting the carb needle and bringing up the speed on the governor had it running pretty good. The biggest issue was a bad leak from the fuel tap. I took it off and stripped it and lapped it in with heavy duty paint cutting paste, refitted it and it is much better but there is still a slight weep. By then I had run out of time and it had started to rain again. I may try some fine wet and dry before lapping it again. I am away next weekend so you will have stay in suspense for the video evidence...

One thing I am a bit disappointed about is the paint. It is Wilco own brand and I bought it because it is oil based, which seems hard to find now. Despite having several weeks to harden it still seems soft and marks easily.

I had a another go at the tap today, cleaned up the spindle with fine wet and dry and lapped it in again. I found that I needed an extra washer to space the spring out as well to put more pressure on it. Put it back together and touch wood it seems dry so far, unfortunately I didn't have time for a trial run.

For a dripping taper tap I use toothpaste to lap em in if you use to abrasive the swivel part goes to deep and is out the bottom to far to be good

I checked it again after a few days and it was leaking again, looks like I need a new tap.

I looked at new taps on ebay, but from the photos they appeared to lack the taper in the outlet to take the olive on the pipe fitting. Then I remembered my MK25 HS... did it still have the tap on it?

It did!


Of course the plunger was flopping about like the proverbial, but I had new corks in stock.


All back together and nice and shiny.


fitted it but haven't tried any petrol in yet. Still need to sort out the air filter, the trolley will probably have to wait as DIY stuff is on the horizon.

Excellent! The cork on my 25 had turned to dust so fitted and sanded a new one which works well.
The secret is to not let them dry out.

Alan

Well I was finally able to have some 'play' time today so set to on the trolley.

I had the materials in stock, and even better they were all originally my favourite price...



Angle iron was cut, drilled and primed and the wood (part of an old cupboard) was sanded and treated with teak oil.




Stay tuned for the next thrilling instalment!

That's a nice looking piece of wood.

I rubbed another light coat of teak oil into the wood and got the trolley together.



Engine bolted on, job done!