Wolseley WD2 restoration

I'd been after a Wolseley engine for a while as they were made in Birmingham and got this one late last year.







Engine No.7497 dispatched to W. J. Cooper of Newport Pagnell on 4th June 1945



The plan is to strip, clean and refurb back to as close to original as I can get it.

Started off by removing the flywheel and found the Gib key had been filed too narrow allowing the flywheel to turn slightly on the shaft so it was only the taper locking it in place




Took the head off and it didn't look too bad, bore OK and no play in the piston




Cleaned up nicely



and so did the head




Started cleaning the paint off and found a large patch of body filler on the flywheel side where they are prone to frost cracking




Checked inside as best I could and it looks like a repair so fingers crossed



The only casualty so far was one of the water jacket door studs sheared off




Penetrating oil, heat and patience got the remains out




Someone on another forum made me a replacement, sorted



More worrying was finding a pin when I was cleaning the sump out




This was identified as a valve retainer, but mine were both present




I can only think it had been dropped in the past and instead of rummaging in the sump a replacement was fitted

I think it had quite a history, while removing paint I found red, yellow, blue, green, grey, black and gold paint in various places!

Lots of scraping and wire wheeling, brushing etc. later




I did find an interesting casting mark




I did my apprenticeship in an Iron foundry that was part of the Qualcast group

A couple of coats of red oxide primer later




Followed by a couple of coats of enamel




I decided to build a new trolley while the engine was light enough to move around

Some nice American ash cut and glued together




Axles made




Painted and fitted to the trolley




Looks nice sealed with a couple of coats of Osmo Polywax and ready for the engine




Engine on it's new home




The black paint was really "gummy" and difficult to remove




After a lot of wire brushing I admitted defeat and had it media blasted




Then a couple of coats of primer



Followed by a couple of coats of enamel, looks a lot better now

The water drain tap didn't look right




So I got an original drain plug/bung




Covers cleaned and masked up ready for painting




Lots of nice bits ready to go back on




Nice details on this cover




So the best part of an hour later using a tiny paint brush




Flywheel cleaned




Flywheel and pulley painted Red to match the wheels




The price of Gib keys has gone up 25% in a year!, after a couple of hours of blueing and filing I fitted the flywheel

It's a Wolseley again




Made some gaskets and started fitting the covers




It's nice to see good old fashioned points these days, and made in England as well




The timing was out by one tooth when I took it apart




So I timed it to the manual and fitted the magneto




New HT lead and terminal




Painted the new silencer and polished the float chamber top




Just waiting for the tank




The original tank had seen better days




So I bought a new one




Needed some body filler




and prepping for paint




A couple of pics of the finished engine







and a short clip of it's first run

Nice one Stuart!

Appletop wrote:Nice one Stuart!

Made a good job of that, I actually sold my WD2/Fullwood dairy set about a month ago now as it hadn't been rallied for a couple of years. That was the first engine that I rebuilt in our kitchen around ten years ago, there have been many more since though! I still have a spare head for one in the garage somewhere, it's painted red which a lot appear to have been.

Pete.