Air Ministry JAP generator set

Picked this up today. Excited to see if we can get the engine running and the generator producing electricity.



Brass plates off and cleaned up a bit...Anyone know how to date this little baby?

Nice one - looks like it's all there. Good luck

Very nice!

Woodsman wrote:Nice one - looks like it's all there. Good luck

Any ideas on finding a date for this?

Nice, they are good sets, sadly the generator is often split from the engine now due to the handy size of the dynamo.

You'll have to find the JAP serial number to get a date, I'm not sure where it is stamped on these, should start or end (can never remember) with a letter.

Double post

[quote="StuartTurnerSteve"]Nice, they are good sets, sadly the generator is often split from the engine now due to the handy size of the dynamo.

To connect up to a Stuart engine? - I had thought of that but not yet found the right JAP set .

So - lots of bits taken off and dropped into plastic pots and buckets for cleaning.

Flywheel off. Head off. Sump off. Timing gear out. (Don't forget the line-up marks!)
Valves out now and ready for a grind, but generator spring-link stuck on, so crankshaft is not coming out.

Crankcase cleaned and painted up....
Dunno why my wife was so cross about this paint-curing trick...

they get even more frosty if you use the dish washer

ooh - there's an idea! What tabs do you use??
Must be easier than a Bucket of Gunk degreaser and a brush :-)

Did you find the engine number on the crankscase ?

Indeed I did - 2A.T.57625  which I believe puts it in 1946?


A date stamp on the exhaust heat shield gives us 1945 too, so it's somewhere around there.


Anyway - taking shape now and looking clean and tidy. No spark, so condenser ordered in the hope it's nothing more substantial.

Yes, T=1946, which with the cowl date @ 1945 agrees very well with a production date of 1946. Perfect.

Nice job so far, I spotted this one for sale very local to me, but as I have one, I didn't see the point.
As far as I know, like my one, it was made by the Aberdale Cycle Company.
Still have some filters and parts hanging around.

the engineer wrote:they get even more frosty if you use the dish washer

I tend to get one of those looks when she discovers the maggots for tomorrows fishing trip in the fridge

Woodsman wrote:

the engineer wrote:they get even more frosty if you use the dish washer

I tend to get one of those looks when she discovers the maggots for tomorrows fishing trip in the fridge

I was banned from doing that when I fished as a youth, I had to keep them in the outside toilet, which was fine until someone knocked them over and the back yard was covered in maggots!

So - long time, no post.
JAP 2A now put back together but no spark.
Tested stuff (with a faulty meter ), replaced a condenser - but still no spark at the plug.
'Discovered' simple test is to accidentally touch the HT lead and the block while spinning the flywheel  
So - there IS a spark - but a dud plug! Old condenser put back, new plug sorted ... nice spark at the tip.
Fuel in the carb now (after some cut-off valve freeing and jet fettling) and we're running quite nicely!
Maybe it's time to get a couple of videos online??

Meanwhile... control box to wire up and dynamo to strip down!
(And there's a Stuart P5M we collected before the latest lockdown too...)
Happy Christmas  
Here's to 2021!

Happy Tinkering Chaps!

Didn't go for RAF blue?

https://youtu.be/5D83cfphSsA?t=914

Very tidy
Now for the generator!

[quote="StuartTurnerSteve"]Didn't go for RAF blue?

Thought about it - but only images I found (until seeing your video) were military drab and a variety of non-military blues and oranges! - so went for drab olive instead. I told myself they'd have that in the field anyway ;-)

Fair enough, I've seen them both colours and yellow. The tank on yours seems to have been originally blue.
Field colour would have depended on what was available at the time, it would seem quite a few of the trolley acc remained blue, which the hot county ones being painted sand.
The Zwicky bowers were painted to conform with the paint ruling at the time but the engines and pumps remained the blue colour.

End of the day it's your engine do as you wish, I like the blue, mainly as you see enough green engines on a field.

The paint work on the Hurricane looks like she's been in a sand blaster.

Maryalice