My first project. Coborn?

I have today finally managed to win an engine, it's a Petrol/Paraffin Coborn of some sort. It seems to be in fair condition and I've been told by the original owner that it was a good runner a few years back and is all complete. I hope to collect it on Weds evening and will see what the state of play is then. Any information about what it is would be appreciated.
I must thank Nutgone (Matt) for his input, help and advice via PM, prior to me eventually putting in my bid. I got it in the end for £21, so if it does go all go pear shaped it will at least make a nice garden ornament beside the gnomes outside the Wife's greenhouse, if nothing else. 
This is the only picture I have so far (from the eBay listing). I'll add more as the rebuild progresses.
Steve

I was going to bid on that myself but it ended at a bad time for me, also Matt told me someone else might be bidding on it. That's about the maximum price I would have gone for though. Nice little unit, good luck with it

A real bargain I reckon. Most Coborn engines are straight petrol burners. & you don't see that many Coburns at the rallies.

Just need to find out what that shade of red that is. I reckon Post Office Red with about 25% Calor Propane Orange added.

Looking forward to the thread Steve. We're all here to help.  

looks really nice, is it big

Lewis MacRae wrote:looks really nice, is it big

lewis
there usually betwen jap 4/3 to petter a/a1 sized units, if that helps you
kev

[quote="kevjhnsn"][quote="Lewis MacRae"]looks really nice, is it big[/quote]
lewis
there usually betwen jap 4/3 to petter a/a1 sized units, if that helps you
kev[/quote]

Looks bigger than that judging by the size of the mag.

Villiers wrote:

kevjhnsn wrote:

Lewis MacRae wrote:looks really nice, is it big

lewis
there usually betwen jap 4/3 to petter a/a1 sized units, if that helps you
kev

Looks bigger than that judging by the size of the mag.

good point she does look larger than the ones i see up my way
must be in the 180 200kg class area
kev

Size and weight will be found out tomorrow evening when a mate and I go to collect it. In the meantime I've been busy googling and found a site with dimensions on, if it is a C3 it seems the height is approx 24ins from bottom mounting to the top of the fuel tank. The width is stated to be around 20ins from pulley to starter dog on the flywheel. Luckily the main cases look to be cast aluminium, so that should help keep the weight down a bit.

Good thing you have both tank caps, they are brass, normally the first thing to go missing, a good bit of weight in them two!

Certainly looks to be the bigger of the Coborn range, you don't see that many Coborns about anyway, you see even less of the bigger ones & I don't think I've ever seen a dual fuel one at a rally (or anywhere else for that matter), so you've got yourself a good'un there.

I would've bid on it as well, but once you told me you wanted it I was only too glad to leave you to it. You probably would've gone higher than me, but there's no point pushing these things up in price.

It looks like you're closer to my brother (Ianhw77k) than me, he's right on the Sussex Kent border, but I'm only 15 miles from him. My car should be back on the road tomorrow, so might be able to offer some assistance in person if it's ever needed. Would also be up for a south east meet-up of some sort, even if it was just at a pub on a Sunday or something to make plans for a proper engine meeting.

Anyway, best of luck with collection. Keep in touch & I'm looking forward to reading all about the restoration.

Well, she's arrived. It is a wee bit bigger than I first thought, but it fitted fine in my mates Vauxhall Combi van. Although he did make a few remarks about the ants nest stuck to the galvanised frame after we loaded it up.  
The previous owner told me the fuel tank separation plate leaks from one tank to another a bit, but further investigation will reveal how much and if a repair is possible. I'm sure I can get in there somehow with a pointed stick and spread some tank seal around at a later date. It came with a starting handle and turns over fine with plenty of compression and makes some nice 'huffing and puffing' noises when turned over, so all seems good inside. The exhaust needs a bit of work along with the bottom of the main cowling owing to rust and corrosion, I'm sure I can sort that out in time. The owner also gave me a fuel can with some old fuel still in it, so no leaks there, but alas it it just a plain one with no markings, oh well it was a freebie so I can't complain. Tomorrow I plan to have a proper look around it and see what else I can find. I'm quite exited now.

Lovely!  

She is a biggun, isn't she?

As for the tank, you might be able to de-solder one end & sort it from there. I've done similar in the past & believe me it's easier than you think, just takes some care.

With some paraffin engines it's not a good idea to run them on strong paraffin mixtures for show use anyway, as the engine isn't working hard enough to get up to the correct temperature to fully vaporise the paraffin/kerosene/TVO (whatever you use) & if it doesn't get burned properly it finds it's way into the oil, which dilutes the oil & causes damage. What most people do (as far as I know) is see how it runs on straight petrol, then try mixing petrol & kerosene together in various mixtures until it runs right on light loads. It may well run fine on straight petrol, but it all depends on the design of the vaporiser.

Anyway, I'm really glad you got it home OK, don't worry about the tank, it'll get sorted OK. As for that can, some people prefer the plain ones, as you can put whatever you want on the side. A lot of the vintage car boys like them, so it may even be more valuable than a marked one. You could paint it to match the engine & get someone to write "Coborn" on the side of it (unless you can get a transfer made up, they're quite cheap & easy to get done if you speak to a sign makers).

hope all gones well for you with the beast for you,
and ant and dec have gone with home in your mates van  
kev

I gave myself a day off today, it's a tough life being semi retired/semi self employed  . I gave the old girl a once over and decided to remove as much 'removable' stuff as I could while leaving the main BIG bits in one ... errrr bit. It all came apart fine with only one broken bolt on the mag housing, but that came out with some gentle heat and some ex MOD penetrating oil. When I took the tin work off it was like something from a horror film, cobwebs and spiders everywhere.... I hate spiders! She was removed from the galvanised sled and placed on a temp trolley made from an old alloy sign and some old castors to enable me to move it around. As she had been used on a saw bench there was also a great deal of saw dust mixed with oil that had set into a hard lump and this had turned into a green/black mouldy mass. I hate working with dirty things so out came the gunk followed by a good scrub down with a stiff brush and truck wash and left for a while. She was then subjected to a jet wash. All is good so far and I even have a spark from the mag. I may take another day off tomorrow and see what else I can get up to.  

Cleaned up well bor.

Soon be running I reckon

Nice, does that alloy crankcase make it much lighter than a normal engine? I ask because I see there is another up on Ebay....

shes come up a treat for you there mate  
and even come with a good box of sparks bonus every time that is    
good to see its coming along well for you
have fun when you get more time on her
kev

Hi guys. I've been a bit tied up over the last days, my Wifey is in hospital having a hip replacement so I've been designated a 'responsible adult' for a while. Between hospital visits I've been busying myself cleaning up a few bits, but nothing major has progressed.

michael3 .... I've no idea if the aluminium casting helps save weight, as this is the first engine I've had, but it must help in some way. The complete unit as in the clean pics was just about liftable (with a grunt or two) onto my temp trolley, but I wouldn't want to carry it any distance  

Does anybody have any idea what the Corborn logo looked like? The only thing I have to go on so far is a very faded circular outline on the cowling that seems to read BL in the centre and Coborn underneath with a few unreadable letters above. I have all the equipment here to make up my own graphics so any idea what the missing word is would be helpful.

Might be of help.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Coborn-Model-B23-Stationary-Engine-Instruction-Book-/390568426454

You've been busy TomCat, I've only been gone 4 nights & you've made cracking progress.

Do you intend to strip the engine down any further to check the innards? Or just get her running first & see how she sounds?

If I get a chance I will have a dig around RE: the decal graphics, but I will only be internet searching. You say you have the means to make your own graphics? That interests me a great deal, we'll have to have a meet up down this way soon, Ringmer's not that far off. If you'd been a couple of weeks earlier you might've even got this engine entered for that one, I bet she'll be running by then.

I think I've sorted the logo out. The top word is Browett in an arc with Corborn at the bottom. The centre is just BL with 'Built To Last' in smaller letters underneath. Easily reproduced in cut vinyl.
I may well give her a quick start to make sure it does run, but I'm in no hurry and want to get all moveable parts clean, freed off and working first. There are plenty of other parts that need a once over before she'll be ready to run. The carb has become a solid mass of dead spiders, cobwebs and furry corrosion so is having a good soak in cleaner before I delve inside.

I've been a bit tied up looking after the missus recently, but she's doing well and has been sitting in the garden reading, the shed/garage is well within shouting range so I've been playing with metal work while she suns herself.
I've been busy with the rotary wire brushes and primer (marine grade red oxide) and have given what I can a couple of coats. The main cowling was a right mess when I got it, so I've had a play with some sheet steel and come up with a working replacement for the missing bits and with luck will do the job of directing the cooling air flow to the the cylinder and head nicely. The flywheel came off with a few thumps of a mallet, but the pulley is stubbornly resisting all attempts to free it. The cyl head was well coked up, so I gave it a bathe in oven cleaner, and lo and behold the carbon all came away at the 3rd attempt with no damage to the aluminium at all. To be continued....
Before.  
After.
Cleaned head.
Current state of play.

Very nice.  

coming along nicly there mate
tin work is also done well
keep it up mate
heres a video of the coborn c3 v/o and the biggest coborn c6 v/o running


the 2 are in his avatar pic on his page for the size difference between them

kev

Have been spending some spare time doing a few bits 'n' bobs over the last week, inc grinding in the valves. I was pleased to find the valves were in pretty good condition and it only took a few mins with grinding paste to get a nice grey seating with hardly any pitting visible. I have also done some more cleaning and painting. Today I tackled the carb and fuel taps. The taps were give a good soak and scrub with lemon juice and table salt to remove years of tarnish and grime, followed by a polish up with a Dremel. My Son got me the Dremel for a birthday present around 8 years ago and this was its first use, I found it great for getting a nice shine on the brass as the lemon juice tends to leave a coppery finish, a dab of Brasso on a felt mop and gently does it.... shiny! The carb then got the de spidering treatment and general clean up inside and out with 'carb and choke cleaner' and is now looking good. The amount of dead spiders, cobwebs and general crud blocking all jets orifices inside was a sight to behold. She's all been dry assembled (to keeps bits where they belong) with finger tight nuts as I go and getting to the stage where I can think about the real assembly. There are still a few more parts to sort out first tho, but at least all bits are there albeit dirty and/or rusty. This week I intend to tackle the fuel tank and have a look for an exhaust system as the present silencer is beyond help.