Quote:
Originally posted by Pete Ashby
from memory I think this problem was with the 28HP Bedford engine, Richard F will know for sure.
Although having said that I remember reading somewhere that Austins had a similar problem but I'm not sure of the date.
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John and Pete,
I have seen this mentioned elsewhere, although cannot lay my hands on it at the present time. I seem to recall both Austin and Bedford refered to and something tells me it may have been something to do with inferior alloys used in the pistons. An instance of this sort of thing occured to me about 20 years ago with my 1941 BSA WM20, the piston siezed whilst climbing a hill, on stripping the engine it was found to have expanded in four positions either side of the gudgeon pin. On measuring and comparing with the War Office Inspection Standards, the piston had grown to a larger size than the plan dimensions. This machine was in an original state and I quite believe the piston could have been from the WW2 period. So along with other reports of pistons with unpredictable expansion rates, this could be a clue to the problem that occured.
This piston problem of 1944-5 was also refered to by Bart in W&T way back when, if I recall.
Richard