The Big Freeze.....

Its still too cold to use spray adhesive to stick bonnet insulation in place, or to fit extra boiler insulation and seal it with water activated adhesive 'diplag' finishing cloth. The old temporary insulation will have to go back on until summer arrives!

Reduced to doing odds and ends like repacking pumps, fuel valves, and piston rods. Decided to change the crankcase oil as well. The old oil is probably fine, but as its been in the car quite a while am changing it to be 100% sure. However having to warm up the new oil to make it easier to pour!

I am hoping to get the car to the Drive-it Day event at the Royal Oak at Bishopstone on 21st April - provided things warm up!

Bonnet Insulation Templates

Starting work on bonnet insulation - cutting and checking templates for ceramic paper insulation which will be glued to the inside of the bonnet (Stanley's used asbestos, stuck on with wallpaper paste).  I am also going to add extra insulation to the boiler and smoke hood, so we have the same thickness as the temporary soft ceramic fibre insulation taped on to get the car on the road last autumn. 

It will all be encapsulated with a fibreglass, water activated adhesive cloth & painted with emulsion to finish off. However completing the insulation will have to wait until the weather is warmer & there is no chance of frost.

Its been a bit too cold lately to do much in the garage  - however bits and pieces for getting the car ready for the summer have been arriving.  Cans of cylinder & crankcase oil,  material for finishing the bonnet & boiler lagging, hide cream for the upholstery, and piston & pump rod packing. New hood bows are on order, to tracings of the profile templates I took from a sister car & measurements from the dummy bows made up over the winter. More tools and lagging are on the way from Vintage Steam Products in  the USA and the other day it was briefly warm enough to begin adjusting the nearside front wheel bearing, which had developed a tiny bit of shake.

Rolled the car out of the garage this afternoon to take some photographs from a distance, with battens laid on the dummy bows to simulate the hood line.  For comparison, here's a photo of a sister car (one of only two others in the UK) with the hood up.

Over Xmas have been working on dummy hood bows made up to measurements taken from a sister car.   Have now got them fitted using lots of blue rope to replicate the hood straps; the whole assembly looks about right, though the rearmost bow may need adjusting to get the end of the hood to match the slope of the body.  However a few more measurements and checks are needed to confirm dimensions before ordering a new set of bows.

Meanwhile been ordering spares for the pilot burner in readiness  for steaming up again in the spring.

 The main winter/spring job is getting a new hood made for the car so we can go out in dodgy weather. Over the last couple of months have measured the hood on a sister car, started to make a set of dummy hood bows to check dimensions, begun looking for an experienced coach trimmer to make the new hood and started sourcing a new set of hood bows.

Been rather busy with the car lately hence no posts lately - she is now drained down and laid up for the winter, after a few weeks driving around getting used to the car. Had a super weekend with the Steam car Club of Great Britain   at the Prescott Hill Climb autumn Classic and took her up the test hill a couple of times.