Due to my summer holiday and the Glasgow Fair I have not got round to taking the axle shaft in for machining. Instead I have busied myself with some of the loose ends (of which there are many). The Solex 30 PICT-2 carburettor has been sitting in a sealed black back since it was removed from the engine. Last night I decided to clean the gunk that had accumulated on it over the past 45 years. The shots below show before and after the first pass of cleaning (using a toothbrush and some solvent).
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| Before |
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| After first clean |
I was surprised at how easily the bulk of the grim came off. There are, of course, many pockets of dirt remaining but I'll probably deal with those during the strip-down.
Tonight I decided to return to dismantling the engine. It has been sitting under a blue sheet for many months and I was pleased to see it was still under there when I looked (and without any resident mice). The oil pump had been the stumbling block when I last worked on the engine. I had failed to prise it out of the case due to the lack of leverage (due to an absence of lugs or overhangs on the pump itself).
Although the case cannot be split with the oil pump in place (as the pump forms a bridge between four studs - two in one half of the case and two in the other half) I decided to loosen all the case fasteners to reduce the clamping effect on the pump. There are a large number of fasteners - though I didn't count them. They come in two sizes. There are small nuts (on a combination of studs and bolts) around the edge of the cases - presumably to keep everything oil tight. On the right side there are six large nuts on long studs - I assume these deal with the engine forces. Once I had loosened all these fasteners the oil pump did show some signs of movement and after 5 minutes jiggling with my bare hands the pump was free. The image below shows the rather unpleasant site inside the case.
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| Jolly Joilly |
The pump doesn't look too bad, but I will need to read up on how to test its serviceability. Here's a picture of it and its sheen of joilly - clearly all that shines is not gold...
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| Back of the oil pump |
