Taifun Tornado Restoration to Running Condition

This is the crankcase assembly at the start of the restoration project. Missing all of the piston/liner/con rod assembly and the spinner nut/prop driver, and a broken needle to boot!

Here we have the engine stripped down and cleaned in thinners.

This photo shows the cleaned engine reassembled. I have replaced the broken N.V.A. ratchet spring with an original 2nd hand part from our supply of parts. The needle and knurled nut were made in-house. Now lets have another rummage through the parts bins and see what we can find.

A quick rummage through the parts bins revealed a piston liner assembly and a cylinder head. The liner is able to be re-lapped but the piston has major scoring and will need replacing. The spinner nut and prop driver were "borrowed" from another engine as patterns to allow the manufacturing of these missing parts.

 

Once everything was cleaned down the plan was made to make a new piston and contra-piston, reuse the liner after lapping it clean and true and to reuse the con-rod. A new gudgeon pin was also made using a 4mm needle roller bearing.

Photos below show the new parts made and anodized.

And assembled onto the engine.

Next step is to finish the piston liner assembly and assemble the engine for test running.

 

Now it's onto the test run...............

Second run with a bit more speed on.