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Removed from damaged boat years ago, stored and recently resurrected,  I was amazed at how little had to be done to get it running. It was a bit grubby and would not turn over, so I removed the water manifold on top to get the plugs out and cleaned them. I poured some diesel into the plug holes. Then I removed the starter and looked into the ends, lubricated the bearings, freed the brushes and tested it.  It worked OK.

After leaving the engine for a day, I tried to turn it using the holes in the end alternator body to bar it round. It came free quite easily.  I put the starter back on and poured a lot of diesel into the oil filler and motored it round for a short time.  The sump was drained and the carb was sprayed with WD40 as various bits were stuck, as were the advance and retard in the distributor.  I took off the tappet cover and after looking inside, decided it could not be improved upon. I changed the filter and topped up with new oil and put the manifold back on.  Then I had to find out what had to be linked up amongst the water pipes to make it fill-able again. Some rather weird and wonderful pipes were made up to seal it and I was surprised that there were no leaks.  As it has a coil requiring an external resistance, I used an old battery charger to provide a low current 12 volts for this and seeing no reason why it should not start, I cranked it over, with a 12 volt battery directly on the starter.

It did fire and spluttered and banged for a while, which was hopeful, however I had got 3 and 4 cylinder plug leads crossed by mistake and correcting this caused it to run with a shower of spiders, sparks and junk coming out of the exhaust.  There is an electrically controlled choke and it soon became apparent that this was not opening, as there was nothing connected. Next time I shall try and open it manually.  It did run, however and when the throttle was opened revved freely.

I understand that this particular engine was well thought of when it was the latest thing, anyway there are a lot still in use and if anyone wants to replace their existing one this would be a nice way to do it.  The photos give an idea as to it’s condition and any further inspection is invited.