GardenKit

Just a reminder that its time to order your Aspen ready for the Spring. Thanks to Axel for the clock!

Now I feel bad for having bothered you this week Steve:blushing:

Don't get carried away into thinking you can always claim back VAT on secondhand kit bought from a dealer. Kit that a dealer has bought from a non vat registered customer may well be being sold under the HMRC "margin scheme" This basically means that the dealer is only accountable for the VAT on the value added to the goods at the point of sale, i.e his profit. Invoices for items sold on this scheme will not show any Vat and will be clearly marked that the purchaser can claim back no Input Vat on the purchase. Its worth checking first rather than assuming that every £120 machine will only cost you £100 as in a new purchase, or used machine sold under normal VAT ruling. Sorry if this sounds a little complicated

Weird, I never put "Spuds Workshop" stickers on the kit leaving my workshop Steve:confused1: Maybe you should send me some:biggrin:

Likewise Steve, I absolutley hate them like that. Can take hours to get them any where near clean, and of course its normally that crud that has killed the saw anyway. Workbench covered in crap, floor covered in crap, hair full of crap, nose full of crap, filthy clothes, filthy washing machine etc etc. Need I say more?

For air to be getting into the pulse bore it has to be passing the pump diaphragm somehow. Have you definitely got the pump diaphragm and gasket the right way round?

It will work fine without the primer connected, just may need a few more pulls to start it as the internal fuel pump in the carb will have to prime it using impulse from the crankcase. It may be as well to remove the primer bulb to save confusion and seal the pipe which returns from the primer to the tank. Or get the proper carb.

Make sure you have your engine numbers to hand when ordering.

You will need to make sure the carb is clean. The pickup filter gets blocked, and the jets can block. The fuel pump diaphragm can fail too, so a carb overhaul may be required. Before spending any time or money make sure it will run with some carb cleaner sprayed into the Venturi whilst pulling the rope.

Check out 'Richard Flowerdew' on Fb. He is still alive and kicking, looks like he recently married.

Although I reported to Steve a few weeks ago that my problem was resolved, there is still an issue similar to that which others have reported. I can now once again post large images, but only one at a time. This is fine for me because its what I normally do anyway. But I used to be able to post multiple images (i.e. select several at a time to upload together) but that facility no longer works.

I stand corrected, this engine has no valve guides so new ones are not an option. If there is this much wear in the engine then the bore, even though smooth, will be worn. New rings may improve the situation but will not recondition it. The bore and piston wear will still be there, but there may be a tolerable improvement. I don't think the valve stems will be worn much, it will be the softer guides. So I would not bother. But then, I would chuck the whole thing away anyhow. Its pretty worthless and there are plenty of better ones to be had. Chucked a lovely one in the scrap a couple of weeks ago.

That is spot on with my understanding too. It was quite an issue back in the transitional times of the 70's and 80's when high detergent oils were becoming available.

I don't know if its actually designed to shear or whether it just happens that way. Sound feasible though.

Drifting is basically tapping it out with a hammer and punch (drift). I would do this before putting it in a press, but either way requires finesse and an instinctive 'feel' By that I mean you hit it hard enough to move it but not so hard as to cause damage. Support the housing on blocks which spread the load as far as possible and evenly around the gear case. Leave sufficient room underneath for the drum to drop when it is free. I would use a brass or aluminium drift (punch) to tap the pinion down through the bearing. Hitting things with a hammer is actually quite a skilled task, but then so is using a press especially a 25 tonne one like mine.

On the RC version the clutch drum and pinion are one unit and need to gently pressed, or drifted out of the bearing after removal of the circlip. Just be very careful to fully support the casing against the pressures of removal because aluminium will crack quite easily. The T version by contrast has the drum screwed into the pinion.

I would say you have it sussed already Joe. Slack valve guides, slack piston. Both will cause oil to be passed into the upper cylinder, and your wet piston is proof that it is. Surprised you are not choking on blue smoke though. Not worth repairing IMO unless you want a challenge. You will need new valves, guides, piston, rings, rebore, gaskets.............££££££££ I would say just run it on, but cannot suggest this on the grounds of health and safety!

Jeez Bill, that's absolutely massive! Must take a long time to heat up for just one carb though.

If I am honest I don't know about the flame front, but as the fuel is much purer than petrol I believe the flame front to be much cleaner and therefore more uniform. The incredibly clean upper cylinder and plug would certainly point to this being the case. The higher H/C ratio actually results in more water vapour from combustion making it more efficient. The lower Vp can result in the engine being a little less responsive. At idle the flow through the carburetor is low. Some of the fuel is evaporated and some remains liquid at the bottom of the intake pipe. Suddenly opening the throttle will give an immediate air flow increase to the cylinder. The evaporated fuel follows the air flow, but the liquid fuel takes longer to increase its speed. This means that the first second after opening the throttle, the engine will get a lot of air but very little fuel and the response is bad. This is normally compensated for by an acceleration pump in the carburetor. With alkylate fuel only 15 % is evaporated at 70°C compared to 30 % for normal fuel. This can be compensated for, by opening the “L” screw 1⁄4 turn. But WOT is hardly effected by the lower density as the higher H/C ratio and lack of oxygenates compensates most of it. Although it is generally appreciated that engine may run slightly lean on Aspen when compared with pump fuel it must be remembered that this comparison is with ethanol free petrol, which we no longer have. Aspen in fact runs as lean as normal petrol with 5-10% ethanol which is now our norm at the pump.

Its incredibly cheap for a 15hp 50mm machine. Generally something that seems too good to be true, is actually, too good to be true.

There is little doubt that Aspen Alkylate fuel is better than pump petrol, it is after all, a virtually pure fuel whereas petrol is in all honesty pretty crap. But this thread is really about the oils rather than the fuel, so the question would be " is Redline 2 stroke better than Aspens FRT oil?" I reckon it would be very difficult to prove either way, but Aspen's FRT has been very carefully developed to meet all the requirements of Husqvarna and Stihl in their Strato charged engines as well as 4 mix, both of which have exacting requirements in their need of a low ash oil. But most engine failures are not down to the quality of the oil, but rather the quality of the fuel. Fresh fuels from different suppliers can vary considerably in their quality, but it is when they age that the real problems start. Aspen is high quality when fresh, and does not change at all with age, so combine this fuel with an excellent oil and you have the very best fuel available, but admittedly, at a cost. Each to their own.

Always a pleasure to deal with a gent such as yourself Simon.

You could maybe practice with an 038 chain Bob. Bump.

They keep pestering us at our shop. If we were ever to watch live TV, or even catch up TV on the PC then we must pay our licence fee. But we honestly don't, it is after all a place of work. We also have to have a licence to listen to music on the radio in the workplace. Its Ok for me to hear my own music, but if a member of staff (all family) or a customer was able to overhear my music we would have to pay the licence fee. Same applies to any business, no matter how large or small, indoors or out. If a customer or an employee can hear any music then pay up!

Update on this. Upon closer examination of chip's images it looks like the carb on this machine may have been 'cut and shut' at some stage. The carb body is a WYJ but the throttle body appear to be that of a WYB carb. So a WYB throttle body is in the post to Sawchip, which will hopefully sort this machine out.