Matilda has a problem.
After standing for nearly 40 years, her poor little engine is a little bit completely and utterly siezed. It seems this has happened in the last 5 years or so, as she was started up fairly regularly until then.
Having got her engine out, I tried soaking:
and pulling:
and pumping grease in under pressure:
All that effort has moved it, so the piston is now half out of the bore:
but it still won't come out!!!!
The bore is (obviously) in poor condition, and I've succeeded in breaking off several cooling fins from the barrel, so the next stage is to cut & split the barrel. Spares have been offered by a Daf Owners Club member and are awaiting delivery so, luckily, it's not a problem destroying what's on there.
That barrel has held me up for about a month now (ok, Christmas and New Year got in the way as well) but, once that barrel's off, the engine can be properly stripped and cleaned ready to go back in.
One more step towards returning Matilda to the road!
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