Once I'd got the engine back to it's new (permanent) home the task of restoring it to it's original glory began.

I had previously posted to the "S.E.L." AND "OLDENGINE" lists asking for ideas on this engines restoration. I wanted to, know what the "Guys 'n Gals" thought of the idea of displaying it in it's original "working clothes" which included gaudy "yellow" flywheels (I was working from a photograph at that time - when I collected the engine I discovered that the "Yellow" was actually "Orange".)

Anyway, that question was answered when it got home and was cleaned up.  It took almost 2 days of cleaning with degreasers, paraffin and a borrowed high pressure washer to establish it's colour and get to the stage where a closer inspection was possible. It had spent it's life as a "standby" unit in a boiler room of our "South African Railways" workshops and was covered in soot but had not actually done very much work since installation in 1953.

The "brushed on" paint job was terrible - in places there were "new" coats of paint applied by brush over old grease and dirt. There were also signs of many different coats of paint - apart from the original (probably red oxide) primer and then the original "Mid Brunswick Green" there were also signs of Yellow, Orange, two shades of Grey and a touch of "Blue" here and there. The "brushed on" paint job was also full of "runs" and other signs of really bad workmanship!
   
The only "Plus factor" was that, with all this paint and the fact that the engine had spent it's life indoors, there was no rust. Every bolt and nut came apart readily and I only battled with the removal of the flywheel gibkeys - not because they were rusted but because some idiot had hammered them in much to tightly (and painted them Orange first). You can read about that here: <Gib key removal>

Apart from the bad paint job the engine is in excellent condition, complete with all original parts and also has very good compression.  The diesel fuel filter was still full of diesel so it will be very easy restoration (dare I call it a "restoration" - more of a "clean up and paint job").

Here are some pics of of the progress: As usual - click on any pic to see a larger version.