I've been working on this  engine in my spare time, which has been very limited of late.

In that time I've managed to do small things like cleaning parts and preparing them for painting.

    I've also spent a good number of hours preparing the radiator - cleaning it internally (not too much time on this as, once I'd flushed it with water, it was flowing freely.
( Whew! no nasty chemicals like "caustic soda" required). A good number of hours has also been spent on the "external" appearance of the radiator. I used my favourite degreaser (Surf Washing Powder made into a paste), "paint stripper" and a high pressure washer, to clean the "air passages" between the fins of the radiator core.

    Remember that this engine spent it's working life in a boiler room and was covered with a film of "coal dust and soot" which had also entered into all the "fins" of the radiator. This fact, combined with the numerous coats of paint applied by brush by (what I assume to be uninterested apprentices) had resulted in most of these cooling airways being blocked up with a combination of soot and paint - hence the alternative coatings of paint stripper (to dissolve the paint) and Surf (to dissolve the soot).

    Anyway, once the soot and paint was removed the "Engineers Tweezers" came into play. Many of the "fins" were flattened and otherwise distorted.The "gap" between them was too small to allow the use of "Flat nose pliers- as I had originally hoped to use". The tweezers fitted but needed many hours of painstaking work (and patience) to get the fins looking right. At this time I have finished the back of the radiator core and am about 3/4's of the way on the front. Hopefully I can finish the last 1/4 in less than 2 hours.  Anyway, back to the reason for this page.

I got the first coat of "Mid Brunswick Green" on to the engine late today.

Due to the fact that, at the moment  I have  do all of my spraypainting outdoors I have to do this in the evening. The days are just too hot and the "iron" gets so hot that, if you try to spray in the daytime then the paint dries instantly on the hot iron and does not have a chance to "flow" and form a decent finish. The carport I normall spray under has a Sunshine Harvester standing under it at the moment :-)

    Anyway, here are a few pics to show where I am now. this is just the "first coat". It will get at least one more coat but maybe more if necessary.

I did mention at the beginning of the restoration of this engine that I intended to paint it "as it came from the factory" - I have not "slicked" it down and purposely left "grinder marks" and other imperfections in place.The only concession that I've made is that I'm using a modern 2 component paint (2K) that does develop a gloss.

More later. This engine is due to go on show on the 28th November 2009 - I've really got to move my backside now :-).

More later.

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

	Here goes the first coat of "Mid Brunswick Green" onto the Lister 5-1. (Photographs by Jacqui)
Getting paint on all the hidden parts . It's amazing that that gravity fed gun can even spray at that angle
	More low down places.
Starting to look good. A problem with painting outdoors with lamps is that insects are attracted to the light. I keep the lights quite far from the engine and switch them off as soon as I've finished a coat.