Well onwards and upwards. Picked up the Tracks from the blasters today, and pretty pleased with them, although some of the pins look like they have seen their best days. Do these pins break? I mean of course they break, but do they break readily? Not too sure I am ready to break a track driving around the country roads of Kent. Also need a lot of washers, as most of mine , where fitted seem to have disintegrated from the blasting. Are they special in any way, I doubt it.
Found the ideal tool for handling the tracks, in fact I took them for a little work out on the field to try and free them up a bit more. Mostly they are free but one or two sections are stuck and will no doubt make it tricky to fit the tracks.
anyway, the tracks are in place ready to be fitted when I finally get the front idler wheels on. I just need to put the bearings back in and get them on. I did want to pull the T16 off the concrete barn where it is, but as the engine is still not finished if I pulled her off I may not get her back up the brick wall and thats the place I want it to stay. So I will labour on with fitting the tracks where she lies.
Got all the control levers back in and fitted the plate, just making up new control rods and finishing a few little brackets that need welding in to locate return springs etc.
As for the engine, I started to build it up yesterday but ran into trouble with the rope seals for the rear main bearing. It was a complete nightmare to cut as it came over length and then frayed badly. I have sent off for some more and also decided to invest in a new rubber seal for the front of the crankshaft/pulley. Tell me that was a good idea guys?
real shame about the corrosion in the sponson sides, but I guess its 65 years old and spend a long time on its side in a scrapyard, so its to be expected. I decided against filling it as I felt sure it would look false and crack out in due course. But hey, when the seats in and if I could get some orginal blanking plates that fit over most of this corrosion it wont look to bad.
