BJ1
Well-known member
This all sounds very familiar. Responding to a cry for help from one of our club members I stripped an Airspeed 'engine' a couple of months ago. It had done less than 300 miles and was only running on two cylinders.
I was truly horrified by what I found - virtually every nut and bolt was loose. I took the heads off using just a socket and extension - no bar - they were just hand tight. One valve guide had seized on the valve stem and the head was badly eroded around the valve seats. He said the oil pressure was low so I guess the pump was faulty and/or galleries were blocked. Lots of swarf etc in the sump. There was big problem with the crank seal etc etc etc. Poor guy had paid £1800 for this heap of junk, thinking he was getting a solid reliable engine to take his family on much needed holidays. The only advice I could give him was to start again from scratch.
I have over 40 years experience of building engines (for myself and a few friends) and I've never seen anything as bad as this.
This kind of thing makes me angry - I wonder if the Airspeed people realise that they were screwing over people's hopes and dreams, not just ripping them off.
I was truly horrified by what I found - virtually every nut and bolt was loose. I took the heads off using just a socket and extension - no bar - they were just hand tight. One valve guide had seized on the valve stem and the head was badly eroded around the valve seats. He said the oil pressure was low so I guess the pump was faulty and/or galleries were blocked. Lots of swarf etc in the sump. There was big problem with the crank seal etc etc etc. Poor guy had paid £1800 for this heap of junk, thinking he was getting a solid reliable engine to take his family on much needed holidays. The only advice I could give him was to start again from scratch.
I have over 40 years experience of building engines (for myself and a few friends) and I've never seen anything as bad as this.
This kind of thing makes me angry - I wonder if the Airspeed people realise that they were screwing over people's hopes and dreams, not just ripping them off.
