Thinking of getting an FE35

Ley253

Member
Location
Bath
Its obvious that neither of these firms has ever been inside a 23c! The liners are a drop in fit, held in place by the head, quite thick and of course finished size as they are not a press fit. No amount of shims will stop gas leakage down the outside if the gasket is not sitting on the top of the liner, In the case I mentioned, the liners had been bouncing off the head, having the thickness of the gasket as free play, and so moving with the pistons!
The main reason for firms avoiding finished liners is the extra charge they can make for carrying out unwanted machining, and as they are thicker, less care is required in fitting.
The hardest wearing liner has to be fitted prefinished, as it cant be machined.
 

MrNoo

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Cirencester
Shims are used to raise the liner Harry, there by ensuring that the top of the liner is in contact with the gasket or you can just "deck" the block down to the top of the liners. Hence why my machining place said over bore the block, with a step at the bottom, press fit (not slip fit) blank liners in and deck the block face, bore/hone to size, simple!! No chance of any liner movement, no chance of gas leakage and no chance of the liner braking the lip and disappearing down to see Mr Crank!!
 

Ley253

Member
Location
Bath
I have been building engines for nearly 50 years, so I do know what shims do! In the case of the 23c poor gasket, the whole liner, and flange can pass through the gasket, thus allowing the liner to float, and gas to pass down the outside! The correct gasket does seal on the liner top flange. In the case of your firm, the same result could have been obtained with a thicker top lip on the liner, decked to size after fitting, no need at all to touch the block, which is now non standard, and will be a problem for any subsequent liner changes.
23c liner are so loose a fit, that if you put them in, and shake the block, they will rattle if without pistons.
As a matter of interest, the last engine I had which pulled its liners into the sump, was a Nissan Terrano, apparantly one of many! The linered block was soon dropped and a return to bore in block made.
I am afraid that your firm is "gilding the lilly", if all this work was essential for a tractor engine, none would have survived unmodified. For todays high rpm units, it would make sense, if only to cut down the warrenty claims, but for preserved, demonstration units, original standards are fine.
 
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MrNoo

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Cirencester
I am afraid that your firm is "gilding the lilly", if all this work was essential for a tractor engine, none would have survived unmodified.

I didn't say it was essential nor did they, they just stated that due to spurious nature of some of the replacement liners often found today in some of these kits that putting decent sleeves in would be a 100% proper job. I didn't go down that route, instead using cast liners in a chrome liner block having machined the steps deeper to accommodate the taller lip of the cast liners and also ensuring liner height was spot on with deck height.
 

Ley253

Member
Location
Bath
I didn't say it was essential nor did they, they just stated that due to spurious nature of some of the replacement liners often found today in some of these kits that putting decent sleeves in would be a 100% proper job. I didn't go down that route, instead using cast liners in a chrome liner block having machined the steps deeper to accommodate the taller lip of the cast liners and also ensuring liner height was spot on with deck height.
Still "gilding the lilly" Chris, what was in there to start with had lasted many years of work, simple part for part replacement would have done all you needed. In fact, you have reduced the bore life, by fitting softer components. Do you really believe that your engine re conditioners know more than the manufactures? If they are from South Cerney, they tried to get me to have a model N block line bored to take shells, when all it needed was a remetaling of the rear main on the thrust face. I can agree about parts quality, but a good firm would check all the parts in the kit, and reject any rubbish, leaving you to make the decision as to fit or take it up with your supplier.I had a long argument with Southern counties the head gaskets in their kits were known to be of a poor material, causing grief in the motor trade.In the end, I had the recon kit (bepco) from them and sourced the head gasket myself.
 

Vizslaman

Member
Location
Hampshire
Well if the Model is listed as a FE35 on the makers plate and the registration documents list it as FE 35 then that is what I will call it.

And the advantage of reaching my age is you learn not to give a ****

Oh and if we are being pedantic it is Grey/Gold not Greg/Gold
 
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Vizslaman

Member
Location
Hampshire
Just about to order up some oil for the old girl or should I describe it as lubricant?

I am thinking of using Morris,s Golden Film SAE30 for the engine and their Magnol STOU for gearbox/rear axle.

Does anyone use Morris's oils?
 
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Mursal

Member
No, but the grade sounds spot on ............... (y)
Oil pressure when hot top, middle, or bottom of the gauge?
Interesting to see if the oil change will make much of a difference to it .....
 

Vizslaman

Member
Location
Hampshire
Ok well replaced the leak off rail today then pressure washed the engine.
Now I can see that the injector pump itself (CAV Lucas) has multiple leaks.
I have changed numerous CAV/DPA pumps on the old Bedford TK's but never have removed an injector pump from a FE35 with the 23C engine .
Do I need to take the timing gear off to get the pump off or is it just the 3 bolts on the housing same as the old bedford
 

Mursal

Member
It has got a master spline and the casing also has a line to match the one on the injector pump.
Click for more information on setting up to Top Dead Center if you are fitting a different pump.
They also mention a "G" mark to be aligned after fitting.
More on the mark here click

In fact it might be good practice to check the timing marks before removal as some say the timing chain stretches to leave the pump injecting late contributing to poor starting. You can do this at your leisure without disturbing any settings, just a matter of finding the timing marks on the flywheel and the "G" mark on the pump should be aligned. If so you know everything is good, if not you know before loosing the pump and it can be rectified when refitting.


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23C-injection-timing-gear.jpg
 

Vizslaman

Member
Location
Hampshire
Just sorting out the electrics and it is easy to understand how there were so many accident
The safety switch on gearbox to prevent starting whilst in gear was faulty so instead of replacing it a temporary fix of by passing the switch became a permanent fix until now.
 

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Red Tractor drops launch of green farming scheme amid anger from farmers

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As reported in Independent


quote: “Red Tractor has confirmed it is dropping plans to launch its green farming assurance standard in April“

read the TFF thread here: https://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index.php?threads/gfc-was-to-go-ahead-now-not-going-ahead.405234/
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