Valve and Piston Appeal

Having successfully reached our target for the Connecting Rod Appeal with forgings having been made for some time now and the machining now also completed we are now turning our attention to the next work that is beyond our in-house capacity and will need to be contracted out. With work well underway on re-assembling the cylinders and slide bars we will soon be ready to fit the pistons and valves. These had all been removed from the engine when we got it with the exception of one valve rod and the associated heads, however this had been cut to remove the valve crosshead so it cannot be re-used meaning we need a complete new set of new piston and valve rods as well as piston and valve heads and associated parts. Once we have these parts we are able to complete the whole cylinder assemblies.

Quotes received indicate that the cost will be circa £34,000.00 for the materials/parts and associated machining. Therefore we have now launched a new appeal to help us raise the funds required to enable this work to proceed. See details below in the connecting rod appeal section for ways in which you can help contribute.

We will endeavour to keep you up to date with progress on both the fund raising and the work of making these parts through this page as we did with the connecting rod appeal below.

Progress

We have now raised about £15,000 towards our valve and piston rod appeal and the valves are now in the process of being manufactured 14/04/18.

We have now reached about £20,000.00 in our appeal, the new valve rods have been forged and machined and valve heads cast and machined. New valve rings and fitting the valve crosshead still to do. 27/07/2018.

 

Valve & Piston Appeal

 

 

Connecting Rod Appeal 

We have reached an important milestone in that we now have all the major parts to complete the re-build of 45163 with the exception of the connecting rods. The Black Fives had two lengths of connecting rod, on the original design the rod centres were 11' 3" but later versions had shorter rods at only only 10' 10" between centres. This modification enabled the piston to be pushed clear of the cylinder for inspection or changing of piston rings without having to split the crossheads. This modification also required a longer union link, piston rod and slidebars but made maintenance easier. 45163 requires a set of the longer, 11' 3" connecting rods and we have been unable to find any original rods of this size and so have concluded our only option is to have new ones manufactured. This will mean obtaining a pair of forgings and then having them machined. We have obtained quotations from UK based companies to do this work with a total cost ranging from £36k - £40k. We now urgently need to raise the funds to enable us to place an order for the forgings at least whilst the quotation is still valid and whilst we have a UK supplier still prepared to do this type of work in small volume. CAN YOU HELP? Please see progress update below.

How you can help

In the first instance we need to raise £9.5k for a pair of forgings, we will target the machine costs later and keep you informed of progress towards our target through this web page. You can help in one of the following ways:-

• Make a donation
• Purchase shares in 45163
• Purchase a limited edition Malcolm Root print of 'Coasting Down to Kyle'
• Purchase a 45163 Tee Shirt or Sweat Shirt or even one of each
• Purchase one of our puzzles
• Become a Restoration Group Member (Purchasing Shares grants automatic membership)

For any of the above cheques should be made payable to 45163 Ltd and sent to:-

45163 Ltd
4 Whitlock Drive
Great Yeldham
Halstead
Essex
CO9 4EE

For a donation just send a cheque as above, to purchase shares use the share application form available here, for more information of items for sale click here or use the menu on the left to go to our sales page or to become a Restoration Group Member download a form here.

Progress

Connecting Rod Appeal launched 28/02/2014.

£9,500.00 received so far, 100% towards the cost of just the forgings, the forgings have now been ordered 24/05/14.

12/07/14 The forgings have now been made, see photos below and more images as well as video on the Latest News page.

 

Our next target is to raise the money for the cost of machining the forgings, this is by far the largest part of the costs. A more competitive price has now been sourced at £25,720.00 for the pair.

02/05/2016 one third of our target sum now raised towards the machining costs. We are only allocating money specifically to our connecting rod fund when given in response to this appeal as funds raised through other regular sources are still needed to keep progress going on other work in hand, currently the machining of the cylinders, pipework and new cab.

11/04/2017 our dedicated fund has now passed the half way mark for the machining of the connecting rods and with other funds we hold, but not specifically raised for this part of the project and with the cylinder machining complete and paid for we have placed the order for the machining of the connecting rods and the union link. The work started on Wednesday 5 April, the photo below and others on the progress page show the stage reached after one week. We still require more funds to help ensure we don't have to dip into funds earmarked for other work on the loco. One last push is required to raise the balance of the target funds please see above for ways you could help us reach this target and thus keep other work progressing on the engine by not having to dip into these other funds.

30/09/17 machining of the connecting rods is progressing well and the union links are finished, just the bores keyways and polishing to finish. We hope to be taking delivery soon.

06/11/17 a pair of connecting rods now completed.