Mirak

Mirak is Fairey Huntsman 31 Hull number 5 and enduring a very long preservation project.

Her original Perkins T6.354 motors were installed in 1968. When purchased in 2004, they still had their Mk2 Simms turbochargers fitted! Various plans were formulated to reuse the motors, but with increased Red diesel duty and the need to clean up our act engine-wise, the plan is to sell the motors and parts and to build a pair 180HP Cummins 6BT engines to replace them. The improved efficiency will reduce running costs and the reliability will improve peace of mind.

The updates have been reversed to a blog style - The latest happenings at the top.

May 2016 Update

We finally ran the motor up this weekend. After a frustrating day chasing down a fuelling fault (later proved to be the wrong banjo bolt in the fuel pump - an easy oversight) Sunday morning saw us bleeding out the last of the air and first start. Take a look here:-

This short video shot shows the lack of smoke on startup compared with say, a Sabre or Perkins. Bear in mind this engine is cold. It was a cold bright day (12 degrees C) and the KSB is yet to be wired up. Not the slight white smoke as we throttle up.

There's still a lot to do to finish the engine off. Once run in for an hour we'll get full test results and see how the various water circuit modifications handle the power.

February 2015 Update

We finally caught up with the second phase of the base engine build on Valentine's Day. With the Pistons and Rod installed, it was time to assemble the sump pan with its windage plate and pickup tube:

The laser cut windage plate worked out at about £7.50 and was assembled in with four cap screws (don't forget the thread lock, you don't want this lot coming loose.) The pickup tube fits in with a gasket.

Tip: check the pan over closely for crack and poor threads. Our first pan proved to have been sealed up with car body filler to stop one of the drain plugs from leaking. Easily remedied on the welder, but a pain if not caught early enough.

Tip-2: Check for 14mm spark plugs being used as sump drain plugs! Easily missed :-)

With the Sump on and the cylinder head fitted; torqued down and then left overnight to settle, we took the Cummins Widows out to dinner in Axbridge.

the following day the head bolt torques are checked and then turned their final 90 degrees. A bit scary the first time, but all was. well. Time to set the valve clearances to the book. An easy job compared with some engine one could mention

A quick line up of the marinizing gear to make a list of pipes and elbows required and she was ready to be loaded onto the dyno for final assembly.

Watch this space for the next instalment when we'll start to get the marinizing gear installed.

Some parts have been sourced to build the first Cummins engine. Namely, the Raw water pump; gaskets; rings and shells so that assembly work can start in September.

September 2014 Update

After a false start with a poor donor block we switched to a second donor motor and finished up with this by the end of the weekend:

I'll be writing up the build notes soon. These will be eventually offered as a PDF document to other builders.

The basics are:-

Block, cleaned and checked, preferably on it's original bores.

The left hand mounting point is used to bolt the block to the engine stand. The 4 M12 tapped holes need chasing out with a suitable tap and the hole plugged with a 32mm core plug (with loctite). While you at it, plug the old dipstick hole with a xmm core plug.

Crane the beast onto the stand and start work.

Here we see the front gear casing. From the camera moving away in order:

Injection Pump drive gear

Raw water pump drive gear

Camshaft

Crankshaft gear

Oil pump idler

Oil pump gear

In the mean time you can keep up to date with Mirak's preservation here.

There is also an occasionally updated blog here.

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