Starting a Huge Mamod SE1 Restoration Project [Part 1]

The whole purpose of my book, apart from making a great book for steam engine enthusiasts and of the Mamod brand, was to enable others who felt they did not have the experience or expertise to set out and restore their own engines. As much as this has worked tens and hundreds of times, there are still a few times I get contacted by a steam engine enthusiast who really does need my help - it is difficult to turn these away so here I am with another restoration to document on RestoringMamods.com!

The engine is question is a Mamod SE1 which, from the information in The Layman's Guide To Mamod Steam Engines, would have been produced sometime in the 1950s.

Now this is an engine in a pretty poor state! After a conversation with the owner, I came up with the following that needed to happen to restore the engine (almost like a 'to-do' list):

• All the painted paints need de-rusting and repainting - I like to keep things in as much original conditions as possible, so there might be some hope for the engine bracket keeping the same coat since it just looks dirty.
• All brass work to be polished and cleaned.
• The boiler is the tricky bit. The boiler needs inserts for the safety valve and water level plug. It needs a water level plug and a new o ring in the safety valve too as that is pretty shot. The end cap, I think, can stay on and does not need to be re-soldered (although I would touch it up with some solder especially if the boiler gets hot from soldering the other parts onto it.
• Copper piping could be kept. However, this depends on if the piping has furred over time and has fatigued from being bent over the years too.
• The chrome band will need to be replaced, it seems, since the chrome on the band has completed gone and rust has formed onto the steel.
• The wick burner will need repainting with heat resistant paint, and re-wicked since the wick is looking a little tired.

After getting the engine, I set straight away to doing the basics - removing all of the parts, putting the loose parts into a bag and getting the paint off of it! Since it takes a while for paint to harden, I will be looking to restore these components first so that while the paint is hardening over the days, I can concentrate on other areas such as the boiler. Here are some images of the progress up to now:

Paint work has come off of the engine bracket which means it will need de-rusting and respraying

It seems the screw holding the pulley in has had the head of it come off, stopping a flat head screw driver from being able to screwi it in. However, it should still be able to screw in with delicate pliers work.

I'll be posting updates to this Mamod restoration on RestoringMamods.com so be sure to stay up to date with the website!