Hi Guy's - thought you might like to hear of a reasonably positive outcome
I went into the workshop this morning with a very despondent feeling not relishing the thought of having to tell my friend that this was a real no-no short of some serious work
Despite those misgivings I reassembled the cylinder as best the misalignment would allow and made a better air connection. Thanks to Jason and Jo and my friend Barry I'd machined the valve cavity to print as well as bringing it in to the centre of the valve and then to the correct length.
The eccentric was set and the valve brought to as near equal opening as possible - air was applied and much to my surprise (due to the witnessed distortion) a power stroke but no return. After some checking it transpired that the valve was actually thicker than the steam chest
and was being held by the steam chest cover so this was reduced in height by about .5mm . With some encouragement on the flywheel however it began to turn over on about 20 psi - 1-2 revs at first then 3-5 then a few more then suddenly it broke into a steady run. A satisfying knock as the valve operating layshaft not only rotates but twists in a wringing fashion in it's bearing but it was running steady enough. I let it run all morning, plenty of oil and tweaking the odd nut (all square nuts BTW - a real pain with conventional spanners if awkward to get at. Whatever, after a return visit this afternoon friend Phil is happy and son in law even happier
All's well that ends well eh?
Thanks again for the help Jason and Jo
Regards - Tug
PS I meant to say - the governor is decorative only but is effective
Once the speed reaches 'enough' the balls hit the flywheel to produce a pleasant warning ring
BTW it was originally positioned on that outer hole - impossible for it to be driven from the pulley. Given all the misalignment there was no way that was going to be stripped to reduce the length of the bar - not this week anyway