This is my final engine of 2025, it's a Bassett Loake Tangye no.2 according the information on the web. The original engine looked a little battered when I got it see pictures below.
- Wooden strips had been glued onto the cylinder
- Oversized Stuart type pulley wheel stuck on crankshaft
- Correct size pulley wheel was missing
- Oversized lubricator installed through the front on the valve chest
- Hole in front end of cylinder where the original lubricator should be installed
I stripped it and cleaned all the parts, made a new pulley, sized from videos and pictures I'd seen. Ripped off the wood as it should be a plain cylinder. The hole in the valve chest was a mess, I drilled and tapped it, made a brass plug to fit and loctited it into position after which I milled and sanded down the plug; you can just see the colour variation on the finshed valve chest.
What a piece of luck a friend of mine had an original Bassett Loake lubricator correct for this engine; I plugged the hole in the cylinder then drilled and tapped it. I also fitted new oilers which look similar to the trunk olier on each of the bearings
These engines have a great design, where the eccentric sheave is part of the flywheel, it's really easy to set the timing, just rotate the flywheel.
This is my first experience of one of these engines and they seem like a very high quality product, I'd like to make a twin cylinder version to keep this one company.
So here she is in her new attire and running .........ready for 2026
