| | 8 March 2004 |
IT'S THUMBS UP FROM MARTIN
Proper job: engine loading agricultural styleMartin Chudley signals his approval as his latest project is loaded onto a trailer. The Rolls-Royce Meteor is a 27 litre V12 engine derived from the famous Merlin which powered Spitfires and Hurricanes. Mr Chudley, well known consumer of cake and Scuderia Dinton's Buyer of Things said he was very happy with his latest acquisition, "I've always wanted an implausibly heavy lump of machinery of my own, now my humble dream is fulfilled." he said between mouthfuls of cherry genoa.But not everything went smoothly for the team at Scuderia Dinton; although accomplished in the arts of "having a look at it" and "general fiddling about" the task of getting 750kg of engine off a trailer in one piece for a while seemed beyond them.
Hoist not really tall enough."With the amount of stretch we were getting on the ropes there was not enough reach for the hoist to lift the engine off the trailer," said David Edmondson, Scuderia Dinton's Director of Wishing to be Significantly Warmer, "we first had to get if off the pallette by lifting one end at a time, that lowered it just enough for us to be able to lift the whole thing." |
Hanging by a thread...That was enough to get the engine off the trailer but there was still the problem that the dolly on which is was to be moved was too large to fit between the legs of the hoist so a few more lifting operations were required. "We needed to cut some four by twos to lift the side rails off the dolly to allow clearance for the sump," said Chudley, "fortunately this was enough of a use of power tools to keep this operation within the S-D terms of reference."The final stage was to shift the engine to the side of the driveway but again the team struck trouble: "The small steel wheels of the dolly were not too effective," said Edmondson, "we resorted to levering it with lengths of timber. By the time we had finished we were getting pretty good at it." "In all this was another triumph for Scuderia Dinton" concluded Chudley. "We shifted the engine two foot vertically and eight foot horizontally in a mere three hours, this may be a new record for productivity."
Another triumph for Scuderia Dinton |
Tomorrow, take our Quiz:"So ow many Spitfire parts you got den?" Beginner or hard core collector, find out for yourself. |
Page 7: Olympic fry-up or Mixed Grill?We test the breakfasts so you don't have to. |
Appeal:Information about Meteor engines sought, especially any documentation. Please contact: david@edmondson.com |
