Lionel 265w tender whistle not running

Definitely hitting the field laminations. See pic.
2 of the 3 armature segments have witness marks on the paint.
so is the solution to just sand or grind down where it is hitting?

what should the clearance be?

thanks

Did some further testing with VOM—

commutator is good   No shorts and no open circuits  

but I did find an anomaly   I believe there should be open circuit between field coil and field lamination   Coil should be insulated   I measure about 14 ohms   I assume this is not good   Is this correct???

besides that the blower cover that holds shaft self centering bearing is so brittle it has broken during testing into 4 pieces

probably need to make one

Those casting are usually swollen, warped and fragile.  Likely hitting the casting inside the fan housing. All the early snail drum castings are susceptible.  

So maybe replacing the whole whistle with a postwar would be the best solution.  
That will be my backup if all other tries fail.

@TrainCzar posted:

So maybe replacing the whole whistle with a postwar would be the best solution.  
That will be my backup if all other tries fail.

Likely.  If looking for a snail drum, take care... there are 2 sizes and they look same until you get them side by side. The std gauge will NOT fit in your tender.

Post war has different mounting configurations, but most will work.

Thanks for the info.
going to make a blower cover today and grind down the field if necessary.
if it doesn’t work then I’ll put in a ws-125

Sounds like a plan.