It's been a fun week. I'd dropped off a wish list for parts at the local oilwell supply shop after I bought the engine. Although I don't think they really appreciate a hobby customer, they told me they'd see what they could dig up and call me someday. Wasn't really hopeful I'd hear back, but I did. Dropped by yesterday and they had a very dusty old box with a pristine NOS radiator, a new fan, bearings, all the mounting hardware, springs, nuts, bolts, and everything. Freshly rebuilt mag (well, the box said rebuilt in 1993), a carb rebuilt kit, and some other misc bits and parts. I decided I wanted to see if I could get the old gal to run before I start a total teardown, so I cleaned out the carb, installed the new mag, and put new valve springs on. Put a little squirt of gas in the primer cup, filled the carb, rolled the flywheels, and she hit on the first click of the impulse coupler and settled in quickly a nice smooth run. Absolutely awesome. This is one smooth, nice running engine! I almost hate to tear it down, but my goal is a museum quality restoration. May have to just play with it a bit more first :-)
cheers,
Chris
Way to go Chris! How big is this thing? Got pictures you can post?
Sorry - just had to share the excitement of bringing an old engine back to life. RCA, there are a few pics in the previous "Fairbanks ZC" thread from when I first brought this engine home.
Chris
Quote from: cschuerm on November 11, 2011, 07:19:14 PM
Sorry - just had to share the excitement of bringing an old engine back to life. RCA, there are a few pics in the previous "Fairbanks ZC" thread from when I first brought this engine home.
Chris
Chris,
Could you save us busy exectutives a lot of time and post a hotlink to the thread?
Edit: I found it. Wow, that is a biggie! Nice!
http://www.microcogen.info/index.php?topic=2399.0
Chris
OH MY, please more pix. I am down on my knees begging for more pix............ ;D ;D
By the way are those BIG flywheels held on with gib keys? They might be really challenging to remove so as to preserve pristine museum quality.
I for one vote for a complete step by step commentary on your up coming rebuild. ;D ;D
Billswan
I'd be happy to document the process here if there is interest. Just didn't want to spam up the board with my non co-gen hobby projects.
Regarding the flywheels, Fairbanks didn't use tapered keys. The flywheels have a split hub with a giant pinch bolt and a straight key. You remove the bolt then gently drive a wedge in just tight enough to allow removal (and hopefully don't crack the flywheel in the process). This is going to be a fairly labor-intensive restoration just due to the mass of the parts. Unfortunately, the base and flywheels are too large to fit in my blasting cabinet so will have to be cleaned the hard way.
I think I'll play with the engine a bit more today then start the tear-down. I'm glad there's interest so I'll do my best to take pix and keep y'all updated on the progress.
Chris
Yes please too from me Chris. It isn't a diesel but it looks like one close enough and as you may be aware, an engine like that seems to automatically trigger a lot of flywheel envy around here. ;D The only partial cure is lots of pictures to admire. I'll be looking forward to your project progress reports. Since it is running so nicely I doubt I'd have the courage to tear it down. I'd be polishing and painting the outside and leave it at that.
Please, many pic's and reports. Something you discover may spark something for others.
A few pix:
Cylinder head: rocker actuated exhaust and two "atmospheric" intake valves
Dual fuel carb. Built in fuel pump for gasoline and feed for vapor (well gas, LP, LPG, propane). Note compression release/primer cup on cylinder.
Flywheel: straight key with giant pinch bolt. You can see the bearing housing behind the flywheel. The crank runs on tapered roller bearings.
Clutch pack. Using the round handwheel, you can operate the clutch while the engine is running.
Chris
Thank you for the first installment of pix. ;D ;D
Gee I think that for the size of those castings I would have thought it might be larger than 18 hp.
You are really starting to make me feel like I need one to ::) ::)
Good luck
Billswan
Mr. Happy's flywheels will never be the same in my eyes again.
Propane at almost $5 a gallon isn't a real consideration here on the islands. Neat engine; please keep the photos coming.
Casey
Awesome. :) Loved seeing the pics.
Looks like a candidate for a wood gas project.
Terry
Glad y'all are enjoying the pictures. I made a good bit of progress on the teardown today. My back is killing me though. Some of those bolts were REALLY on there and even with a 3 foot breakover, it took some serious pulling and heat with a torch to get the head nuts off.
Bottom end looks fantastic other than a few decades of accumulated sludge. The valves and guides are shot. Well over an eighth of an inch of slop. Amazing that these old engines will run when they get like that. Low stresses and low thermal loads are always good. An aircraft engine would have burned those valves up long long before they got that worn. The butterfly shaft in the carb was almost funny it was so worn out. Nothing a little work on the mill and lathe won't fix though. Cylinder bore looks exceptionally good. That piston is huge! About the size of a gallon paint can :-)
More pix to follow. I realized after posting the last ones that I'd used high resolution on the camera. Should I drop to 640x480 or do you all enjoy the higher rez images?
Chris
I hadn't really considered wood gas. That's an interesting idea and I do have a lot of wood. (heat my house entirely with wood). Oh great... another project... like I really needed that! ;)
chris
That hi-res is fine for me. With no intake air filter I'm not surprised at the valve guide wear. I see what looks like bolt holes to put some sort of air filter box over the intake valve springs and all on the head photo.
Is the piston cast aluminum or iron?
The resolution is fine here, but for our members stuck with dial up, well..............
Billswan
I'm very jelous of your machine. I'm shocked it doesn't have an air filter? Do you know when your engine was built? Keep the pics coming..... :)
Don't do 640x480. At least 800x600. Great machine!
The large round can in the carb photo is the air cleaner. It's an oil bath style similar to what you'd find on an older tractor. Exposed valve stems were common on all old engines. The parts manual doesn't show that they had a cover over them. Piston appears to be cast iron. I believe this engine was built in the 1950's. Hoping to find someone with a serial number list so I can confirm exact date.
I'll try to get a few pix of the internals this evening.
Chris
Chris,
I don't know how I had the mistaken notion that somehow the intake air would be passing through the intake valve springs. I guess it was because without a rocker arm actuator this assembly works exactly like a reed valve and THAT is where the air would travel in such a case.
An engine of this large displacement would gulp a prodigious slug of air every intake stroke and that amount of air needs as unimpeded path as possible since it is only atmospheric pressure moving it. You wouldn't get that kind of flow impeded by partially closed valve springs. The space between the spring coils closes in fact when the air is required to flow in this case.
Some days I truly am so broke I can't even pay attention! :(
350 cubic inches....one hole....
Definitely a beefy bottom end. Notice the interesting little collars on the gears with the oil hole in top to feed lube to them. There is a tray in the bottom of the case where the whole rod hits the oil to splash lube everything. I also just figured out that the cylinder assembly is removable. There are giant nuts inside the case which hold the cylinder on.
A few random pix of some of the other engines inhabiting my shop...
The second pic is a 6HP IHC "M" that I rescued. It was sunk in the mud in the back of a barn and was a total rust ball. Took 6 months to get the piston out. Certainly a labor intensive restoration as *everything* had to be re-worked.
The center engine in the third pic (green one) is a Fairbanks type Z hopper cooled with a Fairbanks "Typhoon" water pump. Fun to watch - lots of fascinating monkey motion.
Last pic is my prize. It's a very rare 10HP McCormick Deering "M". It ran the nitroglycerin plant in Pawhuska Oklahoma from the 20's till after WWII.
Chris
Chris
Love all the old iron, I have a relative that also collects those critters he would really love to see your collection.
Back on the pix of the head. What lubes the exhaust rocker and the roller on the tip? If the engine is pumping crude all by itself is a once a week shot of oil enough? I suppose at about 150 movements per minute may be that would be enough??
Billswan
Billswan,
The manual recommends that the rocker components lubricated with an oil can once per day if the engine is in continuous operation. I suspect very few get that level of attention. The parts are so massive and slow moving that I guess it doesn't matter much. Manual specified .030" clearance on the rocker arm. Mine was running with over a 1/4 inch of slop. That was one of the reasons I wanted to run it briefly before rebuilding - just to see if I could really tell any difference. Wish I'd have had some way of putting a calibrated load on the engine to see if power output was actually down by an appreciable amount.
Chris
Quote from: cschuerm on November 14, 2011, 04:28:30 PM
350 cubic inches....one hole....
I think I'm going to wait for the 2100ci inline six. ;D
Chris,
I can tell you really like this stuff! ;) Great collection. Very nice work, particularly on that 'rust ball'. I love that new engine. 350 CID in one hole....awesome!
Okay guys. I did a little shopping for you today. Think I have located sufficient quantities to make everyone happy. Prices for a rebuild-able core range from $1200 to $3000 depending on model and condition. Can also purchase totally rebuilt to new condition but that gets pretty expensive and there's not much you can't do yourself. I'm documenting my rebuild so that I can share a total price breakdown as well.
Chris
Wow! Anybody wanna buy one of my extra kidneys? :o
Quote from: cschuerm on November 15, 2011, 05:04:09 PM
Okay guys. I did a little shopping for you today. Think I have located sufficient quantities to make everyone happy. Prices for a rebuild-able core range from $1200 to $3000 depending on model and condition. Can also purchase totally rebuilt to new condition but that gets pretty expensive and there's not much you can't do yourself. I'm documenting my rebuild so that I can share a total price breakdown as well.
Chris
Thanks for thinking of us members chris.
Will be watching your rebuild with lots of interest and was hopping you would include your cost outlays in the end.
By the way you never mentioned how much your almost runner cost you?
Billswan
Bio - doing good on the kidneys but may be in the market for a liver at some point :-)
Bill, I gave $800 for the engine. I'll probably put another $1000 into it by the time I'm done unless I go crazy on the paint. The 6HP IHC I mentioned earlier is painted with an epoxy primer covered by 3 coats of Dupont Imron which was very expensive!
chris
Hi Chris
I know what you mean about the "Imron" being expensive! We use the industrial version of it for the machines we Build/Rebuild where I work. That stuff is about as tuff as it gets when it comes to paint.
I personally have never applied it, But our "Paint Guy" says it's great to work with, He claim's it's easy
to put on cause it can be applied in heavy coats without sag's. Do you use an Air Suit ?
Before Imron, we tried many others but none hold up as well in the manufacturing environment.
Rob
Results of a long day of cleaning and bead blasting. Head is in excellent condition. Next step is to remove the guides and seats. I've purchased new guides, seats, valves, springs, and keepers.
Chris
Not many old engines have removable seats, this one does. The Fairbanks guru I've found tells me that the easiest way to remove them is to weld a bead inside the face and that they'll pop right out. Will found out soon how accurate this information is :-)
You can't say Fairbanks skimped on the metal. This is the final small drive gear that turns the magneto!
just realized I hadn't posted a "before" pic of the head.
Chris
Quote from: cschuerm on November 19, 2011, 05:19:27 PM
Not many old engines have removable seats, this one does. The Fairbanks guru I've found tells me that the easiest way to remove them is to weld a bead inside the face and that they'll pop right out. Will found out soon how accurate this information is :-)
Chris
I have in the past just welded the old wore out valve to the seat, then just hit the stem with a hammer and that will pull the seat. If the old valve is scrap just grind some spots in it to make room for the weld. Or what worked better for me was to dig through my scrap pile and usually I could come up with a smaller valve that would allow welding to the seat all the way around and no need to grind. Just drop it in the head and weld wait to cool and drive the whole thing out and toss back into the scrap.
Billswan
Wasn't there a system of warming the entire head to 250 degrees F. and then putting a round core of dry ice on the seat?
Casey
Yes, heating in an oven then using dry ice is a good way to remove/replace seats. You just need to make sure to air the house out really good before your wife gets home and wants to know why her oven smells like "your old engine junk"
chris
Cylinder head finished. New guides, seats, valves, springs, keepers, etc. Super great guys at Reed Engine had the proper tools to grind and lap the new seats.
I've decided not to go back with the original green paint job on this engine. I have a barn full of green things already and since I already had some nice gray paint, I'm going to see how it looks.
Oh, and before someone asks, the guys at Reed Engine confirmed that these engines left the factory with a little cover over the intake valves, but nobody has seen on in 40 years. Wish I could find a picture so I'd know what it looked like. Wouldn't be too hard to fabricate.
Scored a NOS fan assembly too. Wasn't cheap, but what I had was in pretty bad shape. I don't know when this was manufactured, but the box was stored in a pile in a warehouse and was covered by a half inch of dust :-)
chris
Think I'll tackle something easy today. This is the radiator shroud. A lot of cleaning, a little hammering, and some welding and it'll be as good as new.
chris
Well, never say something is going to be "easy" or Murphy will come bite you in the butt. The radiator shroud is toast. It had been sitting upside down with water in it and when I started cleaning it, it was just paint covered rusty swiss cheese. It would be functional and could be patched up, but since I'm going for perfection, I'll just have to start hunting for a replacement. Spent the afternoon stripping and sanding the flywheels. That's a time-consuming task that will leave you with no finger prints left for sure. Looks like it's going to take 20+ hours each to get them ready for paint.
On a positive note, Reed Engines came up with a formed fan screen for me that was in pretty good shape. These are almost always missing from the engines (have to remove them to grease the fan bearing so they get tossed). Bead blasted it, straightened out a few minor dents, shot a coat of paint, and it looks like new. Now if I could just find a really nice brass Fairbanks badge.... That would really make it look nice when I'm done.
Chris
Chris,
That is going to be one beautiful engine when it's done (heck, it was beautiful enough in its working clothes, I can't wait to see it all in its Sunday best).
A question: What's with the split nuts on the intake valves? Seems like an odd thing to do?
Ade.
There is a threaded collar that goes on the valve before the nut. It's what the spring rides against. The top of that collar (away from the head) is cut with a taper. The bottom of the split nut is also tapered and when tightened down against the collar, locks tightly to the valve. Rather ingenious little design detail to keep things from shaking apart due to the constant "buzzing" of the intake valve.
Chris
Happy Thanksgiving all!
Chris
I know you said you would tell us what it cost when you are done but I just can't help but ask.
What did it cost for the 3 new valves and all the associated parts that are in the rebuilt head pix. ???
A grand total or a close guess is what I am asking for not an itemized accounting. ;D
Billswan
QuoteLooks like it's going to take 20+ hours each to get them ready for paint.
No wonder my stuff never looks as good as yous guys stuff. TWENTY HOURS! Yes, mediocre is just pretty darn good. Of course I always love watching the masters - thanks for the insights. Whew, Best Wishes!
Casey
Quote from: cschuerm on November 23, 2011, 05:10:52 PM
Well, never say something is going to be "easy" or Murphy will come bite you in the butt. The radiator shroud is toast. It had been sitting upside down with water in it and when I started cleaning it, it was just paint covered rusty swiss cheese. It would be functional and could be patched up, but since I'm going for perfection, I'll just have to start hunting for a replacement. Spent the afternoon stripping and sanding the flywheels. That's a time-consuming task that will leave you with no finger prints left for sure. Looks like it's going to take 20+ hours each to get them ready for paint.
On a positive note, Reed Engines came up with a formed fan screen for me that was in pretty good shape. These are almost always missing from the engines (have to remove them to grease the fan bearing so they get tossed). Bead blasted it, straightened out a few minor dents, shot a coat of paint, and it looks like new. Now if I could just find a really nice brass Fairbanks badge.... That would really make it look nice when I'm done.
Chris
Chris,
On a job like those flywheels what I would be doing after a high pressure water wash would be to use a 3" knotted wire cup brush on my 4-1/2" angle grinder to remove the scale, paint and rust. No need to power the removal process with your poor hands. If you want to apply glazing putty and make them unnaturally smooth prior to paint well then that is a good use of hand sanding. Just sayin'.
I'd love to have an engine like your's to play with! I have a pair of nice 5" wide by 33" diameter flywheels...but that is all so far. It is not out of the question that I might end up with a makeshift slow single using these two matched flywheels someday given the difficulty in finding vintage iron where I am located. These came attached to a pair of IHC bailer gearboxes I bought to use and have a spare for my wind turbine. These flywheels are small compared to your's but they would make me a happy camper to see them spinning in my shop.
Billswan: I'm keeping a nice spreadsheet of materials and labor so happy to answer your question. The materials for the head rebuild cost $456.79 plus an hour of outsourced labor ($43) for seat grinding and fitting. I have about 15 hours of my own labor in the head inclusive of cleaning, blasting, and travel.
Additional materials to date (radiator, fan assy, mag parts, new governor assy, gasket kit, misc brackets, bolts, etc) total $883
RCA: yes, I am using an angle grinder with a wire brush, abrasive stripping tool, etc for the big cleaning. Using an air powered small angle grinder with various attachments for smaller areas and scotchbrite and sandpaper by hand where necessary. I've decided not to grind and fill to create a mirror finish since my intention is to have this engine capable of doing real work (whatever that turns out to be). I've done that on some other "show" engines and they look pretty, but the finish won't' hold up as well if they're put to serious use. Sure hope you find something fascinating to do with your flywheels! Having followed your posts for many years, I'm sure I won't be disappointed :-)
Now... back to the shop for another fun filled day of rust removal!
Chris
This is the surface of the water hopper where it mates to the cylinder. After a good cleaning, the pitting in the iron is pretty obvious. It might seal up with a new gasket (and a dab of permatex liquid gasket) as is, but I've had good luck laying a light layer of JB weld over such damage then using a good file to carefully dress and rejuvenate the surface. The other option would be to try to machine 20 thousandths or so off the surface to clean it up. I don't have a cutter quite large enough for the job though.
Chris
I'd just use some red high temp RTV and forget the gasket. Your idea of JB Weld and a flat file job, then cork gasket sounds good.
Well, I made some progress on the engine today, but still have not been successful at removing the flywheels. The two inch hub pinch bolts are just NOT wanting to come loose and the cheap chinese 3/4" break-over failed catastrophically. Don't know what they're making tools out of over there, but it's totally useless. Sadly, it's very difficult to find quality tooling these days.
I did use a putty knife to apply a thin coat of JB weld yesterday then dressed it nice and flat with a large file across the face. Excellent results! I am confident that the two halves will now seal well.
Hopefully sometime this week I'll have an opportunity to get the torch out and put some serious heat to those nuts and see if I can break them loose. I'd hate to have to cut them out.
chris
THIS was press fit onto the crankshaft over a half century ago. It do not come off easily, but it is off at last and is undamaged. It's the clutch base that the sheaves ride on. There is a clutch disk that rides against the flat face and another one that runs against another face that goes on the threaded end.
First pic is the inboard pulley that goes between the flywheel and case that drives the fan. I am not certain whether it is broken or was cast as a single part then split so that it could be removed. The faces at the rim are obviously fractured and not cut, but there are bolts on both sides and it is clamped to a machined face on the flywheel. The manual I have gives no clue - it only mentions the part number for the pulley. Judging by the rust on the fracture line, it's been "broken" for a long time though.
Next pic is the pitted mating surface of the water hopper after being sand blasted then having a thin coat of JB Weld applied, then filed smooth.
Fan shroud all repaired and painted.
Managed to find an original fan guard screen. It was pretty mangled up, but a few hours with a dolly and a little brazing and it turned out pretty good. Hole in the middle is to grease the fan bearing.
Dual fuel carb. Apparently nobody uses the gasoline side and I couldn't find anyone who even knew how it worked, but after a bit of puzzling, I think I have it figured out. Looks like there used to be a diaphragm type fuel pump built into the end of the carb (all guts are missing currently) and there is a plugged port on the intake butterfly casting that I bet used to be plumbed to the diaphragm to actuate it.
(note plug in "before" pic just to the right of the throttle arm)
Y'all enjoying this?
chris
Here's an interesting bit of trivia about these Fairbanks engines. They use a phase change cooling system. The thing that looks like a radiator and has the fan blowing on it is actually a condenser. The water level is only half-way up the hopper that the condenser is mounted on. As the coolant reaches it's vaporization point, the steam rises into the condenser where it is cooled and phase changes back into a liquid. After some thought, I realize this is a very efficient means of cooling an engine.
Forgive me if I'm not exactly accurate on this - thermodynamics was a LOT of years ago - but if memory serves, raising one gram of water 1 degree C requires 1 kCalorie of energy. Right at it's phase change point, that same gram of water absorbs 40kCal of energy to turn into steam (and hence liberates 40kCal when it returns to a liquid). So, this system would seem to carry heat energy from the engine to the cooling system much more efficiently than a flooded radiator and also result in a very stable temperature (if the temperature starts to exceed the vaporization point of the coolant, the cooling capability of the system rises very rapidly as more liquid phase changes to vapor)
chris
No need for a thermostat either. I like it!
Quote from: cschuerm on December 04, 2011, 03:10:11 PM
Y'all enjoying this?
chris
YES SIR
Chris it is the thread I read first every time I check the forum.
Please don't think it might not be right for this forum.
By the way have the large bolts on the flywheel pinch give any yet?
Billswan
Quote from: cschuerm on December 04, 2011, 03:10:11 PM
Y'all enjoying this?
How can you not enjoy engine porn? ;D
Thanks. I'll just keep sharing my rust porn addiction then...
I have managed to get the pinch bolt removed from one flywheel. It took a LOT of heat and every bit of force I could apply. Was just about to give up when it finally broke loose. No luck so far on getting the flywheel to budge on the shaft though. I'm going to try a trick I heard about from an old-timer who used to work on very large engines. When you get to a certain size flywheel, apparently heating the outer rim (very slowly and very carefully to avoid cracking the flywheel) can cause enough expansion to pull the spokes and loosen the grip on the crankshaft. I think I'll get some heat tape and wrap the rim with it and see what happens. Sure don't want to break anything!
Chris
Chris
I bet heating the outer rim sounds like a winner but my guess is it will take more heat than heat tape.
How about one of those propane fire heat guns that put out 1/2 million btu's. If you play the flame on the outer rim and can turn the flywheel to keep the heat spread out evenly on the rim that would work. Get the outer rim to 100 degrees evenly and the center hub at normal daytime temp of 60 might just make room for lots of rust breaking penatrating oil to get in.
Billswan
Yes, an inexpensive propane weed burner should work. They're handy for starting on those really cold mornings too. I have one that uses the disposable tanks and an adapter hose to go to the 20 lb bbq tank for the big jobs.
Thanks for the suggestions! It's pretty cold here right now (right around freezing) so I just want to take extra care heating up a hunk of iron that large so that I don't cause enough stress to crack something.
My Fairbanks guru was able to confirm that the fan drive pulley was cast as a single part then broken at the factory for installation. He cautioned me to NOT break it during re-installation as it is almost impossible to get a replacement and they are very expensive.
Probably won't get to work on this project much during the week, but I may try again on the flywheel this weekend.
chris
Got the big bits blasted and painted over the week. Now starting the re-assembly process.
I apologize for the purists in the crowd, but I have too darn many green engines already. The ones that are not green are red so that was out too. I'll get it put together and see if I like it. If not, it'll be a lot easier to take apart and re-paint now that all the bits are in good shape.
chris
Chris,
Did you ever get the flywheels off the crank? When you replace them on a beast like this do you liberally coat the mating surfaces with coppercoat or some other brand of high temperature anti-sieze grease?
I'm disappointed in your color choice. That's a perfect color for concrete floors, electrical panels and boxes, battleships, even furnace oil tanks, but not these beautiful vintage engines. Don't worry about what some of us think of your color choice though. It is your engine and it has to please YOU. Keep the pictures and reports coming!
Throttle body bored and re-bushed with new shaft and butterfly.
Brand new governor assembly. Old one was missing entirely.
And lastly... Christmas present from my wife: an itty bitty pump jack to run off the Fairbanks ;D
RCA: Only managed to get one flywheel off. The other just didn't want to budge and I didn't want to risk breaking it. Fortunately, it was the non-clutch side which has good access to the back so I was able to clean it very completely and get a nice coat of paint on it. I did not put anti-seize on the flywheels, but will do so when I put the clutch sleeve back on. I did use some oil on the flywheel, but was concerned that if I used real anti-seize that I'd risk some movement over time. Hopefully I'll never have to take them back off!
Chris
QuoteHopefully I'll never have to take them back off!
I'm sure glad that "Hopefully" was in there. Brave words even for the master.
It's the bottom of the 8th and "Hey, you think he'll get a 'No Hitter'?
Casey
Last two weeks have been very busy and have only allowed for a small bit of work late at night. Mostly just cleaning and blasting small parts. I hope to make some serious progress over the holidays if my phone stays quiet.
I did finish putting the bottom end back together last night. Con rod is back on the crank and all the gears are back in. Need to flush the water jacket out one last time, then I can install the head. I see light at the end of the tunnel!
Merry Christmas
Chris
Sorry for the lack up updates on this project. Reality reared it's ugly head and I've been working my tail off the last few months leaving little time for hobby projects. Last weekend I finished up the carb and head install. Decided to try starting the beast for a short test run before I put all the cooling system and stuff on just in case. She fired on the second click of the impulse coupler and just purrred like a giant kitten! That's a REALLY smooth engine. Amazingly easy to start. Just a squirt of gas in the primer cup then gently roll the flywheel past TDC until the mag trips and it just starts running.
One of these days I'll get around to finishing her up. If I can figure out how, I'll upload a video clip.
chris
Thanks for the update chris.
Have been wondering what was up with the long silence on the project.
Sometimes stuff just gets side tracked..............
Billswan
Quote from: cschuerm on March 11, 2012, 03:39:27 PM
Sorry for the lack up updates on this project. Reality reared it's ugly head and I've been working my tail off the last few months leaving little time for hobby projects. Last weekend I finished up the carb and head install. Decided to try starting the beast for a short test run before I put all the cooling system and stuff on just in case. She fired on the second click of the impulse coupler and just purrred like a giant kitten! That's a REALLY smooth engine. Amazingly easy to start. Just a squirt of gas in the primer cup then gently roll the flywheel past TDC until the mag trips and it just starts running.
One of these days I'll get around to finishing her up. If I can figure out how, I'll upload a video clip.
chris
Chris,
That is great news about the engine. In the picture of your Post #124 above I think it looks like a civil war cannon. Maybe you should stack a small pile of black ornamental cannon balls next to it for show! 8)