After being in the hobby for nearly 30 years it was a bit of a shock to the system when I had to withdraw from the hobby due to moving house and having to totally gut the place. There was a plus side, I had space for the machine shop I always wanted, a place to take my restorations to the next level.
I soon filled the available space with a lathe, 2 milling machines, shaper and a surface grinder not to mention all my fabrication paraphernalia.
Now I was hungry for some projects worthy of my humble man cave.
Back in the day I would have been champing at the bit waiting for the stationary engine magazine to come out or the next auction or farm sale, but now in this god forsaken digital world I was quickly spoilt for choice, Ebay, Facebook and a contact list as long as your arm I was locked and loaded.
I ended up purchasing several engines one being the Fairbanks Morse H hit and miss.
After looking at the engine I went away to deliberate. It was incomplete, badly worn and the camshaft was badly seized due to being left outside for years. It was not an easy purchase as the seller was really making his teeth meet on the price, if it needed more parts 1 they would have to come from America and 2 they would be very expensive.
After driving my wife mad about it I was told to “throw my balls to the wall and get it”.
I didn’t need telling twice.
The engine came with some useful spares and some rough history, it had passed through a few people hands in the last few years, I don’t want to sound harsh but one or two of them had mistaken ambition for ability.
First job was to fully strip the engine; this was complicated by the fact years of being left in the rain had seized the camshaft in the crankcase. 4 hours of heat, a copper mallet and a lot of swearing I had it out, luckily I also had a spare camshaft, so that saved me making one.
I was looking to replicate an original looking engine so all the non-original paint needed to be removed, easier said than done, what a pig of a job so I turned to my old friend electrolysis.
Once the paint was all removed, paint was applied with a rag and stove grate polish put on the
top.
Now at this stage I made a list of all the parts that needed to be made on the lathe or milling
machine.
It needed new mains, big end ,piston rings, gudgeon pin, little end, igniter repairs, various pins and
bushes, magneto gear, magneto, oiler and various gaskets.
In the first week I got all the new white metal bearings cast and machined.
New big end bearing
New main bearing
Slowly piece by piece the engine started to come together, at times it was a real love hate
relationship, but it was going in the right direction. Once the main bulk of the engine work was done
my attention turned to the trolley, this helps with working on the engine a little easier on the knees.
American engines tend to use fabricated spoked wheels and working with a limited budget I decided
to make my own, I didn’t follow any original design just something that looked proportionately
correct and pleasing to the eye, one consideration is room, in the garage and also space on the
trailer to take to rallies etc.
Now with the engine at respectable height I turned my attention to the cylinder head. I made new
valves, cut the valve seats and fitted replacement valve Springs.
My next job is to make the Magneto Gear. I found it was much easier to buy a gear blank and
machine what I needed from that, it was a slow process but I was really pleased with the end results,
having not been able to find an original gear in America.
The new gear aged in appearance as to blend in better.
With the new igniter made, the engine had compression for the first time in years.
With a new fuel tank and pipework fabricated and with a needle valve and mixer sourced from Philip
Gallimore it was time start the engine.
The engine started 2nd pull of the flywheels and ran ok but needed a bit of fine tuning.
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