Some heavy metal hitch-hikes home on my trailer.
With a bad case of cabin fever, I headed for an auction at the farm of the late Josiah Zehring near Kokomo, IN on 2-14-03. There were a few hit 'n miss engines there and I thought I'd check it out. Among others was this tiny little
1 ½ hp. Hercules. I looked it over and couldn't find anything wrong with it. No cracks, welds or missing parts. The piston was free but it turned pretty hard. A nice old Webster Tri-Polar was providing the spark. Almost four hours later the auctioneer said "SOLD!" and I had adopted my third engine.
1 ½ hp. Hercules. I looked it over and couldn't find anything wrong with it. No cracks, welds or missing parts. The piston was free but it turned pretty hard. A nice old Webster Tri-Polar was providing the spark. Almost four hours later the auctioneer said "SOLD!" and I had adopted my third engine.
So I loaded it up on the trailer along with a nice original cast iron Galloway cart and headed home a little lighter in the wallet. I was pretty beat when I got home so I unloaded it and took a nap. I spent the next day cleaning the grease cups and putting in fresh grease. That helped loosen it up some but it was still a little stiff. I tested the tri-polar and got an OK spark but nothing special. A little sewing machine oil on the moving parts helped out some and the spark improved. So I filed the ignitor points flat and then I got a whopping blue spark. Good to go there. While the ignitor hole was open I spun the engine around for a while to loosen it up. I filled the oiler, opened it up and things were getting pretty easy now. A little more work on the fuel system and she was ready to go. With the ignitor back in place I wheeled it over and the compression is so good it rocks back and forth off top dead center! I got a couple wheezy puffs out of it but not quite ready to run.
The next night was the charm. I finally got it to stay running long enough to make find the proper carb set-up which I promptly jotted down for posterity. I ran it for over an hour and even belted it up to a couple of my pump jacks just to see how they worked. It ran like a top the whole time.
I thought I might have paid a little much for it but after hearing it run for what is likely the first time in years, who cares? It's a big file but take a look at it running.
Be patient, more to come