[SEL] Portland - Unethical Engine Sellers/engine buying

[Curt Holland]

Paul,
I've gotten in the habit of buying engines with the nod of approval from 
a fellow engine buddy. In the excitement of buying an engine it is easy 
to overlook an item on your mental checklist of things that can be wrong 
with an engine. So when I find an engine at a show I'll ask a buddy to 
look it over with me first before I make an offer. The reciprocal is 
true too. A well known collector asked me to look over a Massey Harris 
engine he had the hots for at Portland this spring. He was ready to buy 
it but asked me to check it out first. I went thru the whole check list 
and was rotating the flywheels and discovered the crankshaft was bent. 
As soon as he saw it he was no long interested. This fellow has bought 
thousands of engines in his years in the engine hobby and knew exactly 
what to check for. But we all have mental lapses in the heat of the 
moment. It always helps to have a buddy who can add a non-biased, 
levelheaded assessment of engine before you whip out the cash.
Curt Holland
Gastonia, NC

paulmaples at sbcglobal.net wrote:

>I get the engine home and after a few days of resting and recovering from
>the Portland experience I decided to go out and see if I could "bust off"
>the old Monitor and when I turned the flywheel to start it I immediately
>knew why he had positioned the engine at the back of the trailer and why the
>flywheel had been tied to the rails....the crankshaft was bent...ugh!!. I am
>sure that many of you could tell a similar story.
>
>  
>