[SEL] A pair of 1915 Hercules Engines

[Dave Ernst]

Last summer during a work lull between crops I dug out an old engine that was sitting in a corner for years. It definitely was a project engine, that's why it sat so long. Stuck wasn't the description for it. I pulled the head, made plates to cover the cylinder and ignitor port, filled the cylinder with diesel oil and put 125 lbs of air pressure inside and stood it in a corner.  A few weeks later the fuel hadn't seeped through the rings. So I decided it was going to come apart whether something breaks or not. I turned a 1/2" plate to match the bore, inverted a heavy duty gear puller to push, gave it the rosebud treatment and put a 1/2" impact on the puller. Nothing. Next came a large drift punch and sledge. It moved and I don't believe it didn't break something.
Later in the Summer my neighbor bought the same engine at a swap meet. We have decided to make "twins".
Mine was without the serial tag and his dates to be a 1915 model. He paid $300 for a complete rough but running engine and I have paid more than that just for the mag and trip mechanism. Mine is together and running and will be unassembled for paint when we decide what color.
I'll update the photos as we progress.

Bob's http://albums.photo.epson.com/j/AlbumIndex?u=3009545&a=31460386&f=

Mine http://albums.photo.epson.com/j/AlbumIndex?u=3009545&a=31299772&f=

Dave