[SEL] Senior Citizen needs help starting engine LOL.

Arnie Fero fero_ah at city-net.com
Thu Oct 5 05:44:51 PDT 2006


Hi Bill,

I've got three "old man's starting suggestions."  What will work depends
on your engine.  If you can reach the intake valve, hold it open and using
the hand crank spin it up briskly.  Pull the hand crank off and let go of
the intake valve.  She should be off and away.  This is how I start my
3 hp Novo and my 2-1/2 hp Bamford.

If its not convenient to start it that way, the method Bill Young
described also works well.  For my 4 hp headless Witte the compression is
fantastic.  I hold the intake valve open and turn it over slowly until I'm
starting the intake part of the stroke.  I give it a generous prime from a
squirt bottle and bring it up onto compression.  I hold the intake valve
open a little and bring it a bit more onto compression.  This relieves
some of the pressure in the cylinder.  I can then easily pull it the rest
of the way through compression, the mag trips, and she's off and running.

The third method to try involves giving it a prime and then bringing it up
on compression from the back side.  While you hold it on compression with
the flywheel, trip the mag by hand, she fires and she's away.  This also
works with an ignitor.  Dave starts his 16 hp Galloway and the 15 hp
Famous using this method.  In the unlikely event that the engine DOESN'T
start he has "Plan B."

Try those and let us know what works.

There is another technique that Dave Rotigel has mastered.  He looks up a
fellow engine man (strong back & weak mind preferred - usually my job) and
says he's having trouble adjusting (timing, mixture, whatever) the engine.
Would I mind cranking it over while he works the smart end of the engine
making "adjustments."  Works a treat, I've yet to see him break a sweat
starting the engine that way.  8-))

See ya,  Arnie

Arnie Fero
Pittsburgh, PA
fero_ah at city-net.com

On Wed, 4 Oct 2006 BillMil357 at aol.com wrote:

> We are having our Fall show this weekend, so I got my 3 HP F/M engine out
> and trying to start it and did finally get it started (I will be 78 years old
> 23rd of this month) and it is almost more than I can do to pull it over the
> compression stroke, my question is, is there any way I can  pull it up  on
> compression, then back it up until the Mag. trips and it will start, it has a  Type
> R Fairbanks- Morse Magneto on it. How about it Dave Rotigel, Judge Tommy,
> Keith Kenny and a whole bunch of you other good Techs. out there, can you help
> this OLE Tennessee Ridge Runner out.



More information about the sel mailing list