[SEL] Anyone out there - YES

[Jerry Evans]

   Great story Eric,
           Thanks for sharing it and good luck with your engine.
           A 1 1/2 HP JD "E" (also igniter fired) is the one engine that I
   would still like but has eluded me. There are not many of them still
   around in South Africa. The only reason I would like one is that my Dad
   had one (during my pre-teen years) coupled to a 12 volt generator
   (probably from a truck) which charged a bank of second hand batteries
   and supplied very dim lights to our farmhouse. Us kids were at boarding
   school and it was always my elder brothers job to decarbonise the thing
   during school holidays.
           My Dad was very musical and played (amongst others) the guitar
   and banjo. When I was about 11 or 12 years old we made the trip to the
   "Big City" (Johannesburg, South Africa). This was about 600 miles and
   took 2 days in our old Studebaker pickup with us kids on the back with
   the luggage. While there my Dad bought one of those "new fangled
   ideas", an electronic "pickup" for his Gibson acoustic guitar which was
   duly coupled to our big old wooden cased "valve wireless" (powered by
   the 12 volt batteries / JD engine). My dad was the first person within
   many miles to own an "electric guitar" and many an evening was spent
   with visitors listening to this fantastic invention. Maybe, due to the
   distortion caused by the valve "wireless" he eventually scrapped the
   "pickup" and only played the Gibson as it was intended to be played -
   as an acoustic guitar.
           A few short years later we moved to another farm which had a
   Lister "D" driving a 32 volt system.I was about 12 or 13 years old and
   clearly remember thinking to myself how amazing it was that we had
   "stepped up" from 12 Volts to 32 Volts.
           The new farmhouse was burnt to the ground years later by
   politically motivated thieves and my Dad's Gibson guitar, silver Banjo
   and the old "Wooden Wireless" were all destroyed. All that remained of
   his banjo was a lump of molten silver which my Mother still has.
   Memories !!
   Keep the revs up (or down)
   Jerry Evans
   Near Johannesburg in Sunny South Africa.
   Etched Brass Engine Plates made to order:
   <[1]www.oldengine.org/members/evans/plates/index.htm>
   P.S. My Dad's birthday was on the 4th October 1911 - 100 years (and 2
   days) ago and a date that we (family) all remember. He died 39 years
   ago - 3 months before Jacqui was born.
   P.P.S. Thanks for reading this far and allowing me to "ramble". These
   are things very important to me.
   At 06:00 PM 06/10/11, you wrote:

     From: "Eric Walter" <eric at facspro.com>
     Subject: Re: [SEL] Anyone out there
     All is well in Central Nebraska. It would be better if the wind
     would quit
     blowing though!! 5 days of 30-45 mph winds with gusts to 65 and
     today is
     supposed to be worse-- 40-60 with gusts reaching 75mph. Looks like
     the dust
     bowl around here with all the dirt and debris from harvest activity
     in the
     bean fields.
     An update on my quest for information on my Spark plug fired John
     Deere
     1.5HP Type E........ It isn't.
     I went to an auction last month with the intention of taking
     pictures of a
     Spark Plug fired Type E engine that was listed on the sale bill.
     While
     watching  the engines and engine parts being sold off I noticed a
     guy that
     was bidding on only John Deere pieces. So while there was a gap in
     engine
     colors I introduced myself and asked him if he knew anything about
     the Spark
     Plug fired engines like the one down the row. I explained my quandry
     and he
     went on to show me quite a bit about the engines and how to tell a
     true plug
     fired model from a fake. (I guess there is a guy in MI that sells
     conversion
     kits to turn an igniter type to a spark plug type) The one at the
     auction
     was a true plug fired model and in our discussion he mentioned that
     he has a
     couple others and this one would be his by the end of the
     day.......Whatever
     the cost!! I asked him what was so special about this one and he
     said. "I'm
     all about original, I've got an original battery box with a repro
     lid on one
     and a repro battery box and lid on the other and that one right
     there is an
     original battery box and an original lid. And I want that box and
     lid!"
     When the bidding started he nodded each time it came back to him
     without
     batting an eye. Every one but one other bidder dropped when it
     passed
     $900.00 the other guy started slowing down at $1100.00 but kept
     going.That
     battery box and lid ended up selling for $1400.00 plus he got
     another engine
     with it to boot!!
     Back to my project. After a quick discussion it was obvious that my
     spark
     plug version wasn't original so it was back to the drawing board and
     sales
     to find the parts to convert it back to an igniter/mag fired engine.
     I just
     received the igniter yesterday and I think I have everything else so
     it's
     time to get to work!! If I had been smart I would have been tearing
     it down
     while waiting and restoring it but Jacob and I have been very busy
     with our
     tractors so I will just get it running for now then do a teardown
     some other
     time.
     Eric Walter

References

   1. http://www.oldengine.org/members/evans/plates/index.htm