[SEL] Economy Antique Engine

[Scott Richards]

I recently (three days ago) purchased an 1-1/2 HP Economy (Hercules) Model E
engine with Serial No. 71260 (1914 or 1915 year of manufacture) that had not
been run for six or seven years. This is my first antique engine and first
exposure to antique engines in general. After cleaning up the engine (mostly
exterior) I was able to get the engine running after finding the Instruction
Book for the Model E engine on the Hercules website. 

 

When I first ran the engine, I heard a knocking noise from the crankshaft
area. I felt the bearings at the crankshaft end of the connecting rod and it
felt loose. I removed the two thinnest steel liner strips on each side of
the bearing and put the bearing back together and ran the engine. The noise
was still there so I assumed it must be coming from the crank shaft bearing.
I removed the crank shaft bearings and found that one half of each bearing
on each side was broken and in pieces. I understand that these bearings are
"made of special die cast babbitt." My question is where I can obtain some
replacement bearings. One of the bearing halves that was not broken had a
crack in it, so I probably need at least 3 half-bearings. 

Also, I am not sure if I have the battery/coil properly hooked up. I ran a
wire from the battery to the + side of the coil and then a wire from the -
side of the coil to the igniter. I then ran a wire from the ground post on
the engine (next to the igniter) to the negative terminal of the battery. It
seemed to work, but I was not sure if this wiring scheme was providing the
spark advantage of the coil or not. The engine requires considerable
cranking in order to get it started, but that could be for other reasons. 

 

In checking to see if the igniter was producing a spark when hooked up just
to the battery by breaking the points contact, I may have pitted the points.
Can I just file down the contact points to see if that helps with the hard
starting?    

 

Sorry for the "newbie" type questions, but any help would be appreciated.
Thanks.

 

 

Scott Richards

1700 Spring Grove Road

Hollister, CA 95023

559.901.1664 (Susan's cell phone)

559.647.9892 (Scott's cell phone)

scottandsusan.richards at gmail.com