[SEL] Economy Antique Engine

[Scott Richards]

Thank you for the information and parts lead. I did remove two of the shims
on the connecting rod, but now will research the "gudgeon" pin further.  

-----Original Message-----
From: sel-bounces at lists.stationary-engine.com
[mailto:sel-bounces at lists.stationary-engine.com] On Behalf Of Michael Tucker
Sent: Friday, August 15, 2014 6:54 AM
To: The SEL email discussion list
Subject: Re: [SEL] Economy Antique Engine

Scott,

Congrats on your first engine and getting it running! Keith Kinney will know
better than I (he's at the Badger Steam and Gas Show right now and then will
be going on to the Portland show so he may be tough to contact right now)
but if you go to http://starboltenginesupplies.com and then open his catalog
pdf you can find the main and crank bearings for your Economy on page 8
(item 210 A1, 210 A2 or 210 A3). You can call and talk to Bill at Starbolt
to make sure that these will indeed fit your engine. Also talk to Bill about
a new gudgeon pin for the piston and bearing for the crank as those are
common sources of engine knock.

Hope this helps,
Mike

On Aug 14, 2014, at 8:52 PM, Scott Richards
<scottandsusan.richards at gmail.com> wrote:

> 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
> 
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> SEL mailing list
> SEL at lists.stationary-engine.com
> http://www.stationary-engine.com/mailman/listinfo/sel


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