The Canadian Fairbanks-Morse 1.5hp hit/miss engine

[skippyelwell]

Working away every afternoon when I get home, got down to the last part, the kerosene tank, it is pretty much Swiss cheese. The oiler came out well.
Even with the orange paint applied over top of grease it still took many hours to remove it all.
Underneath, was the original dark green and the black lead/carbon primer under that.

The cylinder bore is pretty nice, smoothed out the crank journals with 800grit, then 1200 and finished up with with a heavy cut automotive paint compound.
The flywheels are 17" in dia. so the lathe and mill were out of the question, but the drill press can handle them.
The first 10 min was just a cloud of rust dust.

 

[skippyelwell]

This engine was suppose to be the coming winters project but I can see now that I'll have it mostly finished by the end of the month. So I started perusing the FB marketplace and found a guy fairly close to me who had a few hit/miss engines for sale.
It turned out to be the same guy I bought the Fairbanks-Morse from last week, what are the odds of that?
Apparently he inherited 30 hit/miss engines from a relative a number of years back and is now getting down to the last few.

He made me an offer I couldn't pass up, I've been bitten by the bug. Prices for these engines have always been high but in the last few years the prices are starting to come down for the barn fresh examples.
The two I p/u yesterday are about as barn fresh as they come.

A 2hp Timothy Eaton engine and a 2.5hp Empire.

 

[Proxule]

I use https://www.napacanada.com/en/p/FPG2499 for headgaskets,
Or the other option if you can locate it is garlock non metallic of same or similar thickness.

Nice progress!

 

[Ironman]

Not sure what I'm going to do for a head gasket, the one that is on it is homemade but out of what I'm not sure.
It is stiff but there is no metal in it and definitely some asbestos coating on either side.

I think that is barley in the exhaust port.

Try this, meant for exhaust gaskets. I used it for a headgasket.

https://www.napacanada.com/en/search?text=FPG2499&referer=v2

 

[Proxule]

Try this, meant for exhaust gaskets. I used it for a headgasket.

https://www.napacanada.com/en/search?text=FPG2499&referer=v2

Beat you to the punch.

 

[Ironman]

Saw that as soon as I posted🙂

 

[Junque]

Great old engines; made a lot of farm lives not only easier, but possible. All I have is an Eaton badged Waterloo Boy 1.5hp M&B It's true that like so many hobbies, the last people who had life experience or had elders with life experience of this tech, are passing away rapidly. Libraries burning all over town as the saying goes. Smokstak is shadow of what it was 10 or 15 years ago.

 

[Junque]

I meant to add that there is an expat American in Thailand making old fashioned copper gaskets etc. to order. Yes, custom gaskets in whatever form is required! www.gasketstogo.com I've only seen good reviews, but haven't looked in years.

 

[Chicken lights]

I picked up a copper head gasket on the east side of Toronto a couple years ago. Amazing what water jets or laser machines can do

 

[Junque]

I picked up a copper head gasket on the east side of Toronto a couple years ago. Amazing what water jets or laser machines can do

True. The rolling over of the edges so that there is only copper on all exposed surfaces is a bit more complex I guess.

 

[Don Sipes]

I was at the Georgian Bay Steam Show this morning, I go every year mostly for the swap meet.
It's getting smaller every year as the old guys move on. I did find a few nice tools and a 1.5 hp Canadian Fairbanks-Morse 500rpm hit/miss engine. I have wanted one for decades but the prices have always kept me away, I found one this morning I could afford, it's a fixer upper but that's fun part.

Technically it's not a hit/miss but a throttle governed engine, it's missing the magneto which might be hard to find.
I started tearing it down this afternoon. 221lbs made 1918

Become an old guy and move in!!!

 

[Chicken lights]

True. The rolling over of the edges so that there is only copper on all exposed surfaces is a bit more complex I guess.

What do you mean, "rolling over"? The one I picked up was cut from a single sheet of solid copper

 

[skippyelwell]

Become an old guy and move in!!!

I'm already there my friend... whether I like it or not.

 

[skippyelwell]

Ok, I have to stay away from FB market place, but this deal was too good to pass up.
A 2hp Massey-Harris R14, a 1.5-2.5hp International Harvester, both with magnetos and the cart for $300
With 5 machines that need restoring, I think I have my winter covered now.

The seller said he had them both running in the last 2 years but the more I look at them the less I believe that, still, not complaining.
Now I just have to try and keep my hands off of them and focus on the Fairbanks.

The drill press worked alright for the flywheel but I couldn't get a good final finish. So I slapped together a quick parallelogram to take the weight and so it would allow me to rotate the flywheel opposite to the direction of the grinding belt.

 

[Junque]

What do you mean, "rolling over"? The one I picked up was cut from a single sheet of solid copper

When you have a fibre core to the gasket, such as the asbestos used in the good old days, you could have a raw cut edge or you could have a copper strip folded over the cut edges.

 

[skippyelwell]

When you have a fibre core to the gasket, such as the asbestos used in the good old days, you could have a raw cut edge or you could have a copper strip folded over the cut edges.

Like this, a head gasket off one of the hit/miss engines, copper wrapped around asbestos. Titanic era technology.

 

[historicalarms]

Great old engines; made a lot of farm lives not only easier, but possible.

Talking "OLD"...I might be the only forum member that actually remembers pulling the starting handle out of the flywheel and giving 'er a flip to start ( not an easy job for an eight year old)one of these engines to pump the families water for the day because thats the only option we had.
I do remember those days...but sure like just going to the tap and turning the water on now!!!

 

[Susquatch]

Talking "OLD"...I might be the only forum member that actually remembers pulling the starting handle out of the flywheel and giving 'er a flip to start ( not an easy job for an eight year old)one of these engines to pump the families water for the day because thats the only option we had.

You are not alone at all. I clearly remember those days......

We used to park the tractor on the slope of the yard hill so we could just release the brake, put it in gear, and pop the clutch. WAY better than hand cranking. Problem is that I don't remember a park brake. It's possible we just left it in gear. So starting was probably just push the clutch in, let it roll, and then pop the clutch.