Cox, 268 Tunis Street, Ingersoll, Ontario, Canada N5C 1W7
My whole collection.
My name is David Cox, and I love old engines. I’ve always
been fascinated with machines. I can remember watching loaders and
other construction equipment. When I was five, my older brothers
had gas-powered go-carts. My brother Brian had a neat sounding
engine on a go-cart which I later got. It was a 5S Briggs &
Stratton engine. It had a 6′ or 7′ straight exhaust pipe
which gave the engine a neat popping sound.
I first saw hit and miss engines when I went to a local farm
show in the fall of 1979 called ‘The International Plowing
Match,’ near Woodstock, Ontario. At first I didn’t know
what to think, they were so loud. The water in the hoppers was
rusty and looked strange. I couldn’t understand how the engine
ran as fast as it did and only exhausted once in a while. I
actually I thought the engine ran ‘normal’ (like a throttle
governed engine), feeding the exhaust into the hopper (cylinder),
compressing it until it overcame a pressure relief valve, and
exhausted. I was ten years old. Later, I found out better. If I can
remember correctly, I think the first one I saw was an upright
Ideal or Novo with a square hopper. I was also fascinated with the
OilPull Rumely tractors.
When I was 12, my brother gave me the 5S Briggs & Stratton
engine. I played with it from time to time. I thought of restoring
it but I didn’t know where to find decals for it, and I
didn’t want to touch it until I could find decals.
In 1995 I met some people at a local show in my hometown of
lngersoll, Ontario, called ‘Threshing Days,’ and I got some
decals and fixed up the 5S engine. It only needed cosmetic
work.
The next year my dad found me an engine, an Iron Horse
5/8 HP, in the spring cleanup. It was in
great shape and only needed cosmetic restoration.
Later that year I found my first old fashioned engine. It looked
like a coffee grinder, a Fairbanks-Morse Eclipse 1A. It was for
sale and I got it. It needed many parts, so I researched the engine
and made up what was missing. I was hooked. I’ve found many
other engines since then. Some engines I dressed up a little extra,
but nothing was welded or drilled to add those extras (like the
flyballs on the Eclipse and Monitor). They don’t govern, they
just spin and look pretty. To this day the little F-M Eclipse 1A
reminds me of that first hit and miss engine I saw.
Some of the parts I made up for these engines include: the
intake breather (Maytag); flyball governor, fuel tank, muffler,
crankcase breather, battery box, hopper lid, cart (F-M Eclipse);
cart, fuel return (carb leaks) (Massey Harris). I made the fuel
tank and crankcase cover (Ideal air-cooled); battery box, fuel
line, skid, hopper lid, pump cylinder, spark interrupter, display
governor (Monitor). I had to add a cylinder oiler to the Monitor.
When I got this engine, the cylinder was solid and when I first ran
the engine (even with oil up to the bearings in the sump) the
cylinder was dry and would squeak after one minute of running. I
tried several ideas, mixing oil with gas, this was very smoky. I
added oil through the spark plug hole. This only worked for a
few minutes. I saw chat other Monitor engines had oilers, so I
added one to this engine and it works great.
My first engine, a Briggs & Stratton 5S.
An Iron Horse 5/8 HP.
Maytag Model 92.
2 HP model 1 Massey-Harris.
Fairbanks-Morse Eclipse 1A.
IHC 1? HP model M (kerosene).
Ideal lawn mower engine.
1? HP Monitor pumping engine.
Beatty Bros. pump I got for the Ac Duro.
A tire pump I found at a local junkyard. I could
only do a cosmetic restoration (for now). It is made by the Gorman
Rupp Pump Co.
Stover AC Duro ? HP with Wico mag.
Mechanical work I had to do included new shims, gaskets, rod
bushing, rework spark interrupter (F-M Eclipse); readjust counter
weight, new shims and gaskets (Maytag); new rings, new rod bushing
and wrist pins, new gaskets (Massey-Harris); new rod bearing and
wrist pin, new needle valves, new gaskets and fuel pump seals, new
fuel tank, rebuild ignitor, new sleeve seal (IHC ‘M’); new
gaskets, rod bushing, buzz coil (Ideal air-cooled); buzz box, new
gaskets and shims, new valve springs, new piston rings
(Monitor)–by the way, when I got this engine it had automotive
valve springs on the valves. I don’t think the previous owner
had any luck trying to start it.) Engines that only needed cosmetic
work were the Stover Duro, the Briggs & Stratton, and the Iron
Horse engines. The Maytag needed only a little mechanical work.
I would like to thank my folks for letting me store the engines
in the garage. Thanks also to Louis Bari, Bob Bolhuis, and Allan J.
Hough for their help and advice during my restorations.
