Russel Ginnow, 3125 West Fisk Avenue, Oshkosh, Wisconsin
54901.
This is a little story about a couple of tired two cylinder
Edward’s engines. Not only tired, but literally dead and
buried. A few years ago, a friend, Lester Wachholtz, Oshkosh,
Wisconsin, dug them up and asked me to make one out of the two. I
used the best parts from both engines and had to scrape the
bearings, put in new rings, changed some valve guides, and valves
from one head to
the other, make new gaskets, gas tank and skids. This engine has
a high tension magneto, spark plugs, and runs real well. The parts
that were left over I took as part pay. Then I was going to pack
them away in case someone needed a part, but soon started to repair
each part. The block had about a six inch piece gone from the side
of the water jacket. Using a piece of 3/16′ thick steel plate,
I shaped and soft soldered it in place, which made a solid water
tight repair that can’t be seen. All the bearings are removable
with shims for adjusting. These had to be made of solid babbitt on
a lathe.
A family of mice lived in the crankcase of this engine and
caused the connecting rods to be decayed half away making them too
weak to use. With the help of an ad in the G.E.M. I was able to get
these parts and more from the help of my good engine friends, the
William Selmer family of Madison, Wisconsin and the Leonard Wheaton
family of Canterbury, Connecticut.
The flywheel on these engines are mounted between the rod
journals and lined up with four cap screws and with a space between
swedged full of lead. At sometime the flywheel had come loose.
Someone then had dug out the lead and electric welded the cast iron
wheel to the steel crankshaft. These welds had also broken loose
leaving it a mess. Then I chipped and ground off all the weld,
rebolted and filled the space between with lead, making it like the
original.
The carburetors on Lester Wachholz’s engine have Ventura
tubes similar to modern carburetors. Each carburetor on this engine
has two reeds that are lifted from their seat by the air drawn
through making them self-adjusting. This engine has a low tension
magneto with ignitors instead of spark plugs. The ignitors are
actuated from a pin screwed into the top of the piston inside of
the combustion chamber instead of a push rod on the outside. Just
about every part of this engine had to be rebuilt by fabricating,
welding and machining, but it was worth it. The engine runs good
and it is a good attraction at the shows.
