A Saturday Afternoon Find

By Staff
Published on June 1, 1988
article image
'After' photo of 1935 Stover MV 5.

134 Kahn Rd. N. Franklin, CT. 06254

My lady friend and I spend a lot of our spare time driving
around in the country. We always try to stay off the interstate
highways. We do this for a couple of reasons, mainly because the
pace and scenery are a lot more enjoyable.

This Saturday we had not ventured far from home, only 15 miles
or so. We were making all turns possible to stay off any roads we
had already been on.

In all our travels there is always the hope of finding an engine
or other ‘neat’ piece of old machinery.

On this day we were on our way home when, all of a sudden, I
noticed an engine between a garage and the road, a space of about 2
feet. Brake real hard and turn around! Pull up in front of the
garage only to have the owner walk out, wow, how convenient!

The usual discussion about getting rid of that old engine. Well
are you sure you want it. The carb is missing as well as the mag
and also the flywheel is broken.

I go and look at it again, notice it is a Stover, YES I WANT
IT!

The new engine is brought home and examined. Mag is missing, mag
bracket broken, manifold a mess of garbage, weld and carb gone.

I found enough pieces to make a 2 cylinder mag out of a 4
cylinder one. The carb I had. A trip to the local plumbing supply
for fittings to repair the manifold. I made a mag bracket and
repaired the manifold and put it together. It wouldn’t run.

I totally disassembled the engine. Had the major pieces hot
tanked, knurled the valve guides, cut the valves and valve seats.
Found rings from a Kohler engine, honed the cylinders and fitted
the rod bearings.

The cam gear was missing a tooth, welded and ground the new
tooth to shape, made new governor shaft bearings from Chevy pilot
bushings and rebuilt the governor.

The main bearings are ball bearings so they were okay. Main
bearing seals were made from felt I bought at a fabric store.

I then made a head gasket and other gaskets and we assembled it.
Put in oil, hooked up a fuel supply. Holding the choke shut, I
turned it over three times and it popped once. I released the choke
and turned it over again. It started instantly. A real nice running
engine! Come Spring, when I can paint outside, I will paint it a
real dark green Centari.

This is a neat engine for showing. Real quiet and slow running.
Also somewhat rare? The Yellow book says only around 1400 of these
were made.

This one is a l935, according to the serial number.

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