484 Twp. Road 232 Sullivan, Ohio 44880
I found it pays to check close to home for engines.
In the winter of 1990, while I was restoring a John Deere E, my
neighbor (a retired well driller) saw my engine and told me he had
an old IHC engine in the back of his storage lot that he wanted to
sell. We went to his lot, which is less than a thousand feet from
my barn, and there he showed me a 6 HP IHC mounted on a sled made
of pipe. Also on the sled was a Myers 4×5 Bulldozer water pump,
which was roller chain driven from the M. This had been used to
pump water from streams to his drilling rigs.
Trees were growing up around the unit, so after buying it, we
cut down the trees, and his son winched it out with his winch
truck. I have lived here for 31 years, and never knew an engine
existed in there, because of the underbrush. After cleaning the
trash off, I found the serial number plate CW 6498, which makes it
a 1926. It has a Wico PR mag in place of the original EK.
After a thorough cleaning and drying, it had a very hot spark.
The piston was stuck, so I pulled the cylinder head, got the piston
loose, replaced the rings, connecting rod bearing, exhaust valve,
and one needle valve in the mixer.
The fuel pump was missing, so I used a Chevrolet fuel pump and
made an arm extension with a fork on the end to go over the exhaust
push rod. The bracket was of angle iron bolted over the two front
engine base bolts. On the push rod I put a collar to push against
the fork on the fuel pump extension arm. This is far from original,
but works well.
When I got ready to start it, I was unable to time the exhaust
valve; after some checking, I found the camshaft had one tooth off.
This must have run this way, because the driller said it was
running when it was put into storage. (Bet it started hard!) Got
the exhaust and ignition set and it started right off. After the
bugs were out, and it was cleaned and primed, two coats of Du-Pont
Centari #5800 Green were applied. Correct decals were obtained from
Brison’s and she looked as good as new.
Next a belt pulley was needed, as only a chain sprocket was on
the M. After a lot of searching, a 14 inch pulley was located at
Johnson Repair, St. James, Minnesota. Pulleys are hard to find,
because they also fit some of the older IHC engines, and are in big
demand.
The old M is used to buzz up our firewood in the fall, and is
also used at the LaGrange Engine Show in Wellington, Ohio, to buzz
slabs from the sawmill to be used in the steam engines. This has
plenty of power to run the saw, with the governor set at about 200
RPM. If anyone has questions, feel free to write. I will answer all
letters.
