1908 2-1/4 hp Galloway
Manufacturer: WM Galloway Co., Waterloo, IA
Serial no.: 4181
Horsepower: 2-1/4 hp @ 450 rpm
Bore & stroke: 4-1/8in x 12in
Engine weight: 320lb
Flywheel: 17-3/4in x 1-3/4in
Ignition: Igniter with battery & coil
Governing: Hit-and-miss
Notable details: Engine still has the original factory round gas tank and the original factory Lunkenheimer oiler
As with anything, keeping a hobby alive is challenging – yet it can be accomplished in many ways. One of the most essential is to encourage younger folk to be involved. That is exactly what Jim Faith of Monticello, Wisconsin, is doing, wrangling some new blood into the old iron hobby.
Engineered for success
Jim’s work getting younger enthusiasts into the hobby takes place at his business, Faith Engineering Inc. in Monticello, which specializes in taking a customer’s idea and turning it into something tangible. “It’s a turnkey automation company,” Jim says. “We do all of the machining, fabricating, building, design work, testing, assembly and support in-house for the food, dairy, automotive, biotech, medical and foundry industry. We’re in a lot of different industries with our automation; kind of a one-stop solution for industry. We do a lot of repair work and reverse engineering. We actually run production machining; all the different departments work together when we build a machine.”
That the shop’s bread-and-butter is the food and dairy industry is no coincidence given its Wisconsin location, which is well-known for its cheese and other dairy products. This is no mom and pop-type operation, however, with high-quality lathes and machinery for engine restoration and maintenance.
Jim credits his father for getting him involved in the old iron hobby early on when he was just 8 years old. The pair restored a John Deere Model E together, which Jim is currently in the process of re-restoring for the second time. “Really what I’m doing now all started with gas engines and evolved into a company,” Jim says. The engine restoration bug continued to affect Jim in high school, when he started building a working half-scale 3 hp Fuller & Johnson Model N from scratch. He finished it in college, and it now sits in the entryway of his business.
His collection currently consists of a dozen engines, with Jim’s favorite being a 60 hp 1927 Fairbanks-Morse YVA 2-cycle diesel engine. Weighing in at a smidge less than 15,000 pounds, it’s no lightweight. Before it came to the Thresherman’s Park in Edgerton, Wisconsin, it was used in a cotton gin in Alabama. “It is a big investment that’s been a lot of work,” Jim says. “It is going into a museum project I’m currently working on; it will be a turn of the century working machine shop when it’s all done. That’s the engine that will power all of the line shafting there.” The Fairbanks starts with compressed air. A documentary and start-up of the 60 hp Fairbanks-Morse can be seen online on YouTube.
Youth involvement
Jim has three young enthusiasts working on engines in his shop, and they all started at around age 9. They include his son Joel Faith (18); nephew Dana Kehoe (16); and Traiten Gorr (17). They are responsible for engine tear-down and cleaning, assessing and finding needed parts, measuring, fitting piston rings, and various other elements of the restoration process.
“Just from hanging around me, there was a want to do this,” Jim says, “and one thing led to another and we got them involved in stuff. I’m very youth driven in a lot of ways,” and Jim says the youths have come a long way. “Now I think it’s to the point that my son tells me what to do,” he admits. This collaboration, tied in with Dana Kehoe’s involvement in the local 4-H club, led to the culmination of the “Gallant” Galloway gracing the pages here.
The Galloway
The Galloway was in a pretty rough condition when Jim purchased it at a local estate sale in 2010. He and his childhood friend, Bryon Riese (who Jim collects engines with), bought it as part of a collection that they later divvied up. “When Dana wanted to do an engine again, I kind of presented the idea of the Galloway. He fell in love with it and all of the history behind Galloway,” Jim says.
The engine definitely needed work. The cylinder was completely worn out, so they bored and resleeved it and fit a new piston. “They (the youths) can’t setup and run the machine and do it, but they are there watching and interacting with my guys as we do this,” Jim says. “We try and keep a work log, for how many hours it took to do, and that way when we do the final report they have some sort of number to associate with it.”
Jim helps them look up particular parts and to contact vendors to acquire the missing pieces. The youths have to understand how to measure pieces and how to fit certain parts. During the final assembly of the engine they help with honing, fitting piston rings and checking end gap, and replacing the wrist pin bushing, in the process learning what goes into assembling an engine. It was a time consuming process restoring the Galloway, as the project took almost seven months to complete.
Attention to detail
The Galloway was restored with attention to the smallest details, “All of the pins were replaced. We handmade all of the gaskets for it and rebuilt the oiler on it. It has the factory oiler cylinder on it. The pivot on the head for the rocker arm was broken, so we had to weld that back; nickel rod it and weld it back and then blend everything and fit it,” Jim says.
“The wheels for the cart, the rear support axle was broken, we built that all back up and repaired it. Of course we made all of the wood pieces that go on it, the battery box and the main plank.
“The shaft for the latch arm on the side had to be redone because that was worn out and sagging, so we refit a pin to that and realigned everything for the latch. The igniter was gone through and rebuilt. That was more or less new springs and just going through the points. The head gasket and igniter gasket were handmade,” Jim says.
However, there are a few all-original parts on the engine, such as the gas tank and oiler. “One point of interest is, that is the original gas tank, which was all smashed in,” Jim says. “We repaired it and we straightened it out and made it round again. I’m sure that people will argue with us about the color, we think it’s kind of a burnt orange that we used on it.”
The pinstriping is all hand-lettered, Jim says. “We had a local sign guy come in and we tried to match it up to what it would have been from the factory. The striping is hopefully very accurate to what it would have looked like new.
“The trucks are kind of unique in a way. That is a Galloway truck that’s underneath it.” That bit came along when Jim bought an Associated Chore Boy from a friend in Iowa; it was on a Galloway cart. “The only reason I bought this engine was for the cart, so that the engine would have a factory cart under it.” He sold the Associated Chore Boy last summer.
There is one feature on the Galloway they are unsure of in terms of being a historically accurate restoration, that being the plank for the cart and how they did the battery box. “About two months ago we acquired an actual Galloway catalog from 1908, and I’m discovering I don’t know if they used a full plank like what we did. I think that they used runners instead,” Jim says. “But what I’m learning is that they had two variations to this cart. If you bought an engine from the factory on a cart it came with an angle iron frame. The set of trucks I have underneath this is meant for wood. The castings for the angle iron frames or frame design are different. They have a kind of cast notch in it that’s to mount the angle iron. These castings did not, so these were meant to go under an existing wood setup. The tongue itself is actually the original tongue. It had about 20 coats of paint on it. We stripped it all down and reused it so, that tongue that’s on it is the factory wood.” Jim says that they used ash for the rest of the cart.
Restorations are not without their challenges and trials, but fortunately Jim and Dana only encountered one that really gave them trouble. “When we sleeved the engine, the casting is very thin in the engine block itself. We had to be extremely careful that we didn’t break through into the water jacket when we sleeved this engine. There was a lot of time spent making sure that we were correctly aligned,” Jim says. “That was touchy, because if that wouldn’t have gone right it would’ve gone in the dumpster. I’ve sleeved a lot of engines, and this one was really difficult. Anybody that knows this engine or knows the Galloway engines could relate to that. Other than that, it was otherwise pretty straightforward.”
All original
Surprises of all kinds can abound when you purchase an engine, whether they are good or bad is up to your perception, and Jim thinks the Galloway is exceptional in its own right. “One of the reasons I’d picked this engine is that it’s all original,” Jim says. “It’s got an original Lunkenhiemer oiler, and Galloway used them. The gas tank, oiler and the muffler, the engine was complete, which you don’t normally find. Usually parts are gone or missing or to the point where you can’t reuse the original components. Something I tried to do during this process is make it as accurate as possible to what it would have looked like originally. The only thing that’s not quite accurate is the full plank, and I may change that. I haven’t decided yet. We’ve got to do a little more research on that. I think typically this engine would have come with runners instead of a full plank. So everything’s accurate to maybe the point of the wood underneath it.”
Showstopper
Finishing up the Galloway for Dana’s 4-H project in July allowed them to take the engine to some shows over the season. The engine has been shown at the Badger Steam and Gas Engine Club Show in Baraboo, Wisconsin, the Rock River Thresheree Reunion in Edgerton, Wisconsin, and the Green County fair and Wisconsin State Fair since its completion. A crucial element of keeping younger folks in the hobby is, of course, the fun. “The most fun part of the restoration was just working with Dana and him learning and that’s what’s rewarding to me,” Jim says. “Just interacting and seeing it go from a pile of junk to something that’s really well finished.”
Future project
The duo have another Galloway restoration on the horizon for a project early this year. “I was able to acquire and air-cooled version of this,” Jim says. “I acquired that this year at the Baraboo show. The air-cooled ones are harder to find. It will be this winter’s project. So Dana’s got a bookend as the 2-1/4 horsepower and then the air-cooled is a 1-3/4 horsepower.”
