Making an ‘Old Engine’

By Staff
Published on April 1, 2001

Piscataqua Road Dover, New Hampshire, 03820-5206

Ed, note: In our February issue we made a huge mistake in
Richard Sabol’s article, which appeared on pages 16 and 17we
failed to include the last page of the manuscript. Here it is, with
our apologies.

Various oxidizers for steel, aluminum and brass were also used
for the aging of the metals. The art work for the nameplate in
photo #5 and illustration #6 was done on the computer. I used the
first two initials of my last name, Frank’s last name and
John’s last name to come up with ‘Sahire’ for the
engine tag. The brass plates were silk-screened with enamel paint
and then etched in a solution from Radio Shack.

The engine runs well but could use a little more compression.
Some of the things still left to do are to make a new intake valve
and/or rebush the guide as well.

I may give a try at some gold pin-striping but would have to
tone it down or rub it off in areas and maybe go over it with some
black or brown to show age and wear. One can scrape down to bare
metal in areas and color them using mild acids for rust or pastels
with clear-coat. Always use safety glasses and gloves when using
harsh chemicals and dispose of them properly. A shiny nick or
scratch shows a recent injury to the engine.

Well, I hope this is of some help to those of you who want to
make or match a part to an old collectible. The thing to do is
research and test these ideas on scrap items before using them on
that 1909 ‘Whatsamabloopit-heim.’

A lot of people have been fooled by this engine thinking it was
an old ‘original engine.’ It’s been a great deal of fun
doing it.

Thanks again to Frank, John, Fred, Lloyd and anyone else who may
have helped in one way or another.

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