My COMPRESSOR ENGINE

By Staff
Published on October 1, 1993
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461 South Rock Lake Road, Vestaburg, Michigan 48891

Inverted engines always fascinated me, so I thought very
seriously about building one.

Last summer at the Buckley Show, Ed Kinch came to get me to show
me the upside down compressor he had just purchased at the flea
market. So you know I just had to have it! But Ed was reluctant to
turn it loose. After some tough bargaining, it was finally
mine.

I won’t go into all the ups and downs of building it,
because my main objective was to make it look original as much as
possible. It runs real nice at 250 RPM and is a hit and miss. The
gears are from an old hand grinder. Valves are old tractor valves,
and the carburetor is a natural gas valve. Gas tank is an old
Coleman lantern base. The first flywheel I used was too big and
heavy and it bent the crankshaft. I re-machined a Fairbanks
crankshaft. By luck, fellow engine buddy, Homer Christinson, came
by and said he had a curved-spoke flywheel. So away we went to look
at it. I knew at once that it was the one for my engine. I think it
really makes the engine. I even found a belt pulley with curved
spokes! My wife picked the paint colors and son Kevin donated the
hardwood for the base.

Isn’t this a fantastic hobby? This was my first project this
winter. Since the compressor, I have built a little model York,
also a model Associated Hired Man to take to the model show in
Wyandotte, Michigan.

This all happened with my wife’s encouragement. I didn’t
think I could get it all done.

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