Stationary Engine List

By Staff
Published on February 1, 2003
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As members of the Stationary Engine Mailing List in the Northern
Hemisphere got their first taste of winter weather, a couple of
relevant subjects came under discussion. While winter is generally
recognized as being a time to work on engine restoration projects,
there are some things that are hampered by the cold weather, such
as painting. But, if your shop is heated by a wood stove, can that
be put to use in your efforts?

I’ve been wondering, how do you all paint your old iron in
the winter? It sure makes a mess in the shed, and that modern paint
is pretty nasty – I do wear a respirator. I have some ideas, but
thought I’d ask the List, first. Right now I’m glazing the
Economy 5 HP, and I’m wondering if you can warm up the metal
and shoot it outside, at say 20° to 30° F above?

I can’t offer much info on painting at 30° F. One option
would be to find a body shop with a heated paint booth. If you have
everything prepared and ready, the good guys will spray your stuff
for you for a reasonable cost. I have done this in the past for
some of my projects, and it has really helped out.

Personally, I like it to be as warm as possible when painting.
What we do in the winter is heat up the shed early in the morning
and warm up any parts we’re going to paint. We then take our
parts out of the shed (just the other side of the door) and give
them their first coat of paint. Then it’s back to the stove to
warm up. Repeat this as often as needed and your parts will stay
warm enough.

As usual, some comments are more helpful than others!

No, none of that works. Send it over to Australia. We will paint
it in the heat to your liking and you can come and see it anytime
you like. It’s the only real solution

Winter in Australia is the best time for me to paint. My shed
gets to about 20 – 25° C. Just try painting here in the summer
months. If it’s 40° C outside, it’s not unusual to be 50° C
inside my shed – gotta get up real early to paint before it warms
up. Mind you, you can get your second coat in pretty quick!

I cheat a little when I’m painting in my shop. I picked up
some cheap blue tarps; one goes on the floor, and the rest are
strung on cables around my painting area, with one overhead like a
second ceiling. Makes it easier to keep the place clean. My exhaust
fan has a long, flexible tube that is tucked in one corner toward
the floor. For heat I use a salamander-style rig, set outside the
door and under a cover, that pipes heat in through stovepipe. Keeps
me warm, and it keeps the ignition source outside.

I also thought about getting a propane trailer furnace. The ones
they are using now do not use interior air for combustion, and you
can find cosmetically damaged units that are pretty cheap. I figure
on putting it up in the attic and hooking it into some ductwork.
With a little closet around it, and maybe venting the closet to the
outside, I can use the same heater all the time.

Thanks gang! You’ve given me some good ideas. I now have the
base, cylinder and hopper on a roll-around cart. I have a small,
8-foot overhead door on one side of the shed, which will give me a
fine framework for a temporary paint booth using that cheap blue
tarp. Fumes can be evacuated outside using the wood shop dust
collector. You know, the more I think about it, it could be
somewhat permanent, maybe use draw curtains like they use in
welding shops. Hmmm … I like it.

Seeing as I use floor radiant heat, I plan on installing another
zone and using a fan-driven heat exchanger for quick recovery. That
way I won’t have to keep the thermostat turned up all the
time.

So, if you’ve got the stove in the shop all fired up to dry
paint, might as well find another use for that heat while it’s
there! How about rust removal?

I have two rusty engine heads here. Both of them have the valves
rusted tight. I plan on putting them in my wood stove tomorrow,
keeping them red hot for the day, then letting the fire go down
over night. The house will be heated enough I won’t need to
build a fire the next morning, and I can let them cool very
slowly.

I burn pallets, so my ashes are 80 percent nails and hold heat a
long time. Any suggestions on how long I should keep the heads red
hot would be greatly appreciated.

No need to go to red heat. Merely heat the heads to 800° F or so
for two hours. I do not know what your stove looks like, but maybe
try suspending them by coat hanger wire from the top? My guess is
you run a risk of the heads cracking on cool down if you get them
red hot.

I’ve never done that, but I would be cautious about leaving
the heads in the fire (especially red hot) for too long, mostly
because of oxidation.

You’ll only need to heat the heads long enough to ensure the
metal is hot all the way through. It doesn’t take long to break
down the rust. By the time the metal gets almost red hot the rust
will turn to powder.

Whenever I use my stove for this kind of thing, I put whatever
I’m working on in when I go to bed and let the fire burn out.
When the part has cooled down a reasonable amount, I’ll pull it
out. I’d let a head cool down quite a bit before pulling it
out.

I have a two-cylinder Cushman that sat outside for about 50
years with one spark plug removed. The pistons and valves were
stuck solid and the valves were a fright. I built a firebrick
enclosure around the engine, brought it up to just barely red hot
with a propane weed burner, and let it soak at that temperature for
around three to four hours. At that point I turned off the fire,
closed off any openings in my ‘oven’ and let it cool until
morning. The valves came out with a few gentle taps from a small
hammer. Using a home-built all-thread puller, the pistons came out
without any trouble.

I’ve never had much problem with excessive burning or
corrosion of the metal, but all day in the stove might be overkill.
Of course you already know this, but for this technique to work
you’ll need to let the fire develop a good bed of hot, glowing
coals. I find that a good load of smallish chunks of wood and a
good air supply works best.

All I did to the last head I had with stuck valves was heat the
guides up to a nice red color with the torch – after cooling off
they punched right out. It was quite rusted, with one valve stem
completely rusted off on the outside.

I’ll go get the heads now and set them by the stove for
tomorrow. I can put them in the stove in the morning and watch
until they start getting red. Then I can just let the stove go out.
Who cares how cold the house gets if I get these heads freed
up!

It’s always constructive to hear the results of a particular
experiment that has been under discussion, and, via the Internet,
results can be shared almost as they happen. In this case, we heard
the following day how things had gone.

Well, I had limited success with cooking the heads. The stuck
valves came out of the unknown head nicely. The valves and rocker
arm came off the Witte head and the needle valve came out of the
mixer. I got the butterfly valve loosened up, too. What didn’t
come loose was the mixer – it’s still rusted in the head. I am
going to build a mixer to use with this head so I have to get it
loosened up.

I guess I will mount some bolts in something and heat the head
up without getting the mixer as hot. Then I’ll cool it a bit
and bolt the head down so I can put some muscle into it.

Several days later, another list member was inspired by these
suggestions and had a go with the technique.

A few days ago someone mentioned placing parts in a stove to
free them up. The weekend of the Asheville show I picked up an
igniter mag bracket for my 8 HP Famous. Looked nice on the outside,
but the inside had been exposed to a cylinder full of water for
decades.

Needless to say, the moving contact was completely frozen in the
igniter body. For the past month, I have squirted Gibbs on it and
lightly tapped on the moving contact every day for about 20
minutes. No movement at all. Last night I put it in the wood stove
we heat the house with and cooked it for 12-plus hours. It was
glowing red by 8 p.m. and I’d guess stayed that way until 2:00
this morning. I dragged it out of the ashes and I’m happy to
report that the moving contact is just that, moving!

I’ve got a Hercules piston/rod/pin to try next in the stove.
They’ve been soaking for a couple of years in mineral oil and
are still stuck. So give the wood stove a try, guys!

I often loosen up small parts by boiling them in distilled
water. Things like that cylinder head would get to sit in the
toaster oven for a while at 450° F.

My personal experience has been that castings grow the most from
ambient temp up to about 400° F, after which any change is not so
noticeable. Toaster ovens are great for this sort of work.

This should have provided you with two good reasons to get out
into the shop to do a little restoration work this winter. Or
maybe, you could just bring those stuck parts inside to the fire
and sit in the warmth of your shop, reading your GEM with your feet
up, content in the knowledge that you are working hard to free up
some long-suffering and very stuck parts.

Engine enthusiast Helen French lives in Leicester, England.
Contact her via e-mail at: Helen@insulate.co.uk You can join the
Stationary Engine List on the Internet at: www.atis.net

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