5871 Diller Road Sanborn, New York 14132-9408
This was my winter project. I wish I had taken some
‘before’ pictures, as this little beauty was in sad shape
when I got it.
Jeff Parks rolled into Coolspring, Pennsylvania, with it and
twisted my arm until I agreed to take it off his hands. The head
was cracked, flywheel broken, mag missing, and the cylinder was
full of mud and rust.
So, if you add it all up, it was just what I wanted! I want to
tell you it was really fun restoring this
21/2 HP IHC Titan. Sometimes I would be out
in the shop so engrossed in this project, then the phone would ring
and the ‘Bear’ would say, ‘If you want dinner, you
better get in here!’ I’m not one to forget when it’s
time to put the nose bag on, but on occasion it happened.
Well, Jeff got the rear gear-driven mag for me and told me to
call Gary Love who had the flywheel for me, so all was working out
great.
In a previous GEM I stated how real engine men help each other.
Well, this project proved it even more, to me anyway.
After welding the cracked head I took it to my neighbor, Joe
Sykes, of Niagara Piston Ring Works, and he did a valve job on it
and made new rings for me. Another good friend, the ‘Cassadaga
Wizard,’ Dale Nickerson, restored the mag.
Enough good things can’t be said about these fellows they
are great! So what’s left for me to do?? Hone the cylinder,
rebuild the fuel pump, remove the broken flywheel and install new,
and put about 200 hours of elbow grease into cleaning, priming,
painting, building a skid of oak, stain and varnish, and install
tow rings and runners. Oh, and build the exhaust with butt weld 90
degree ells into Charlie Schoonover’s muffler.
Hey, winter is over, my engine is done and it runs great!
If you would like to see it, I’m going to take it and other
IHC engines to Wellsville, New York, to The Southern Tier Antique
Equipment Society, Inc. Show, which will feature International
Harvester equipment this year.
So, hey, see me there! Bring your engines, etc. We’ll swap a
few lies and have a good time!!
