20601 Old State Road, Haubstadt, Indiana47639
There are many questions that get asked in the process of
restoring and rebuilding of engines in the Hercules family. Here
are a few of them.
A reader built a cart for his Hercules engine using the
information given on page 28 of the October 1997 issue of
GEM. His question was, ‘What color should it be
painted?’
There are only a few colored illustrations to go by in the
literature. Apparently the cart frame and axles were red with green
wheels to match the engine color. Some would say that the wheels
should be black. For an Economy engine cart, the frame and axles
are red and the wheels are black. What shade of red is used? Make
it simple. Go to the local True Value hardware store and get X-O
Rust #T-5 IHC Red.
The writer of a recent letter told about his model T Thermoil
engine. In his concluding remarks he said in effect, ‘I guess
that the color is red like the Economy engines.’ Here is where
the surprise comes. The original paint color on them was sort of a
lime-olive green. A friend suggests that Musk Green as used on
1972-74 Fiat cars is a good match. I had some parts from a 5 HP
#935 and they were a green color. All of the later model U and UA
Thermoils were red.
A recent phone caller was looking for the governor spindle for a
6 HP model CA Sparta Economy. He had the part but it was broken.
Those parts are rather hard to find. I suggested that he braze the
old parts back together.
That brings up the brazing subject. I’ve seen a lot of
brazed gas engine parts. Many are very poorly done without proper
fit-up or without proper preparation. The first thing to do is to
fit the broken pieces together and then make some kind of setup to
hold them in proper position. The next thing to do is grind away
enough metal at the break to make a place for the brazing to fill
in, leaving just enough of the broken edge to properly mate the
parts. Enough heat is needed to make the parts red where the
brazing is to be done so that the brazing rod will flow when melted
into the prepared area. This really oversimplifies the whole thing,
so good luck.
In our hobby we get concerned about proper paint color,
striping, decals, carts, oilers, parts and many other things. But,
ours is a simple hobby.
Just recently I fell heir to a lot of model T Ford books,
literature and Vintage Ford magazines. In scanning through several
pieces of the material, it became apparent that there is a lot of
controversy when it comes to restoring one of those things with all
things being proper for the year and style. Henry Ford didn’t
make it any easier because parts were mixed and matched during
yearly changeovers, and parts from one supplier didn’t
necessarily match those of another one. Sometimes a particular part
was painted and at other times, it wasn’t. This even included
the whole engine at times.
I know it isn’t Hercules news, but there are a few other
Ford things to throw in. A 1919 directory of farmers for the county
I live in lists some 1,300 farmers. Of that group, just over 500 of
them have cars. Guess what? Slightly over half of those cars are
Fords.
Here’s a final Hercules problem. It seems that several
people are looking for the fuel mixer for the 9 HP Hercules model
EK throttling governed engines. Now that is a hard part to find for
a large size engine. One person is even looking into having new
ones cast. Add to that the cost of machining, the fuel pump, pump
lever and fuel valves and it looks like an expensive undertaking.
But, as many of you will agree, oftentimes just the sense of
accomplishment makes it all worth it