This Weber Gasoline Engine happened to be one of the projects I worked on while in East Tennessee.
It was manufactured in Kansas City, MO, and has been sitting in this location for close to 20 years. My humble opinion is that it has not been running for over 75 years.
Here is a list of what I had to do to get this thing running:
- Replace 2 broken studs that mounted the carburetor
- Machine the rod bearing caps to tighten them up
- Free up stuck governor shaft
- Tighten main bearing caps
- Clean fuel check valves (I didn’t actually have to re-pack the fuel pump)
- Lubricate all moving surfaces
- Grind exhaust valve seat
- Make bushing for igniter trip arm
- Clean igniter and points
- Plumb temporary fuel tank
- Wire up battery and coil
- Polish flywheel and pulley faces
All of these early engine manufacturers had different way of accomplishing the same goals. Some engines have 10 moving parts to perform one task that on later engine is reduced to one part. These pioneers paved the way for the modern engine in your car or lawnmower. They didn’t know if something would work until they tried it since there weren’t but a few years of knowledge to build from. If they hadn’t made mistakes, and designs that weren’t very efficient we would not be where we are today with engine technology. There are many features of these engines that are still in use on the highest performance engines in some form or another.
Caution: The following video contains bare chested, sweaty manliness… You have been warned…
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