Office of Steam Forum for Model & Toy Steam Gas & Hot Air Engines

Thanks to all.  I got it sorted and running fine now.  Two things happened along the way.

First was it seemed to be backfiring loudly and refusing to continue, even when known to be correctly timed.  Turned out the set screws on the starter side flywheel (not the governor side) had come loose, allowing that flywheel to slip and buck when the engine tried to start.  The engine was not at all happy with that situation.  I tried re-tightening the set screws while the steel rim was in place on the flywheel,  but the odd angle and insufficient wrench clearance when flipping  the wrench around the other way made for, drumroll please, a stripped hex socket on one screw head.

That was not gonna cut it, and the flywheel didn’t want to come off the shaft, nor did the steel rim want to come off toward the end of the shaft, only wanting to go the other way, toward the engine. 

I pondered that a short while, before using three bits of scrap red oak and three 10-32  bolts and t nuts to make a flywheel puller. That made short work of the sticky flywheel. 

I dressed the marred shaft surface, and filed two flats opposing each other for set screw landing points.  Replaced the set screws with M-4x12 socket head cap screws, larger sockets for the next size wrench, flipped the flywheel over so the steel rim could be pulled toward me, revealing the wrench holes, and put it back together.

It started but ran weak and erratic.  Careful observation when it was running revealed the brass spark plug wire snap-on fitting I’d made had cut the black rubber boot, and i was getting stray spark leakage to ground at the valve train.  I dressed the brass spark plug clip, replaced the rubber boot with a length of 3/16 silicone tubing, reattached the wire, and no more spark leakage. Restarted and ran happily with just a tiny needle adjustment.  FOR THE FIRST TIME SINCE I HAD IT, it runs happily at the predicted 1/4-1/3 (probably like 5/16) turns needle setting.  Happy motor, happy Jack, shut it down and called it done.