I been wanting (needing?) one of the early B-43's that didn't have its tank strapped down, water pump, or reverser lever. I am lucky that I got a pretty early one with the "rounded" parts and with the cool looking gumdrop throttle knob. Though it wasn't running when I got it but the heater blanket is solid and while the paint isn't really good I can live with it. The nickel is in pretty good shape too. Oh, no dents either!
The piston was a mess, wrong spring, no washers, and maybe a replacement piston too. It took a lot of time and burning my fingers getting it to run somewhat properly. I couldn't solve not being able to tighten the screw down, so I used Loctite to keep it in place. If I didn't use Loctite then the piston would oscillate on the screw's thread and we can't have that (it would wear the treads down and the piston would fall off and likely not screw back on).
Next up was the regulator, it didn't regulate much, if at all. It wouldn't even shut down the engine. Also the screw was a bit wavy! These gumdrop knobs were made to stay together forever. They drilled a hole in the screw, placed in a pin through the knob and into the screw. Not fun to get out. It now has a new brass screw that is a little longer and with a real nice point that actually controls the steam, all the way to shutting it off.
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