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

Hi Krypto....welcome aboard.  Your restoration turned out great, glad that poor, abused engine ended up in your capable hands.

As for your minor knock...I would suggest what is a very easy fix.  Remove the front end of the cylinder and do the same on the rear (rear includes cross head guide). Clean all surfaces of residual gasket material...sometimes all sorts of sealants have been found which cause piston to hit an obstruction (or the cylinder end caps themselves), resulting in a knock.  The tolerances were very tight when engine was made.

My favorite replacement gasket is to use a dollar bill and with a fine pencil, trace the front end cap on the bill four times...resulting in two new gaskets for the front and two for the rear.  Trace the screw holes and before cutting gaskets from the larger bill, drill out the screw holes for a cleaner hole.  Then with a sharp pair of scissors...cut the ID and OD of each gasket.  You can oil the four pieces that result to make them seal a bit better, then hold two of them in place and re-screw the end cap and do the same with the rear (crosshead guide end) using two gaskets on each layered on top of each other.

This will hopefully eliminate the problem with knocking.

cheers,
Roger