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Author Topic: Quality Brand (Empire) Gets A Facelift  (Read 674 times)

RichSteamTx

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Re: Quality Brand (Empire) Gets A Facelift
« Reply #30 on: March 30, 2022, 04:30:20 pm »
This little guy looks like a close cousin to my Empire Turbine, B35.  It is nice that you posted the underside - which mine is missing the steel (?) cover and the iron (?) overlay on the water tank.  I expect there is some kind of ceramic part between the tank and the iron (?) overlay... it is a mystery to me and feel unless I find a donor my Empire will be shelf art.

I guess I now know I am missing bits of the whistle too... but I am a long way from making any kind of steam!

Great facelift and that is saying things lightly!  Thank you for posting too!




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Richard

Paula

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Re: Quality Brand (Empire) Gets A Facelift
« Reply #31 on: March 31, 2022, 09:16:25 pm »
Gobsmacked?? Ouch, sorry about that!  ::)  I just guessed at the SV setting. (It's 3 PSI below my car's recommended tire pressure.)

Quote from: komet163b on March 30, 2022, 02:17:23 pm
Thirty PSI!  I'm gobsmacked!  I had no idea they ran so high.
Your engine must pound along at a speedy clip!  Now, I need to
get together with the pressure guage and set it up.

Thanks,
Wayne
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A friend is someone who knows the song in your heart and can sing it back to you when you have forgotten the words.

Paula

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Re: Quality Brand (Empire) Gets A Facelift
« Reply #32 on: March 31, 2022, 09:18:06 pm »
Thank you! It was fun.

Quote from: Woe is me on March 30, 2022, 03:10:20 pm
All I can say that all the other members haven't said yet I believe is, WOW.
That is a beautiful engine, great job.
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A friend is someone who knows the song in your heart and can sing it back to you when you have forgotten the words.

Paula

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Re: Quality Brand (Empire) Gets A Facelift
« Reply #33 on: March 31, 2022, 09:33:35 pm »
Hi Rich,

Seems there's nothing more scarce than an Empire heater (a working one, anyway.)  :(

The bottom cover is just a piece of sheet metal with two holes, retained by two 1/4-20 nuts on the boiler bottom mounting studs. I believe the cast iron retainer is meant to absorb some of the heat from the element, and reflect it back to the boiler, as well as hold the element against the boiler.

If I remember correctly, there were several layers of mica between the heater element and the cast iron retainer. Pretty difficult to duplicate this setup from scratch. I do have a plan to rescue a heaterless B30 with a contoured aluminum block, drilled for 2 cartridge heaters. It would be retained against the boiler with the same two studs that held the original heater retainer. I will detail it on the forum if/when it ever happens.

Paula


Quote from: RichSteamTx on March 30, 2022, 04:30:20 pm
This little guy looks like a close cousin to my Empire Turbine, B35.  It is nice that you posted the underside - which mine is missing the steel (?) cover and the iron (?) overlay on the water tank.  I expect there is some kind of ceramic part between the tank and the iron (?) overlay... it is a mystery to me and feel unless I find a donor my Empire will be shelf art.

I guess I now know I am missing bits of the whistle too... but I am a long way from making any kind of steam!

Great facelift and that is saying things lightly!  Thank you for posting too!
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A friend is someone who knows the song in your heart and can sing it back to you when you have forgotten the words.

RichSteamTx

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Re: Quality Brand (Empire) Gets A Facelift
« Reply #34 on: March 31, 2022, 09:48:56 pm »
Hey Paula - I am well on my way for getting mine going again.  Steward (aka Empire man 202) is sending me a super nice care package.  It is kind of hard to believe all the parts he is sending me, it was like I was having a dream while talking on the phone.  I talked to him in length but I am sure once I get all the parts I'll be asking questions on how to assemble correctly.  He did talk a lot about the mica stuff and if you don't get it right, then Zap!

So many people have been helping me between the Jensen Model #10 (for my brother) and the Empire.  Hard to believe I hardly been a member on the forms for a day!

Your drawings look sweet and very professional, I look forward to seeing progress on that setup!
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Richard

RichSteamTx

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Re: Quality Brand (Empire) Gets A Facelift
« Reply #35 on: August 17, 2022, 04:15:21 pm »
Quote from: txlabman on February 09, 2022, 03:51:46 pm
Thank you Paula for the detailed description of the engine.

Looking forward to how you tackled the lower sight glass.

If you decide to repaint it the matching Empire Red Paint is Krylon Number RTA 9230 Cherry Red.

Thank you for posting about the Krylon Number RTA9230 Cherry Red - I picked up a can from NAPA Auto Parts and it is a really good match to Empire Red (which I seen in their averts call "Bright Red Duco").
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Richard

RichSteamTx

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Re: Quality Brand (Empire) Gets A Facelift
« Reply #36 on: August 22, 2022, 10:12:28 am »
I have the Empire B30 of this engine that I got it off eBay for some parts for my B35 (the complete heater).  While my B35 is now operational with its parts and it is a cool engine I find it not very powerful (hardly runs Empire accessories).   The B30 is actually in pretty good shape (tank finish/main base) though it was missing the proper whistle screw / whistle base but I have now decided to get it running.

The top sight glass O-Ring was completely blown and I was only blowing air into with my mouth.  So I figured I'd try to take that apart as the corrosion was very low on the fitting, the top being in near perfect shape.  After letting the fittings soak with liquid wrench they easily came undone and I was able to loosen the top ball just enough to get the slight glass out.  Cleaning the old O-rings out was a bit of fun but now all the bits and bobs are in fine shape!

I have some 1/4” ID x 3/8” OD O-rings ordered from Granger and should have them in soon.  The shipping cost more than the O-rings themselves and I get a 100 of them (so anyone needing some I'll have extras).  I even took apart the B35 sight glass by doing the same procedure as the B30 (it had medium corrosion for the top and near high level at the bottom).  Thank you @Paula for the posting the O-ring size - so very helpful!  I also sent you a message about your cool #91195A120 from McMaster-Carr washers for the pressure valve - hope to hear back from you.

@komet163b I'd love to see how you mount cartridge heaters / part numbers on your Empires for something like a B30/B35.

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Richard
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