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Getting Back into an old hobby(Small Air Cooled Engines)

Posted: Sun Dec 16, 2012 6:42 pm
by transamman908
I've been slowing down on my R/C hobby for the time being and focusing on a old hobby that I was into some years back. I like to restore antique small air cooled engines mainly antique Briggs And Strattons. Just like vintage r/c, the thrill of the search and hunt for old parts, restoration process and getting something old run and shine again is simply awesome. I sold off most of my antiques engines back when I got married but recently aquired a Sears & Robuck Powermaster generator that's powered by a 1935 Briggs & Stratton model K engine which got me back into this great hobby. Luckily it was kept in a garage for most it's life but years of no attention left it needing a full resto. The weight of these engines is crazy being they used mostly cast iron parts so I needed to build a hoist for my garage ceiling to get it to the work bench. After that was completed I tore it down and started the rebuild which included new gaskets, valve job, re-wiring the electric motor with modern cloth covered 8awg wire, cleaning layers of grease, blasting and painting each piece and building a dolly for the base so I can roll it about as the whole unit probably weighs over 300lbs. I rolled it out of the garage 2 weeks ago to test it out. It came to life after about 3 pulls of the rope, simply awesome. It does produce power. I tested it with my 13 amp Skil saw and it powered it with no problem. It puts out 1000 watts or about 1 kilowatt.
Here's a few pics. The last pic is my latest project, a 1936 Briggs model ZL. It's one of the more rare Briggs being it has an aluminum block, blower housing, hand crank assembly.
Any other Briggs heads/stationary engine collectors on here?

Re: Getting Back into an old hobby(Small Air Cooled Engines)

Posted: Sun Dec 16, 2012 8:49 pm
by cooltoys
Those are neat engines! Nice restoration job.. I only have the go kart engines around here that i should get running sometime.... :D