Just wanted to thank you for taking the time to show off your toys to the world! I learn more old school problem solving and engineering from watching your videos than I do from college!
Love the video Mr P. I must say I rather like the exposed chain and the flywheel dance with death switch. They enhance the true character of the "Can Do" world that these machines and their owners came from. Kind Regards Garry in the UK (The English Bit)
You have to love the sound these engines make when they start up. How they sound when they build up RPM's is wonderful. Speaking about being cantankerous. I was cantankerous when I was 15 years old. I'm 55 now, so you can imagine what I'm like now! Great video. I love those vintage engines.
I can't believe you actually made the sprocket for that thing! That is a labor of love right there. I enjoyed this video as much as any you've made in a quite a while. Interesting stuff. keep on learnin'
+mrpete222 You've got a new fan here Sir! I've always been a fan of any and all engines as well as the knowledge that goes along with them. I have a small collection of old 2 cycle semi diesel glow engines from as small as .009 c.i.d. up to a 440cc gas / oil mix twin cylinder.
Absolutely love these old engines. Lyle - I am 71 and my cantankerous factor knows no bounds -- add in a bunch of cynicism and you have a real old man's formula. :-)
2 HUGE thumbs up Mr Pete....I look forward to your presentations....You "open up some doors and get some air moving in" to my brain in the morning....ha....PLEASE DON'T SLOW DOWN.....
LOL. Thanks for the painful trip down memory lane, Lyle. I never saw an impulse magneto until I got a Wisconsin motor. I had this thing in my hand, turning it with a wrench and trying to find the cause of all that racket when it tripped and sent my dental fillings flying across the garage. I spent some time pondering (and cussing) the use of such a complicated device on a small engine until I remembered it was powering a mortar mixer. It would be difficult to build up enough speed to reliably fire off a flywheel magneto pull starting that baby while loaded. Kudos to Steve for his modern implementation but it just seems to defy the 'spirit' of these old farm engines by having to use an external power source. I much prefer your FM modification. I realize that those FM units are also a bit rare and expensive and adapting a flywheel magneto would be tricky getting the timing right but I'd rather do that than have to ride ol' Bessie the cow into town and hit up Wally World for a battery every so often. Perhaps you could go halfway and use your dynamo as a power source and/or charge a lead/gel battery. Maybe make a distressed battery box with big ol' brass wing nuts and coiled wire for appearances at the least.
Nothing like a morning cup of mrpete222 to start the day... Great video! Reminds me of learning to time magnetos to aircraft engines, using a "buzz-box." It was basically a continuity indicator, where a light would illuminate (and an audible buzz changed in tone) when the points would open inside the magneto. This indicated where the electrical field collapses, and the current will go to ground through the spark plug...thus igniting the fuel/air mixture inside the cylinder.
You certainly have some nice engines. Thanks for showing them. I had a 6 horse hit or miss engine and I gave it away to get room in the garage to park my car. Just one of those regrets that old men have.
Hi Mr Peterson I'd just like to say I 'm a fully qualified diesel engine fitter (city & guild certificated) and I think your engine videos are up there with all the others.as always thanks
I used to time by ear as well. :) Great memories. I had a friend that forgot to use a rag to grab the distributor and he got a spark that jumped from his knuckle to the engine, creating a nasty burn/cut on his knuckle. Safety first always!!!
Loved this video, Mr. Pete. I still have my old Craftsman timing light and dwell meter somewhere out in my shop. I bought them brand new as a teenager, back in the '60s. Plus + one on all this PC "business"... Treetop
I agree with your resentment of change, especially when "new and improved" means "made cheaper". But I'm getting old too. I have a 1937 Stover hit and miss, perfectly safe if your not stupid. Thanks for the videos.
I found this video helpful. I have started collecting older air cooled gas engines and many of those use magnetos like Wico and Fairbanks Morse. Funny you should mention Chevy 235 engines. My favorite engine of all time. I spent about 40 years playing, improving and hot rodding them. I had 22 of them when i got sick 5-1/2 years ago and because i was not sure if i was going to be around much longer, i sold them all along with my 56 Chevy sedan that i owned for 34 years.
Nice video. Thank you you for sharing it. I would not stick my hand in between the fly wheel and mag to shut it off. What I do is shut off the fuel valve. Im not sure if you were running your old mag with out a spark plug or not. but if you were the windings will be arcing every time it sparks and it will some time burn out the windings in the mag. Nice engines, they sound great!
Great video Pete, I would use the sprocket to run a small 1 wire alternator (11 amp) from a lawn tractor to charge a small motorcycle battery to make it a self contained unit. Thanks for the information.
Great video as always! I'm currently working on the (relatively "new") magneto on a 1961 Kohler 7 horse engine from my Bolens Ride-a-Matic. I had previously converted it to an automotive-style ignition, with a coil, etc when I had added electric start to it, (maybe 10 or more years ago) only to roast the points due to a faulty ignition switch :P
Rayovac sells globally. So they put English on the battery label, and also French. This allows European sales (France and some other places....) And Canada wide, not just in the Province of Quebec.
I saw a little blow-by going up into the oiler on the Wico engine, would that prevent oil from getting to the piston or do they all do that to some extent? Great video, Mr. Pete. shopdogsam just did a video on that sparkbox, looks like it's catching on!
Really like the sound those engines make Great Video! Also what would one expect to pay for a engine like this and where would be a good place to start looking for one?
Mr. Pete I was born in 46 so I figure I'm close to your age, I do enjoy your videos with the exception of your constant comments about the inferiority of current culture, yes I get cranky too, but if you live in that world of crankiness it's just plan unhealthy.
That was pretty neat. To say you have an opinion of OSHA is still allowed in this country. I too grew up with the understanding "every man for himself". Darwin would take care of the rest.
Just curious... since you showed the chain driven magneto being on a 1:1 chain drive. You said you were running in wasted spark mode. Could you have made your primary sprocket with half the teeth so you could run a 1:2 and not have wasted spark or would the mag not spin fast enough?
+ramosel I'm probably wrong but Lyle may have used a pair of old bicycle crank sprockets for expediency. Getting a 1:2 ratio would have taken a lot of extra scrounging and work finding and adapting a wheel sprocket which are usually hardened and part of a cluster. Unlike a typical B&S style flywheel magneto that needs the passing magnet to be above a certain speed to create a good spark, the FM Impulse magnetos have an internal spring mechanism that's 'wound up' during rotation then released all at once at the timing mark. That's the impulse click you hear. Since the stored energy of the spring is constant when released - the magneto fires with the same energy regardless off rpm. It will fire just fine if rotated by hand. I learned this the hard way when I first encountered one troubleshooting an old Wisconsin motor.
you can get a 6v SLA or garden tractor rechargeable battery for under 20$ that give more current and better spark. But if the coil is 12v, it may need a 12v battery. Kid's power wheels have 6v SLA gel cells and charger, if you take it from a kid. Don
The "safety patrol" would say that you had obviously never used that kill button on the EK mag. If you had, you obviously would be missing a hand, an inescapable one-to-one correlation. Certainly, safety regs protect from "duh" moments, and protect those who can't seem to protect themselves, but I have to think they also breed carelessness and thoughtlessness. If you don't have to think about being aware and safe, and you never had to in your life, you probably won't. The most important and effective safety device resides between the ears. I know this from personal experience, having used it, and foolishly, foolishly having failed to use it. Fortunately, I still have all the parts of my left hand. I occasionally visit an old municipal light plant that has thankfully been preserved. Three Fairbanks-Morse model Y diesels drive those open-frame alternators, which feed a General Electric power control and distribution panel about 8 feet tall and 20 feet long. The panel itself is slate, but every single knife switch and control is exposed and uninsulated. The extensive wiring behind the panel stands along a wall, but is accessible to anyone who walks back there. We're told that the system generated 2,500 volts (and no, they don't energize it for shows!). They also tell us that there was only one casualty during the 30, 40, or more years that the plant supplied the town--as late as the 1950s--and that didn't happen in the building at the panel or around the engines. A mistake was made one time, when the distribution line out of the plant was accidentally energized while a man was working on the line right outside the building. It was a tragedy, but I wonder whether their safety record would have been any better in today's world. As it was, it reflects uncommon attention and care. An interesting side note is that the newest of the Fairbanks engines, a 3-cylinder, was moved into the building and settled into place on a huge block of ice. As to grumpy old men, myself just entering that club, I like the term "curmudgeon." It's a great word in itself, though it doesn't fully make the case.
Makes that motor expensive to run, I wonder how long it would run on one of those 6V. dry cells. Definitely not as good as what you had on there that's for sure. ~ Oh well, it's a good test-tool.
would you have every guessed, that inside your 6V lantern battery is/are AAA batteries, a lot of them. not sure how many but more than 2 dozen i'm sure!
14:48 love me some Mr Pete. Aren't you just so sick of the politically correct nature of 'nowadays' ...... I'm not as old as you and I still long for the 'ole days'
rpm too high on second engine. NEVER EVER stick your hand between the flywheel and the magneto to stop the engine. Especially with long sleeves. take a wooden broom handle (with a hole drilled in the end and flame harden it) to hold the exhaust rocker open till the engine stops completely. If the engine has the original magneto always use it, Send it off to get repaired if needed. Rigging a magneto is ignorant and depreciate the apearance of the engine and looks terrible at shows. I took my magneto apart and it was a broken wire inside, soldered it together and has worked flawlessly for years. Parts for these engines are plentiful to buy.
Just wanted to thank you for taking the time to show off your toys to the world! I learn more old school problem solving and engineering from watching your videos than I do from college!
Gee wilickers Mr. Pete. You wake up of a morning like you're still going to work! Thanks for sharing your knowledge. It's a wonderful gift.
Love the video Mr P. I must say I rather like the exposed chain and the flywheel dance with death switch. They enhance the true character of the "Can Do" world that these machines and their owners came from. Kind Regards Garry in the UK (The English Bit)
You have to love the sound these engines make when they start up. How they sound when they build up RPM's is wonderful. Speaking about being cantankerous. I was cantankerous when I was 15 years old. I'm 55 now, so you can imagine what I'm like now! Great video. I love those vintage engines.
I can't believe you actually made the sprocket for that thing! That is a labor of love right there.
I enjoyed this video as much as any you've made in a quite a while. Interesting stuff.
keep on learnin'
+Kevin My engine vids are never very popular-thanks
+mrpete222
You've got a new fan here Sir! I've always been a fan of any and all engines as well as the knowledge that goes along with them. I have a small collection of old 2 cycle semi diesel glow engines from as small as .009 c.i.d. up to a 440cc gas / oil mix twin cylinder.
Absolutely love these old engines.
Lyle - I am 71 and my cantankerous factor knows no bounds -- add in a bunch of cynicism and you have a real old man's formula. :-)
+ChrisB257 you're still young at heart.
+ChrisB257
I'm only 43 but I feel the exact same way. Political correctness and boundaries be damned! But yet I'm still just a big kid at heart!
2 HUGE thumbs up Mr Pete....I look forward to your presentations....You "open up some doors and get some air moving in" to my brain in the morning....ha....PLEASE DON'T SLOW DOWN.....
LOL. Thanks for the painful trip down memory lane, Lyle. I never saw an impulse magneto until I got a Wisconsin motor. I had this thing in my hand, turning it with a wrench and trying to find the cause of all that racket when it tripped and sent my dental fillings flying across the garage. I spent some time pondering (and cussing) the use of such a complicated device on a small engine until I remembered it was powering a mortar mixer. It would be difficult to build up enough speed to reliably fire off a flywheel magneto pull starting that baby while loaded. Kudos to Steve for his modern implementation but it just seems to defy the 'spirit' of these old farm engines by having to use an external power source. I much prefer your FM modification. I realize that those FM units are also a bit rare and expensive and adapting a flywheel magneto would be tricky getting the timing right but I'd rather do that than have to ride ol' Bessie the cow into town and hit up Wally World for a battery every so often. Perhaps you could go halfway and use your dynamo as a power source and/or charge a lead/gel battery. Maybe make a distressed battery box with big ol' brass wing nuts and coiled wire for appearances at the least.
Nothing like a morning cup of mrpete222 to start the day...
Great video! Reminds me of learning to time magnetos to aircraft engines, using a "buzz-box." It was basically a continuity indicator, where a light would illuminate (and an audible buzz changed in tone) when the points would open inside the magneto. This indicated where the electrical field collapses, and the current will go to ground through the spark plug...thus igniting the fuel/air mixture inside the cylinder.
You certainly have some nice engines. Thanks for showing them. I had a 6 horse hit or miss engine and I gave it away to get room in the garage to park my car. Just one of those regrets that old men have.
Hi Mr Peterson I'd just like to say I 'm a fully qualified diesel engine fitter (city & guild certificated) and I think your engine videos are up there with all the others.as always thanks
Thanks
I used to time by ear as well. :) Great memories. I had a friend that forgot to use a rag to grab the distributor and he got a spark that jumped from his knuckle to the engine, creating a nasty burn/cut on his knuckle. Safety first always!!!
Loved this video, Mr. Pete. I still have my old Craftsman timing light and dwell meter somewhere out in my shop. I bought them brand new as a teenager, back in the '60s.
Plus + one on all this PC "business"... Treetop
Great video Sir .thank you for taking the time to present a video that not only entertains but teaches ...the best kind of video!
👍👍
I just got totally blown away by this video I love your approach!!!!!!
Thanks
Always interesting Mr. Pete. Love the old hit and miss, flywheel engines.
Thanks
Very cool video, thanks for posting this! There's nothing like the sound of an old Hit n Miss.
Remote Mag. Brilliant design And craftsmanship 👍
Great sounding old engines. Thanks. I have an old Villiers engine that originally powered a winch used on a farm.
I agree with your resentment of change, especially when "new and improved" means "made cheaper". But I'm getting old too. I have a 1937 Stover hit and miss, perfectly safe if your not stupid. Thanks for the videos.
I agree, absolutely love these old engines. (McCormick Deering M Engine) Would be very cool to see more!! Thank you! :-)
I found this video helpful. I have started collecting older air cooled gas engines and many of those use magnetos like Wico and Fairbanks Morse. Funny you should mention Chevy 235 engines. My favorite engine of all time. I spent about 40 years playing, improving and hot rodding them. I had 22 of them when i got sick 5-1/2 years ago and because i was not sure if i was going to be around much longer, i sold them all along with my 56 Chevy sedan that i owned for 34 years.
Nice video. Thank you you for sharing it. I would not stick my hand in between the fly wheel and mag to shut it off. What I do is shut off the fuel valve. Im not sure if you were running your old mag with out a spark plug or not. but if you were the windings will be arcing every time it sparks and it will some time burn out the windings in the mag. Nice engines, they sound great!
Great video Pete, I would use the sprocket to run a small 1 wire alternator (11 amp) from a lawn tractor to charge a small motorcycle battery to make it a self contained unit. Thanks for the information.
I enjoyed the video very much. It was a very sparkling clear explanation of something a didn't know. 👍👍👍
Excellent video. Will come in very handy as I'm putting together a 1924 McCormick Deering 1.5 HP motor.
👍
I do much prefer the tone of these old large engines, vs the wine of the small high RPM modern equivalents.
Great video as always! I'm currently working on the (relatively "new") magneto on a 1961 Kohler 7 horse engine from my Bolens Ride-a-Matic. I had previously converted it to an automotive-style ignition, with a coil, etc when I had added electric start to it, (maybe 10 or more years ago) only to roast the points due to a faulty ignition switch :P
Love the video. I collect Stover Hit and Miss and tractors with magnetos.. I have a magnet remagnetizing unit in order to recharge the magnets.
Just a note, That spark on the exhaust stroke is called a, "maverick spark."
At 15:27 in the video do you have the battery hooked up backwards?
I'm buying a McCormick deering to power a generator. Such cool looking engines
Never heard of a timing light before, what an interesting instrument :)
+creativeobsin Look up dwell meter they worked with distb. and points systems.
Rayovac sells globally. So they put English on the battery label, and also French. This allows European sales (France and some other places....) And Canada wide, not just in the Province of Quebec.
Very entertaining, thanks Mr Pete
if my memory serves me well did McCormick make farm tractors also... Thanks for sharing sir...
+Kevin Willis And other farm equipment.
Excellent video. I always learn a lot. Thanks!
how's that osha? i lost it! really funny! great video Pete!
Great video. I have a lister d here in the uk
You've got me thinking that we all should make a list of prices for our equipment and guns so the wives don't just give it all away when we die.
seen crank handles get chins across top of head and break wrist others break thumbs
If you find French on labels offensive you might want to reconsider that summer road trip to Quebec...
What kind of gas mileage or how efficient is the fuel usage? And compared to the small engine what is the torque differences? Love your videos.
So you made me wonder if a person could build a spark box using a mechanical grill clicker igniter?
Nothing wrong with a quality adjustable wrench. Like all tools it must be used properly and within its limits.
I saw a little blow-by going up into the oiler on the Wico engine, would that prevent oil from getting to the piston or do they all do that to some extent? Great video, Mr. Pete. shopdogsam just did a video on that sparkbox, looks like it's catching on!
Do you mind sharing the design or schematic for this buzz box setup ?
Thanks !
Really like the sound those engines make Great Video! Also what would one expect to pay for a engine like this and where would be a good place to start looking for one?
Rayovac had been located in Wisconsin since its conception as The French Battery Company in 1906. Why is that offensive?
I always thought hit & miss where motors with only one valve lifter and one poppet valve ,next ihc la motors had 2 valve lifter ,cam driven,
to me when it was first hooked up to the 6volt battery it was on the wrong poles
Excellent Video. Thank you 👍
I can't believe you didn't open up that "Spark Box" and show us inside. Maybe a "How it works" video.
Great video!
Mr. Pete
I was born in 46 so I figure I'm close to your age, I do enjoy your videos with the exception of your constant comments about the inferiority of current culture, yes I get cranky too, but if you live in that world of crankiness it's just plan unhealthy.
That was pretty neat. To say you have an opinion of OSHA is still allowed in this country. I too grew up with the understanding "every man for himself". Darwin would take care of the rest.
Hi Mr Pete. I guess you really do embrace old technology, you said you are still using "video tape". : )
On the one with the chain driven magneto, does the mag turn fast enough to disengage the impulse coupling? Just curious...
Yes
THANK YOU...for sharing.
Just curious... since you showed the chain driven magneto being on a 1:1 chain drive. You said you were running in wasted spark mode. Could you have made your primary sprocket with half the teeth so you could run a 1:2 and not have wasted spark or would the mag not spin fast enough?
+ramosel I'm probably wrong but Lyle may have used a pair of old bicycle crank sprockets for expediency. Getting a 1:2 ratio would have taken a lot of extra scrounging and work finding and adapting a wheel sprocket which are usually hardened and part of a cluster. Unlike a typical B&S style flywheel magneto that needs the passing magnet to be above a certain speed to create a good spark, the FM Impulse magnetos have an internal spring mechanism that's 'wound up' during rotation then released all at once at the timing mark. That's the impulse click you hear. Since the stored energy of the spring is constant when released - the magneto fires with the same energy regardless off rpm. It will fire just fine if rotated by hand.
I learned this the hard way when I first encountered one troubleshooting an old Wisconsin motor.
+Eddie the Grouch Thats right--could not get the right sprockets without spending $50. But, I had 2 identical sprockets on hand.
cool, thanks to both of you. Answered both my curiosities...
Enjoyed the video
you can get a 6v SLA or garden tractor rechargeable battery for under 20$ that give more current and better spark. But if the coil is 12v, it may need a 12v battery. Kid's power wheels have 6v SLA gel cells and charger, if you take it from a kid. Don
Next video. How a spark box works.
Why not remove the cover of the "Sparkbox" for a peek at its innards....?
The "safety patrol" would say that you had obviously never used that kill button on the EK mag. If you had, you obviously would be missing a hand, an inescapable one-to-one correlation. Certainly, safety regs protect from "duh" moments, and protect those who can't seem to protect themselves, but I have to think they also breed carelessness and thoughtlessness. If you don't have to think about being aware and safe, and you never had to in your life, you probably won't.
The most important and effective safety device resides between the ears. I know this from personal experience, having used it, and foolishly, foolishly having failed to use it. Fortunately, I still have all the parts of my left hand.
I occasionally visit an old municipal light plant that has thankfully been preserved. Three Fairbanks-Morse model Y diesels drive those open-frame alternators, which feed a General Electric power control and distribution panel about 8 feet tall and 20 feet long. The panel itself is slate, but every single knife switch and control is exposed and uninsulated. The extensive wiring behind the panel stands along a wall, but is accessible to anyone who walks back there. We're told that the system generated 2,500 volts (and no, they don't energize it for shows!). They also tell us that there was only one casualty during the 30, 40, or more years that the plant supplied the town--as late as the 1950s--and that didn't happen in the building at the panel or around the engines. A mistake was made one time, when the distribution line out of the plant was accidentally energized while a man was working on the line right outside the building. It was a tragedy, but I wonder whether their safety record would have been any better in today's world. As it was, it reflects uncommon attention and care. An interesting side note is that the newest of the Fairbanks engines, a 3-cylinder, was moved into the building and settled into place on a huge block of ice.
As to grumpy old men, myself just entering that club, I like the term "curmudgeon." It's a great word in itself, though it doesn't fully make the case.
Thanks for the info.
I think you already know Canada requires duel language labeling
Makes that motor expensive to run, I wonder how long it would run on one of those 6V. dry cells. Definitely not as good as what you had on there that's for sure. ~ Oh well, it's a good test-tool.
You wired the Battery backwards
White Wire is Negative
Black Wire is Positive
You should look for a small rechargeable SLA battery instead of buying those lantern batteries.
nice to see one run thats not turning like 750 rpm...lol
Isn't Steve Rodgers Captain America?
Very cool!
would you have every guessed, that inside your 6V lantern battery is/are AAA batteries, a lot of them. not sure how many but more than 2 dozen i'm sure!
Small hp but big torque
I think a lot of those magnetos got lost due to somebody wanting magnets :)
14:48 love me some Mr Pete. Aren't you just so sick of the politically correct nature of 'nowadays' ...... I'm not as old as you and I still long for the 'ole days'
those are some really koolllll old engines, safety nazis eat your hearts out.
WATCH OUT FOR THE " OSHA COWBOY " - HIS HORSE MAY PEE ON YOU :-0
GREAT VIDEO !!
P.S. --- DON'T PRESS (( 5 )) IF YOU WANT ENGLISH ! LOL :-(
rpm too high on second engine. NEVER EVER stick your hand between the flywheel and the magneto to stop the engine. Especially with long sleeves. take a wooden broom handle (with a hole drilled in the end and flame harden it) to hold the exhaust rocker open till the engine stops completely. If the engine has the original magneto always use it, Send it off to get repaired if needed. Rigging a magneto is ignorant and depreciate the apearance of the engine and looks terrible at shows. I took my magneto apart and it was a broken wire inside, soldered it together and has worked flawlessly for years. Parts for these engines are plentiful to buy.