4 H.P. Novo

Page 4 - Restoration cont.

Updated 12/23/01

After I had the engine running I discovered that the crankcase side covers leaked oil badly. Also, the engine just needed a good cleaning to get all the old dirt and oil off it. I started to scrape it and decided real quick that this was going to take a long time unless I found a better way. So, I took the mag off and loaded the engine onto the trailer and took it to the do-it-yourself carwash. After about 3 bucks worth it was very clean, and I spent another buck and a half while shoving the nozzle into the water hopper. There was about an inch of crud (dirt, sand, oil, grease, etc.) in there and quite hard. I just took the drain cock out and kept at it with the nozzle. Eventually it mostly came out and is now really clean. Upon returning home I put new gaskets on the side covers which I had previously made, making a point to use Permatex #2 to seal them. After running the engine a few times I noticed that the gasket between the top and bottom halves leaked oil. So, I pulled the engine apart, made a new gasket, cleaned the surfaces, permatexed them and reassembled the top onto the bottom. I also put lock washers on the bolts that held the halves together. I found it strange they did not have them to start with. Here's a couple pictures of that operation.

Here's a picture of the two halves apart. The rings looked really good, lots of tension. The cylinder looked very good also, no scores or grooves. This engine should run for a LONG time!

Putting the halves back together. Held the top half up with a block and tackle while I squeezed the rings and forced the piston back into the bore by holding pressure on it by turning the flywheels.

The last step was to put the fuel pump back on and make new gas lines. I finally decided to put a check valve in the line inside the tank, and put a filter in the line just in case there is some rust floating around in the tank (since I couldn't get all the rust out farther up on the sides and top). Originally the fuel line that went into the tank from the fuel pump was a pipe that simply went through a reducer fitting that was more or less the same size. What I did when I reworked the fuel system I switched everything to copper tubing, therefore I had a problem with how the copper line would go into the tank. What I settled on was to get a brass plug with a flat top that fit the original hole and drilled a hole in the plug in line with the tubing from the pump so that the line could simply go through the hole. After several unsuccessful attempts to find a filter that would fit through the hole where the plug had to go, and not knowing what to do for a check valve, I came upon a check valve that I had gotten but never used several months earlier. It was a check meant to go on the end of a tube, and had a 1/4" thread in it. The plus what that there was a screen built into the end with very fine mesh. Therefore I had my filter and check all in one, and the check was a very thin diameter that would easily fit through the plug hole. I took a 1/4 bolt and cut an inch off the threaded end then drilled a hole through it lengthwise to make it hollow. This I took and brazed to the end of a piece of copper tubing then screwed the check valve onto the hollow bolt end. Then I cut the tubing to the correct length so that when installed onto the pump the tube would hold the end of the check valve just above the bottom of the tank. I then put the whole thing together, making the two tubes I needed - the one from the fuel pump to the mixer and the one from the mixer to the the fuel tank (overflow line). Below is a picture of the assembled fuel system.

Well, now the engine is finally complete, only three and a half years after I bought it! But it runs really good, starts every time, very easily. I'm looking forward to showing for it's first season this summer (2002), still figuring out what I want to run with it.

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Last Update: 02/07/02