It's been a month and I have finished my Elmer's standby (I'll post on that later this weekend). It's now time to get this puppy running. When we left off, the thing was leaking like sieve and blowing air out of the exhaust constantly. I just couldn't get it to run. The first thing to address is the constant exhaust. I always expect to have a little bit but nothing like i was seeing. As far as I was concerned I had valve problems and or a poorly sized piston. While I was working on my other project I ordered a set of small hole gauges. I pulled the engine apart and measured the bore and the piston. I found 2 things. The bore was tapered and the piston was .008 undersized from the narrow side. I also pulled the valve chest apart and discovered something interesting. It seams that the Elderberry guys changed the valve dimensions from what Elmer had used. I missed it the first time around and I made the valve to one set of dimensions and the valve plate to the other. So the task this weekend is to fix the cylinder and make a new piston to fit. Then I will make a new Elmer's dimensioned valve plate to go with the Elmer's valve I made earlier. Then I'll put it all back together and see if it runs.
Tony