Author Topic: An Upshur Farm Engine  (Read 13652 times)

Offline RReid

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Re: An Upshur Farm Engine
« Reply #90 on: December 12, 2021, 03:38:58 PM »
Kim, Don, and Per - Thank you for your comments and support!

Quote
I'm not sure that I would like to be known as the chap that spread the use of Danish profanity to the English speaking World
No, I can see that. But on the other hand, you did say that Danish teenagers mostly curse in English these days. So in a way it could be said that you are preserving Danish history, just as we do with some of our engines. ;)

All that's really left to do on the engine is to tidy it up and make it more purty. One side frame got painted while I was waiting for the ignition coil to arrive. Now it's raining (YAY!, we still badly need it), and since I only do spray paints outside the other side will have to wait a bit longer.
Regards,
Ron

Offline Art K

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Re: An Upshur Farm Engine
« Reply #91 on: December 12, 2021, 11:27:35 PM »
Ron,
When I first started my Upshur vertical for the first time I had a similar problem. It would only run about a thousand RPM, no matter what. I called my dad he listened to the symptoms and said, "its advanced to far retard it".Turns out it was three teeth off. It's ran great since till it needed an overhaul.
Art
"The beautiful thing about learning is that no one can take it away from you" B.B. King

Offline RReid

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Re: An Upshur Farm Engine
« Reply #92 on: December 12, 2021, 11:43:15 PM »
Great story, Art. Your father has a good ear! :ThumbsUp:

Making a proper mounting base for the engine gave me a chance to spend quality time with some of my Great-Grandfather's hand tools. This is just a few. He made his living as a carpenter/cabinet maker, though the Disston rip saw was probably a post-retirement acquisition. Under the lid of the older of two toolboxes is a newspaper clipping about the Spanish-American war (1898). I'm quite privileged to have them, I think. I like to think that he'd be happy they are still used and cared for.



The base is from a remnant piece of 4/4 rough milled Maple plank I originally bought from a hardwoods mill in Pennsylvania. I love the finish a sharp hand plane puts on a close grained hardwood, at least along the grain. No sanding required. Putting some varnish on it will have to wait until it warms up a bit here, too cold and wet right now.



I also got the condenser tucked in behind the flywheel with the points. I just fits.




Regards,
Ron

Offline Admiral_dk

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Re: An Upshur Farm Engine
« Reply #93 on: December 13, 2021, 01:29:48 AM »
Quote
No, I can see that. But on the other hand, you did say that Danish teenagers mostly curse in English these days. So in a way it could be said that you are preserving Danish history, just as we do with some of our engines. ;)

 :lolb:   :lolb:    OK - I will try and use that as my excuse  :cheers:

So now you only have the finishing touches left, eh ...!
Will it be a box with the electrics hidden below ?

Offline RReid

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Re: An Upshur Farm Engine
« Reply #94 on: December 13, 2021, 02:32:36 AM »
Quote
Will it be a box with the electrics hidden below ?
No, just a solid base, in keeping with my usual KISS approach. The points and condenser are mounted on the engine, but I see no reason for the coil and battery to be attached.
Regards,
Ron

Online Kim

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Re: An Upshur Farm Engine
« Reply #95 on: December 13, 2021, 04:44:46 AM »
Those are some very nice tools!  I'm sure they are a pleasure to use, and the fact that they were your great-grandfathers makes them even more special to use!
Kim

Offline RReid

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Re: An Upshur Farm Engine
« Reply #96 on: December 15, 2021, 07:23:42 PM »
Yesterday was just sunny enough to finish up the paint and varnish chores. Still cold though, so I let things dry in the house. Even so, the varnish took at least 8 hours to stop feeling tacky. The frame paint is what VW in 1967 called Zephyr Blue. That dried fairly quickly, and neither it nor the varnish stunk up the house. At least my wife didn't mention anything!

Here are a last few glamour shots to wrap this build up with. The first one has the flywheel removed to give a better view of the points/condenser arrangement. Please ignore the fact that I forgot to repaint the fuel tank!






Regards,
Ron

Online Kim

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Re: An Upshur Farm Engine
« Reply #97 on: December 15, 2021, 07:38:21 PM »
Nice base Ron!  Like the clear finish.  And the light blue - very subtle!
Kim

Offline joe d

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Re: An Upshur Farm Engine
« Reply #98 on: December 15, 2021, 08:53:49 PM »
That sure came out nice, Ron!  It would fit under the rear hood of a VW quite nicely :ROFL:

Joe

Offline RReid

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Re: An Upshur Farm Engine
« Reply #99 on: December 15, 2021, 09:30:11 PM »
Thanks Kim!

Quote
It would fit under the rear hood of a VW quite nicely
Great idea, Joe!

Regards,
Ron

Offline Art K

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Re: An Upshur Farm Engine
« Reply #100 on: December 16, 2021, 12:12:16 PM »
Nice pose there Ron. I had a 68 and my brother had a 66 beetle. Always liked the idea of a 2180 monster in it. Never happened.
Art
"The beautiful thing about learning is that no one can take it away from you" B.B. King

Offline RReid

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Re: An Upshur Farm Engine
« Reply #101 on: December 16, 2021, 03:12:50 PM »
Thanks Art! That one is a 1776, built from almost all new parts. Approximately 2x the HP of the original. I did keep the fan and fan shroud from the engine the car was born with. That engine currently lives under my lathe stand.

I enjoyed that engine assembly project so much that it was fairly soon after that I bought the Taig lathe. Cheaper and even more fun to make my own parts, even if they are smaller.
Regards,
Ron

Offline sid pileski

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Re: An Upshur Farm Engine
« Reply #102 on: December 16, 2021, 04:37:19 PM »
Nice job!

What's next??

Sid

Offline RReid

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Re: An Upshur Farm Engine
« Reply #103 on: December 16, 2021, 08:56:28 PM »
Thanks Sid!

Quote
What's next??
Good question. At this point I haven't decided, but I have three leading candidates.

1) The Hoglet, Randall Cox's 45degree V-twin. Looks fun, but as designed uses two 4"OD x 3"ID bronze rings in the flywheel/crankshaft construction. Checking the price of bronze tube led me to discard that idea out of hand. Even using steel would be spendy.  I'm noodling on substituting aluminum rings for the bronze, with an added "outboard" flywheel to make up for the lost inertial mass.

2) An open-crankcase inline twin based on the Upshur T-Head engine that I'm calling the Twin-MUTHE (Modified Upshur T- Head Engine). Alternatively, I could call it the Twin-DUHCs (Double UnderHead Cams), which is catchier but doesn't give due credit to Mr. Upshur.

.

3) The Howell "Super" Stirling Engine Fan. This could be a fun change of pace and I've wanted to do a Stirling eventually. It would also be nominally "useful"!
Regards,
Ron

Offline Dave Otto

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Re: An Upshur Farm Engine
« Reply #104 on: December 17, 2021, 01:22:41 AM »
Thanks Kim!

Quote
It would fit under the rear hood of a VW quite nicely
Great idea, Joe!



Yup, lay it down and add 3 more cylinders.  :)
You don't often see a vacuum advance distributor on a built VW engine. Attached is the engine on one of my pride and joys, sold a number of years ago. This was a 1700cc engine that got 30+ mpg on the road.

Dave

 

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