|
1998
~ Mechanical Restoration Started Questions or Comments? Please Email Me!
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| 1998 | Work Done |
|---|---|
| Thursday, January 1 |
Bruce and I moved Stanley from Marvin Klair's garage to Wilhelm's Service Center. It was placed on the dual ram truck lift. Looked over the car generally. Sorted out the collection of parts and tools that Marvin had provided with the car. |
| Friday, January 2 |
Photographed the car with color and B&W print film. Cleaned out the car of assorted "stuff". Raised it up on the lift to inspect the undercarriage and general condition. Basically the vehicle is in excellent shape. |
| Saturday, January 3 |
Attempted to lower the canvas top. As it was being folded, it cracked and ripped due to the age, dry rot, etc. The complete top was removed from the car. Steam cleaned the undercarriage. Drained the main water tank -- much rust, muck, and "stuff" came out. |
| Sunday, January 4 |
Continued steam cleaning. Removed the radiator and hood. Moved the car to the heated fork-truck garage that will be its home. |
| Saturday, January 10 |
Cleaned up the storage garage. Placed parts on shelves for storage. Drained the boiler and refilled it. Picked up speedometer cable from Marvin Klair along with a couple of used superheater coils. |
| Sunday, January 11 |
Removed tail light and rear turn signal indicators. Removed spare tire holder. Drained kerosene tank and removed it and AC fuel filter. Kerosene tank looks to be in good condition. Kerosene tank level indicator removed -- needs some repair (new glass & nut is cracked). Located, disassembled, and cleaned the speedometer front wheel gear train. Gears heavily worn. Removed speedometer from dash. Disassembled speedometer and found internal white-metal gears with broken teeth. |
| Saturday, January 17 |
Dropped the burner pan from the underside of the boiler. Removed the superheater and spacer from the underside of the boiler. Removed the smoke box from the top of the boiler. Removed the insulation from the boiler. Disassembled the fuel vaporizer and nozzle from the burner. |
| Sunday, January 18 |
Made hand sketches and took pictures of piping on either side of boiler. Glassbeaded pilot components. Sorted miscellaneous parts provided by Marvin. |
| Saturday, January 24 |
Disassembled the sheet metal burner ring from the burner. Cleaned out the ring of insulation. Disassembled the sheet metal superheater ring and cleaned out the insulation. |
| Sunday, January 25 |
Removed the furnace cement from between the flame rows on the burner. Glass beaded the burner to see its condition. Two flame rows are cracked almost the chord of the burner along the side of the row. One valley between flame rows cracked. |
| Saturday, February 7 |
Measured up the sheet metal which forms the side of the burner to make drawings for its replacement. Measured up the sheet metal which forms the ring around the superheater coil just under the boiler to make drawings for its replacement. Generated computer drawings of what will need to be fabricated to replace the original two rings. The machine shop at Sterling Diagnostic Imaging will do the sheet metal and machining work I need done as an outside contract. |
| Sunday, February 8 |
Cleaned each slot on the burner casting and glassbeaded same. Prepared samples of the boiler clamp bolt and the burner hanger bolts to have new ones made. Removed the copper cover from the bottom of the steam engine cylinders. |
| Tuesday, February 10 |
Transferred title from Marvin Klair to Robert E. Wilhelm, Jr. License plates not issued until car passes inspection. |
| Saturday, February 14 |
Removed access cover to steam valves. Valves appear to have been well lubricated. Doesn't appear to be any scoring of the valve seat and the valve plates appear to be flat. There is about 3/16" end play in the valves as they sit on the valve rods. The valve rods do not appear to be scored where the run in the packing. |
| Saturday, February 21 |
Mailed speedometer to Dick Reynolds
for restoration. Removed rear wheel brake drums and brakes. Inner-drum brake linings (parking brake) will need to be replaced. Removed all brake hardware and rigging for cleaning. Brake drums in good condition. Hardware & rigging in fair condition.
Reynolds Speedometer Repair |
| Sunday, February 22 |
Cleaned rear brake hardware and rigging. Removed driver wheel bearing and discovered scoring of the outer race. Wheel seals also in poor condition. Unable to remove the passenger rear axle bearing due to insert being fast stuck to axle. Attempted to heat and remove it with a wheel puller. Available wheel pullers that fit small holes in insert are too light for the job so a custom ring will need to be made to fit the insert so that a larger wheel puller can be used. Will also need to have machined several special bolts for brake rigging as part removed were either in bad condition or other things had been substituted to keep the system working. Bearing is SKF 2211 (LW11 on outer race) and seals are Garlock Klozure part 1804. |
| Saturday, February 28 |
Started working with Anthony Alvarez of the Sterling Machine Shop to machine the parts needed for the Stanley. His first job was to make an adapter ring to fit over the taper sleeve that holds the axle bearing to the axle. Used the tapered sleeve from the driver's side for a model. However the 5/16" pin holes are different between the two sides so another set of holes had to be put in the adapter to fit the holes on the passenger side. Used a paper template to indicate their location. The new holes lined up fine in circumference however, one was off in angular position a slight bit. I ground down the dowel pin and that worked fine. You have 5/16" pin holes. I could only get a 1/4" drill in the one hole that was off so I ground the
dowel pin oval to fit the mismatch in holes. I then put the puller on it and tried to pop it off. It wasn't going. Got Bruce into the act to look at what I was doing. He too couldn't get it to go and suggested I apply heat. So I put the rose-bud tip on the acetylene torch and started heating things. Heated both the casing the bearing's outer race sits in as well as the tapered sleeve that slides on the shaft. Got things good and hot and then attempted to put the puller adapter back on. Unfortunately the taper sleeve had expanded and I had a bit of trouble. Did finally get it to go on enough that I could get the pins in. Then on with the puller. Used a 3/4-inch breaker bar with 1 inch socket on one of Bruce's biggest pullers. Beat on the casing and the adapter and things started to move. Ended up heating the taper sleeve and casing more and cranking down on the puller. It was a combination of heat on the casing, heat on the taper sleeve (almost red hot), banging on the casing and taper sleeve with a very large hammer, and wrenching down on the puller that it started to move. Ended up doing this the whole way off. It never broke loose and started to slide easily. Once the bearing cleared the casing it got somewhat easier but until it got 90% off it never got to the point that I didn't really have to put my weight onto the breaker bar on the puller. Part way off the pin that I had ground broke! As it kept coming I didn't attempt to replace it, just kept working. Had the taper sleeve almost cherry hot. The pins pulled
(bent) to about a 15 degree angle ovaling the holes. When it did finally come off there are a lot of scoring marks on the shaft from the taper sleeve pulling off. I've got a bit of filing and work to get the shaft back smooth. Probably took me two hours to get it off all total. Wouldn't have happened without the pulling adapter, lots of acetylene torch heat, hammering, and the puller. Unfortunately the pulling adapter may be
no longer any good. It definitely looks like it went through hell and back. She's bent, the holes elongated. It took 3 hours for things to cool off. The bearing is still on the taper sleeve -- that joint never did move. |
| Sunday, March 1 |
Photographed the rear axle bearings and parts. Pressed the tapered sleeve out of the bearing for the passenger side and cleaned everything. The bearing turns out to be worse than the driver's side in that the scoring has led to the outer race cracking. Both rear wheel bearing housings and shafts are clean and ready for new bearings. The tapered sleeve on the passenger's side is damaged where the pins tore the metal. It may be necessary to have a new sleeve made. Much will depend on if the present bearings can be replaced in kind or we need to get something else. Fit up the
sheet metal ring for the burner to insure it will fit properly before the two halves get welded together. Also fit the superheater ring under the boiler and marked where it needs to be cutout for the four boiler steam pipes and for where the superheater tubes pass through. Cleaned the wire chain links for the speedometer. Estimate in from Reynolds Speedometer Repair to repair the speedometer/odometer and the wheel swivel. Gears will need to be fabricated. Going to convert the flexible cable to have a modern cable inside. The flexible cable from the wheel will look original but with the modern flexible cable inside the arrangement will be more reliable. |
| Saturday, March 7 |
Size fit the steel outer rings on the burner and under the boiler.
Worked on new pilot fuel tank installation. The existing tank will not hold pressure and has been repaired at several locations. A air reservoir tank from a truck was located that is the same diameter but slightly longer. It can be modified with connections to serve as the new tank. Will use the new, longer tank as is -- it will mount in the old straps and also sit on the steel frame. Figured out the plumbing arrangements needed. Relocation of two valves and some tubing necessary to accommodate larger tank. Larger tank will also cover the rear of the pump box some. |
| Sunday, March 8 |
Cut the steel outer burner ring to fit the burner while matching up with the slightly smaller diameter superheater ring. Cleaned the rear wheel drums and axle castings. Cleaned the speedometer swivel mounting hardware. |
| Saturday, March 14 |
High-temperature ceramic adhesive, copper tubing, flare fittings for copper tubing received from McMaster-Carr. New bearings and seals for rear axle received from Philadelphia Ball.; Bearing is SNF 2211; seals are National Oil Seal (Federal Mogul Corp) #410752 (2.500 x 3.247 x 0.500).
Anthony Alvarez completed 2 bolts to hold inner brake shoe assemblies to rear, 2 pins for outer brake shoe assemblies to puller action; collar nuts that hold bearing sleeves on rear axle; 4 hanger bolts for burner. |
| Sunday, March 15 |
Fit rear axle bearing sleeve collar nuts to axle shafts. Sized axle wheel nuts. Put suction tube in new fuel tank. Honed right axle bearing sleeve but it still won't fit back on axle -- will have Anthony check the ID and touch-up with a lathe as required. Patched cracks in burner valleys with high temperature adhesive and brake drum filings from brake drum lathe. |
| Saturday, March 21 |
Sanded the white gas and steam oil area under the front seat and the frame and wood areas over the engine in preparation for painting. |
| Sunday, March 22 |
Painted the white gas and steam oil area under the front seat and the frame and wood areas over the engine. |
| Saturday, March 28 |
Didn't actually do anything on my Stanley, however, today I drove my first Stanley. Tom Marshall held his Spring Steam-Up and those of us who have been working with him steamed up five of his cars and took them for a short spin. I rode in the 1916 one with Dave Lumley. Dave drove from Yorklyn to the Boston Market up near Longwood Gardens. Had lunch and then came back. I got to do the drive back. Driving the Stanley was not hard at all. In fact the
steamer goes rather well. It has no problem at all taking off from a stop on a grade. Get it going a bit and then push the hook-up pedal and it takes off rather well. Went on back country roads and boogied along at 20 to 30 MPH which for those roads
aren't bad. Modern car will go faster but I rather enjoy the
leisurely ride. Boiler was set to 500 PSI and the burner was running maybe 15-20% of the time. That tells me the car probably would not have a problem sustaining a much higher speed on better roads. Brakes (mechanical ~ original but relined) are a problem. They do stop the car but you really got to put your foot into them. Going down a couple of decent long grades I pumped them -- on hard then off; on hard then off. You feel the car stopping but if I ever put as much pressure on my Old's brakes as I did the Stanley, the Olds would have locked up hard. Some of it was fade as well on the long down-grades. Right now, as long as I give plenty of stopping distance and don't overdo it, perhaps the ones on my car will be fine once I get them properly reassembled and get by brother to properly adjust them. Uncommonly warm and nice day for late March -- 82 degrees & sunny with light clouds. |
| Sunday, March 29 |
Another great day -- mid-80's and sunny. Worked on cleaning out the grease fittings and the oil drains in the axle castings for the rear wheels. Cleaned out the bearing cover bolt holes & threads as well. Disassembled a complete gas tank level indicator that I got from Tom Marshall. Will use it in the new gas tank. Removed the generator mounting in preparation for installing a better generator. Anthony has completed all the work on the tapered sleeve and wheel puller. All that remains is to remanufacture the felt seal washers that go on the shaft to keep the axle and differential oil out of the bearing. |
| Saturday, April 4 |
Ground and sanded weld on new circular metal shields that cover rear wheel brakes. Fit shields to axle housing. Primed and painted shields black. Filed and fit felt seal washers to axle shafts. Cut and fit 0.007" shims for flats at end of axles that mate to wheel hubs. Speedometer back from Reynolds Speedometer Repair. Looks great! Sending flex-cable to dick Reynolds to have chain-link drive converted to a flex-rod as used on modern speedometers. |
| Sunday, April 5 |
Glass beaded turn signal enclosure, generator mounting hardware & bolts. Primer painted turn signal enclosure. Measured mounting hardware for generator. Need to see if I can find a more suitable generator. Stanley generator is 6-volt, 3-brush design. I want the system to be 12-volt negative ground. Marvin Klair provided a 2nd generator that he said didn't work too well and it looks like it might have problems. Bruce has a generator that we think is 12-volt but it is positive ground. I need to see if I can find Volkswagen generator which is what Tom Marshall has used on several of his cars. Cleaned and painted the pilot fuel tank. |
| Friday, April 10 |
Fit sheet metal rings to burner and for superheater. Inner stainless steel ring for burner too small in diameter and will need to be refabricated in order to fit. Drained and removed boiler from the chassis in preparation for steam cleaning that area of the frame prior to painting. Reassembled rear wheel bearings. Used press to put bearing on tapered sleeve. Used axle bearing cap to set bearing into axle. Used Never-Seize on axle shaft, tapered sleeve to bearing inner race, axle well to bearing outer race surfaces. New cover seals are thicker than originals and the cast wheel hubs will need 1/8" removed from the back side so as not to run on new seals. |
| Saturday, April 11 |
Steam cleaned boiler compartment of car. Also steam cleaned steam engine cylinder assembly and underside of car. |
| Sunday, April 12 |
Painted the rear axle and springs. Painted the boiler support steel. Flex-cable back from Reynolds Speedometer Repair with modern cable installed. |
| Saturday, April 18 |
Purchased custom built 12VDC, negative ground generator & voltage regulator from Ploener's. CCW rotation, no vents. Installed generator on mounting and checked alignments. Will need to design & fabricate a coupling. U-bolts need drilling for cotter keys. Removed generator drive from top of differential and cleaned. Two new bearings required due to scoring on races -- SKF 1205A. Removed front wheels & hubs. Cleaned bearings and hubs. Bearings had the following identifications stamped on inner race edge -- large: 316 210; small: 415 22. Ultrasonic cleaned taper roller bearings and reoiled. Front wheel bearings show a little corrosion on rollers but not bad enough to worry about. Need to have a large flat washer made for one side -- only had a standard washer. Large washer keeps grease in bearing and dirt out. |
| Wednesday, April 22 |
Punched felt seals for front wheel hubs. Figured out how to plumb the kerosene lines in the pump box. The pressure relief valve to depressurize the kerosene system must be relocated due to the longer pilot fuel tank. Primer painted the front wheel hubs. |
| Friday, April 24 |
Plumbed the pressure relief valve for the kerosene fuel system so that the pilot fuel tank can be mounted. |
| Sunday, April 26 |
Deburred and rounded all corners on the burner sheet metal. General sheet metal deburring and clean-up of the burner sheet metal. Cut the superheater ring's lap joint narrower in the area of the pilot access door. Drilled and tapped the holes that mount the burner sheet metal sides to the burner casting. Drilled and tapped the mounting holes for the sheet metal cover that fits on the bottom of the burner casting. |
| Saturday, May 2 |
Checked out fit of new burner insert at top of access door. Painted brake drums and boiler area with high-temperature black paint. Painted driver side of car's frame and undercarriage. |
| Sunday, May 3 |
Painted passenger side of car's frame and undercarriage. Applied a second coat of paint to rear interior wood surfaces, rear axle and rear wheel frame parts. |
| Monday, May 4 |
Installed generator drive gear assembly and packing gland. Installed new bearings on drive shaft -- FAG 1205TV. Installed new gaskets for cover and packing gland. Installed generator. Installed driver and passenger side inner brake assemblies. Installed right brake drum. Cut down width of outer brake assembly linings to clear new wheel covers. Still need to complete rear wheel brake connections to linkages. |
| Saturday, May 9 |
Applied second coat of satin black paint to frame and undercarriage front of firewall. Installed left brake drum. Packed front wheel bearings with grease and installed wheel hubs. Cleaned all boiler and fuel piping and valves from the boiler and firewall area. Found that the valve in the pop valve was frozen to the seat and had to be driven out. |
| Sunday, May 10 |
Showed Andy Parke the garage & Stanley. Andy's grandfather -- Weldon Stumpf -- rebuilt my boiler just before he passed away in 1989. Installed cotter keys in all castle nuts that didn't have them. Installed grease fittings in all threaded grease holes not having fittings. Greased the undercarriage. Cut new gaskets for generator drive shaft cover and drive shaft packing gland. |
| Wednesday, May 13 |
Removed fuel & steam automatics from firewall and glass beaded them. Glass beaded all Stanley valves located under the hood. |
| Friday, May 15 |
Painted firewall with 1200-degree high-temperature black paint. Disassembled pump box water pumps to remove packing. Removed packing from hand water and fuel pumps. |
| Saturday, May 16 |
Applied two more coats of 1200-degree high-temperature paint to firewall. Cleaned and glass-beaded three control valves that mount in firewall. Cleaned threads for packing glands and stems for all removed valves. |
| Sunday, May 17 |
Drove Tom Marshal's 735 to Linvilla Orchards to car show. Experienced my first burner backfire. |
| Monday, May 18 |
Packed water pumps with graphite impregnated Kevlar packing (McMaster-Carr # 9518K91, Style 1030AF; piston diameter 0.625, packing nut is 1-3/8"). Packed fuel pump with graphite cord packing (McMaster-Carr #9457K51, Style 1555; piston diameter 0.312, packing nut 13/16"). Put round-head screws in tin protector on firewall. Cleaned, sanded and painted satin black the area under the floorboards in front of the front seat. Removed water pump check valve balls for inspection. Worn on bottom where they seat. Balls are 1/2" diameter with metal rod attached that runs in tube attached to cap as a damper. |
| Friday, May 22 |
Waxed all exterior metal surfaces to clean off dirt and grime. Finish now looks likes an old car that was well kept. Packed water bypass valve with graphite-Kevlar packing. Packed main fuel cut-off valve and firing-up valve with graphite yarn. Packed steam blower valve with graphite impregnated carbon yarn packing and cut hole in firewall for mounting. Figured out plumbing on front of firewall in preparation for reinstallation. Applied 2nd coat of satin black to the area under the floorboards in front of the front seat. |
| Saturday, May 23 |
Reassembled pump drive to all pumps in pump box. Packed valve for hand-operated water pump with Kevlar-graphite packing. Repacked hand-operated fuel pump with graphite yarn packing. Repacked hand-operated water pump with Kevlar-graphite packing. Repacked air chuck valves with graphite yarn packing. Installed white gas tank. Cleaned old copper tubing that will remain in car with gum-cutter to remove old oil, paint, etc. |
| Sunday, May 24 |
Installed pilot fuel tank under front seat. Ran pilot fuel tank air fill line from air valve manifold to tank. Removed steam feed line from boiler compartment to steam engine. Packed fuel and steam valves. Cut stainless steel filter material for white gas, kerosene, and water inline filters. |
| Monday, May 25 |
Installed pilot fuel line to filter under left running board. Installed pilot fuel line to firing-up valve on firewall. Disassembled, cleaned, and rebuilt steam automatic. Installed steam and fuel lines for steam automatic. |
| Tuesday, May 26 |
Pressure tested pilot fuel and main fuel systems. Several minor leaks located and fixed. Main fuel pump packing leaking slightly but when pump starts running it should seat well. Completed steam piping from top of water level indicator to stack blower valve and to steam automatic. Found piping on boiler water supply to be 7/16" copper tubing which appears not to be made anymore. Will replace it with 3/8" copper tubing. Have to order 3/8" flare fittings to replace 7/16" fittings. |
| Friday, May 29 |
Rebuilt water automatic. Installed 3/8" copper tubing from boiler check through hand by-pass valve, to automatic by-pass, to water tank. Also from boiler check to heat exchanger. Made up the steam line syphon loop from 3000 PSI fittings and Schedule 80 pipe. |
| Sunday, May 31 |
Completed the bottom end of the steam line syphon loop. Drilled, tapped and installed steam oil inlet to syphon loop. Tom Marshall and Bill Schobel visited in Tom's 1913 car. Seemed pleased with the progress that I'm making. Figured out that small 1/4" pipe adapters would be needed for four water outlets at the bottom of the boiler to allow the street elbows to clear the lower boiler ring. The 1/4" threaded holes in the boiler's bottom are a little larger than normal and allow the pipe to set further in before stopping. Will have the adapter male threads cut a little large to insure a tight fit when tightened. |
| Saturday, June 6 |
Cleaned boiler flues with brass wire brush. Installed 1/4" street elbows and short male-female stainless steel extenders at four locations on bottom of boiler and 1/8" street elbows at top of boiler. Applied heavy coat of 30-weight motor oil to piano wire on side of boiler and wrapped boiler with 1/2" ceramic fiber blanket insulation. Installed boiler in car and fastened it with new hold-down clamps. Began figuring out piping arrangement. |
| Sunday, June 7 |
Installed piping between water level indicator and boiler. Figured out valves and piping needed to complete remaining boiler connections for blow-down valves and water automatic connection. Painted new fittings for water automatic that will provide a slight drop to its installation so that it works better. |
| Monday, June 8 |
Evening work on boiler piping. |
| Wednesday, June 10 |
Evening work on boiler piping. |
| Thursday, June 11 |
Evening work to complete all boiler piping. Only boiler piping remaining is for high-pressure steam line to throttle. |
| Saturday, June 13 |
Wilhelm's Antique Farm Machinery Show (brother's annual show ~ he's a collector of hit-n-miss engines as well as antique tractors). Opened garage for viewing of the car and work going on. Dave Lumley brought over Tom Marshall's Model 76. Tony Alvarez visited to see the show and got his first look at a Stanley. Marvin Klair visited. |
| Sunday, June 14 |
Wilhelm's Antique Farm Machinery Show. Opened garage for viewing of the car and work going on. |
| Saturday, June 20 |
Worked on throttle installation. 3/8" support shaft was stripped at the end that threaded into the steering gear box as was the threads that hold it into the steering gear box. The angle of the shaft allowed the throttle body to interfere with the top of the boiler. The fix was to go to a 7/16" shaft and thread it and the steering gear box for 7/16" by 20 threads. Also drilled out the throttle body holder to fit the 7/16" diameter support shaft. Need to have Tony make up a new 7/16" diameter support shaft. Also bent the four burner support rods to fit alongside the burner once they drop under the boiler. Decided that the smoke box at the top of the boiler was in poor enough condition that it needs replacement. Ground all of the assembly bolts off and disassembled the inner and outer metal liners. Disposed of the insulation that remained. Will ask the shop at work to fabricate replacement sheet metal -- steel outside and stainless steel inside. |
| Tuesday, June 23 |
Removed steering gear box to investigate the play in the steering. Disassembled and cleaned all parts. Found everything to be in nearly mint condition with little to no wear. The grease was nearly rock hard and cleaned out in the parts cleaner. Figured out how to adjust the mesh of the worm gear to the spur gear -- something that I wasn't able to do with the unit installed in the car. Did discover a little wear in the end of the steering column where it rides at the bottom of the steering box. May install a bronze bushing to remove the slop. Fit the insert above the pilot burner into the burner casing. |
| Thursday, June 25 |
Picked up reproduction Stanley valves from Post Office that were manufactured by John Goold Steam Restorations Ltd. |
| Wednesday, July 1 |
Glass beaded steering gear box and painted. Glued cracked dash where steering column mounts. |
| Friday, July 3 |
Photographed steering gear box and its components, chrome steering wheel parts, throttle. Reassembled steering gear box and installed in car. Installed steering wheel parts. Reconnected water and steam lines that had to be removed for steering gear box work. Steering gear box packed with high-temperature grease -- should NOT need any more in my lifetime. Access cover put in place with black RTV gasket sealant. |
| Saturday, July 4 |
Drove Tom Marshall's Model 76 in the Hockessin Parade with Ken Kammerer and his girlfriend Julie.
In firing up the 76 some residual fuel had collected in the burner. When I
went to warm the pilot there was a rather modest "bang" and the vapors exploded.
The flash out the mixing tubes singed my eyebrows and hair. It was a first
hand experience to underscore Tom Marshall's instructions to never be in front
of the burner when initially placing a torch in the vicinity. Modified two brass fittings to adapt 1/8" pipe to the fuel-line fittings of the cartridge fuel filter for the kerosene system. Lapped the throttle valve seat. |
| Sunday, July 5 |
Installed the throttle assembly and rough adjusted. Bent the 1/2" OD by 0.065" wall steel tubing and flared the ends to connect the throttle with the top of the boiler.
Assembled the pressure test pump. Filled the boiler with water and attempted a pressure test. Some leaking of the throttle piping and boiler check. At 200 to 250 PSI water pressure one of the flues sprang a leak about 1-1/2" down from the top of the boiler. Decision needs to be made about purchasing a new boiler and possibility of installing a pair of plugs in the bad flue so that work can progress. Unknown at this time the overall pressure condition of the boiler. Considering the low pressure that the flue ruptured at, and the location it ruptured at (high water line after syphoning) there may be others in similar condition and the outer shell may be weak as well. Pressure test pump also not working as hoped. The 1/4" metal base is flexing at the 200 PSI level, the pump is bending rotationally on its web mount, and the linkage between the handle and pump plunger is not flexing as hoped. |
| Saturday, July 25 |
First time to work on boiler since July 5th. Been to Canada for a steam car tour with Tom & Ruth Marshall & their Model 76. Pressure test pump rebuilt with brackets to keep the pump body from twisting. Tony made 4 boiler plugs for plugging leaking flues. Plugged two flues known to be leaking. Ran pressure up to about 350 PSI when another flue started leaking near the bottom of the flue. Plugged that flue. At about 450 PSI another tube started leaking about midway down/up the tube. Also noted a 5th flue leaking slightly near the first flue that started leaking. Drained water from boiler and removed 3/8" piping for fill tube, steam delivery tube, and pop valve. Used borescope to inspect inside of boiler. Found some flues with 'growths' on them. Boiler top & bottom flue sheets appear OK and most of the side wall appears OK. Inspection of flue interior with borescope reveals holes to be where pitting has occurred and look like miniature blow-outs. Question is, do I reflue this 14" boiler, inspect and possibly reflue the 16" boiler Marvin still has, or do I build a new boiler from scratch, or order one? Made CAD layout of flue arrangement on flue sheet. 546 flues are present. |
| Saturday, August 1 |
Removed water tank and steam cleaned. Removed feed water heater, disassembled, steam cleaned. Researched boiler construction from articles, etc. from Tom & Marvin. Original 23" Stanley boilers has 33/64" flues or 5/8" flues. Flues were steel, 18 gauge. 751 5/8" flues but lower numbers also found. 0.045 diameter music wire at 370,000 pounds tensile strength. Marshall boiler is 5/16" top sheet and shell, 3/8" bottom sheet. 545 7/16" flues at 16 gauge. 637 1/2" flues. 0.054 diameter music wire at 325,000 pounds tensile strength. |
| Sunday, August 16 |
Removed and polished nickel-plated dash hardware -- ammeter, dash light, oil winker, switch plates. Tested accuracy of ammeter and cleaned internal dial plate. Drew up wiring schematic and wiring harness plans. Tom Marshall uses NAPA 35125 Master Cylinder Assemblies for his hydraulic brake systems. |
| Saturday, August 22 |
Sized, cut to length, and painted the electrical harness flexible conduits. Set-up two electrical "T" junction boxes -- one for directional signal connections, one for headlight connections. |
| Sunday, August 23 |
Cleaned underside of car and painted with Satin Black paint the undercarriage side of the wooden floorboards, water tank side of pump box, undercarriage side of the galvanized sheet metal between running boards and body. Also painted the pump box rear axle drive box and pump rod. Applied second coat of paint to the wiring harness flexible conduits. |
| Saturday, August 29 |
Installed metal plate under front floorboards to cover cracks and openings. Installed speedometer swivel gearbox at right front wheel. Soldered compression fittings on ends of some of the flexible conduits for wire harnesses. Removed gauges from dash panel for polishing. Removed miscellaneous hardware from dash for plugging of the holes and repainting. |
| Sunday, August 30 |
Plugged three holes in dash with dowels. Prepared 1/4" aluminum voltage regulator plate -- drilled holes to mount it to battery frame and drilled and tapped holes to mount voltage regulator. Installed ground stud on generator. Fed three #10 conductors in 1/2" flexible metal conduit that connects battery/generator to dash electrical area and installed conduit between battery area and dash. Fed three #14 conductors in 3/8" flexible metal conduit for turn signals and installed conduit between electrical junction box at rear frame and dash area. |
| Saturday, September 5 |
Sanded, Nitro-Staned, sanded, painted dash. Removed interior side panels at firewall in preparation for painting dash and firewall. Prepared and painted flat black the sheet metal plate to support battery in battery frame; the two angle brackets which will hold the ends of the flexible conduit at the regulator and generator; battery hold-down bar; and the fuse block plate. |
| Sunday, September 6 |
Sanded dash, applied Nitro-Stan to rough spots, repainted by brush. Installed regulator and its mounting plate and two 5/8" conduits at battery area. Installed flexible conduit bracket at generator. Drilled two holes for flexible conduit in firewall next to two existing holes. Assembled fuse holders on fuse mounting plate. |
| Monday, September 7 |
Lightly sanded dash. Painted with air brush. Not too bad -- still some grain and other markings showing through. Cleaned out tapped holes in pump drive axle casing and assembled casing to rear axle. Need to check drive gear alignment before completing assembly. |
| Saturday, September 12 |
Lightly sanded and then airbrush sprayed the dash. Looking better but will need a wipe-down with Nitro-Stan to fill in some irregularities of the wood still showing through.
Used borescope to check pump drive gear engagement with axle gear. Pump drive gear very close to axle housing so pump drive housing was moved slightly towards engine to provide proper spacing of gear to axle housing. Installed electrical ground buss and battery positive stud on voltage regulator plate. Disassembled boiler feed water heat exchanger piping so that new tubing and end blocks can be fabricated. |
| Sunday, September 13 |
Wet sanded and airbrushed the dash. Most of the irregularities are gone. |
| Friday, September 18 |
Wet sanded with 320-grit wet/dry sandpaper. All irregularities now gone. Airbrushed another coat of gloss black enamel. Looking rather good now. Will probably need a couple of light sandings and recoatings to get a good shine on it. |
| Sunday, September 20 |
Dash surface getting real smooth. Wet sanded with 320-grit sandpaper and air-brushed a coat of black paint. Paint had been stored in air-brush jar and had developed a soft skim coating on top of the liquid. Stored paint ended up having minute solids which sputtered through the air-brush and left little lumps on the sprayed surface. They should sand off easily with the next coat -- a few that occurred on the last coat sanded fine for this coat. |
| Wednesday, September 23 |
Wet sanded and air-brushed another coat of gloss black enamel on the dash. The sputters from the last coat sanded out easily. Surface real smooth now. Mixed paint straight from the can and had no problem in putting it on. 40 PSI air-brush pressure with just a little thinner to the paint. In trying to get things looking right I ended up putting to sags in tonight's coat. There also seems to be a lot of dust coming from somewhere. I probably need to take the air chuck and blow off the dash and areas around it of dust and other things that can get into the paint. Visited Mike DeFazio at M&P Custom Design, Inc. in Kennett Square to discuss rolling a new boiler shell. Mike suggested cutting the top and bottom flue sheets by water-jet. Mike to get back to me with pricing, etc. M & P Custom Design, Inc 510 South Walnut Street Kennett Square, PA 19348 |
| Friday, September 25 |
Lightly sanded out the sags and other inperfections. Air-brushed another coat of gloss black enamel with 24 drops of DuPont Dulux Hardner No. 77. Air-brush splattered slightly and had to run a higher pressure to get flow. Not sure of how it will turn out. Surface doesn't look as wet as with the straight paint alone -- it has more of a satin look but seems to be drying to a gloss. One or two more coats is all that it is going to get. I may do them either will less hardner or none at all. |
| Saturday, September 26 |
Removed the cylinder oil and fuel pressure lines from the firewall. Taped the valve stems and papered the side walls and floor. Spray painted the firewall with aluminum paint using the new small touch-up spray gun. Did a nice job except that I put too much on for the first coat and it ran. Wiped it off and let the surface dry. Applied another light coat and let that dry then did a final light coat. Looks rather nice. Wet sanded the dash another time. Air brushed another coat of gloss black with hardener in it. Very light orange peel occurring. May lightly sand it and then final coat it with the touch-up spray gun. |
| Monday, September 28 |
Wet-sanded the dash. Used the touch-up spray gun to apply final coat of gloss black enamel with hardener in it. Went on a little too uneven so I let it set for a short time. As it was becoming tacky I attempted a touch-up to even things a bit. The gun shot a blob of crap into the finish making a mess. I took a rag and paint thinner and wiped off eveything back to the sanded surface. Another coat was reapplied with great success. Much more even and uniform with high gloss and no runs or sags. This is the final coat. There is a light amount of dust that settled but that should polish out in a few weeks once the surface cures. There is, under very close examination, some sanding lines showing through but only if the light is proper. |
| Saturday, October 3 |
Well the dash has had since Monday night to dry. Amazing how the stuff shrank to the surface. Definitely see the 400-grit sanding marks in the finish. Also, where the three dowells were inserted can now be seen by the tell-tale rings. Interesting that they rings were not visible all through the earlier coats but they now show up. Removed all the paper protecting surfaces I didn't want painted. Waxed the surface and ended up putting a scratch in it. Surface also suffers from dust that got in it and caused minute lumps. Going to hit it with some polishing compound all over to see if that will help and then polish it off with wax. After 12 coats that is going to have to do. Looks a bit old anyway. Waxed the aluminum paint on the firewall. Made it a bit darker and much better to look at -- not a silvery shinny as it was. More like it was before it was painted but now is even in color and doesn't have the nicks, stains and other blemishes present. Cleaned and polished the winker and reinstalled it. Put the firing-up and stack blower valve handles back in their respective valves. The small diameter end of the water bypass valve stem broke off and I'll have Tony make another since the shaft is badly pitted as well. |
| Sunday, October 4 |
Worked at home on the model lathe. Made four fibre inserts for the headlight lamp housings (single pin bayonet bulbs). Machined 1" bar stock to 0.604" and cut and finished ends to 9/16" total length. Drilled 11/64" hole and counterbored a 7/32" hole 7/16" of depth. Inserted brass guides from existing units in new units. Installed in sockets and fastened in place with wire pins 3/64" diameter (paper clip wire). Reassembled center contact (long screw) inside spring and inserted in base and threaded on the wire clamp/nut. Once wired they are ready for reinstallation in headlight reflectors. Applied two coats of orange shellac to steering wheel handle. |
| Wednesday, October 7 |
New smoke box picked up from Sterling machine shop. Started applying fine rubbing compound to painted dashboard. Compound removes the fine irregularities from the finish. Then applied polish/wax to return finish to reasonably gloss surface. When done the dash will have the appearance of looking aged. Completed about 1/3 of the dash surface. |
| Thursday, October 8 |
Fabricated new contacts for the tail lights, turn signals, and headlight connectors. Contacts are fabricated from copper coated steel rivets. Rivets are drilled so that they will slip over the #14 AWG conductor and be soldered in place. Rivet heads are machined slightly smaller in diameter to sit in recess of connector socket. Need to complete the fabrication of connector contacts as well as make replacement covers to go between the connector shell and the flexible conduit carrying the wiring to the connector. |
| Saturday, October 10 |
Completed compounding and polishing the dash. Reinstalled the
steering wheel mounting to the dash. Reinstalled the throttle shaft. Reinstalled the main fuel valve and
ferrule in the dash. Soldered terminals onto the wiring in the generator regulator box and terminated all wiring. Spray painted the regulator box cover. Completed fabrication of the contacts for the headlight sockets. |
| Wednesday, October 14 |
Applied first coat of high temperature (1200F) flat black paint to burner and smoke box sheet metal parts. |
| Thursday, October 15 |
Applied second coat of high temperature (1200F) flat black paint to burner and smoke box sheet metal parts. Applied first coat of high temperature flat black paint to burner casting and access door. |
| Friday, October 16 |
Applied third and final coat of high temperature (1200F) flat black paint to burner and smoke box sheet metal parts. Applied second and final coat of high temperature flat black paint to burner casting and access door. Installed shellacked steering wheel and waxed it. |
| Wednesday, October 21 |
Worked on lathe to fabricate new contact block for end of cable which connects to tail & stop light. Machined the contact block to fit the light receptacle, drilled block for two contacts. |
| Friday, October 30 |
Worked on lathe to fabricate new contact block for end of cable which connects to the rear of each headlight enclosure. Machined the contact block to fit the receptacle. Also machined the outer connector housing which will slip over the contact block for the tail light connector assembly and secures the contact block and flexible metal housing carrying the wires into a single assembly. |
| Tuesday, November 3 |
Pick up the steel plates which will become the top and bottom flue sheets for the boiler. SA 516, Schedule 70 boiler plate was ordered. Top plate is 5/16" thick and the bottom plate is 3/8" thick. The certification numbers marked on each plate as follows; Top (5/16") -- 27290; R0170-1F; Bottom (3/8") -- 27290; T406 M&P Design -- 148066 Plates and boiler drilling pattern were given to Tony for drilling this weekend. |
| Wednesday, November 4 |
Machined the outer connector housing which will slip over the contact block for each head light connector assembly and secures the contact block and flexible metal housing carrying the wires into a single assembly. Drilled the headlight contact blocks for four contacts. Drilled and tapped the two headlight connector housings and the tail light connector housing for three 4-40 set screws which will lock the contact block into the connector housing. |
| Friday, November 6 |
Tomorrow drilling starts on the two flue sheets. I sent the following in an e-mail to Tony this evening. "This for me happens to be one of those times of trepidation. I keep thinking about all that I've done wondering if I've missed something somewhere. I'm worried about how things will turn out and if I've got everything the way it ought to be. I don't know why the anxiety because if things go real wrong we simply start over. Building a boiler is something I've never attempted before. I think my concern comes from knowing there is a hell of a lot of energy stored up in that thing when the gauge on my dash is reading 700 PSI and I want it to be right. I think there is also a secret desire to build one of these things knowing that few others have attempted it in 98 years and to be one who is successful. I want this thing to last as long as I ever hope to have the car and hopefully come close to the 50-year life Tom Marshall has gotten from some of his boilers. Anyway, I don't have any comments to pass along to you. I'm not a bit concerned about what you'll be doing as I know it will be exactly what I have asked for. However, you might look for me to show up sometime between 9 and 11 --- the expectant father wanting the security of the doctor's good word!" |
| Monday, November 9 |
Started fabrication of new contact block assemblies that hold the spring-loaded contacts for the four-pole receptacles for the headlights. |
| Wednesday, November 11 |
Completed fabrication of new contact block assemblies that hold the spring-loaded contacts for the four-pole receptacles for the headlights. |
| Monday, November 16 |
Assembled the four-pole contact assemblies for the front headlights. |
| Wednesday, November 18 |
Made a new housing and insert for the tail-light and stop-light connector that is part of the harness to the fixture. Machined the case out of copper tubing and fabricated an insert to hole the two stationary contacts. |
| Friday, November 20 |
Cut short lengths of 1/8" OD brass tubing to serve as ferrules on the stranded conductor wires that will be attached to the various headlight connectors. Ferrules will be used on the four-pole headlight connectors and the center contact of each lamp socket within a headlight. The ground conductors will be soldered to the clip that holds each socket in place on the reflector. |
| Saturday, November 21 |
Cleaned headlight assemblies. The reflectors are coated with silver and most of the tarnish was removed with silver cleaner. Tony completed drilling of the two flue sheets and cutting them to 22-3/8" diameter. 636 1/2" holes were drilled using two cobalt drills. He machined a 30-degree bevel on the edges leaving 1/16" of the edge remaining flat. Tony delivered the two flue sheets to Wilhelm's Service Center. Tony's log is as follows;
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| Monday, November 23 |
Cut various lengths of old-style cloth insulated over plastic wire for internal headlight wiring assemblies. Soldered brass ferrules on ends of conductors. Assembled wiring assemblies for each headlight. Assembled wiring harnesses into each headlight assembly. Once the glass lens are installed the units are ready for mounting on the car. |
| Wednesday, November 25 |
Delivered two flue sheets to M&P Custom Design in Kennett Square. Boiler shell will be rolled to fit the flue sheets and then the boiler shell welded. The flue sheets will be inserted and welded. Ordered 1000' of 1/2" OD soft annealed carbon steel hydraulic tubing, 0.049 wall thickness, to serve as flues. Need to locate 0.054" diameter piano wire in 1,600' lengths to wrap boiler with. Oil separator information from Frank Hix -- The cartridges are 19-1/2" long, 2-5/8" diameter with punched out flanges on each end -- 1-1/16" diameter OD and 1/8" long in addition to the 19-1/2" length. There is no name or other marks, numbers etc. They appear to be a stainless case (non Magnetic) with perforations on the outside of the case and a perforated tube down the center. What I can see through the perforations is folded paper like filter. |
| Tuesday, December 15 |
From the Apexior can ~
"For more than 80 years, Dampney Company, Inc. has manufactured technically advanced, corrosion-resistant protective coatings for specialized applications in the refining, chemical processing, primary metal, utility, pipeline and gas, and paper industries, as well as military and OEM uses. |
| Friday, December 18 |
Stopped by M&P Custom Design to see rolled boiler shell, flue tubing,
and spring wire. Cut a sample piece of flue tubing to test insertion mandrel. Fits mandrel well and also is just snug in going through flue sheet holes. Set Wednesday, December 23rd as starting date to weld boiler together.
Spring wire from |
| Wednesday, December 23 |
Worked at M&P Custom Design with Mike DeFazio on welding up the boiler. Welded the 3/8" thick fire-side flue into the 5/16" thick shell. Continuous welding on the interior between the flue sheet and the shell. Welded the shell seam continuously on the inside. Cleaned out all weld splatter inside and fitted the 5/16" thick smoke-box flue sheet in position using 1/2" steel rods to simulate tubes for alignment and tack welded the flue sheet in place. Still need to weld the fire-side flue continuously on the outside, the shell seam continuously on the outside, and the smoke-box flue continuously on the outside. About 3 hours of welding time for two people. Welding rod is 7018 low hydrogen. Cut some short flue tubes and welded them into a sample 3/8" flue material coupon drilled on the same dimensions as the flue sheets. Using TIG welding first pass to melt the tube into the flue sheet then making a second pass with a 4030T rod as filler. |
| Thursday, December 24 |
Made two (2) special nuts for turn-signal lights. 3/4" hex stock, 2-1/4" long. Drilled and tapped to 3/8"-24 thread for 1/2" length from one end and drilled to 1/2" ID for rest of length to accept wire conduit. Drilled and tapped 1/2" ID walls for #4-40 set screws to hold conduit in place. |
| Monday, December 28 |
Installed vaporizer tube clamp in outer
sheet metal wall of burner shell. Cut Fiberfrax insulation for installation in burner shell. Assembled
sheet metal outer and stainless steel inner wall of burner with insulation blanket sandwiched in between. Assembly held together with steel spacers and 1/4"-20 stainless steel socket head cap screws, lock-washers, and nuts. Assembly mounted on burner with 1/4"-20 stainless steel socket head cap screws. Never-seize applied to screw threads to facilitate future removal should it ever be necessary. Disassembled both Cruban pilot assemblies. Removed 1/2"-20 threaded cap bolts that plug the vaporizing ports around perimeter of assembly. Bruce had to heat pilot casting with torch to cherry-red to break loose the existing bolts which were in bad condition (one had head broken off and I thought the stud that remained might have to be drilled out! -- experience!!) Threads in castings are mostly OK -- will need to run a tap in them to find out exactly their condition -- one set definitely in real bad shape. |
| Tuesday, December 29 |
Took sample of boiler tubes welded into flue sheet to Tom Marshall for review. Need to expand the tubing in the fire-side tube sheet before welding which wasn't done on the sample. Discussed usual practice of filling boiler with water and letting water flow slightly to keep heating of tubes and flue sheets to a minimum. Also, it is common to install all the tubes and expand them -- both ends -- and pressure test the boiler to 100 PSI then weld the tubes to the fire-side flue sheet. Tom loaned me two
taper expanders to use in expanding the tubes in the flue sheets. Got Bob Barrett's contact information to talk to him about modifying my 735 brake drums and backing plates to accept hydraulic brakes. Located 1/2" - 20 and 3/8" - 24 taps -- one of each size in taper, plug, and bottoming configuration -- in Bruce's tap collection and cleaned them. Used taps to clean out five (5) 1/2" tapped holes in both pilot castings for vaporizer porting. Also cleaned the two 3/8" tapped holes for connection of fuel and nozzle lines. Tapped hole threads were carbon fouled from vaporization process of pilot fuel. Threads look to be in good condition in both pilot castings. |
| Wednesday, December 30 |
Bob Barrett visited the shop today to
measure the Stanley for hydraulic brakes. He took the brake drums and splash
shield with him. He estimates 6 weeks till he has them done. Figured out the hardware needed to make up the fittings for the heat exchanger water tubing as they pass through the wall of the exchanger. Need to get the copper pipes silver soldered or welded to the steel blocks that the fittings attach to. |
| Thursday, December 31 |
Worked at M&P Custom Design cutting 275 flue tubes to length. 20' lengths of 1/2" seamless carbon steel tubing cut to 16-3/8" length -- 14 flues per length of tubing. Two lengths of tubing were cut at a time with a bandsaw. Flues allowed to drain of cutting fluid. Flues then had their ends rolled perpendicular the belt of a belt sander to remove cutting burrs and to insure ends are flat. Flues then rotated at an angle to the belt to apply a slight bevel to the outside edge of the flue so that there won't be any burrs to catch when it is pushed into the flue sheets. Time spent cutting flues was 4 hours. Drilled the gas holes in the two Curban pilots using #60 drills. Casting material seems hardened as drills would not cut through it all though there still remained a small passage at each hole. Used borescope to investigate the inside of both pilots. There is (was) a tube running the length of the pilot that looks to distribute gas vapor along the pilot. It probably had a slit or holes in the top of it and over time and from heat exposure the top half of the pipe has eroded completely away. |
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1998
~ Mechanical Restoration Started Questions or Comments? Please Email Me!
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