I got the bronze putt putt engine running....

[The Bigfella]

Yee bloody ha. I don't think she's run for a while... the guy I bought it off had the new babbit bearings poured a few years ago but obviously hadn't started it. The engine was full of dusty crud from having stood around.

We had to tune up the conrod, do new gaskets (that took some doing to make sure I got the right thickness... it impacts on bearing clearance), sort out the magneto, etc.

I filled up the valley below our house with smoke when she first started up - fortunately the neighbours were out... and they may wonder about that smell in their curtains... but she's running fine now.

Running her on the bench is dicey.. she runs at design speed of around 700rpm at idle without a load on it (I've got a laser pointer rev counter that is just fabulous)

Now she's running, I might just do a proper polishing job on the rest of the bronze bits, the fuel vaporiser, the water pump, etc.

Here's the video. Seems to have lost the sound in the upload process...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4lJTHn2EMEQ

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/ff112/igatenby/iansecond/maststep1.jpg

[hansp77]

Woohoo, looks great, but we really need the sound. Any chance of another upload?

[snow]

Sound working good for me. Thats an great looking / sounding motor.:)

[hansp77]

Sound working for me too now. Might have had something to do with turing up the volume on the computer:D

Sounds great Ian. Good work.

[PeterSibley]

Hey I post congrats a while ago but it's not here ??

Well done Ian looks great ,sounds brilliant !

[skuthorp]

Great sound here, congrats! Was that fuel you had in your hand there, runs on beer?

[seedtick]

nice job

what brand of motor is it?

does it have a magneto or is that a buz coil you have rigged up?

one more question - optical illusion or is water coming out the exhaust?

[The Bigfella]

Its a Blaxland Pup.... 3hp out of about 270cc.

These were normally a cast iron engine, but this one is cast in bronze. They use a Lucas magneto - it isn't on the engine in the still photo. This is an early engine and has a fuel vaporiser rather than a carby.

Yes, that is water coming out the exhaust... there is a water pump next to the flywheel and it goes through the block and is injected into the cast iron muffler. The crankshaft was rusty on the journal that drives the water pump (it is about a 3/8" eccentric), so we turned it down and sleeved it with a bit of stainless and some Loctite 680 IIRC). This is a common fix for these.

It runs on a 40:1 mix of SAE 30 engine oil and petrol. The christening agent was good old Coopers Stout, at a ratio of 6.3% alcohol....

[Paul Pless]

Very cool Ian! I like the way you color coordinated your shirt to the engine housing for the video.:D

What are the dates associated with this engine? design date, first production, end of production etc etc?

These were normally a cast iron engine, but this one is cast in bronze. Is there an iron cylinder sleeve? Is the head itself bronze?

[Lew Barrett]

Nice job, Ian!

[Mrleft8]

Nice! Now you need to build a little boat for it to push....

[goodbasil]

Great picture, sound & engine. Thanks a bunch.

[TimmS]

It's wonderful.... saw the video this morning. I second Paul's request for more info

[The Bigfella]

Hmm - history is proving elusive. I've started searching. Without finding anything definitive, here's some bits.

The engine number on that beastie is in the mid 3,000's. I've got another almost identical engine that is number 7,235. The design changed some time after this design so that the drive was taken from the magneto end, allowing a shallower shaft angle.

The builders plate is missing from my bronze engine (it appears to be copper on the other engine and I guess someone over tha last 70-80 years thought the engine looked "better" without it). The one off the later engine states "Manufactured under Chapman Patents"

One source I found - a listing of Australian marine engine builders states that Chapman were in business 1925-49 and that Blaxland Rae were in business 1939-65. It may well be that it is a Chapman engine. Another source said that the history of these engines stretches back almost 100 years and involves Chapman - Sherrack - Blaxland - Rae - Repco, etc.

This story is an account of an epic and ultimately tragic sea journey in a 16' boat with a Chapman 2 1/2hp engine in the mid 1930's

http://puttputt.bwmw.net/pupstory.html

I have a photocopy of a manual for "Blaxland-Chapman Marine Engines" which mentions Chapman Patents for ...

Standard Pup - 2 1/2 hp
Master Pup - 3 hp..... (my two engines, btw)
Blaxland Pup 3 1/2 hp
Super Pup 4 1/4 hp
Blaxland Twin 5/7 hp
Super Twin 10 hp.

I believe there were later designations too, Like the 3.5hp STX

Re this engine.... the casting is solid bronze - no liner (incidentally, the engine in the Wright Bros Flyer was the same - cast bronze). The head and cylinder are cast as one piece - the only split is along the cranshaft centreline. It has a cast iron sump on it. I have no idea if this is original or not. It has a steel crankshaft, cast iron piston, flywheel and magneto housing. The fuel vaporiser and water pump are bronze.

Paul - yes, that is my standard shirt... When I was working at the publishing business, someone had left a bag of about 10 of them for the cleaner to throw out.. they were part of some contra deal that had been done with a shirt manufacturer. Damn good shirts and they were all my size, so I stole them, oops I mean I liberated them. Its a rare day when there isn't one red shirt on our clothesline.

[Wooden Boat Fittings]

.
I might have missed something here Ian. What is being driven by the belt running off the flywheel? And is there not a cast lug on the flywheel for holding the end of the starting strap, that that belt has to be running over? Or is this a far different engine to the one I had in Serenity, which I thought was not the case?

Mike

[TimmS]

.
I might have missed something here Ian. What is being driven by the belt running off the flywheel?


I had assumed that was a rigged up electric starter....maybe to be able to keep it spinning while trying out different fuel and spark ratios and such???

[The Bigfella]

It is indeed a starter/generator. It came with the Penguin motor that was part of the Yellowtail deal. I almost sold it but am glad I didn't.

The starting lug is on the flange coupling Mike - the piece about half the size of the flywheel and just outboard of it. However, I haven't been able to source a decent starting strap yet. The straps I have bust the hole out every time you spin the engine over. (I've been to a couple of local horsey people shops and to a local saddlemaker - but haven't been able to get anything decent yet). I did start her once by hand yesterday.... once she was warmed up.

Given this boat will spend a lot of nights on the water, acting as tender/toy to Grantala, I'm inclined to have a battery on board to run lights. It also pretty much fool-proofs the starting... and if you'd been at the last Oz Politics EBS, you'd know that it is possible that we need something fool-proof.

I haven't cranked her over yet today (been painting the innards of the Yellowtail prior to the deck going on), but she was a touch temperamental yesterday - probably because she had a gutful of fuel/oil. In fact, she preferred starting with the fuel shut off and then having it opened as she ran - which she would do for about 5-10 seconds. I can see that leading to some heart attacks on the water. I'll stick the starter/generator up under the seat and tuck a battery into the seat on the other side or up for'ard. There's no real side load from it, as it doesn't have to be tight.

I just walked past her a few minutes back. Its a really nice pattern on the fence from the oil/water splatter. Almost worth setting up a canvas.

[S B]

Good to see. Congtats.

[The Bigfella]

I just got inspired again... I wanted to see how she would start from cold now. I hooked the fuel, water and battery up again, cracked the fuel a tad... and she fired and ran straight away.

I'm happy with that.... although I thought I heard a window closing next door... the smoke level wasn't excessive, but it is there. Still, what price heritage, eh?

[py]

Nice work. I used to have a Tumlaren with a blaxland pup in it. The starting strap was a vinyl material-pretty much like a belt to hold trousers up. Worked a treat. Had an offset 2 bladed prop. You could run it in reverse just by wrapping the strap the wrong way, or sometimes it would misfire on starting and self select reverse. The other funny thing it once did was a kind of maritime hill start-we were flying along on a broad reach, went for a bit of a surf down a wave, and the engine burst into song! It was always a bit smokey and smelly, and tended to leave a bit of a black scunge mark on the waterline near the exhaust. Plenty of charm though.
Phil

[C. Ross]

Splendid, Ian! I am eagerly awaiting the Yellowtail launch thread, having followed it closely from the beginning.

It runs on a 40:1 mix of SAE 30 engine oil and petrol.

I hope it's 40:1 mixture of petrol to SAE engine oil!

The christening agent was good old Coopers Stout, at a ratio of 6.3% alcohol....

Ah, that looks like the right ratio.

[The Bigfella]

Mr Ross.. you'd be right with that. It's supposed to be SAE 50 btw, but I've got to make a 3 hour round trip to get the right stuff, so, next time I'm headed that way I'll get it. Straight mineral oil... no additives.

The oldmarineengines guys reckon that the smokiness is a function of the 1/8 pint of oil in the sump "finding its own level". They also say to guard the bronze cylinder with my life. No more leaving it out in the back yard eh?

[Wooden Boat Fittings]

.
Thanks Ian, that makes sense. I could have sworn the belt-lug on mine was on the flywheel itself, but it's quite a few years now since I sold it, so perhaps I'm wrong.

What happened to the rest of the Penguin enguin?

I'd agree about guarding that bronze cylinder with your life -- I'd never even heard of them till you told us about this one.

There were a couple of the nice things about those motors. Once it's warm you can start it just by turning the flywheel between your two hands. And if you want to put it in reverse you just stop it, then turn the flywheel backwards.

On mine the damned clutch always slipped though, and just when I'd put it in neutral and was coasting quietly to a stop it'd jump back into gear and I'd be charging the bank. Very off-putting.... But I fixed it with a bit of shockcord tied off to the thwart and looped over the lever. :)

[boylesboats]

Thank Bigfella,
Like that red and bronze color on that lil putter...
I really enjoys watching and hearing those old engines runs..

[The Bigfella]

What happened to the Penguin? I've got the engine apart and various bits are sitting there with the other Blaxland motor waiting for me to buy some sand and go sandblast it.

I guess I'll need to build an 18'er eh? Not this year though.