sen

Back at the shop today, trying to sort out why the speeder still won’t start. After extensive testing it looked like there was a severe exhaust restriction somewhere, so we started disassembling the exhaust system and found one! Sorted that out, replaced a fouled spark plug while we were at it, and it fired right up despite having been sitting outside at around 0°C all day! So happy to hear the putt putt sound again after all this time.

Now it’s on to all the smaller stuff. Sort out the rusty fuel tank, alternator issue, some lights, replacing some wood, and a bunch more. #choochoo

Feb 21 at 10:54pmWeb
Show threadsenFeb 21
I haven’t posted in ages given the broken ankle that kept me from the shop for the last few months, so as extra context: This is one of my projects at a heritage railway, restoring a Fairmont M14 speeder to good running condition so we can both use it as a maintenance vehicle, and also give the public rides and stuff on it. His name is Franklin, and he turns 73 years old this year. He runs on a 5 horsepower 2-stroke engine that the company making the vehicle made themself. It’s more or less the simplest possible two-stroke engine you could make, everything including mixture and timing are fully manual. #choochoo
Show threadAndrewFeb 22
@sen Something I really enjoy seeing, across multiple disciplines, is restoration of the "unsexy" equipment. Old budget cars or crappy 90's PCs or things like that. It's just fun watching someone get the most out of something nobody else sees value in.
Show threadsenFeb 22
@cinebox I hadn’t really ever thought of that as a thing common to multiple disciplines, but this is 100% me across multiple disciplines haha.
Show threadDave FischerFeb 22
@sen Aw yeah.
Show threadBob JonkmanFeb 21

@sen

I love the slighly irregular rhythm of that engine.

And was that the tourist train I heard in Elmira on Friday afternoon?

#WaterlooCentralRailway

Show threadsenFeb 21
@bobjonkman if it was this past Friday we weren’t running passenger service, you probably heard us up switching freight cars around for Lanxess. They contract us to do their switching work at the Elmira plant a few afternoons a week. This helps fund our operation, keeps our equipment running frequently which it all prefers, and also the plant gets better service from us (who cares about their needs) than when they used to contract CN to do it (who very much did not) :)
Show threadBob JonkmanFeb 22

@sen

Cool! Yes, yesterday afternoon I heard the train crossing whistle, and I know that other trains don't run during the day. But I didn't know Waterloo Central Railway did more than restore trains and run the tourist trains.

Yes, better to have local people invested in local wellbeing looking after the stuff in Lanxess railcars...

Show threadDanFeb 22
@sen it sounds sweet! nicely done!
Show threadAbhijit Menon-SenFeb 22
@sen Exhaust restriction means a buildup of soot that has to be scraped out? Or is it something else?
Show threadsenFeb 22

@amenonsen The traditional cause tends to be build-up of carbon that needs to be scraped out yeah, since they run on 16:1 gas to oil mix there's a lot of build-up.

But ours has some aftermarket flexible pipe carrying the exhaust from the elbow where it joins onto the engine block to an aftermarket muffler that's been added, which has been troublesome in terms of kinking, getting mis-aligned, and generally just being annoying. It's on my to-do list to eliminate the flexible pipe and run proper rigid piping. We also had an animal make a nest in there it turns out, they'd since left but left a mess behind which made the problem worse :)

Show threadsenFeb 22
@amenonsen You can also see a lot of smoke coming out around the engine in the video, which is because the flexible pipe doesn't seal properly to anything it's connected to. Part of my desire to get rid of it is to get less exhaust coming into the inside as well.
Show threadAbhijit Menon-SenFeb 22
@sen OK, I get it: carbon is bad to have in the exhaust, but carbon-based life forms are worse. :-)
Show threada holosprite ​Feb 22
@sen that wonderful putputput...putput...putputputput of a twostroke with a flywheel, I'm used to hearing that from a stationary engine, what a neat little vehicle!