while visiting a friend he told me about some old engines he got while cleaning out his god fathers house. they were there for over 45 years in one spot in unknown condition, lets see if they will come back to life with some TLC.
So, these engines came from my dads uncle (my godfather). I was talking to my dad over the weekend, and he said that when he was very young (he is 76 now), he had a wooden go-cart, and that Uncle Al had a small engine that they put on it. He said that there was no clutch. Just a wooden lever that pushed an idler against a drive belt to tighten it to make it go. He thinks that one of these engines was it. I'm sure that Uncle Al is smiling down upon you watching you getting it running again. I'm looking forward to see if you give the other one a go. Thanks so much Mustie!
Very cool, Sam. From the age when everyone who owned an outboard was a small engine mechanic, just out of necessity. How many mechanics got their start keeping those kinds of go-carts running, I wonder. These days, they just get battery-powered lawn buggies, and grow up to buy Teslas!
One of my favorite things about this channel is how Mustie talks "to you" instead of "at you". It kind of puts you there, hanging out while he fixes stuff.
Agreed. It's a bit of a personal touch. "I'll just set you up here." "Remember it was the second hole on the lever, I'll be checking with you later." "I bet you are all yelling at me right now because I forgot something" etc etc. Very entertaining and very interesting videos. I'm loving them. We don't see snow blowers in Australia. 😆
I love the way the tools are dancing on the workbench. And this type of engine always reminds me of the film “Lady and the tramp”! That put, put, put is fairly iconic!
Mustie1 Glade some things never change over time. I have been watching your channel almost from the beginning and I got to say. Your channel is great full of entertainment and a few jokes here and there. Currently I'm back watching your 2018 video on the antique honda trials. I pick a few odds and ends around the house myself to tinker with and your videos come as a set by set on how to go about , well a great starting place on where to look first. This channel makes me look for items on offer up that I would never think I should take on. Saving old engines/ bikes/ even a floor fan is a great little hobby that keeps me out of my wife's hair. So, thanks for what you do. and for the viewers out there. Do you go back and watch the older videos as I started to do again?🚜🏍🚙
Just a bit of trivia, I live 10 miles from the original Elgin in Scotland, the "g" part is pronounced like "g" in "gum". Tourists get it wrong all the time! Haha
I Love that LAUGH !!! Spit spit sputter sputter then W.A.O. !!! Then the CHUCKLE ! He runs the camera around and , "Ya see that right there..." or "do ya see one?...as he shines his light in a toolbox full of old pipe fittings and scans with the camera. He makes it sound and feel like he's talking to me...and sometimes I catch myself answering him! You're Amazing, Mustie1 !!! I haven't seen ANYTHING that you haven't been able to get running!
1930s Elgin sold by Sears was most often mounted over the front wheel. $69.95 for the motor only. If you could find the bike they should fetch $2k++ depending on condition etc.. fairly certain that the engine was made buy Muncie gear works, Muncie Indiana. Some were made as Muncie Cycle Motors and others were badged as Elgin Cycle Motors for Sears/Roebuck. Muncie was the manufacturer of Muncie Outboard motors and Neptune Outboards. Even the crankcase output housing is the same as the outboard. 1932 -1935 was also the hey-day for Muncie as they went full bore to overcome the need brought on by the earlier Depression (were still recovering till 34-35.) It likely has the 1.5 hp innards and carburation is similar if not same as the outboard. Eisemann was the ignition manufacturer.
😆😆 I laugh every time one comes to life and starts shaking the hell outta the bench and stuff starts moving and flying around. Good little motor, glad to see it working again!! Well done.
Back in the 1930's when a kid would've put that motor on his bike, houses didn't have A/C so windows would be wide open in the summer. I bet he was real popular buzzing up and down Maple Street when folks were trying to listen on the radio to hear Wes Ferrell pitch a winning game at Fenway.
It is a friction drive. I looked it up on google and I seen several and on Elgin bicycles. It sat on the front tire. The engine mount was huge. The only bad part was they had to cut the front fender to use it.
The Elgin engine sat over the front wheel of a bicycle on a rack much like a front basket I believe it was a turn of the century invention and phased out for the small moped kind cool video
@@manovanbommel3182 yeah I believe so seems sketchy by today's standards but if it worked back in this current climate it may make a massive come back lol
Had a visit from the COVID fairy this week. To say that the hour+ just spent watching this has been the highlight of my week is something of an understatement…
Mustie has a very contagious laugh 😂 whenever the old lil motor gives some signs of life and he laughs he makes me laugh as well , and im sure im not the only one 😂 ... The best educational and the best teacher on RU-vid , god bless you Mustie
Hello Darrin. My Dad had an engine on the back of his bicycle during the early to mid 1950s. This was Dad's only means of transport around town here in New Zealand as we were a poor family and unable to afford a car. I think the engine was British made and called a 'Cyclaid', 49cc and was magneto ignition. The throttle was a lever on the handle bars and the engine was mounted behind the riders seat with a long belt from the engine to the rear wheel frame. As teenagers my brothers and i had a lot of fun on Dads bike, sometimes. Bob. NZ.
Eisemann were known for making magnetos for internal combustion engines, they were used by Buick, Dodge Brothers, Caterpillar and White Trucks and more, the also made the magneto for gas powered bicycles and some other small engines.
It took me screaming the entre video for you to hear some of my issues. 1)When you file the points CLEAN off the filings and don't over gap the points. 1.5) Replace the plug wire with anything that conducts electricity and clean the plug. 2) 2-strokes need some backpressure ... reinstall the exhaust! 3)The damn kill wire is bouncing off the vice and it is f-ing with my pacemaker! 4) I lost my voice...never mind.
I imagine there are a lot of stories that begin with “When I was a kid……” associated with a motor like the Elgin and a bicycle….me included. If you can find seals and repair the fuel leak it might run decent enough to use. I enjoyed this video as I do all of the Mustie1 series.👍👍👍
I was hoping it would run good enough to see it mounted on a bicycle, some handlebars a bracket hanging off them with the weight of the motor pushing the wheel on the motor onto the front wheel. If the wheel on the motor is around 3" then for every 10 rpm we should get 1 wheel rpm. Each Rotation of a bicycle wheel might be around 7 1/2' so if the engine is running 1000 RPM it should go 8 1/2 MPH
Reminded me of my dad in the 1970 trying t get a mobile welding plant running on PROPANE [or ProPAIN ;-)) ] without knowing what the hell he was doing ;-) It never did succeed , the mobile welder was the size of a small car. Also back in the 1960 when there was a petrol shortage he ran his car on 50% paraffin mix, rough as hell and no good on hills near where we lived in the West riding of Yorkshire in the UK.
One thing to remember when checking spark is that spark can be strong when testing out of the head but when under compression the spark is not sufficient to ignite the fuel/air charge and it will break down. This is especially true on 2 strokes where spark plug oil/fuel fouling or poor sealing (e.g. the crank seal) is more of an issue than 4 strokes. If the coil or condenser are marginal, the higher resistance from being under compression or fouled out will kill spark. Those Tillotson carbs sure are a piece of work, to put it nicely. Glad to see her running again.
One of the other items a two stroke sort of needs is a muffler or exhaust; part of the "charge" from the crankcase comes out with the exhaust, and the back pressure from the muffler "pushes" it back in. I had a '66 Larson Eagle snowmobile with a 250cc JLO, so I got to know Tillotson diaphragm carbs quite well...
Lack of compression due to the spark plug being too loose seen it misting out of the hole from around the spark plug a few times. I know you don't usually tighten it all the way up because it's taken on and off so many times but on that particular engine I think it needs to be tightened all the way Other than that your videos are awesome thanks for the content.
Mustie1 I remember when I was a younger man, I was brought up in Elgin and remember the Elgin bike shop that made them Elgin Scotland,, these engines are worth slot of money,,,,,, wicked
I wondered how long before you would take it off that floppy wood stand. I was swearing at it long before you clamped the engine in the vice. Great fun!
Lets try again the new stuff Now days wouldn't be running next year never mind 90 years from now I had a 1966 Doge with a slant 6 in it that would still be running if the body hadn't rotted out love the video and look forward to Sunday mornings
As an Elginite, I wonder if this was made by the Elgin Cycle and Sewing Machine Company, a spinoff of the Elgin Watch Company. Elgin, IL exists solely because it was created by the Watch Company to house its employees and operations. Elgin Street Sweepers are also fairly prolific, having been in business since 1914.
@@sumplais I can't be sure Elgin (the Company) had anything to do with this engine, but Elgin DID make bicycles for a time. It's possible that they contracted an engine maker or that the engine maker was attempting to cash in on the name. Elgin was pretty significant at the time this would have been made.
@@kellyrjohnson7693 I did a little googling and what it seems to me is this is an Eisemann motor (Eisemann Magneto Corp, New York, NY) made for an Elgin bicycle. Elgin Cycle and Sewing Machine (Elgin, Il) was a spinoff of the watch company, but they stopped making them in 1905 if I understand the history. Sears continued selling bikes under the Elgin name from the 20s to after WW2, but these bikes were made by Murray Ohio Manufacturing and Westfield Manufacturing. After the war, Sears changed the name of the bikes to J.C. Higgins.
Absolutely Awesome! God bless you is right! New colors? Shiny black all with large flowing slightly burnt American Flags painted on the sides. Blow them Fellers Minds!
This has to be one of the best and most entertaining videos I've seen in a while. It's like Laurel and Hardy mixed with Charlie Chaplin, and a whole lot of Mustie Keaton. I just loved watching the bits flying off that bench as our aponymous hero casually continues as though nothing was happening behind him. Now, if you want to see this kind of motor in use, just watch the open sequence of "Three Days of The Condor" as Robert Redford rides to work with one of these type of motors perched on the front of his bicycle, or for the comedy element, watch "Mr Bean's Holiday" - The bit where the French guy comes a puttering down the road as Rowan Atkinson tries thumbing a lift. Same engine set up, and the same pop pop popping sound. I remember seeing quite a few of these style of engines in the 1960s, which had been retrofitted on pedal cycles. They weren't built for speed, but definitely gave a flagging cyclist a bit of a boost, and a much extended range, and as my dad said, "...IF you could get the buggers to run!...". So it would seem they weren't any too reliable even then! Wasn't there a "Maytag" engine, that was made specifically for powering domestic appliances? Or as I still remember, little engines by Singer, or AManCo and so many others.
2-strike engine from that time period needs a lot of oil in the gasoline, 10 % at least. I am Happy every time i heard the sound of an old engine. Regards Stig Österberg from Dalsbruk in Finland.
I'd still put money on that condenser intermittantly leaking out your spark As the motor speeds up that condenser is having a harder time keeping up too. It is nearly a century old! Also together with leaky crankcase seals causing the throttle problems. Considering the age it probablle the seals are greased leather or babbit, so they could be refurbishable. But its amazing how well its done for something thats sat for 45 years!
Already ate the breakfast sandwich but I'm still working on that type of coffee. Got to admit within our country over the years particularly in the early years of engines we have had some very interesting internal combustion machines made by a whole bunch of different companies.
@@carminemurphy4836 Ham/egg/cheese/ mayo/ honey cracked wheat. A descendant of meat eaters dating back 158 years before the 1776 War to to the 1620 maiden voyage of the Mayflower. Sorry you lost your farm.😁
Good morning Mustie1, thanks for having us at the shop! Love the excitement you get when an engine fires up for you, never gets old. Not sure if you can get it to run smooth enough for a bike build, that would be cool. Thanks for the update on the mini-truck too.
L o L when I worked at the golf Course I use to put my fingers on the spark plugs to see if there was spark now that I'm older wouldn't dream of doing it anymore ! ⛳⛳⛳
I really wish you started with the other engine. I'm 60 years old now. When I was 7-8,years old, my father had an engine exactly like that one. I used to play with it in the garage. My buddy would help hold it while I pulled it. I remember playing with it. The only thing we did was rev it up and fill the garage with smoke. We would get bored because we didn't know what else to do with it. The memories of the engine are strong and I get a smile when I saw it. I hope you can start the other one soon. Maybe you have and I just haven't looked ahead yet.
Right before ya lost its starting ability again it puffed a bit of smoke then it then wouldn't run so just kind of weird lol but love Sundays watching your vids it's like a show that you need to wait till next week to see another episode .love it ..anyways godbless and stay safe
Elgin made lots of stuff. I bought an Elgin boat when I was a teen that my friends dad built in '58. Had a practically brand new 58 Johnson 35hp on it.
Elgin Cycle Motors were made in Muncie ,Indiana ,by Muncie Gear Works and were SOLD as a Package or Complete With Bike by SEARS, ROEBUCK ANDD CO. The identical motor with a Different FLYWHEEL COVER Was also also sold the ( MUNCIE CYCLE MOTOR.) the same Company also made NEPTUNE OUTBOARD MOTORS. the motors have Tillotson Carburetors 2- cycle.....
I love when you get these antique engines running. LOL I find myself rooting for them. "Come on! You can do it!" LOL And thanks for the update on the mini-truck at the end. For some reason, I like that little guy.
It's alive bro. When I worked for the dairy company they would fill the tank with water and add compressed air to pop out the tanks if they got sucked in or a large dent, it may work with the petrol tank. Safe travels
Really nice to see this old engine brought back to life. The first engine in which he found the word WICO is a brand name for the magneto. Replacing a WICO magneto on older stationary gas engines can be expensive.
Mustie1 Outboard motors from that era ran 16 to 1 mix ratio. Some older ones even 8 to 1. That helped the primitive seals do their Jobs. Some say that “modern oil is better and you don’t need as much “. Not so. Modern oils are cleaner and don’t foul plugs as much. But the seals and bearings need that much lubrication, The other motor looks like a West Bend go kart motor. West Bend made the Elgin outboards for Sears. Thanks for the videos. Still waiting for the double cab.
My brother has an old Johnson light twin outboard (1920s vintage) and it has no seals at all, just the close fit of the main bearings on the crankshaft and a hefty dose of oil in the fuel. Sadly the engine is not in a running condition, one cylinder is cracked and the magneto was destroyed by corrosion. We've contemplated restoring it, but too busy with other stuff at the moment.
I envy how easy you make this stuff look! I get a kick out of watching you revive old machines. Definitely inspiring to take on my own small engine repair/tinker hobby
As always another great video and look forward to your uploads. I often like to play the guessing game and enjoy the anticipation of how things are going to go. I'd love to see what the other engine is like to and thanks for letting me hang out while you do a bit o wrenching 😊👌
The condenser IS a capacitor, but yeah they fail over time often, especially the wax/paper formulation you find in this era.I bet that's the short to ground you were seeing. Definitely a cool piece though, reminds me of that green marine engine you did the other day. Which is actually under the bench you ran this one on, interestingly enough. I wanna see all these suckers run.
The engine could b started by using a rope about 2ft long or so with a knot on one end and a pull handle on the other. You wrap the pull rope around the groove on the flywheel side of the engine with the knot in the slot. Pull and repeat as needed. That's it.
I wonder whether you were spinning it in the right direction. Presumably the spark is timed to be slightly before TDC. Going backwards it would be slightly after. Just a thought...
I was thinking the same but he appears to be spinning it clockwise. This would be correct for a bicycle assuming the hinge point is towards the rear of the vehicle. Now that I say it maybe the hinge mounts on the front and you pull it towards you. I don't know.
Amazing how those old engines never want to die. Simple technology doing its job. The stuff they build now the actual mechanical parts are probably better metallurgical components but the electronics always let them down. None will work in 90 years time. While some of the World plays at lowering emissions the biggest polluters aren't bothering much so all this useless crap on our engines is it really helping. Soon be all electric and back to travelling about as far as you could on a horse in a day. Isn't progress grand.
"... back to travelling about as far as you could on a horse in a day." If a horse could travel 400 miles at 70 mph, rest for 30 minutes, and then do another 200 or so.
@@5tr41ghtGuy I live in rural Australia. You might roar off at 70 on your electric steed but when it runs out of juice good luck charging it. I could feed the horse and keep going.
In 2019 I saw a Tesla Model S parked outside the pub in Windorah. Owner was a tourist. So apparently you can recharge an EV in rural Australia... I'm guessing they were charging overnight at each stop using the regular 240V wall plug.
Mustie that. Was a God one it does run and that's the best part for a 1920 motor you did a great job never miss a video thank you for sharing and your time was really great 👍 can't wait for next one.
Man, watching that little engine flop around as he was trying to work on it was making me get frustrated and I wasn’t even the one doing it 😄. I just wanted to reach over his shoulder and tighten the mounts down for him.
I'm probably way behind the curve here, and I just started watching, but I have to squawk that my Dad told me about whizzer motors that they used to sell for bikes. There was no clutch, and you set the pulley down onto the tire to engage the motor. ps-I came across a fun channel called Halfass Kustoms, featuring a Canadian that is clearly a brother from another mother. When he unsticks an ancient motor and gets that first fire, out comes a Musty One cackle!
It's missing the mounting hardware but from what I can find it's worth quite a bit, in the state it's in I found it at around $1000, mounted on the bike quite a bit more. The pulley as you said is not original. It was sold (in an old ad from 1930) by Sears Roebuck & Co. $69.95 with the bike, $39.95 for just the engine. I got bored and checked, $69.95 in 1930 was about the same as $1200.00 today. The average income in 1930 was around $1400.00, this was during the Depression so I'm assuming whoever made $1400.00 a year was considered wealthy.