There weren't any detailed instructions on running the engine, which is what I expected to be fair, so I simply dribbled a bit of light 3-in-1 oil on the moving parts that I thought needed it. Based on the radial play in the crankshaft, I assume the main bearings are ball bearings, but I don't know if they are sealed or require lubrication through the crankcase so I thought it best to squirt some in there to be safe through the bung in the back (with the engine inverted for good measure). Then I gave it all a few spins and called that good enough for a start.
I also installed the 3 AA batteries for the ignition in the holder in the wooden base. I initially had an issue with the middle battery refusing to stay seated in the holder until I found a thin black elastic band was around the holder and I had trapped it between the batteries. I think this band is intended to keep the batteries in place but you have to install it correctly for it to have a hope of working.
As this engine is water cooled, with a nice brass radiator and is fitted with a water pump, I wanted to run it with water in the system and see if it worked. I used a syringe (without the needle) to fill the radiator and then spun the engine over to get the water pump operating. The water level in the radiator didn't seem to be lowering, although it was moving, so I figured the pump needed a bit of priming. Long story short (yeah right) I ended up filling the water jacket from the water outlet point on the back of the cylinder and then the pump seemed to be circulating the water as it pumped.
For fuel I used ordinary gasoline (petrol where I come from) with about 5% WD40 added for a bit of lubrication. This wasn't mentioned in the instructions but I run all my models with a mix like this so I just did what I'm comfortable with. Getting the fuel into the tank was somewhat problematic as well, as the small filler opening kept getting an airlock, even using a syringe. Eventually I worked out the best way to fill the tank was to remove the fuel line at the carb then attach the syringe to the line and fill the tank from the bottom. Not really difficult to do but took me a good few minutes of frustration to think of it.
Finally it was time to attempt to start it up and I was a bit nervous. Most of us have experienced the hours of frustration that is sometimes required to get a new engine to fire up the first time and the rocker issue showed this engine had not been started at the factory. I was then very surprised to have the first pops occur in the first few spins of the flywheel, and a couple of second run within the first minute of trying. Over the next couple of minutes I kept getting bursts of activity, though occasionally the intake valve appeared to be not quite seating properly and needed a 'bump' to get it to fire again. Within maybe 5 minutes or so I had it running reasonably happily and the hit and miss mechanism was working consistently.
I was playing with the fuel needle adjustment trying to get more misses and fewer hits and was surprised that it's not as 'touchy' as others I've encountered, then all of a sudden the engine quit on me and refused to fire back up. I wore myself out flipping it and adjusting the needle, including shutting it all the way off to try and clear it from a 'flooded' condition and I took a few breaks to recover. Eventually I managed to forget which way was 'ON' of the ignition switch (it's not marked) and tried to listen for the spark but I couldn't hear it with the switch in either position (I could earlier). I assumed from this that the plug was wet and shorting out so I decided to pull it out and check.
It turns out there's not much room on the head and I had to remove the rocker post again to get a spanner on the plug. The plug was also tightened more than I would be comfortable tightening it, but it came out okay and wasn't damaged at all. It did come out dry though and it showed me that I wasn't getting a spark from the ignition at all. It turns out the little 'jump' that the engine gives on each hit was enough to overpower the thin elastic band holding batteries in place and one had popped out. A much more robust band was fitted and I haven't had that problem again.
I've only run a bit over a tank of fuel through it but I can confirm the radiator does get warm so the cooling system seems to work as intended. It runs a bit faster than I'd prefer but is quite small so that is somewhat to be expected.
In conclusion, I think this is quite a good little engine for the money (certainly far less than I'd want to be paid for making it, even without the active cooling system). I would recommend it to someone who's a 'hands on' type person and maybe has some experience with model engines but based on how 'fiddly' it is to fuel, prime the water pump, etc. and for the potential of having to fix a few minor niggles, I don't think it'd be suitable for a 'newbie' to the hobby.
Being that I didn't make it myself, I'm planning on building some sort of device for it to drive in the future, so I can personalise it a little bit. As delivered, the disc containing the magnet for the ignition has the OD machined to accept an o-ring so driving something should be trivial. I also plan on experimenting with some lighter governor weights and see how slow I can get it to run..
I know a few places online sell these and they all look the same in the pictures, but I don't know if they vary by supplier. I got mine from
www.stirlingkit.com and their service was good. They did claim that each engine was supposed to have been started before being dispatched but I think the rocker issue means mine must have slipped through the system.
Thanks for reading if you got this far!
