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1946 COOPER 1 HP STATIONARY ENGINE RESTORATION

Started by _stretchlc_ , Jun 10 2013 09:20 PM

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#1 _stretchlc_

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Posted 10 June 2013 - 09:20 PM

Well............to save me from chucking spanners at the Torana, and regain some sort of composure, I decided to head down to Victor Harbour and pick up this little Cooper Stationary Engine to tinker with. This particular little engine apparently spent it's early years running a single shear sheep shearing plant on a small farm somewhere.

 

Plodded along merrily for about 10 years, and got retired from the sheep deal and replaced with electricity...........................So, she sat around for a few years until a "Brickie" spotted her and thought she'd be perfect as a replacement engine on his Cement Mixer. Forward another 10 years and she's still going strong working everyday through rain, hail and shine (well, maybe not the rain bit-old mate was a brickie!).

 

For what ever reasons, little Cooper got removed from said Cement Mixer, covered in a generous splattering of cement, oily sand and a whole heap of rust and left to sit for the next 25 years, unstarted, unloved and kicked into a corner.

 

Now, old mate in Victor Harbour found her in a sorry state at a trash and treasure market god knows where, and purchased her in terrible condition, and unknown running condition. He said that he didnt expect it to ever run again just looking at it........................mumbled something about he'd never get the time to check to see if it runs, so decided to make a few quick bucks and move her on.

 

This is where I come into the picture..............I took the 2 hour drive with the missus to Victor, and paid the man the massive sum of $80 for this little piece of Aussie History. Loaded her into the boot (the engine, not the missus) and headed home. So over the course of the Queens Birthday Long Weekend, I decided to pull her apart and do a restoration on her, and bring her back to her former glory.

 

I'll let the pics do the talking...................................

 

 

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#2 _stretchlc_

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Posted 10 June 2013 - 09:23 PM

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#3 _Bomber Watson_

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Posted 10 June 2013 - 09:25 PM

THats a cool engine.


#4 _stretchlc_

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Posted 10 June 2013 - 09:28 PM

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#5 _stretchlc_

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Posted 10 June 2013 - 09:32 PM

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#6 _stretchlc_

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Posted 10 June 2013 - 09:38 PM

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#7 _stretchlc_

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Posted 10 June 2013 - 09:41 PM

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#8 Ice

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Posted 10 June 2013 - 09:43 PM

Wow very nice resto

#9 _stretchlc_

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Posted 10 June 2013 - 09:43 PM

And so there you have it.........................The best thing is that with a little fuel in its throat and 2 pulls on the rip cord......................She runs like an absolute champ..........settled down to a nice idle once I adjusted the governor spring to where it should have been........................I just stood back with a massive smile on my face and listened to that little engine idle.....................Aussie History Preserved.


Edited by stretchlc, 10 June 2013 - 09:44 PM.

#10 _Red One_

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Posted 10 June 2013 - 11:15 PM

Awesome.


#11 _hutch_

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Posted 11 June 2013 - 08:30 AM

I used to play with them old girls myself,biggest one I had was a 7.5 hp Ruston Proctor weighed in at around 3 1/4 tons on the transport,used to tow it behind the HZ prime mover in the tandem trailer,gold Holden just kept on pullin

#12 _Skapinad_

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Posted 11 June 2013 - 08:37 AM

nice, lovely work...


#13 orangeLJ

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Posted 11 June 2013 - 10:44 AM

Very nice!

Now you need to come up with something cool to use it on/in!

#14 _LS1 Taxi_

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Posted 11 June 2013 - 02:24 PM

You could get a job on that show on Fox, American Restoration


#15 Redzone

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Posted 11 June 2013 - 03:01 PM

Sweet, now throw a XH cam in it and a cd stromberg!

#16 _stretchlc_

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Posted 11 June 2013 - 04:09 PM

My mates have been placing bids as to how long it will take me to bolt a turbo off the side of this little engine and do some Hangar 18 carb mods to it......................Wont Happen hahaha!

 

Here's a few more pics of my mates big green Ronaldson Brothers and Tippett 3 1/2 HP engine and a little Lister with a pump atatched to it for fire fighting duties............He's the one I blame for getting me into this gear!

 

 

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#17 _mick74lh_

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Posted 12 June 2013 - 11:24 PM

Thats bloody beautiful! To be honest I never really understood the old guys who'll stand around at car shows and marvel at stationary engines, but having seen the photos of your resto I can sort of understand now.

 

Nice work. Its come up super neat.


#18 _Bomber Watson_

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Posted 13 June 2013 - 06:08 PM

I like the old hit and miss engines. 

 

Would like one one day.

 

The restored picks are mega cool Stretch, And frOck you work fast, that woulda taken me six months.......5 months and 28 days of that clogging up my bench not being worked on....

 

Cheers.


#19 _walkinshaw_

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Posted 14 June 2013 - 12:29 PM

Top bloody job mate.


#20 _stretchlc_

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Posted 14 June 2013 - 12:33 PM

Cheers Guys...............I guess once I had pulled it down, I kinda had a good look at everything laid out in front of me and just got carried away!..................Before I knew it, its was polished, painted and all assembled.............and then I realised it was Monday Arvo of the long weekend and there she was sitting there in all its glory!..............I also couldnt resist the tempation to crack the Dremel out, load up a carbide porting tip and "massage the inlet and exhaust ports and match port the manifold!....Meh! does'nt everyone do that?...hahahaha

 

And the best thing about all this is...........................She runs like a bloody champ............This engine will quite happily sit there running for days on end, non stop if I could keep the fuel tank full!

 

Making up a Jarah Wood base to mount it to, so it doesnt vibrate all over the ground when its running...................chasing after a little engine out the back on a sunny day isnt really high on my "To Do List"


Edited by stretchlc, 14 June 2013 - 12:37 PM.

#21 _Bomber Watson_

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Posted 14 June 2013 - 06:54 PM

I know all about the port matching thing....Rebuit a 5hp briggs stationary for a mate and couldnt help but give the ports a tickle....Surprisingly it is actually about the best briggs i have ever seen since, the throttle response is actually snappy, which generally doesnt exist, and it blows a nice flame out the muffler when you power down now....Cool to watch on his compressor hahahaha. Usually they kick in and kinda putter up to speed, this bloody thing kicks in and near on rips the drive belts off, wrapped.

 

Cheers.


Edited by Bomber Watson, 14 June 2013 - 06:55 PM.

#22 Heath

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Posted 15 June 2013 - 11:08 AM

Australian history?

 

Better put one of these babies on!
scott-injector-hat-front.jpg

 

hahahahah seriously great little thread. Very nice work!


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