Restoring a 74 Year Old Antique Engine!

I bought a cool old motorcycle (because who doesn't like vintage / antique engines to restore?!?), and when I went to pick it up the guy threw in a couple of old engines. How can you go wrong?!

Upon closer inspection, one of them appeared to be old. Very old. From the limited resources I could find, this engine was probably originally manufactured around 1948, putting it right around 74 years old!!! Quite an antique!

Realizing how old it was and how cool it looked, I decided to restore it as a "show piece". Eventually, I'll do some maintenance items like points/condenser, fresh oil in the motor and oil bath filter, seal the tank, etc, and do a FIRST START! Barn find first starts / will it start are always fun! I may even end up putting this engine in this sweet little minibike!

This is a Briggs and Stratton Model "NS" engine. The model "N" is quite common for an antique engine, but I've only been able to find very limited information on the "NS". "S" in this case stands for "suction carb". It would appear that this was the very early design that Briggs and Stratton ended up using on most of their small engines for the next 50+ years!

An oddity of this engine is that it has an aluminum head. I believe it is supposed to have a cast iron head because of the age- the later model engines changed to an aluminum head. I think the head may have been changed at some point, because the model number shows it as a 1948 and that is verified by the date stamp on the flywheel of this engine.

Parts Needed:

Gasket kit

Muffler

Oilbath Air Filter

Spark Plug

New Spark Plug Wire

"Kill Switch"

New Decal

Supplies:

Van Sickle Gloss Black paint

BBQ High Heat Satin Black paint

Kyrlon Silver Aluminum paint

Krylon Satin Red paint

Painters Tape

Assorted nuts, bolts, washers, screws, and rivets

Tools:

Standard tool set- wrenches / ratchets / sockets / screw drivers / etc

Torque Wrench

Soldering Iron

Razor Blade

Drill or Drill Press

Sand Blaster

Palm sander

Wire wheel & tool to spin it

Hammer and anvil

Blowtorch

Rivet Set

While I didn't document the teardown of this specific engine closesly, it has a lot in common with newer engines. The attached videos show a few teardown methods and techniques that can be used on pretty much any engine.

It's important to be careful when working on engines this old. Parts can be hard to find, and if you inadvertently break something, it could mean long delays and expensive parts. CAREFULLY take things apart, use lots of penetrating oil, and catalogue everything! Zip lock bags work great for organizing small parts.

Once the engine has been disassembled, carefully inspect for any defects, broken or missing parts, or even parts that don't belong! It's common to find other peoples attempts at repairs that included using wrong parts.

Now the hard part begins.

Clean *all* of the old gunk off the engine. Start with scrapers if you need, but don't rule out wire brushes, picks, parts washers, solvent tanks, spray cleaners, or any other cleaning method. Take care not to use solvents that can ruin important parts- some solvents can dissolve rubbers and plastics leaving you missing important parts!

Once the parts are clean, we can start sanding and polishing. I used a sand blast cabinet for the majority of these parts, but again, this would ruin some of the other pieces. A palm sander was used to finish sand the shroud, a Dremel tool was used with a wire wheel to polish small parts, and and angle grinder with a large wire wheel was also used for cleaning and polishing.

After everything is ready for paint- we tape. I used FrogTape for this project, and it seems to work well. Cover any gasket surfaces and any holes into internal engine parts. A good rule of thumb- if it's mean to hold oil, fuel, or conduct electricity, don't let paint get in it or on it. Apply the tape long- then use a razor blade to trim right to the edge of what is getting painted.

We're ready for paint!

I tend to use rattle cans for most of my projects- it's just easy. With a few simple tricks, you can get great finishes with good old fashioned rattle cans!

Tip 1- Use good paints. I *love* Van Sickle tractor paints. They are available at CAL Ranch stores and go on easy and seem to last a very long time!

Tip 2- PRACTICE. You will discover that every brand and even sometimes different colors have different traits. Practice with your paint so you know how thick you can put it on before it runs, how long it takes to dry, and what the finish looks like. SUB-TIP- *READ THE INSTRUCTION* on the can!!!

Tip 3- Find a way to warm your project. In this video, I use a blowtorch to heat the metal a little bit. You can see the moisture and oils leaving the metal as it warms up. Again, PRACTICE!!! Too hot, the paint will scorch and you'll have to start over. Be careful using any type of heat source around flammable paint!

Tip 4- PATIENCE!!! LET. IT. DRY. Don't rush it. Check the can for dry times, but most cases I've found with the Van Sickle paint, you want to let it dry for at least a week!

Don't be afraid to restart! Sometimes it's worth the effort of stripping the paint off and starting over. Practice makes improvement!

Now things are finally starting to come together!

One of my favorite parts is peeling all of the masking off to see the brand new finished parts ready to be put together! Don't miss any of the tape- it could prove disastrous!

Sort out all of your parts.

If you don't have one, a service manual or shop manual will be a huge advantage for this stage. Manuals for a lot of old engines like this can readily be found on the internet!

Put it together with all those new parts!

Display that baby! Share with others what you learned along the way and enjoy the conversations these cool old engines will generate.