Little Man's new engine

My 3 year old son Alan needed some incentive for potty training, he told me he wanted an engine. I told him if he did realy well at potty training I would get an engine for him.

What he didn't know was that in the roof of my workshop was a suffolk punch engine waiting for him that was mine as a kid. Suddenly knowing that an engine was at stake using the potty went from "NO!!!!!!" to "OK" things have progressed and he's been in pants for a week, I told him we could start work on the engine but it is still Daddy's so he needs to keep doing well and it will be his.

So we got it out, first thing found was the plug was missing and thread stripped (I have my suspissions), second hand head aquired, no spark, clean points, found not fully closing, re gapped, we have spark, add fuel off she goes. But what is this? Ten tons of smoke, plug out, piston and valves coverd in oil, CRAP!

After some investigation the rings are shot and the bore isn't too clever at a closer glance. "Sorry Little Man, this engine is no good for you" "You get new one Daddy?" he then goes over to the A1 and says "I have this one Daddy?" "no mate I'll find you another"

so I found this and won it: here

The beauty of these little engines in my view is the simplicity of them, they are simple for kids to help take apart and learn from. Going to pick this one up tomorrow, I know I could have got a whole mower for the same price, but then I would have had to get rid of the mower etc as it is not wanted.

I still have the original platform my Dad made for mine, want to make it drive something for him, just can't decide what exactly, probably a small pump, he likes water

looks like you got a bargain, strangly enough me and my lad (6yrs) have been working together on my lister, i think its great to get them involved rather than sitting in front of the tv all the time, i just hope i can get my lister running soon as they can get a bit bored just watching,

I've been getting my kids involved with the Briggs restoration and for the most part they are enjoying it.
I like the potty training idea, we're trying to get my little girl to use the potty/toilet at the moment, wees are fine but she will insist on crapping her knickers. She really wants a pink engine so maybe I should promise to pick her up a little JAP or Villiers and paint it pink for her if she's a good girl from now on and starts crapping in the toilet!
I think a Hello Kitty JAP 2A would really brighten up the rally field, it might even make my brother's Tarpen not stand out so much!

Ianhw77k wrote:I've been getting my kids involved with the Briggs restoration and for the most part they are enjoying it.
I like the potty training idea, we're trying to get my little girl to use the potty/toilet at the moment, wees are fine but she will insist on crapping her knickers. She really wants a pink engine so maybe I should promise to pick her up a little JAP or Villiers and paint it pink for her if she's a good girl from now on and starts crapping in the toilet!
I think a Hello Kitty JAP 2A would really brighten up the rally field, it might even make my brother's Tarpen not stand out so much!

If she gets that I'm buying the boys a Lister D!

& painting it Tarpen Green!!!

Ianhw77k wrote:I've been getting my kids involved with the Briggs restoration and for the most part they are enjoying it.
I like the potty training idea, we're trying to get my little girl to use the potty/toilet at the moment, wees are fine but she will insist on crapping her knickers. She really wants a pink engine so maybe I should promise to pick her up a little JAP or Villiers and paint it pink for her if she's a good girl from now on and starts crapping in the toilet!
I think a Hello Kitty JAP 2A would really brighten up the rally field, it might even make my brother's Tarpen not stand out so much!

funnily enough we are having the same issue with Alan, wees a fine its "stink" as he calls it thats the issue, until yesterday he actualy held it in for 4 days in protest then yesterday he went on the toilet, he was then rewarded with a corgi model showmans engine, the "Winston Churchill", however no such luck today lol.

I have spoken to the guy tonight, going to meet him tomorrow to pick it up, he says it was his late fathers who loved to tinker with mowers, after he died they found this engine sat on his bench pretty much as in the photo. Sad but at least it will have a happy home

it was a big relief when my 3 were all toilet trained, (makes them sound like dogs lol) - you should paint the potty green and put an engine sticker on the side, - hello kitty engine - cant let my girls see that one or i will never hear the end of it, they love hello kitty.

steve w wrote: hello kitty engine - cant let my girls see that one or i will never hear the end of it, they love hello kitty.

The guy next to me at the last rally has a pink engine, I think its a Ruston Hornsby, I find it hilarious how many people come up and tell him it's in the wrong colour, one bloke seemed genuinely annoyed at it . Mind you, it certainly bought the punters flocking

I can use the potty and the toilet (most of the time LOL) anyone want to buy me an engine

Great idea to get them trained and also gives you the extra vote when buying your next engine, nice work guys

I've seen a few pink engines over the years, our own Jonesey painted a Wolseley up for his daughter and she was over the moon with it, and stuff what everyone else says it's your engine do what you want with it.

Stu.

stationary stu wrote:stuff what everyone else says it's your engine do what you want with it.

Stu.

Quite right Stu! I may be a bit of a purist sometimes with some of my own stuff, but it's up to the owner. Like you say, "It's their engine". The guy at the rally next to Ian & me even has an info sheet made up explaining why his engine is pink (& purple) (it's a Ruston PB by the way (I think) the one which takes the same head gasket as a Wolseley WD) but even so people still feel the need to drag him over & question him about it

I was pleased to be next to him, we were right at the end of the row & it kept the punters walking.

A few years ago there was a father and daughter team who rallied a pink Lister D and collected for a Cancer charity with it.

my well trained girls age 2 -28yrs



and on goes another nut , shes good with wirebrushes and bangy things too
kev

Ahhh, bless! I love the little boiler suit.

I keep promising to buy my little nephews an engine for them to restore. Ian insists they are too young, but I think at 5 & 6 they are easily old enough to start on their own one. But I want to get them something they can't break, like a Wolseley WD2 or a Lister D, & it needs to be well gone as well. My plan was to take any big bits off for them & let them clean each bit up with some little wire brushes etc. Obviously anything too hard or too dangerous either Ian or I could do it, & it would take a long time, but they could call it theirs at the end of it all.

I'm actually bidding on something at the moment, I don't hold out much hope, but if I win it, it'll be perfect!

Thing is, I don't really want to "let them loose" on anything of ours (mine & Ian's), our stuff is either too rare, to delicate or too difficult for them. Something plentiful like a WD2 or a D would be perfect. Also something I'm not in a hurry to restore, as it could take them ages. But maybe a Suffolk or a Villiers would do, I don't think the boys see them as proper engines though, they like the big lumps of cast iron with big flywheels & a hopper or tank.

Something will turn up, no doubt.

Well my gransdon is 2 and I can't wait to get him interested, he can have the pick of my engines, well anything from the top row

Stu.

Had some time today (no call outs), so had a little trip out to a marine junk yard near by here and picked up an old jabsco pump for him to make "do" something:



all together:



still some tinkering to do, new spark plug on way, carb needs stripping, fuel tap leaks and there appears to be an issue with the govenor but she runs
video has screwed up in upload, will pop it on youtube instead.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/82040255@N08/8003407412/

blackvanman wrote:Had some time today (no call outs),

so it cant of been you that cut me up on the m1 today in a black van (@;

all the tat and junk yards around here rea getting few and far between - just wish i could turn the clock back 30 yrs and have the Anowledge i have now, i remember as a kid seeing piles of goodies in most yards.

The video still not to good or is it me? Thanks for trying to post and looking forward to hearing how your son gets on with it's overhaul.

Stu.

trying to re upload the vid,

Today, Alan did the last poo required to earn his engine lol. It is now his, he has named it "HIRO" after a long forgoten train on Thomas the Tank Engine that all the other trains get together and fix to save him from the scrap heap

We have been out there today to rub down the cowling and give it a first coat of paint, Alan did quite well at the painting bit (with some help ) I have also fully stripped, rebuild and set the carb up as well as sort out the govenor as she was sticking.

He is quite looking forward to taking it to Burseldon brick works on the 21st for his first rally with his engine, only issue with that is he keeps saying "peoples not look at my engine!" so I am trying to explain that this is part of why we have the engine in the first place lol

re uploaded video, went ok this time, the funny look on his face is because he wanted a wee lol

http://www.flickr.com/photos/82040255@N08/8036438058/

Not surprised he needs a wee, he's holding a pipe with water coming out of it!

Good on him though, & good on you too.

nutgone wrote:Not surprised he needs a wee, he's holding a pipe with water coming out of it!

Good on him though, & good on you too.

lol, it does produce a good flow doesn't it

Thanks for re posting the video, it's a cracking little set up for him (try a few drops of food colouring in the water when he's not looking ) I hope all goes well at his first rally, you'll have to make him a sign up with his name and age on to let people know he's the owner. Next you'll have to get him to eat his greens for petrol money

Stu.

stationary stu wrote:Thanks for re posting the video, it's a cracking little set up for him (try a few drops of food colouring in the water when he's not looking ) I hope all goes well at his first rally, you'll have to make him a sign up with his name and age on to let people know he's the owner. Next you'll have to get him to eat his greens for petrol money

Stu.

I intend on making him a sign/display board that says what its all about, leaving out the potty training and just saying he had to earn it lol, last thing I want is one of the few snobs coming over and slagging it off infront of him when he loves it so much.

Eating his greens isn't so much of an issue, in our house the rule is you don't get pud if you haven't eaten your meat after all nothing died to give you veg (bar a few insects ).

Well I hope all goes well unfortunatly the know-it-all's at rallies don't take into consideration how old the owner is they just like to brag what they have. A few weeks ago I met up with a father and son team that I met last year at a rally and his son is very keen (he's 12) and he had a restored lawn mower, well now he has a Petter A1 with a drill attached (similar to yours) so he's coming on great and his son hardly leaves the engine for a minute, answers question everything and dad just stands back it's great to see. Thing is he told his son to ignore some for being ignorant, unforunatly your son is not old enough to understand yet, so I hope he enjoys himself and no one upsets him.

Stu.

totaly agree Stu,
the thing that annoys me about these few is that they are stuck, my first rally days were nearly 30 years ago as a child, most of the engines on the field then were between 30-50 years old, my A1 is 50 years old, and Alan's Suffolk is very nearly 50 also. But these few seem to be stuck on the engines that are now 80 plus years old but back then were acceptable at only 30 years or older. Does that make any sense? lol

Yes sort off were all getting older ..... I don't buy an engine by the date but for some reason most of mine were built in the 40's, I think I only have one that is really old and that's 1917 but you buy engines to enjoy not by the date, I'd find nothing wrong with showing an engine built a few years old as long as it was interesting. The main reason is we've saved these engines from the scrap man and put them back into a working condition and nothing else should really be considered. The size shouldn't be considered as different people have different funds to use on a hobby and storage and transportation is always a big problem.
At the end of the day it's got nothing to do with anyone else but you, so if anyone says anything just walk away from them. There's enough ignorant people about without having to put up with them on a rally field while your doing something you and your son can enjoy and bond to make a better relationship. (My son doesn't like any of my hobbies which I feel is a shame, just hope my grandson does.)


Stu.