Suffolk Iron Foundry

Popped up on the local FB marketplace for a few quid and only 5 minutes away, no idea what I'm going to do with it

Turns over OK and just seems to be missing a fuel pipe.

Robotstar5 wrote:.......................... no idea what I'm going to do with it

They make quite good door stops

[quote="blue cat"][quote="Robotstar5"].......................... no idea what I'm going to do with it

[/quote]

They make quite good door stops [/quote]

Not big enough for a boat anchor....

Seen a few bolted to the top of Climax, Domestic and Argosy type pumps as well as some of the slightly bigger Blake pumps, make a good display with some thought.

blue cat wrote:

Robotstar5 wrote:.......................... no idea what I'm going to do with it

They make quite good door stops

Damn good idea, I've been using a Villiers A15 to hold the shed door open when I'm working in there, it can have a break from door duties

Villiers wrote:

blue cat wrote:

Robotstar5 wrote:.......................... no idea what I'm going to do with it

They make quite good door stops

Not big enough for a boat anchor....

Seen a few bolted to the top of Climax, Domestic and Argosy type pumps as well as some of the slightly bigger Blake pumps, make a good display with some thought.

Food for thought, I've seen this one at a few shows including Welland (owner must be related to the engine steward to get a lowly SIF on the lines there )

That's the sort of thing. This is the whole "Entry ticket" engine debate, those who have there nose so far up their own ar** and own "Exquisite" engines look down on this sort of thing but to me a SIF on a pump compared to a 1902 Hornsby sitting there doing nothing I reckon for the punters worth the SIF and pump wins.

I'm normally a "paying punter" when I take my camera to the shows and this sort of thing isn't very good, I wish I'd stepped back a bit further just to show how much room a non-running JAP 2A takes up

I haven't come across the Suffolk Iron Foundry make before. Did they make their own engines, or were they somebody else's re-badged?

George

georgineer wrote:I haven't come across the Suffolk Iron Foundry make before. Did they make their own engines, or were they somebody else's re-badged?

George

They made their own engines for many years, mainly for horticultural equipment (lawn mowers) but I believe they used a Briggs & Stratton design under licence for some of them.

https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/Suffolk_Iron_Foundry_(1920)

[quote="georgineer"]I haven't come across the Suffolk Iron Foundry make before. Did they make their own engines, or were they somebody else's re-badged?

George[/quote]

As Robstar said it was a B&S design but they made the engines in Stowmarket, not that far from where I grew up, when I was a kid everyone had a Suffolk Punch or Colt mower and when they died we made the engines into go karts etc, really were a strong engine.

I bought an early Suffolk type 1A today at a car boot for just £2. All there apart from the fuel tank cap. So somthing to hold my shed door open.

I had a play today and have no spark  does anyone know if the flywheel nut is left hand thread please?




and if there are any manuals out there as all I seem to find is links to lawnmowers with SIF engines

Robotstar5 wrote:

and if there are any manuals out there as all I seem to find is links to lawnmowers with SIF engines

I've got a manual that does have a section covering the engine which I can share if you like.

Martyn

Garak wrote:

I've got a manual that does have a section covering the engine which I can share if you like.

Martyn

That sounds promising, thanks

PM sent.

I don't know why people knock these little engines they are robust and useful little engines and us older guys can handle them.
Chiefy.

Jack of all trades

Robotstar5 wrote:I had a play today and have no spark  does anyone know if the flywheel nut is left hand thread please?

and if there are any manuals out there as all I seem to find is links to lawnmowers with SIF engines

IF have the SIF engine manual, but it's not been scanned yet. Might be availailable if you ask them nicely.

blue cat wrote:

Robotstar5 wrote:I had a play today and have no spark  does anyone know if the flywheel nut is left hand thread please?

and if there are any manuals out there as all I seem to find is links to lawnmowers with SIF engines

IF have the SIF engine manual, but it's not been scanned yet. Might be availailable if you ask them nicely.

Thanks for the heads up.

One of them was my first four stroke i ever played with when i was 13 or 14 year old.
hmm cant remember where it went.
Andrew

Found out the nut is a L/H thread and it looked like nut had been staked to stop it coming undone.

I dug out the battery impact driver, doesn't get a lot of use, but ideal for jobs like this




Everything seemed to check out OK with the meter, but the points were quite dirty so will get dressed once I find my points file

Had a couple of hours today (between rain showers) points dressed and gapped so put the flywheel back on and we have a spark

A squirt of "easy start" down the inlet manifold and it fired so put the carb and tank on and it ran.

Petcock is leaking fuel all over the recoil mech so I need to repair or replace it, anyone recognise the make so I can look for spares.



Not sure if it's original as the outlet is 5/16" and the carb has a 1/4" stub.

I think the Ewarts brass horizontal pull-on, push-off type is the original. Fuel outlet should be same size as the carb inlet as the fuel pipe just pushed onto each. One of my chores as a lad was to mow the lawn in season with an early suffolk colt. Seems a long time ago now ......

blue cat wrote:I think the Ewarts brass horizontal pull-on, push-off type is the original. Fuel outlet should be same size as the carb inlet as the fuel pipe just pushed onto each. One of my chores as a lad was to mow the lawn in season with an early suffolk colt. Seems a long time ago now ......

Thanks, I'll have a look for a replacement instead of trying to repair this one.

Robotstar5 wrote:Popped up on the local FB marketplace for a few quid and only 5 minutes away, no idea what I'm going to do with it

Turns over OK and just seems to be missing a fuel pipe.

Decent little engine of about 1hp, intended for a lawnmower but adaptable for other uses.

A quick edit. The Old Lawnmower Club site has a number of manuals for mowers using this engine and variants of it but as a new member I am unable to post a link, but a search on "old lawnmower club suffolk punch manuals" should get you there.

My first engine direct coupled to a lucas dynamo.