I have had this engine taking up space on my rack for a few years now. Before even starting to look at it, I knew it was missing the cylinder head, the engine cover, the entire tiller handle and the throttle shaft between the tiller and the 90 degree gears for the vertical shaft. The two side supports for the recoil are also broken and have been half-bake repaired. I tore down the power head and found pretty bad cylinder scoring on number two; although the pistons themselves didn’t seem so bad, other than stuck rings. I also see that it has bronze wrist pin bearings which are maybe too loose. However, I also see that the wrist pins are too loose in the pistons. I can rock the rods back and forth and see movement of the wrist pins in the pistons. I guess this is going to be a parts motor, even for me, unless another ’55 comes along.
My main questions here are whether there is a way to measure the bronze bearings in the ends of the rods and is there a spec? It seems a shame to throw the rods away, as the big ends and the whole crank shaft, are completely rust free, even with the lower crank seal being completely missing. Also, am I looking for throttle shaft ball gears that are the more common smooth type or the earlier, kind of sharp-looking type? Thanks.
Long live American manufacturing!
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