Old Engine Day!

It's that time of year, Old Engine Day at the Curtiss Museum in Hammondsport N.Y. This is the first year I've made it to this event, and it was well worth the drive. The museum pulls out some of it's collection to stretch the legs of some nice early iron, and all the friends of the museum show up with their private collections to join in the fun.

The Model A Aero Engine in action

The museum had two nice aero engines they were firing up to the delight of the crowd every so often throughout the day. The first was a Ford Model A engine set up with a propeller, and short pipe exhaust so it made wonderful music as it tried to blow the leaves off the trees. the other nice one they had was a Heath Kit engine. Any of you remember Heath Kits? the radios and electronic kits you could have fun building at home? Well, they used to make airplane kits too! And the engines they used were an inline 4 cylinder air cooled  made by the Henderson Motorcycle company. They are a great engine to hear running,Just watch the video, and I'd love to have the chance to play with a Henderson someday.

A peek at the "secret show"

On hand were several hit-and-miss engines of all sizes. from  a Tom Thumb up to some monster chuggers on dual axle trailers. also a great variety of model engines, vintage motorcycles, and a "secret show" of sportscars in the parking lot when the MG and sportscar clubs arrived.


Yamaha donor parts. Yes, That's a SHAFT DRIVE!!!

The most productive part of the day for me was meeting up with a new friend from the Rochester area, Brad, and getting a crucial part of my motor-bicycle build. a final drive  from a derelict Yamaha moped. With that part, now I can start the planning of what I need to do with the frame to make everything work.


Brad and his creation

Now, about Brad. He's a pretty creative guy. He and his son brought a nice collection of engines and bikes, including a total custom built chopper- bike with a hit-and-miss engine. IT was totally rat-rod, and totally COOL. I even got the chance to ride it around the parking lot!  I see a technical write-up in the future. I challenge any of you out there to build something cool  too.
That's Brad and his son, at the beginning of the video.
Back at the home front, the new workshop at Stray Cat is making great strides.  All the outer walls are up, the roof is done, the floor had it's sub layer done, ad pending the delivery of a few more pieces of plywood, it is closing in on being ready. I've already moved some stuff out there to get a feel for how stuff is going to fit. It's exciting to see things coming together after all this time and effort.
a couple more weeks on the shop, and I should be shifting over to working on projects.
Here's a shot of the shop with some stuff moved in. Not all of that is permanent, and actually the workbench will go right where all that stuff is now.
Keep on trucking out there. I'll update again soon.