TM

Engine and Wheels

GOLDEN ANNIVERSARY 50th GOLDEN ANNIVERSARY

To celebrate the occasion of completing 50 issues of Engine and

Wheels newsletters, we have compiled this handbook of homebuilt
horseless carriage information from all the how-to articles and
information, appearing in previous issues.

Copyright
2006
Everett Moore

SPRINGS will be for static display and driving in

Do we really need them?
When it comes to designing a replica we
automatically try to duplicate every feature
on the original. However, we don’t duplicate
the engine, transmission, wheels — We only
use something similar. Why do we try to
duplicate the springs?
In conventional car design, springs are a
necessity and the general practice is to keep
the unsprung weight to a minimum. The pur-
pose here is to provide a comfortable ride,
handling characteristics and traction. It is
assumed that the vehicle will be traveling
over unknown terrain ranging from silky
smooth to horrible. The drive train and steer-
ing axles, besides being structurally suffi-
cient, must be able to flex to accommodate
this driving environment.
parades and other “home coming” activities.
Unless you live in a primitive area, your driv-
ing environment will be a smooth, paved
street.
What do we really need for our suspen-
sion? Naturally, the front axle must articu-
late to accommodate any unevenness in the
road surface. This could be accomplished by
merely pivoting the front axle, the same as
you will find in any lawn and garden tractor.
The “suspension” is provided by the pneu-
matic tires.
Looking backward, we see Henry Ford
only had springs on the front axle of his first
car, the Quadricycle. On the other hand,
Ransom Olds went to the opposite extreme
and designed a unique (and hard to dupli-
cate) springing system into his curved dash
Oldsmobile.

In designing our cars we must, first, con- Olds continued this design into produc-
sider the purpose and exactly where they will tion, while Ford’s Quadricycle was only used
be driven. Unless you are designing a street to prove that a gasoline engine and four
legal, licensed vehicle, your prime purpose wheels could provide a means of transporta-

Issue No. 50 Engine and Wheels Page 1

tion. With the Model “T”, Ford not only intro-
duced springs, but produced a car that trav-
eled over roads that few 2 wheel drive cars of
today, could follow.
Front axles can be sprung several ways
and, because of the need to articulate the
axle, this is a natural place for a spring. Also,
being easily seen from the front, springs add
to a pleasing appearance.
The rear axles are a different story —
mainly because of the fact that we are con-
fined to using chain drive to either one or
both rear wheels. In conventional design, the
sprung rear wheels can travel either up and
down in a straight line or in an arc deter-
mined by the suspension arms to the rear
wheels. The rear wheels can be on a solid axle
or independently suspended.
With a differential and drive shaft the
action of the rear wheels can be accommodat-
ed by the addition of a slip-spline in the driv-
eline. Chain drive is a different story.
The drive sprocket must be located in
such a manner that the chain tension will be
neither too tight nor too loose. We can study
motorcycles and see how this was done.
Regardless, this demands that the drive
sprocket be as close to the pivot point of any
rear axle suspension arm. Ideally, this could
be a co-axial arrangement where the chain
tension would remain the same. The Brush
design of nearly a hundred years ago is a
good example.
It is interesting to note that while Brush
utilized an inline drive shaft and differential,
he resorted to a chain final drive to each
wheel. Another point of interest is his use of
coil springs on front & rear wooden axles.
Now to the theme of this article: Why do
we need rear springs at all? If, indeed they
are not needed, we sure go to a lot of expense
and trouble to use them.
Ok, you’re saying, Jimmy Woods has rear
Issue No. 50 Engine and Wheels
springs on his designs. Well, boys and girls,
take a hard look at his fine cars. Jimmy,
while inspired by the original Olds curved
dash carriage, found that the original method
of springing simply wasn’t practical for the
average home builder.
Jimmy’s design utilizes a drive chassis
that is totally unsprung — The springs sus-
pend the body only. The center distances of
the axle, counter shafts and differential
shafts all remain constant.
My own, replica Quadricycle design fol-
lowed the original by not having any springs
on the rear and only coil springs on the front
— This being to simply articulate the front
axle to accommodate any surface that might
be less than perfectly level.
Unless you’re a purist who desires to
duplicate every little detail, I seriously ques-
tion the need for rear springs. I personally
follow the design theory of “practical repli-
cas.” Make your car look close enough to the
original that the casual observer will recog-
nize it as a “such and such” but keep it sim-
ple enough that the average homebuilder can
tackle it with a degree of success.
All of my driving has been in a parade or
around my neighborhood, on a smooth paved
surface. No one who has ever driven it has
complained about the “rough ride.” Why,
because the pneumatic tires, while small,
provide just enough cushion from what little
irregularities are encountered.
The History of Spark Plugs
At a recent car show, another “old timer”
started a conversation about where Henry
Ford got his spark plugs. It was a subject that
I hadn’t given much thought to. So I dug into
the subject and found this interesting site:
www.asecc.com/data/plughistory.html
Page 2
 — Steering Geometry —
It is often said that the wheel has been
mankind’s greatest invention. The applica-
tion of the wheel has been the foundation of
an infinite number of industries, not the least
of which has been the automobile industry.
Probably the first application, many cen- B
turies ago, was the wheelbarrow. Second, A
was, most likely the 2 wheeled cart. This still 120

serves as basic transportation in 3rd world

countries.
But, when our forefathers really got
rolling (no pun intended) was when the sec-
ond axle was attached to a 2 wheeled cart, Fig. 2
thus creating a 4 wheeled wagon. This
arrangement is still with us today in the form
or left side of the vehicle, depending on the
of utility vehicles. Every kid had a “little red
direction we’re turning.
wagon” and, also, used this steering mecha-
We have tried to illustrate this in Fig. 2.
nism when he built his first “side-walk car” or
The vehicle is now turning about a 10 ft (120
soap box derby entry.
in.) radius. The intersection point of the axle
centerline can be seen. Please note that both
front wheels remain parallel to each other,
KINGPIN
regardless of the direction being traveled.
Go out to your kid’s or grand-kid’s sand-
pile and pull his little red wagon around and
you will see, by the tracks in the sand how
the two axles track.
Now, if you are still awake, let’s go to the
A B
typical home-built horseless carriage depict-
Fig. 1 ed in Figure 3. It is set up about a 46 in.
tread and a 72 in. wheelbase. Each front
Now, with all this ho-hum stuff said, let’s
wheel is steered independently, being con-
take a closer look at the “steering mecha-
nected with a tie rod. Each front wheel has
nism.” In figures 1 and 2 we have two
it’s own kingpin and, in our example, are 40
straight axles with 2 wheels on each. The
in. apart.
front axle is attached by means of a kingpin
Now, let’s turn on a 10 ft radius as we did
and pivots about it’s center. Each axle is on
previously, in Figure 2. When traveling per-
centerlines that we have labeled A and B.
fectly straight we have the same wheel con-
When traveling in a perfectly straight line,
figuration as we did in Figure 1. However,
these two center lines are absolutely parallel
when we start to turn, each front wheel has
to each other and, if extended to the moon,
it’s own turning radius and, also, it’s own cen-
would remain the same distance apart.
ter line with both intersecting the rear axle
Now, when we start to turn, this parallel
center line at the same point.
relationship ceases, with the two centerlines
The most important thing to note here is
intersecting at some point determined by the
the front wheels being no longer parallel to
radius being turned. Please note that this
each other. In Figure 3, the left front wheel
intersection point can be on either the right
is turning a tighter radius that the right. In

Issue No. 50 Engine and Wheels Page 3


46
40
72
1
47
2
1
44
2
1
160 R
8
120
13
16
R cylinder, it changes linear speed while the
Fig. 3
our example, the tire OD is 20.5 in. When
going straight, the tread width (with “0” toe
in) is 46 in., both front and rear. If we meas-
ure it in the turn,, we see that the tread
width at the rear measures 44.5 in. while the
front measures 47.5 in.
Look at your street car. Turn the wheels
full to the left. Now, look at the wheel config-
uration and see an example of this.
Remember, we said the kingpins were 40
in. apart. Lets say, for example, that you con-
structed your front axle to these dimensions.
You might assume the steering arms extend-
ing from each front spindle to be at right
angles (90) to the the axles. This would mean
that you, also, made your tie rod 40 in.
This would result in a front axle setup
where the front wheels were always parallel,
resulting in their centerlines not intersecting
the rear axle centerline at the same point,
when turned as previously done. Refer to
Figure 4 on the next page for an illustration.
What can be done to achieve the front
wheel configuration as we see in Figure 3?
Issue No. 50
The kingpin width (40 in.) is fixed. The tie
rod, while it can be less that 40 in., is fixed.
What can be done to allow the front wheels to
turn independent of each other? Go back to
your street car, and examine the steering
arms extending from each front spindle. You
will note that they do not extend at a right
angle to the axle, but, inward at an angle that
is somewhat more than 90o.
How does turning the steering arms on
each front spindle inward make the wheel
track as desired in Fig. 3 ?
To better understand what’s happening,
let’s examine the transfer of rotary motion
into linear motion. Most of you are familiar
with the piston engines. You will notice that
while the piston moves up and down in the
120 R
crankshaft speed remains constant. The
movement of the piston is the slowest at the
top and bottom of it’s stroke and the fastest
when the crank is at right angles to the cylin-
der.
In the steering mechanism, just the oppo-
site happens. Treating the tie rod as a con-
stant linear motion, we see how the steering
arm is affected most when at 90o to the spin-
dle. As it passes 90o in either direction it’s
rotary motion starts slowing down in refer-
ence to the linear motion of the tie rod.
If we were to build a front axle with the
steering arms at right angles (90o) to the
spindle the previous paragraph would apply,
only both front wheels would move the same
amount.
This is the configuration shown in Fig. 4.
While the tie rod moves, both spindles react
the same. The front wheels, while always
remaining parallel to each other, will turn to
a different turning radius, resulting in one or
the other scooting sideways, resulting in tire
wear.
With both steering arms positioned
inward and a left turn is made as in Fig. 3,
the left wheel will turn a bit sharper than the
right wheel and thus, maintain the same
Engine and Wheels Page 4
 46

46

101° 101°

74

Fig. 5
While I’m sure there’s some Einstein for-
mulas that would give us the angle we need,
13
120 R
16

120 the easiest way for us blacksmiths is to make

an accurate layout on a drawing board or
CAD program and simply measure it. On the
Fig. 4 example shown in Figs. 3 & 5 I calculated
that if each steering arm was positioned
turning radius for each wheel.
inward at 11o the tracking would be good
Study Fig. 5 and you will see how, during
enough for our purposes. Some plans will
a left turn, the left wheel spindle is now turn-
assign this to be 15o and, again, good enough
ing faster, while the right wheel spindle is
for horseless carriages going 10 mph.
slowing down.
The slow speeds and relatively smooth
If you are still awake and understand all
road surfaces don’t hold us to quite the same
this, you’re probably saying, “Ok, now how
standards as a 100 mph street car. This, also,
much inward angle do I apply to the steering
applies to steering alignment, caster, camber
arms of the front axle I’m designing?”
etc that will be addressed in a future issue.
There’s several variables for which to
As always, I welcome input from you guys
account, such as: 1) The wheelbase; 2) The
out there on these subjects.
tread width; 3) The maximum turning radius
to be achieved. The diameter of the wheel
does not affect our problem.

— An Idea For a Steering Gear —

From the beginning, the Ford Model T
had about the simplest and most economical
steering boxes made. Restorers have almost
depleted the junk yards of this item that was
very popular with the home builders of past
years.
It utilized a planetary gear arrangement,
located just under the steering wheel, that
provided a reduction. Still a bit “squirrely” to
some, it was a far cry better than a straight,
go-kart type, shaft/pitman arm with no
mechanical advantage.
Our design is based around a Peerless dif-
ferential available from Northern Tool. The
area where a sprocket would normally go has
a 4” pitman arm attached. This can be altered
to a shorter arm if desired. Anyway, here’s a
simple 2:1 steering that helps a bit. Try it —
you’ll like it!
See the illustrations on the next page —

Issue No. 50 Engine and Wheels Page 5

 19.33 (ref) 4.48 (ref)

3.00 4.00

Secure to frame

Differential - Northern Tool No. 1369 3.66 DIA (ref)

Couple to steering shaft
with Lovejoy or universal joint

Steering Gear - 2:1 (steering wheel to pitman arm)

1 3
R DIA
2 8

1
1 R
8 1
9 3
DIA (x2) 2
32 4 (ref)

3
R (x2)
8
3
2
4
Make from 3/16" steel plate

Don’t run out of gas! Build you carriage with a

gas tank to go the distance!
Brand new, in original box, this fuel tank was original-
ly for a Kubota application. It was obtained off Ebay
auction. It even had a built in gas gauge.

These tanks, originally for generator sets, etc., are

perfect for our carriages. Search Ebay for tank similar
to this one.

Issue No. 50 Engine and Wheels Page 6

 — Easy Caster and Camber —
Fig. 1
Figure 1, above, depicts Pete Burger’s
neat way of making the camber adjustable on
a typical “homebuilt” front axle. The top of
the kingpin is supported by a 5/8” ball type
rod end. By adjusting the nuts holding it, the
camber can be fine-tuned as desired.
All the homebuilts, including my own,
have accepted the camber that resulted in the
finished axel. With the play in the kingpin
and wheel bearings, it’s easy for the front end
to look a bit spraddle legged.
There’s a lot of differing opinions as to the
need for camber and caster adjustment on
Issue No. 50 Engine and Wheels
.156
Fig. 2
these slow-moving cars. When I built the
Quadricycle I, at first had “0” caster. The
steering was a bit squirrely and didn’t want
to track forward. I adjusted approx 3o posi-
tive caster and it made a world of difference
with the car going “hands off” for quite a dis-
tance.
I added a feature, shown in Figure 2, to
Pete’s idea. By making the top mounting hole
off 5/32” to the rear of car, we get 3 degrees
positive caster. Try these ideas, you’ll like
them!
Page 7
 — Rear Wheel Attachments —
There has never been a designer of home-
built horseless carriages that hasn’t faced the
dilema of attaching either a sprocket or driv-
ing axle to the rear wheels. Because the
Northern Tool garden cart wheel has become,
almost, the standard wheel, this is where we
will focus.
The Jimmy Woods’ designs utilize welding
a mounting flange to the hub. This flange has
holes for the bolting on the sprocket. I have
seen modifications of his plans, where the
builder simply welded a sprocket directly to
the hubs.
While it injects another part, I prefer a
removable mounting flange. If it becomes
necessary to change to a different diameter
sprocket, it is a relatively simple job. It, also,
gets the sprocket and chain a bit further from
the tire and provides a means of adding brake
drums. See Figs. 1, 2 & 3 on next page.
There has been an increasing number of
builders who, like I did on my Quadricycle,
coupled the rear wheels directly to the
transaxle. The typical transaxle is designed
to drive an 18 to 20 inch diameter lawn trac-
tor wheel at a max of about 8 mph. By adding
a 26 inch OD wheel, we increase our speed to
between 10 and 12 mph, a respectable and
safe speed.
However, direct coupling to the transaxle,
presents us with another problem. Most
transaxles are, typically, in the neighborhood
of 29 inches wide — hardly wide enough for
our carriages.
Therefore, we must couple the axles to
extended shafts with keyways. For this arti-
cle we will not address the method of cou-
pling, but, strictly concern ourselves with
attaching to the hub of the wheel.
When designing my Quadricycle, I made
extensions to attach to the ends of the axles,
using the keyways. Since I didn’t want to dis-
turb the hub more than necessary, I used a
driving flange that had 3 roll pins. The only
modification made to the hubs was to drill
three holes to match the roll pins.
Issue No. 50 Engine and Wheels
By modifying all 4 wheels they became
inter-changeable, and a spare, so modified,
would fit either front or back. See Figs. 4 &
5 on page 10.
Gary White of Sheridan, Michigan,
recently emailed me the method he used to
modify his hubs. His method is both simple
and typical of what other may have done. See
page 11.
Gary, used the 3/4 dia. couplings from
Surplus Center. These couplings come with a
3/16 keyway. There’s two problems with
them: 1) They are only 3 inches long. 2) The
OD is 1-5/8 inch.
Gary machined each of 3 couplers to the
diameter necessary for a close fit in the hubs
(with bearing removed). This is approximate-
ly 1-3/8 inch dia, but your wheels should be
“miked” for a better fit.
With a piece of 3/4 dia. full keyway, shaft,
Gary mounted the couplers end to end and
welded into one 9 inch piece, with keyway
running through out.
This piece is now cut into 2 pieces of equal
length. Depending on the width of your cut-
off tool, each piece should be at least 4-3/8
long.
A piece is inserted into the hub and weld-
ed both sides. Carefully done, you should
have a very sturdy driving wheel.
Another, very clever idea came from Pete
Burger of Ocoee, Florida. See Page 10. Pete
used a method similar to the way I bolted a
mounting flange to the hubs of the B&S Cycle
Car. Only, he modified 1/2 of a large Lovejoy
coupling, to not only bolt to the hub, but, also,
pilot into the hub after removing the bearing
on the inside.
The, wheel mounted, 1/2 coupler isn’t fas-
tened to the axle by a keyway. The wheel is
driven from the inside 1/2 of the Lovejoy cou-
pling which is keyed to the axle extension.
He, even, machined a pilot on this half and
mounted a brake drum.
My B&S Cycle Car uses mounting flanges
bolted to the hub without the benefit of a
Page 8
piloting surface. This flange in made from a
purchased (McMaster Carr) 3-1/2 OD alu-
minum disc, 1/2 inch thick. A center hole is
cut with a regular hole saw (half on each
side). A lathe wasn’t necessary.
To this mounting flange, I bolted sprock-
ets and brake drums. On the capscrews,
attaching the flange to the hub, be sure and
use Locktite (Red) plus split lockwashers to
prevent it from working loose. Vibration
seems to be a by-product of these cars. See
Figs. 1, 2 & 3 below.

Fig. 1 Fig. 2

In the drawing above we see how the

rear hubs on the B&S Cycle Car were
altered to accept a mountings flange.
The bearing was removed and four 17/64
dia holes were drilled in one side.
Above, to the right, we have a draw-
ing of how the mounting flange is
attached to the hub. Socket head cap-
screws, with split lock-washers and a
generous amount of Locktite (Red)
applied, are threaded into the 4 inner-
most holes. A ball-end, long Allen
wrench is inserted through the opposite
bearing hole to tighten the screws.
Fig. 3

The photograph above shows the

mounting flange installed. The outer-
most tapped holes are used to attach
both the driven sprocket and a brake
drum.
This mounting flange was made from
a 3-1/2 OD aluminum disc, 1/2 inch thick.
These are available from McMaster
Carr.

Issue No. 50 Engine and Wheels Page 9

 Fig. 5

The above photo shows the Quad axle

Fig. 4
Above, is a photo of the Quadricycle
hub, with three 9/32 dia holes.
extension. You will notice the 3 roll-pins
extending from the flange to engage the
holes in the hub. The wheel is held in
place with a nylon lock-nut on the end of
the axle extension.

Pete Burger, of Ocoee, Florida, puts a

large, Lovejoy coupler to good use to get
power to his rear wheels.
The above photographs depict how
half of the coupler is modified by
machining a pilot diameter on it to fit in
the hole in the hub when the bearing is
removed.
He, also, added four 1/4-28 UNF
tapped holes to fasten this coupler half
to the hub.
The photograph below clearly shows
the modified hub and modified coupler the coupler half, to insure a snug fit.
half ready to be assembled. The bearing You will note how his machining
hole in the stamped hub is approximate- broke into the set-screw hole. No prob-
ly 1-3/8 inch diameter. However, it is lem, since the set-screw isn’t used.
wise to “mike” your’s before machining The photograph on the upper right

Issue No. 50 Engine and Wheels Page 10

shows the coupling half assembled to
the modified hub. Pete, also used 1/4-28
socket-head cap-screws, inserted from
inside the hub, to attach them. He, also,
cautions the builder to use Locktite
(Red) on the threads. These little car-
riages have a way of shaking every thing
loose that isn’t secured by some locking
device. You, almost have to use aircraft
standards to carriages.
You will soon find that getting these
screws threaded into the coupling half
is not an easy chore. A, ball-end, Allen
wrench must be inserted through the
opposite bearing hole in order to tighten
the 4 socket-head screws. Sometimes we
have to be a mixture of blacksmith and
brain surgeon to accomplish something
like this.
Pete, also, machined the other cou-
pler half to accept a brake drum. This
half is fastened to the axle extension
with a piece of key stock and set-screw.
This axle extends through the hub and
the wheel is secured by your choice of
methods. A nice way is by using a 1/2
NPT pipe cap, drilled out to 3/4 ID and
cross-drilled, along with the axle to
accept a 5/32 dia. cotter-pin. Nice job,
Pete!

from each side.

The upper drawing shows how the
three inch long couplers are welded
into one, 9 inches long.
The lower drawing shows a cut-away
of the hub with coupler half welded in
place on both sides.
Gary used a “buzz-box” set to 60-70
amps and used 6013 rod.

Gary White of Sheridan,

Michigan, submits his ver-
sion of an attachment
method that is sometimes
used in one form or another.
Gary, obtained three 3/4
dia. couplers with keyways,
from Surplus Center. Since
they are 1-5/8 OD, he had to
machine them down to
approximately 1-3/8 OD to fit the hole in
the hub after the bearings are removed.
Using a length of 3/4 dia. shafting and
key-stock as a mandrel, he assembled
the three couplers, with keyways
aligned, and welded them into one
piece.
Now, by cutting this piece in two,
each half is at least 4-3/8 inch long. (This
depends on the width of the cut-off tool
used.) One of these is sufficient to reach
through the hub, with a little protruding

Issue No. 50 Engine and Wheels Page 11

 —More About Steering Geometry —
o ings in the previous article,
15
72
On page 3, there is an extensive article
about steering geometry. All of this is actual-
ly known in the early automotive engineering
circles as the "Larkensperger-Ackerman-
Elliot Steering Principle,” usually referred to
as the "Ackerman" Principle. The main idea
is that the two steering arms, instead of
extending straight back or forward from the
spindle centers, should actually point exactly
to the, center of the rear axle.
Editor’s note:
We applied the “Ackerman”
Principle to the one of the draw-
using a 46 in. tread and a 72 in.
46 wheelbase, as this is very typical
of the average homebuilt car-
riage. The diameter of the
wheels does not affect the geom-
etry involved. See Fig. 1.
It is interesting to note that
the resulting angle is 15 degrees.
My CAD program makes very
close measurements and it was
15 on the nose.
I think that many of us are guilty of vio-
lating good design in this area. I am guilty
and so is anyone who uses the Azuza
Engineering go-kart spindles. They have
served our needs nicely, however, for reasons
unknown to me, they have very little angle to
the steering arm. On my next use of them, I
plan on welding a steering arm extension to
get 15 degrees.

Hints and Kinks

by Bob Kapela
Meet Bob Kapela, who comes to us from Michigan, where he spent years as a maintenance
engineer at the Rouge Complex of the Ford Motor Co. When you see some of Bob’s handy work,
you realize that he knows of what he speaks.

— Sprocket Ratios — non-dividing ratio like a 12 tooth driving a 25

When setting up sprocket ratios, old
timers normally used the "hunting tooth"
method. This simply means that one should
avoid using a sprocket, with a number of
teeth, that will evenly divide into the number
of teeth on the sprocket at the other end of
the drive, like a 10 tooth driving a 20 tooth, a
15 tooth driving a 45 tooth, etc. The idea is
that if there is a flaw in one tooth or one
chain link, it will not return to the same spot
on the sprocket over and over. If one uses a
tooth, for example, the flaw will be evenly
distributed.
— Chains and Sprockets —
Instead of using #41 sprockets and chain,
try to use #40. It is the same pitch (1/2"), but
has a much higher rating. For example the
#41 has a tensile strength rating on the chain
of 2000# and the size 40 has a rating of
3700#.
I always avoid straight bore sprockets.

Issue No. 50 Engine and Wheels Page 12

One only depends on the fit of the shaft and
key and setscrew. If you do use them, try to
use two setscrews, one over the key and one
120 degrees from it. The idea is to distort the
I.D. of the sprocket to keep it tight on the
shaft.
Never use three setscrews, as now you are
using only the points of the setscrews to hold
the sprocket on. It is better, by far, to use a
sprocket with a tapered bushing, like a
Browning or Woods. You multiply the grip-
ping force on the shaft by some 20 times with
them. Plus, they are much easier to remove if
ever necessary.
— Tubing and Truss Rods —
On the 1" square tubing used on many
replicas, always use the heaviest duty avail-
able. It has 11 gauge walls (.120 "). Whenever
I make a front or rear axle, I always reinforce
it with a 3/8" round rod, welded underneath,
with the center portion raised approximately
1-1/2". This greatly strengthens the axle from
bending when under use, and adds little
weight
— Ignition Switches —
When I have an electric start engine, I use
a solenoid and a key start. The ignition
switch has to be special so the magneto is
grounded when the key is in the off position.
I have used a Cole Hersee #95616 switch with
good success. Order through NAPA or others.
Editorial Notation —
Lawn tractor type ignition switches can
be found in the Foley-Belsaw catalog (See our
Links page on the website) They describe
them as to what tractors they fit.
Some engines, also, have a shut-off sole-
noid in the carburetor. This must be activat-
ed when running. When turned off, the
spring-loaded plunger closes the fuel, causing
the engine to positively stop. If so equipped, it
is controlled by relay in the electrical circuit.
Some of this circuitry can be a bit complicat-
Issue No. 50 Engine and Wheels
ed and will be addressed in a future E & W.
— An Electrical Reverse —
Both machines that I’ve built, so far, have
a torque converter and differential, driving
the rear wheels. No reverse. On the last one,
I pre-installed a pulley on the driveshaft and
have a vee belt hanging. I plan to purchase a
small 12 volt winch from Northern. Only
weighs about 12 pounds and costs a bit more
than $100.00. I was thinking of mounting it
upside down under the machine, and remov-
ing the cable setup, replacing it with another
pulley. It would be activated with a heavy
duty starter switch and one would have to
mechanically tighten the belt, but I think it
would give you a workable reverse.
Editorial Comments —
I believe that electric motors have been
used to achieve a reverse in some commercial
vehicle, possible a motorcycle. Maybe some-
one out there knows.
I’m sure many of us have considered using
an electrical motor for this, usually a small
starter motor. Since we won’t be pulling
stumps in reverse, not much power is needed
— just a little sometimes when the parade,
for some reason, backs up. Most carriages are
high enough off the ground, that the old left
leg trick won’t work.
— Some Thoughts on Spindles,
Kingpins and Wheels —
On the steering, I have made good use of
shoulder bolts. They are precision ground
and work very well. I use 5/8" dia for the
kingpins and 3/4" for the wheels to mount on.
On the wheels, I found that the
Schynn/Workman industrial bicycle wheels
are much heavier and better made than the
ones from Northern or anyone else. If you can
find a source, they have heavy duty spokes,
etc. By driving out the ball bearing races, you
are left with a 1 11/16" I.D. hub. A Killian F-
700 flanged bearing will press in very well,
Page 13
one on each side. They are 3/4" I.D., so fit on
the shoulder bolts very well. Each has a radi-
al rating of 157#, with a side load rating of
50%. They pack with grease very well.
— Steering Boxes —
On both machines that I have built, I used a
steering box from an early Model T Ford. The
gearing is all at the top, by the steering
wheel, and the extending shaft is 3/4" dia,
which makes it very easy to mount a swing
arm onto, to connect to the tie rod. I have had
good luck purchasing them on line from
http://modelthaven.com/. Makes a much more
professional job than a tiller arm, and has the
ratio built into it.
Editorial comment —
On page 5, we presented an idea of using
the little Northern differential as a steering
box.
The Model T Ford steering column had a
small set of planetary gears just below the
steering wheel. The ring gear was fixed and
the steering wheel was fastened to the sun
gear. The planetary gears were attached to
the steering shaft, which proceeded down to
the pitman arm. This gearing arrangement
provided a 4:1 reduction, from wheel to pit-
man arm. Later it was increased to 5:1.
By using the differential as in the fore-
mentioned article, we, get a 2:1 ratio. The
steering box is under the hood, out of sight.
— Hydrostatic Drives —
The use of hydrostatic drives on a home-
built machine is popular and makes for a ver-
satile setup. One has to be aware of a couple
of cautions, though, to ensure that the units
remain trouble free. Keep in mind that the
manufacturers design the unit for specific
uses and do not normally build in "extra
capacity", otherwise their machine loses it's
competitive advantage.
If you are setting up a hydrostatic drive,
note how the unit was originally driven. If
Issue No. 50 Engine and Wheels
the unit was directly coupled to the engine,
avoid setting up a pulley arrangement, where
the unit is now to be driven from one side or
the other. Doing so means that the input
shaft is now subjected to radial loads that it
was not designed to accept. The possible
result is the rapid wear of the input shaft seal
and bearings, making the unit either a "leak-
er", or inoperative.
If you cannot connect the unit in the same
way that it was originally, consider installing
a pillow block bearing or a flange bearing to
act as a go-between , so the radial loads are
removed. On the output shafts, it is not quite
so important; most of these units had the
wheels directly-mounted on the output
shafts, and allowed for radial loads. Caution
though, if you are extending the shafts a sig-
nificant amount, then you should, also,
install something to reduce the load on the
shafts. Also, if you are now doubling the size
of the driven wheel or speeding it up signifi-
cantly, you may be increasing the radial loads
beyond designed capability. Again, installing
a pillow block or flange bearing will reduce
these loads and allow you to have a long-life,
non-leaking unit.
Editorial comment —
In our case, where the typical hydrostatic
transaxle is used, they are direct-coupled to a
26 inch dia wheel. Most manufacturers
design to drive a 20 inch dia., 8 inch wide
rear tires with turf tread. The potential slip-
ping of this wheel on a grass lawn is the
“safety valve” on which they depend to pre-
vent overloading their unit.
While we are presenting 1.3 times the
potential torque load, we are using tires with
a lot smaller foot print than the lawn tractor.
I always considered this to be a pretty fair
trade-off.
— The Approach to Building
Your First Carriage —
If I were just setting up to build my first
machine, there are a couple of steps that
could be taken to reduce the headaches. First,
Page 14
after looking at several machines, and get-
ting a good set of prints, I would try to get
some supplier information. If you work in a
big factory, talk to the maintenance guys and
get to know the Supervisor, the Engineers,
and especially the Parts Buyer, usually the
Maintenance Clerk. Ask them to obtain some
catalogues for you. Most, if not all, of the
Vendors are eager to get as many of their cat-
alogues into circulation as possible.
I would try to get a Grainger catalog (lots
of good stuff), a McMaster Carr one (about 3
1/2" thick, full of goodies), a Browning catalog
(sprockets, chains, couplings, hubs, keys, u-
joints, belt drives, bushings, etc.), a book on
industrial fasteners from the nut and bolt
salesman, a good steel supplier book, like
Ryerson, or others, and maybe a Cole Hersee
book. Also a full size bearing supply book is
invaluable. The bearing salesman can get you
one of these and they are absolutely full of
information.
Many of these catalogs have short techni-
cal sections that provide you with free infor-
mation. If you knew all of the stuff contained
in them, you would be rich beyond imagina-
tion, thankfully we don't have to have this
information memorized, it is in the books for
us to look at, free. Of course, I would also get
the standard books available through web-
sites, etc, like Northern, Witmer coach, etc...
Then, after I setup my workspace, and
decided how to proceed, I would start to gath-
er my materials. Having a Steel Supplier
book, for example, shows what sizes of steel,
(like square tubing) are normally available
and in what lengths. If you are armed with
this info, you can buy steel in standard sizes.
If you go in to the place and just ask for a cer-
tain size, you may be paying the same
amount for a 6 ft length, because of the cutoff
charges, etc., that you would pay for a full
random 20 ft length. This is just an example.
Also, very few of us have a full machine
shop at our command. I happen to own a farm
and have a pretty nice farm shop, with quite
a bit of machinery, but not everything need-
ed. Get to know the Machinists. In my expe-
Issue No. 50 Engine and Wheels
rience, quite a few of them do work on the
side at their home or other shops, and are
willing to help you out at a nominal cost. One
personal example that I can give is that own-
ing a Tree Farm, I also sell campfire wood.
This is out in the country, and there are a lot
of campgrounds. I have a machinist friend
who is, also, an avid camper. He is always
welcome at my farm to back up to the wood-
pile and load up at no charge. In return, if I
need some threads cut, something machined
pretty precision wise, or whatever, we make a
trade, with no money exchanged. Once you
develop a relationship like this, your counter-
part usually gets involved in your project and
provides more assistance than you originally
imagined.
Editorial comment —
Well, folks, that sums up what Bob shared
with us in just 2 emails. I, for one, want to
thank him for sharing this wealth of informa-
tion with us. I decided to dedicate this entire
issue to his thoughts.
Since we have a number of fellows out
there who are building their first machine,
the last chapter is, especially, timely. The
only thing, I could add is this: While accumu-
lating your library of catalogs, try to obtain 2
decimal equivalent charts, one for your pock-
et and a large one to hang on the wall of your
shop.
While hanging things on the wall of your
shop, I admonish every one to copy the two
sayings of Henry Ford that I have at the
beginning of my plans sets. Copy these with a
thick felt-tip pen onto a 17 x 22 piece of poster
board.
Pin these to a wall in your shop that you
can’t miss looking at daily!
“Nothing is particularly hard
if you divide it into small jobs.”
__________
“Before everything else,
getting ready
is the secret of success.”
— Henry Ford
Page 15
 — Bob’s Pet Peeves —
Many years ago, I was a knife, gun
builder. I, also, worked at a large factory.
Sometimes a co-worker would come up to me
and announce "I'm going to LET you build a
knife for me. (notice the emphasis on LET).
A month or so later, the same person may
say "Hey where is that knife you OWE me".
What a bummer.
Lately, when showing one of my handbuilt
cars, people somehow naturally assumed that
it was built from a kit. There is a mental
block that a lot of people have that they do
not conceive that someone can actually build
something from the ground up. It just gripes
me.
Bob Kapela
Editorial comments —
The same things have happened to me,
many times. I’m sure most of us have a pet
story similar to Bob’s.
I remember, in college, I fixed radios (yes
kids, the kind with tubes!) Everyone in the
dorm knew I did. I didn’t do it as a business,
but more as a hobby. I observed that no one
really believed that the old farm boy could
bring a silent radio to life. As a result, they
would usually take it to one or two “real”
radio shops. The shops either couldn’t fix it or
simply didn’t want to spend the time required
on a job they couldn’t charge enough. Or, else,
— Keep Your Eyes Wide Open —
When attending farm auctions, etc., keep
you eyes open for anything that can be adapt-
ed to our carriages. Pete Burger, of Ocoee,
Florida, obtained and stored away this neat
buggy seat.
Thus, when building his modified Jimmy
Woods’ carriage, he had a perfect seat for it.
Issue No. 50 Engine and Wheels
they quoted my fellow student more than he
wanted to pay.
As a last resort, they brought it to me —
after all, what harm could I do to a radio the
shop said wasn’t worth fixing? I’ll always
remember the time I had to pull the radio
from this guy’s car and I didn’t have the right
size wrench. He came up with a little cheap,
dime-store wrench that I used. After fixing
and re-installing it, with this same wrench.
This guy told me, for fixing his radio, I could
keep the wrench! I only wish I had kept it —
I would have it framed and hung it on the
wall.
My Quadricycle with about $1,000 and all
the work in it, was test driven up and down
my street. A neighbor saw it, thought it was
neat and commented that his grand-kids
would go wild for it. He offered me $500 for it.
Like Bob, I have had people, usually while
I was assembling for a parade, come up and
look a car over and ask where they could buy
a kit. I told them I built it. Then they wanted
to know where I got the plans! I just smiled
and said, “From a guy I know.” I’m surprised
they didn’t want to know if they could copy
them! I always have some business cards in
my pocket for handing to these people.
It’s all human nature folks, get use to it. I
look at it as a source of entertainment.
Everett Moore
Page 16
 Wheels, Tires and Tubes
In issue No. 22 we hinted that we were inves-
tigating a new source of wheels, tires and
tubes. The company is Worksman Cycles, a
New York firm that, for over a 100 years, has
been in the business of manufacturing heavy
duty bicycles for industrial applications.
They manufacture wheels in either 20, 24
or 26 inch with 2.125 tires. They sell, not only
wheels, but, also, Kevlar belted tires and
thorn resistant tubes.
In order to be able to judge — hands on, I
ordered some 20 inch wheels/tires for a future
CDO project. I, also, ordered some 26 inch
Kevlar belted, tires and HD tubes for my
Quadricycle, that has become famous for it’s
flat tires!
For the few of you who have never heard
of Kevlar. It is a registered trademark of the
Dupont Company. It was developed a few
decades ago to serve as belting in automobile
tires. However, it was soon leading a double
life in bullet resistant body armor for police
and military use.
While several time stronger than steel,
Kevlar is many times lighter.
Worksman wheels have hubs that are
built by welding steel flanges to a steel tube.
Just take the wheel asembly from carton
and slip onto your 3/4 dia axle with 3/16
keyway! All machining & welding is done!
For the front or free turning wheels, the tube
Issue No. 50 Engine and Wheels
With it’s 36 - .120” dia, adjustable, spokes,
this 20 x 2.125 rear wheel assembly is
ready for a 3/4 scale CDO.
is 1-3/8 ID, a perfect fit for 3/4 ID x 1-3/8 OD
flanged, ball bearings.
While they appear to be the same, they
are a far cry from the garden cart bearing to
which we have become accustomed. They are
much more precision, with little to any play
Another feature of the free-turning hubs
is that they have three, 1/4 in. Dia holes
equally-spaced on a 2-5/32” Dia bolt circle.
Worksman uses these to engage driving pins
on a flange welded to the rear axle of a tricy-
cle. We can use these for sprocket mounting.
On the previous page we displayed the
rear or driving hubs. Worksman’s application
for these is to put pedal power to one rear
wheel of a tricycle. This trike has a rear bed
to haul material in an industrial environ-
ment.
The hubs are designed to fit a 3/4” Dia
shaft containing a 3/16” keyway. This is
achieved by welding a 3/4” thick insert into
one side of the hub. This insert has a 3/4 Dia
hole, broached for the 3/16 keyway. On the
opposite side there’s a 1/4” thick insert weld-
ed that contains a 3/4” Dia clearance hole.
The only area of concern I have with these
hubs is their 3/4 inch of keyway to transfer
driving torque. Worksman is transferring 1
manpower to one wheel. We’ll be transferring
Page 17
several horsepower to both rear wheels.
However, I am willing to give them a
chance to prove themselves. It will be a while
before I have any machine on which to put
them. So, I’m counting on some of you brave
souls to try them!
I, almost forgot to mention — the hubs we
have described are the same, whether the
wheel be a 20 inch or 26 inch.
Worksman have another hub that con-
tains expanding brake shoes. However, it is
intended to be fork mounted and I couldn’t
see a practical application for our require-
ments.
On the following page we have two draw-
The photo above shows the heads of the
adjustable spoke nipples. Another feature
of their heavy duty rims is the clincher fea-
ture for a superior grip on the tire beads.
ings shown, one for each of the described
hubs. We attempted to give a few dimensions
to aid in fitting them to our applications.
You will note on the following price sheet,
that Worksman will sell the wheels as com-
plete assemblies with tire, tube and rim strip
installed or simply, the wheel only.
The tires, tubes and rim strips are, also,
available to upgrade your exiting wheels, as I
am doing with my fleet of vehicles.
While Worksman’s tires have a pro-
nounced clincher bead, the Northern rims
Issue No. 50 Engine and Wheels
In the above photo we see the cross lacing
of the heavy duty spokes. They are 11
gauge (.120 Dia) and are secured by
adjustable nipples.
We, also, see the three 1/4” Dia holes in
each flange - a perfect place to attach a
sprocket, if desired.
have a sufficient roll-under to accept this
bead with no problem.
If you plan on retro-fitting your Northern
wheels, be sure and replace the rim strips
with ones from Worksman. While you have
your rims stripped down, feel the peened
ends of the spokes. I found enough small,
sharp burrs to warrant going over them with
a small flat file and smoothing them up a bit.
You will find the Worksman rim strips to
be at least 1/8” wider and much thicker than
those that come with the Northern wheel.
When I dis-assembled a Northern wheel for
the first time, I found the strip not covering
many spoke ends. Hardly worth the effort of
having it to begin with!
I don’t really mean to cloud up and rain on
the Northern, garden cart wheel/tires that
have, almost, become universal with horse-
less carriage builders. They have served the
beginning, poor-boy, builder with an inexpen-
sive source of wheels. I, personally, have been
running ten of them for 2 years — with the
orginal bearings and tires. My only problem
has been with the cheap, thin, tires and tubes
Page 18
 These heavy duty tires feature a clincher
bead for secure attachment to rim.
The recommended inflation pressure indi-
cated on the sidewall is 50 psi.
To distinguish them from regular tires, the
words “Kevlar Belt” is printed on the side-
wall.
being vulnerable to punctures & flats! I tried
to help the situation with the addition of
Slime sealant in the tubes. I have even
advised others to do the same.
However, under a lot of actual usage, I
found that even Slime has it’s limitations. On
larger tires, Slime has time enough to seal
before much air is lost. But, with bicycle size
tires, you don’t have to lose much air to be 1/2
flat! OK, you can still run — until — that sec-
ond thorn makes it’s entry into the tube. By
the time Slime seals this second hole, you’re
almost running on the rim!
Aside from the Worksman products,
there’s some other products you should be
aware of. Namely, tire liners, designed to be
installed between the tube and tire, under
the tread area. The apparent, top of the line
is a brand by the name of “SpinSkins.” They
feature a tightly-woven belt of Kevlar!
Another one is “Mr Tuffy” liners. Constructed
of tough, plastic materal, they are advertised
as the answer to your flat problems. The most
inexpensive liners are made by Slime. They,
like Mr. Tuffy’s, are made from a tough plas-
Issue No. 50 Engine and Wheels
A deep diamond pattern gives these tires
an “old fashioned” look, just right for our
horseless carriages. Both the 20 inch and
26 inch tires have identical tread.
tic material.
On my Quadricycle, I will be installing a
set of Kevlar belted tires and heavy duty
tubes from Worksman. I will, also, install a
set of SpinSkin Kevlar liners between the tire
and tube. However, I will not be adding Slime
to the tubes.
On my Briggs & Strattion Cycle car, I will
be installing regular new tires with a thick,
knobby tread. The tubes will be Bell
FlatBlocker inner tubes that are advertised
as being 300% thicker “where it counts.” In
addition they come pre-filled with Slime!
Wal-Mart Super Centers have these at less
that $10 each. In addition to these tubes, I
will be installing SpinSkin Kevlar tire liners
for additional protection.
On my parade trailer, I will be installing 2
regular new tires with a traditional diamond
pattern. These will have 2 more Bell,
FlatBlocker with Slime tubes and Mr. Tuffy
tire lines.
By testing all these combinations, I hope
to be able to arrive at an optimum
tire/tube/liner set-up. At least I hope to solve
my own, Bullhead thorn curse that has
plagued me through 2 parade seasons.
In the illustrations on this page, we have
Page 19
 Spoke holes Worksman Hub - Free Turning
5
2 DIA
32

3/4 x 1-3/8 flange bearing

both ends
3
DIA
4
1 5
DIA 3
4 8
Equally spaced
on both sides - not in line

We have, illustrated above, a cut-away drawing of

the free-turning hub. The dimensions were meas-
ured from an actual hub. The one inspected had
three, 1/4” Dia holes in each flange. They appear to
be a way to easily attach a spacer and sprocket (if
desired) with 1/4” hardware.

disected each Worksman hub to

help you understand the construc- Spoke holes Worksman Hub - Driven

tion. 3
4
DIA
The dimensions were measured
from actual hubs and are approxi-
mate.
On the next page, we have pro-
vided a list of Worksman part
numbers and the current prices.
The phone number goes directly to
their order desk, where you can 3 1
order direct with your credit card. 3/16 keyway
4 4

If you prefer to send a check or 3

5
8
money order, they will give you the
total with directions on mailing it. This illustration shows a cut-away drawing of the driv-
Tell them you read about their en hub. They are designed to go onto a 3/4” Dia shaft
products in Engine and Wheels, a with a standard 3/16 keyway. Note that a key would
newsletter published by the old have to go through and contact the inside of the 1/4”
man in Arizona. insert.

Issue No. 50 Engine and Wheels Page 20

 — HEAVYDUTY CARRIAGE WHEELS —
Worksman Trading Corp — Worksman Cycles Industrial Park
94 -15 100th Street - Ozone Park New York 11416 USA
Sales 1-888-394-3353 — credit cards accepted
cycles@worksman.com

20 x 2.125 wheel 26 x 2.125 wheel

With 3/4 Id Ball bearings - 3.5 wide hub With 3/4 Id Ball Bearings - 3.5 wide hub

Part No. 326A (w/out tire & tube). . $49.33 Part No 329A (w/out tire/tube) . . . $52.34

Part No. 173 3/4 x 1-3/8 replacement Part No. 173 3/4 x 1-3/8 replacement
flange bearing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $3.28 flange bearing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $3.28
_______________ _______________

With 3/4 bore w/3/16 keyway - 3.5 hub With 3/4 Bore w/3/16 keyway - 3.5 hub
Complete with Kevlar tire and PR tube. Complete with Kevlar tire and PR tube.

P/N M14023KVPR. . . . . . . . . . . . . .$99.26 P/N M14032KVPR. . . . . . . . . . . . .$102.60

20 x 2.125 Tires & Tubes 26 x 2.125 Tires & Tubes

Kevlar, Diamond Tread, Heavy Duty, Tire Kevlar Diamond Tread Heavy Duty Tire

P/N 4922KV. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $19.00 P/N 4922AKV. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$22.00

_______________ _______________

Heavy Duty Puncture Resistant Tube Heavy Duty Puncture Resistant Tube

P/N 6023 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $12.16 P/N 6023A. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$12.69

_______________ _______________

Rim Strips (covers spokes) Rim Strips (covers spokes)

P/N 1017A. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $0.88 P/N 1017. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$0.88

Note: Worksman Cycles has been in business for years, manufacturing commercial grade
bicycles for industrial use. The wheels they manufacture are of much higher quality than the
import wheels we have been using. The free-turning wheels are equipped with much better
bearings and have 11 ga (.120 dia) spokes cross laced with adjustable nipples. Their power
driven wheels come equipped with hubs, featuring a 3/4 dia bore with 3/16 keyway.
In addition to the 20 and 26 inch wheels, etc shown on the above list, they have 24 inch
wheels, also, available. Their tires are available in white-wall, however they are not Kevlar
belted.

Issue No. 50 Engine and Wheels Page 21

 — More About Wheels — Please note that this price is each in lots of 2.
To buy only one would raise the cost.
In the last newsletter, we introduced you
— Tires, Tubes & Strips —
to Worksman Cycle Co. and the great line of
wheels they have available.
Some of our group have expressed a
One of the biggest problems we have faced
desire to buy all wheels with the rubber
in the past was applying power to our rear
installed. Others have wanted to buy every-
wheels. We had to extensively-modify the
thing without rubber.
existing garden cart wheels to serve these
The prices that I have published, thus far,
needs.
have been exactly as given to me by
With the Worksman standard line of
Worksman. With the price chart in Issue 24
wheels, we had two different solutions; 1) to
and now, with this Issue, we have quite an
use their free-turning wheels, p/n 326A and
assortment. While all wheels can be pur-
329A by attaching a sprocket directly to the
chased with or without rubber, I believe to
flange, containing 3, 1/4” holes. (See the
create more price charts with all the possible
drawing on the next page.) and 2) their drive
combinations would only complicate things.
wheel p/n M14023KVPR (20”) and p/n
The price with rubber, naturally, includes
M14032KVPR (26”).
the price of the wheel, tire, tube and strip.
The latter wheel featured a 3/4” wide
There is, also, a labor factor added for mount-
insert welded in containing a 3/4” dia hole
ing.
with a 3/16 keyway. Some of our group were
Some of you will want white walls (no
concerned about only having 3/4” exposure to
Kevlar belt). Some will want empty wheels
a keyway. While serving Worksman’s 1 people
for painting to match their car. Some will
power application, would it handle the sever-
want to save $$ by mounting their own. I
al horsepower that we would be applying?
hope you can see why I didn’t go any further
I approached Worksman to see if there
with the price list.
could be a way to improve this without inject-
If you want a combination not shown,
ing excessive tooling and procurement of ven-
then you are free to discuss your needs when
dor-supplied parts. While growing, our group
phoning in your order.
of horseless carriage builders does not repre-
On my own “rolling stock,” I have been
sent a share of the market whereby we can
installing both Worksman and other brand
make excessive demands on manufacturers.
tires. I would like to say that the tires from
They suggested a possible solution that
Worksman are superior to the others. If you
would give us twice the keyway exposure.
think you don’t need “bullet-proof” Kevlar-
This modification would use existing parts
belted tires because you don’t have thorns,
they already have in stock, with only tooling
just wait till you run over a spilled box of
changes and assembly procedures. A drawing
pointed carpenters staples!
of this new wheel is shown in Fig 2, on page
For those who want 28” wheels, 3” wide
23.
tires, or anything beyond the Worksman line
We now have a wheel that can be taken
as presented in Issue 24 and 25, you will have
from the carton and installed on a 3/4” Dia
to look elsewhere.
keywayed axle. Most agree that this would
I should mention again that Worksman,
handle the power we would be applying. This
also, has 24” inch wheels. However, I know of
new wheel is called a “Dual Drive Wheel.”
no one using this size, so this size wasn’t
On page 6 we have a price chart with
examined further. The rest of this newsletter
some new additions. This addition is at the
I will use to show some modifications we can
top of the list in both 20” and 26” sizes. They
do to standard Worksman wheels.
are priced without tires, tubes or strips.

Issue No. 50 Engine and Wheels Page 22

 3/16 thick adaptor
Fig. 1 40 tooth #40 sprocket
Use 1/4 ID shim washers
1
4 DIA to space to .156 min to clear spokes
2 1
1 DIA Typical 3 places
2

1/4 - 28 NF x 7/8 Lg Socket, Flat Hd Capscrew

4 DIA

1
DIA
4
4 Holes,
Equally spaced

C'sink heads flush 1/4 - 28 Nylon lock nut (typ 3 plcs)

Spokes not shown for clarity

2.156 DIA
To match holes in wheel flange

Adapting a Worksman hub P/N 326A (20") or P/N 329A (26") to Jimmy Woods' Design.

The above drawing shows the details of an adapter plate to fit a sprocket to wheel. This
arrangement would mount flat sprockets to a Jimmy Woods’ design drive wheel. This
assembly should adapt the Worksman wheel to all existing Woods carriages.
Plain sprockets, made to be welded to sprocket hub can be found at Surplus Center. See
our Links page for a link to their catalog. The No. 40 sprockets come with a 2” dia hole. This
requires the adapter being mounted to wheel with flat head, socket head capscrews.
The new, Dual Drive
Wheel that Worksman is
willing to make for our Spoke holes Worksman Hub - Driven
requirements, in shown in 3
2 Keyed Inserts
DIA
Fig. 2. This has a 3/4 wide 4
insert welded on both
sides. The keyways are
aligned in welding fixture
to assure the key stock will
line up and go all the way
through the hub.
Remember, when using
this hub, we must allow for 3
4
3
4
the spoke protruding 3/16 keyway
5
2 places
approximately 5/32 beyond Fig. 2 3
8
the width of the hub.
I believe that 1-1/2 inch Above, in Fig. 2, we present a cut-away drawing of the new
of keyway exposure in each wheel that Worksman is willing to make for us. This new hub
of two rear wheels should has 2, 3/4 wide inserts giving us 1-1/2 inch total keyway contact
handle the average power which should be sufficient for power transmission to rear
we apply. And for those of wheels. Please note: To get the price given on page 6, they
you who doubt this, on must be ordered in pairs.

Issue No. 50 Engine and Wheels Page 23

page 25 & 26, I give you two
more options. However, Worksman Hub - With Bearing Cups
there’s some work involved Spoke holes Typical for P/N 78SA (26") & P/N 1008A (20")

in modifying. With the pre-

vious wheel, you simple
remove from the carton and
install on your rear axle.
It is more economical for
Worksman to sell the wheel
with bearing cups pressed
in, than to inventory the
hub without cups. (Fig. 3).
All we have to do is careful- Fig. 3
ly remove these cups.
Thus done, we can either
press in bearings as shown Above, in Fig. 3, the Worksman hub that uses bicycle type
in Fig. 4. or weld in inserts bearings (such as used in head and crank). The parts num-
with keyways as shown in bers given above and on page 26, have only the bearing cup
Fig. 5 & 6. installed. To use, we must remove these cups to, either weld
A 3/4 ID ball bearing with in our special hub inserts or a new ball bearing with a flange.
an OD of 1-11/16 is not a This gives us a sturdy hub to adapt to different applications.
common, off-the-shelf, item, however, Bob For a good installation of these bearings,
Kapela found a quality bearing that meets it may be necessary to increase the hub hole
this requirement. It is manufactured by slightly with a die grinder.
Kilian Bearing Co. and can be purchased for In Fig. 4, on next page, we see two Kilian
$6.40 each from: BDI Trading Group at: bearings pressed into the modified
ph (216) 642-9100 or online at: Worksman hub. You will now have a superior
http://www.bdiusa.com/global/global.asp front wheel for your carriage.

Worksman Wheel P/N 78SA (26") or P/N 1008A (20")

with bearing cups removed and new bearings pressed in.
Spoke holes
.750 DIA (ref) 3-7/8 (ref)

11
1 (ref)
16

Kilian Bearing P/N F-700 (2)

Fig. 4

Issue No. 50 Engine and Wheels Page 24

 As we continue to look at some more pos-
sible modifications to this and another
wheel/hub on page 25 & 26, we show draw-
ings of how this same basic hub can be modi-
fied into a driving hub.
Few of our shops are equipped with a set
of keyway broaches or the press necessary to
use them. We must, therefore seek some
existing (off-the-shelf) part that we can adapt
to our needs.
I have found such parts available at
Surplus Center in Lincoln, Nebraska. Phone
(800)488-3407. Website can be seen at:
www.surpluscenter.com
The parts are known as “Keyed Shaft
Couplers” and are found on page 15 of their
catalog No. 278. A coupler of interest to us
would be Item No. 1-1563-E. This coupler is
bored to 1 inch with a 1/4 keyway through it.
The OD is 1-13/16 and the length is 4 inches.
This hub is modified by, first removing the
existing set-screws and machining the Dia. to
closely fit inside the hub (1-11/16 dia ref.) The
inside dia of the hub should be “miked” on
Spoke holes Worksman Hub - With 1 inch Keyway Insert
Fig. 5
1/4 keyway
each modification to insure a proper fitting
adapter. The length can be left as is or
machined to the same length as the hub.
The drawing in Fig. 5 below, shows the
adapter cut to the same width as the hub and
welded in place on both ends. If you are using
a “buzz box” stick welder, I recommend plac-
ing a short piece of shafting material in the
bore to prevent “spatter” from sticking to the
adapter bore.
Thus modified, this wheel should give you
the optimum in a driving wheel. This wheel,
however, is modified to fit a 1 inch dia axle.
For those who are using 3/4 inch dia axles, we
present yet another possible modification
using a 3/4 inch dia insert. Unfortunately,
this Surplus Center coupling is only 3 inches
long.
Some builders have welded three of these
couplers together, end to end, using a piece of
3/4 inch dia shaft with keyway to align the
coupler keyways. When welded it can be cut
into two pieces with sufficient length to fill
the entire hub.
5
To clear spokes
32
Both sides

1 DIA

11
1 DIA (ref)
16
5
3 (ref)
8

Make from Worksman wheels 78SA (26") or 1008A (20") by removing bearing cups.
Weld in keyed insert made from Surplus Center 1" shaft coupling, Item
No. 1-1563-E, by machining OD to match ID of hub (1-11/16 ref) and cutting
length to match width of hub (3-5/8 ref).

Fig. 5, above, is the detail drawing of the
1 inch dia modification. Fig. 6, next page,
continues our discussion about modifying
hub for a 3/4 inch dia keyway axle. In this
illustration, we are showing only one Surplus
Center coupling. Note how it fails to span the
entire width of the hub. For ease of welding ,
we recommend 4 plug welds, equally spaced
around hub as shown. To drill these plug
holes, a right-angle attachment will be neces-
sary for your drill to reach through the
spokes. These attachments are a common
and inexpensive item at most good hardware
stores.
To use this modified wheel, a spacer or
washers can be used to expand the area of the

Issue No. 50 Engine and Wheels Page 25

 5
Fig. 6 to clear spokes
3 (ref) 32
Typical both sides

3/16 keyway

Spokes

Weld all around 3

1 DIA (ref)
8

3
DIA (ref)
4

3
2 Plug weld (4 plcs)
4
Make from Worksman wheels 326A (20") or 329A (26") by removing bearings.
Weld in keyed insert made from Surplus Center 3/4 shaft coupling, Item
No. 1-1563-C, by machining OD to match ID of hub (1-3/8 ref)

axle not covered by the welded-in coupler. least, serve as inspiration to come up with
There are more variations possible, but your own custom design. If you do, please
we have presented the more basic ideas. send us the details so we can share it with
Hopefully, these will fulfill your needs or, at others.

20 x 2.125 Dual drive wheel 26 x 2.125 Dual drive wheel

See Fig. 2 for detail.
With 2 - 3/4 bore w/3/16 keyway inserts - 3.5
hub. Without tire, tube & strip.
Please note: The price given here is each,
when wheels are purchased in pairs.
P/N M14021 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$99.99
_______________
See Fig. 2 for detail
With 2 - 3/4 bore w/3/16 keyway inserts - 3.5
hub. Without tire, tube & strip.
Please Note: The price given here is each,
when wheels are purchased in pairs.
P/N M14033 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$99.99
_______________

20 x 2.125 Wheel with bearing cups 26 x 2.125 Wheel with bearing cups
See Fig. 3 for detail. See Fig. 3 for detail.
Without tire, tube & strip Without tire, tube & strip
P/N 1008A. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$59.89 P/N 78A. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$59.89
_______________ _______________

20” White Wall tire 26” White Wall tire

Please Note: White Walls do not contain Please Note: White Walls do not contain
Kevlar belting. Kevlar belting.
P/N 6023 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $12.16 P/N 6023A. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$12.69
_______________ _______________

Issue No. 50 Engine and Wheels Page 26

 — More Technical Stuff —
In the course of publishing this news let-
ter, I receive a lot of email and phone calls
that never get published, from which I learn
and, also from the pictures that are submit-
ted. From all this input I can’t help but make
observations and come to some personal con-
clusions.
This spring, we had a contest on the Yahoo
group to determine who had the most clut-
tered workshop. The most revealing thing
was everyone seems to have their “shop”
crammed into a really small area, many
times sharing the garage with other activi-
ties. My own shop is no different. With the
exception of a 12” lathe and a vertical milling
machine, most every thing else has wheels or
casters on it. I jokingly say that to use one
machine, I must play “Chinese Checkers”
with two or three others to get to the one I
want! Yes, I even have wheels on a 140#
anvil!
The contest pictures revealed the fact that
most everyone was much “heavier” into wood
working than metal working. This is a nor-
mal transition. We all whittled before we
welded!
There’s a few shop tools that serve both
wood and metal working. The most common
is the drill press. I consider a good, heavy
duty, floor standing drill press an absolute
necessity.
Even the most simply designed carriages
require the cutting of several pieces of steel.
Therefore, the abrasive, cut-off, chop saw is
another “must have.” To take care of sharp
corners, burrs, etc., a grinder (either hand or
fixed) is another “must have.”
From that point on, when making metal
parts, you get into categories of welding,
turning, forming, etc. These all require both
equipment and skills in which you may be
lacking. To continue making a carriage,
requiring the above, you have two choices: 1)
Acquire the equipment and skills and do it
yourself or 2) Pay someone else to do it for
you. A commercial machine shop gets from
Issue No. 50 Engine and Wheels
$50.00 per hour on up for such work. Welding
can run you from beginning at $30.00 per
hour.
A little math applied here allows you to
see the advantage of doing as much as possi-
ble, yourself. If you must use an outside
machine shop, have your “ducks in a row”
before you go. Have a good drawing that tells
the machinist how your finished part must
look. If the part must interface with some-
thing else, take that part, also, so the
machinst can make them “fit.”
Many times, it takes more time just “set-
ting up” than actually machining the part.
Knowing these things before hand can pre-
vent you from fainting when you learn how
much this simple little part is going to cost
you!
What I am trying to impress on you is how
much you should consider obtaining equip-
ment and learning how to use it.
After a drill press, a good metal-turning
lathe is the next tool you should add. I recom-
mend a 12 inch model with a head bore of >1”.
I have a Craftsman that I have had for 25
years. Although the head bore is <1”, it has
served me well. You can find one today on
Ebay for around $1,000. Try to find one local-
ly to avoid expensive crating and shipping.
A closing thought — the advantage of get-
ting together in small “clubs” is skills and
equipment can be shared. Maybe one fellow is
a machinist, another one, a welder and the
third, a wood worker with painting skills.
Pool your resources and start building cars!
— More How-To ideas from Bob Kapela —
— Axles —
We have discussed "dead" and "live" axles,
and their applications on the machines we
build. There is a third type of drive axle, it is
not commonly seen on our machines, but it
could be. It is called a "full floating axle". In
this type of axle, all of the bending stress, due
to static force and skidding force, is carried
by a housing. The axle "floats" inside the
housing and bears only the torque require-
ments of turning the wheels.
Page 27
 — Differentials —
by Bob Kapela
The item we commonly call a differential
could have just as easily been named a com-
pensator. It is necessary to fit an automobile
with differential or compensating gears in
order that the rear wheels may revolve at dif-
ferent speeds when the car turns a corner.
The outside wheel, in a turn, has to travel
faster, because it has a longer distance to
travel than the inside wheel. To compensate
for this difference, bevel gears on the ends of
the axle shafts mesh with the small bevel
gears, called "compensating" or "differential"
gears. These gears do not turn as long as the
car is traveling straight and the resistance on
each wheel is the same, but when a corner is
turned, the compensating gears turn in their
bearings, allowing the outside wheel to trav-
el faster than the inside wheel. In fact, the
inside wheel could be stationary or revolve
backwards, if necessary. Now, for an engi-
neering "law": If the car is traveling straight
ahead, with equal resistance on each wheel,
axle "a" and axle "b" are traveling at the same
rpm as the differential itself (in the case of a
Comet or Peerless, the outer housing).
Therefore, we can say that the sum of the
rpm's of axle "a" and axle "b" equal twice the
speed of the outer housing. This statement
will always be true, during a very sharp turn,
where the inside wheel is barely turning, the
sum of the rpm's of the two axles will still be
twice the rpm's of the differential housing. If
you were to construct a car with no differen-
tial at all, just a straight axle, it would be
very hard to turn the machine and the stress-
es on the axle would be very large. Also, if you
were to build a machine with just one wheel
drive, and say it was on the left wheel, I
would be quite cautious about attempting a
sharp left hand turn from a standing start.
You can see from the engineering "law" why
this is so. If I was going to turn left, I would
build up some momentum and not try to
"power through" the turn. A right hand turn
would be better.
Issue No. 50 Engine and Wheels
— Comparing differentials —
Two differentials are commonly available
for us builders. The Peerless unit is readily
available from Northern and costs about
$70.00. It comes with axles attached. I have
taken three of them apart. They are pretty
well built, about the same quality as the
Comet one. For $70.00, I think it is a real bar-
gain, and always keep one extra, just in case
they become unavailable. The axles can be
removed, or modified, while still attached to
the housing. To attach a sprocket, you only
have to unscrew (4) nuts, the screws remain
holding the differential halves together,
because the housing itself has tapped
threads. The screws are, also, conveniently
long enough to attach a sprocket, while still
leaving room for the nuts. The only thing that
I should comment on is that in all (3) cases of
taking these units apart, I have noticed that
the factory puts a very minimum amount of
lubricant in the housing. It is not an oil type
lubricant, but appears to be an EP (extreme
pressure) #1 grease. In each case, I have
added approx (1) cup of additional lubricant.
There is no provision to check, refill, or drain
lubricant from these units, so once you have
the machine all assembled, you are pretty
well stuck with it. If you ever see lubricant
leaking, check the (4) housing bolts for tight-
ness, but if lubricant is coming out where the
axles leave the unit, you may have some
binding issues with the way it is mounted, or
the inboard, pillow-block support bearing are
too far away from the housing.
The Comet differential is also available,
but at a much higher price. In my opinion the
price is not justified. If you order from some
regular suppliers, you will pay $150.00 or
more just for the bare unit, and that has no
axles included, making it useless without
them. Axles are fairly expensive, $50.00 or
more apiece. Even if you purchase one
through E-bay, where they are regularly
offered by a Dealer, you will pay $75.00 for
the unit, $35.00 each for the axles, and $1.75
ea for two required snap rings, (retaining
rings)., plus shipping.
Page 28
 Be aware that to install the axles, you
must disassemble the differential itself,
insert the axles through the bevel gears, then
install the retaining rings on each. To install
these rings, you must have a good quality
expanding-type, retaining ring pliers. Do not
try to install the rings without one, or the
result may be one of four things: several
blood blisters on your fingers, a snap ring in
your eye, a snap ring across the room that
you may or may not find, or a distorted snap
ring that is no longer functional. If you have
a differential and axles, but no snap rings,
you can go the local bearing-supply house
and ask for some Truarc 5160 series external
heavy duty retaining rings, part number
Truarc 5160-75. They will probably cost
about $.35 ea. The one Comet unit I had
apart also appeared, in my opinion, to have a
minimum amount of lubricant, and I, person-
ally will add more. I have not heard about
failures due to lubricant problems, but have
had a lot of experience with lubricants in
gearboxes, etc.. The Comet lubricant appears
to be about the same as the lubricant used in
the Peerless. Both units seem to work with
the lubricant supplied, although greases are
known to "channel" under use, depriving the
gears from their benefit. There is no provi-
sion on the Comet unit, same as the Peerless,
for checking, adding, or draining lubricant, so
once again, when it is assembled and on the
car, you are stuck with it. The only redeeming
value of the Comet, in my opinion, is that, in
appearance, it resembles a traditional differ-
ential, as we know it, more than the Peerless
one.
— Taking apart these units —
If you are going to disassemble one of
these units (or anything else unfamiliar to
you), there are a few things you should do to
avoid possible problems: First have a clean
area on your workbench to lay things on
when the unit is taken apart. Then take a
center punch or a carbide-tipped, scratch-awl
and make a line of punch marks or a major
scratch across the part, where the two hous-
Issue No. 50 Engine and Wheels
ings are mated together. Then, an hour or two
weeks later, when you are reassembling, you
will be able to do it in the correct reverse
order. Some assemblies are sensitive to this
and could be subject to lubricant leaks or
early failure, if not reassembled properly.
Don't use a pencil or a grease pen, they
are non-permanent and tend to get washed
away, usually in direct proportion to their
importance.
The Peerless and Comet units are not
complicated, but these hints are good to
remember, if you are taking apart something
unfamiliar. If you are taking something apart
for the first time, be careful when removing
the last one or two screws. Use your fingers
and good judgement to be sure whatever you
are removing is not "spring-loaded." This
may help you avoid an unpleasant experience
with some parts suddenly flying out and pre-
venting you from seeing how they were origi-
nally assembled. A lot of times when remov-
ing a housing half or cover, you will notice
more than one gasket. Sometimes they will
be different colors. These colors designate
various (precision) thicknesses, and were
used by the original assembler to properly-
setup preload, clearances, etc., required by
the assembly. Be sure to reassemble all in the
same configuration. Sometimes, one or more
fasteners will be significantly-longer or short-
er than the others. There is always a reason
for this and you want to take note of it. When
you remove a cover or housing that has a gas-
ket on it, only remove it a very short ways
and then note that either all of the gasket is
coming off in one piece, or all of it is "staying
put". Careful use of a sharp knife to encour-
age the gasket to do either one of the above
will help you avoid grief in trying to replicate
a torn one. Good luck on all your projects.
Bob Kapela.
Page 29
 Nuts and Bolts #1
By Tom Moore
Weasel Words: The following information
is my opinion only. Approach what I say as
you should approach everything you read on
the internet — with a healthy dose of skepti-
cism. These thoughts should be a catalyst for
you to further research safe ways to build
your replica car.
Fasteners are one of the most important
parts of your replica car. Fasteners hold all
the different systems together, and make it
possible for your car to accelerate, stop, and
steer under your control. If a fastener system
fails, you may be in for an interesting ride.
Choosing and utilizing the correct fasten-
er system is not rocket science. Never forget
my advice; pay attention, and think ahead.
The term, fastener system, may seem like it
is just a fancy way of saying nuts and bolts. It
is important to think of all your fasteners as
being able to work together to achieve a safe
car. A bolt needs to hold two items together. A
nut is important to apply some clamping
force, and possibly secure the system.
Washers are needed to spread clamping-force
and keep the various parts together.
Bolts come in various sizes and flavors. I
have always thought of bolts as being in ten-
sion or in shear. Examples of bolts in tension
would be connecting rod bolts or head bolts.
Bolts in tension have heads designed for that
use, or when studs with special nuts are
used. Bolts in shear are inserted through
holes in each of two pieces being joined, and
opposing forces try to shear the bolt into two
pieces. This is single shear, and an example
of single shear would be the vertical brackets
that hold the seat back to the seat base on a
Thevenet-designed CDO. Single shear is an
unbalanced load. A large load tries to rotate
the bolt. The head end of the bolt wants to go
with the material it adjoins, and the nut end
of the bolt wants to go with the material it
adjoins. Double shear is better. It is a bal-
anced load. An example would be two vertical
Issue No. 50 Engine and Wheels
brackets to hold up the seat back. The force
pulling the seat back is balanced perfectly
against the two brackets between which it is
sandwiched. There are no forces trying to
rotate the bolt, and put more load on one side
of the bolt head or washer or nut. Gravity and
the weight of a wooden seat back being what
it is make this example ridiculous, but it
illustrates the principle of single shear and
double shear.
F F
F
F
F
DOUBLE SHEAR
SINGLE SHEAR
The most common bolts to use for assem-
bly are grade 5 and grade 8, hex head cap
screws. Three radial lines on the head identi-
fy grade 5 cap screws, and grade 8 bolts have
six radial lines. I don’t know why. If you are
really curious about this, do some research.
Grade 8 fasteners are stronger than grade 5
fasteners. On first glance, we should use only
grade 8 bolts and forget about grade 5 bolts,
right? (Sound of buzzer) Maybe not. Grade 8
bolts are stronger, but they are, also, more
brittle. Grade 8 bolts snap suddenly when
failure load is exceeded. Grade 5 bolts tend to
bend and stretch before letting go. This is
called a warning. If more strength is needed,
go to the next stronger grade.
Do not use fasteners threaded from under
the head to the other end. This puts threads
in the pieces you are trying to hold together.
Threads tend to act like little knife blades or
rasps inside the hole. When assembled with
the proper washers, no threads should be in
the pieces being held together. Do not use a
big stack of washers to accommodate a too-
long bolt. It looks like what it is; making do.
Page 30
The purpose of plain washers is to spread out
the load. For instance, the head of a bolt,
drawn down against a wooden panel, will dig
into the wood and, eventually, get loose as the
wood is compressed. A washer applies the
load over a greater area. Remember, if
designed correctly, the bolt is in shear. You
don’t need to tighten the bolt until the wash-
er digs in, just enough to keep things togeth-
er.
When drilling holes in metal for fasteners,
take time to deburr the hole. An extra little
piece of metal just messes up assembly. I am
not suggesting that you need a precision,
reamed hole, but try to make a hole that is
not too tight and not too loose.
Other types of washers are star washers,
with internal and external serrations, and
split lock washers. These should go against a
metal surface. There is a debate over whether
split lock washers should be tightened until
they are completely flattened out. The “don’t”
side says that when completely flat, the ends
of the hardened washer can’t dig in and stop
rotation. Do some research, and decide for
yourself.
Nuts can be plain, in several thicknesses,
or with a nylon collar, which actually is
chewed up by the bolt threads and resists
turning. This is a good thing. In aircraft use,
these nuts are discarded after one use, in
other words, not reused. Do not use if the
nylon is really used up. To be authentic, your
runabout should not run silky smooth. It
should rattle and shake a bit. Nylon insert
nuts will give you more peace of mind.
Threadlocking chemicals are a great
invention. Use as per the manufacturer’s
directions. Also, don’t use the “more is better”
philosophy. There are threadlockers that
require the use of a torch to disassemble a
joint. Think ahead, you may need to take
things apart some time. You really don’t enjoy
stripped nuts and bolts and another chance
to use your blue vocabulary, do you?
For really critical applications, specialized
locking methods are required. Look at the
steering components on a rear drive auto or
Issue No. 50 Engine and Wheels
truck. Don’t look under the hood of a front
wheel drive car. I get sort of nauseated when
I do. Moving steering components are held
together with castellated nuts, sometimes
called castle nuts. The threaded part of the
bolt or stud has a drilled hole through which
a cotter pin is inserted to stop the nut from
turning off. I always check castle nuts when I
inspect stock cars before a race. I witnessed a
wreck when a stock car steering component
came apart. The car immediately turned
right towards the concrete wall. This hap-
pened near the end of the back straightaway,
just before the braking point. The car never
touched the wall because another car was on
the outside. He hit that car instead. Four
more cars piled into these cars. Six smashed
race cars, a couple of sore drivers, all for the
lack of a cotter pin. Pay attention and think
ahead.
For assembling rotating steering compo-
nents on our little cars, I would suggest
drilling your own bolt end and inserting a cot-
ter pin. Make up a vee block from wood to
hold the bolt securely, and use a small drill
bit in a drill press. With a drill press, you can
keep the bit straight and control the drilling
pressure. You could use a “hairpin” clip
instead of a cotter pin, but what happens
when you drive through weeds and the clip
gets pulled out? Think ahead.
If your car has any wood in its construc-
tion, you may need nails to supply clamping
force until the glue sets. After the glue sets,
the nails are “along for the ride.” In the con-
struction of wooden homebuilt aircraft, some-
times office staples made of round wire are
used and pulled out later. All in the name of
saving weight!
Pop rivets, wood screws, or sheet metal
screws could be used in runabout construc-
tion. I would advise against the use of wood-
screws or sheet metal screws, because, in my
experience, I have never seen one of these
vibrate tight. I designed a bolt with a head on
both ends so it would always vibrate tight,
but I have given up on this idea as installa-
tion has proven to be a big problem.
Page 31
 In closing, I want to thank Lee Roy
Thevenet, the Cajun CDO builder extraordi-
naire, for coming up with the name for this
column, and Everett Moore for publishing
Engine and Wheels. I am not related to
Everett, but I think I will introduce him as
my older brother! I know there are other ded-
icated people who give a lot of time to make
all this happen, thanks to them, also.
— More on Steering Geometry —
by Bob Kapela
We have all read various articles about
steering geometry on our self-built vehicles.
Words like "camber", "toe-in", "caster", and
lately, the "Ackerman principle". In my opin-
ion, because of our (limited) ability to make
super precision setups, and the slow (12 to 15
mph) speeds of our vehicles, there is only one
principle that we should always use when
building our vehicles, and that is the
"Ackerman principle", and this is why: (first,
it is assumed that you have constructed the
front axle properly, square and tight, with
reamed kingpin bushings so there is no
"slop", etc..)
When you are at the point of attaching the
lever arms to the spindles to make the wheels
turn, it is a natural thought to position the
lever arms straight back, because it "looks
right". Now, when you have the tie rod
attached and turn the wheels, both will turn
the same amount of degrees.
However, when you decide to make a turn,
the inside wheel must travel in a smaller cir-
cle than the outer wheel. If you were turning
on snow, ice, or sand, for example, and looked
back at the tracks after you turned, you
would see that the tracks were not "undis-
turbed". One or both wheels skidded or
dragged a bit through the turn. If you were
on blacktop or concrete, the tires may squeal
a little, or you can notice that one or both
tires are being "pulled" away from the rim
during the turn. About one hundred years
ago, an early automotive engineer named
Ackerman (among others) found that by sim-
Issue No. 50 Engine and Wheels
I hope this article has been of value to
someone. I do not profess to be an engineer or
a designer; I am passing on what I have
learned.
"Safe Motoring is Happy Motoring"
Tom Moore
ply mounting the lever arms so they each
point exactly to the center of the rear axle (on
our cars, approximately 15 degrees), it would
make a dramatic improvement in the steer-
ing. Here is how it works: Due to the geome-
try of the Ackerman setup, when you turn the
wheels to the extreme in either direction, the
inside wheel will be turned up to (10) degrees
more than the outside wheel. This allows the
inside wheel to freely-turn in a smaller circle
than the outer one. This greatly reduces the
strain on the steering gear, makes the turn
easier for the operator, and makes the turns
much smoother. This is a very simple thing to
do when setting up your steering and costs
nothing, it is highly recommended.
Camber, toe-in, and caster
on vintage vehicles:
"Camber" is where the spindles are "cam-
bered" in about (2) degrees, that is, the front
wheels are closer together at the bottom than
they are the top. The idea of cambering is to
reduce steering effort, as the center of the tire
at the ground will more closely intersect an
imaginary-line drawn through the spindle
bolt (or kingpin)-
"Toe-in" is used to offset the wearing action
of the camber on the tires. The tires are setup
to be slightly closer together at the front than
at the rear.The term "gather" is sometimes
used instead of toe-in.
"Caster" is where the king pin (spindle bolt)
is setup with the bottom inclined-slightly for-
ward. A straight line drawn through this will
Page 32
meet the ground a little in advance of the
point where the wheel contacts the ground.
This is what allows a bicycle rider to say "Hey
look ma! No hands!" In this arrangement,
turning the wheels in one direction actually
raises the body of the vehicle slightly, thus
the weight of the vehicle tends to bring the
wheels back to the straight position. Proper
caster is useful to help prevent steering
"wander", and is useful, for example, if your
hands momentarily leave the steering wheel.
— Straight steering to all —
Bob Kapela
__________
This looks like an opportune time to add
the following “fix” for the go-kart steering
spindles that we all have used, because they
were available and inexpensive. The price we
paid was having a lot of slop and horrible
steering geometry.
For some reason they were manufactured
with straight back, steering arms. I called
them out on my plans because they required
no welding. Good, steering-geometry seemed
a moot point with all the other drive train
problems we had to solve.
2.000 .500 R
.900
.325
Issue No. 50 Engine and Wheels
Anyway, I layed-out a relatively quick fix
for this that will inject the Ackerman princi-
ple back into an existing carriage.
Using the drawing in the upper left
(below) layout 2 on 1/8” thick bar stock. You
have the choice to either drill mounting-
holes, as shown, and drill a mating hole on
the steering arm, 2 inches forward from the
existing tie rod hole. I haven’t specified hole
diameters because different diameters may
have been used.
An alternative method would be to clamp
the new part in place and weld. The option is
yours.
The tie rod and/or drag link will attach to
the new, inboard hole and will require a bit of
shortening of these rods.
You should obtain good, steering-geome-
try on most of the carriages where these spin-
dles have been used.
I would appreciate any feed-back on this
subject, which you might have after you try
this out.
Next month I hope to address the sloppy
king-pin situation that’s, also, present in
these spindles.
Everett Moore
15 degrees
Page 33
— More Design Thoughts and Advice — Clean them up and these are your spindle
from: Bob Kapela yokes. You can weld them to the ends of the
axle beam now. If you are careful, you can
Possibly the most difficult item to layout setup a bit of "caster" (see article about cast-
and build, correctly, on your machine is the er in issue #33). Caster is what allows you to
front axle assembly. I have built (5) complete go to the U-Haul place and rent a simple
units, and each is strong, good looking, and device called a "tow bar" and tow another
has minimum "looseness". Here are some vehicle all over the country. If your machine
observations and ideas on building your own. ever breaks down (heaven forbid) and you
I have a large farm shop with quite a bit have to be towed off the parade ground, cast-
of equipment and realize that not everyone er will allow your vehicle to "follow the tow".
has access to the same, but if you want to
build a "first-class" assembly, here is how to
do it.
First, some comments on the readily
available "off the shelf" spindles: They use a
fine thread, hex head, bolt for the axle. I have
found that this type of bolt is usually under-
size on the unthreaded portion by .005" to
.007". This gives you some wheel slop right
out of the box. Also, the thin, nylon type king-
pin bushings are unimpressive. My axles are
similar to the "Woods" design. I start with
either 1" square heavy-wall tubing, or 1-1/2"
square. If I am using the 1", I always rein- Now get two pieces of 1" OD X 3/4" ID
force it to prevent bending. round steel tubing, 2 1/2" long. Weld a 3/4" X
I weld a 3/8" diameter round rod under- 4" shoulder bolt onto each piece of tubing,
neath, anchored near each end, with a 1 1/2" centered at 90 degrees, for your axles. You
high "standoff" at the center to form the truss will find that the shoulder bolts are ground
effect. The first car I built, the brown one in very close to actual OD, so slop is minimized.
issue #22, had to have the axle reinforced Also a 5/8" nylock nut will hold the wheel on.
after about one week of riding it around, due (hopefully a Worksman wheel with Kiliam
to bending, probably because of the 1/2" bearings).
diameter hole drilled in the center of the For the lever arms, I use 1/4" X 1" flat
beam for the pivot point. stock. I put each in a vice and slowly-twist
After you have built up the beam portion,
it is time for the hard part, the spindles. Try
to locate a short piece of 1/4" wall thickness
rectangular tubing, 3" X 4". It only has to be
1-3/4" long. If you find a piece, cut it exactly
in half, and you will get two yokes. You will be
cutting through the spot where it was
machine-welded together. If you can't find
this size, 3" X 3" is ok, but you will only get
one yoke out of each. Set each up in your drill
press, then drill/ream through each ear of the
yoke to 5/8" (.625"). Drill on center, 1" away
from the inside wall of the vertical portion.

Issue No. 50 Engine and Wheels Page 34

them in the center so each end is at 90
degrees to the other. This allows me to weld
the vertical portion to the tubing, giving me
maximum pivoting without interference, and
the horizontal portion is where the tie rod
attaches. Be sure to weld on with the
"Ackerman" angle.
Then drill a 3/16" diameter hole in the
center portion of the tubing and press in a
"drive" type zerk grease fitting. Be sure the
fitting has a check spring and ball in it to
keep the grease in and the dirt out. Some
have no check balls and are no good. Stick
with me, it is all a lot of detail, but is the best
I have been able to develop.
Now get some 3/4" o.d, 5/8" i.d, X 1" long
bushings and press one in on each end of both
pieces of tubing. Ream to 5/8" (.625") through
both bushings. Use a 5/8" X 3" shoulder bolt
for the kingpin with a 1/2" nylock nut to hold
it in place. You can even get fancier by cut-
ting the tubing a little shorter, then installing
thrust washers.
— How to improve an existing Azusa
go-kart steering spindle —
In the last issue I promised to address the
“sloppy” spindle that a lot of us are using. We
learned how to make an alteration to add the
Ackerman Angle to the steering arm. Now
let’s try to take out some of the slop in the
kingpin.
As Bob Kapela stated, the body of most
Cat 5 bolts will mike a minimum of .006
undersize. This, added to the misearable lit-
tle nylon bushings, is horrible.
You can replace the 5/8” kingpin bolts
with a shoulder bolt of correct length.
The existing spindle tube is drilled at
— Another Way To Ackerman —
Don Richardson submitted an idea for cor-
recting the Ackerman angles when using the,
un-altered, Azusa go-kart spindle.
The drawing, on the next page, shows how
a longer and widely spaced pitman arm could
Issue No. 50 Engine and Wheels
I have, also, tack-welded antique looking
grease cups on top of the kingpins, and a
spring-loaded, hinged-covered oil cup on the
center pivot pin of the axle. All look tasteful.
From Grainger, a nice 56 piece kit of var-
ious sintered bronze bushings is available
(Dayton 1X968) or you can get individual
bushings(3/4" X 5/8" X 1", Dayton 1X867).
A note on greasing the spindles: Greasing
steering spindles is a kind of paradox — if
you have constructed your spindles per these
instructions and have reamed your drillings
where indicated, your assembly should be
nice and tight. Now when you give it a pump
or two of grease, it will actually make the
steering tighter and smoother due to the vis-
cuous shear of the film of grease. However, if
you have a sloppy setup, the grease will actu-
ally make it seem worse, even looser.
— Straight steering to all. Bob Kapela
11/16. Drill this out to .750 dia. x 3/4 deep at
each end. Into this hole, press a bronze bear-
ing 5/8 x 3/4 x 3/4 long at each end. This will
be a snug fit with our new kingpin.
This would be a good time to add a grease
zerk fitting. So, drill and tap a 1/4 - 28 hole
through the side of the spindle tube, about
1/2 way between the new bushings. Now, you
can lubricate the kingpin.
If you’re using the Northern garden cart
wheels on your spindles, there’s so much slop
in the bearings, coupled with the undersized
spindle, there’s not much we can do here.
But, at least, the kingpin is tightened up.
— Everett Moore
be used to achieve this correction. I think it’s
worth experimenting with.
We welcome receiving ideas like this.
Think out of the box! Soon we’ll have Detroit
reading this newsletter to keep up with the
latest in automotive technology! ! ! !
Page 35
 48.00

24.00

90°

90° 30°
22.00 22.00
33°
27°

22.00 22.00

6.00 15°
15°

3.10

— BRAKES —
from Art Chevalier

You got me thinking on the brake system.

I’m in the process of changing them, Going to
install the disk directly to both wheel sprock-
ets (See Pictures) As far as the front wheels,
I'm going to wait until after it’s all done. Art
Chevalier

After reading the Engine & Wheel (No.

34) on brakes I decided to change my braking
system. I'm mounting the disk to the sprock-
et. I'll be adding brakes to the front wheel
later and will have to redesign the front axle.
I will be using the brake on the jackshaft
as a parking/emergency brake, in addition to
the two disc brakes on rear wheels.

WOW, This guy dosen’t waste time.

Congratulations, Art, for being one of the first
to put the brakes where they should be! Also,
you’re leading the pack by adding brakes to
the front axle, also.

Issue No. 50 Engine and Wheels Page 36


The photo above shows Arts first design
on his front wheel brakes.
For his disc brakes, Art used salvage
brakes from salvage Cessna aircraft.
Issue No. 50 Engine and Wheels
The photos to the left show various views
of Art’s upgrade to disc brakes.
The photo above is his (almost) finished
version of Jimmy Woods’ single seater.
Before I could get this issue put together,
Art sent the above picture of his finished
carriage. This photograph shows his front
wheel disc brakes.
We’re getting photos from others who are,
also, adding front wheel brakes. They will
be featured in latert issues.
Page 37
 — All About Roller Chains —
By Robert Kapela
I have read about some roller chains
breaking. This is disturbing, and depending
where the brakes are located, can be — and
has proven to be — dangerous. Some infor-
mation about roller chains: Roller chain
drives are intended for power transmission
between two or more parallel shafts on short
or medium centers, with relatively low speed
driving units. ("Browning chain drive engi-
neering"). The capacity of a chain drive is
determined by the speed of the smaller
sprocket, the number of teeth in the smaller
sprocket and the chain size. Horsepower rat-
ings are based on a normally-lubricated
setup.
A lot of the replica cars use #41 roller
chain (maybe, because it is easily available
from Northern and others?). Size #41 chain
has a tensile rating in pounds of 2000. Even
size #35 (I can't figure this out) has a rating
of 2100#. However, if you upsize to size #40
(same 1/2" pitch as #41) your tensile rating
just about doubles to 3700#. Size #50, maybe
an overkill, is rated at 6100#. I really recom-
mend using size #40 sprockets and chain, and
good quality chain at that. I wouldn't settle
for what's in the Northern book, you can find
size #40 pretty easily. I would never even con-
sider size #35. If you live in a farming area
where there is a Tractor Supply Co., they
have size #40 sprockets that are hubless, and
you can buy a bored hub to fit, meant to be
welded into the sprocket. There are other
agri-supply places around, or you can go to
the internet and look up where Browning,
Morse, Woods, or others can be purchased. If
you go way back to issue #23, one of my first
articles, I talk about it being important to
gather up a small library of supply catalogs.
This practice proves to be very helpful, also
the technical articles are golden. This may be
the only car you will ever build, so take a lit-
tle extra time to get the sprockets and chain
with which you will be more comfortable.
Issue No. 50 Engine and Wheels
When roller chain drives are rated, the
engineer looks at the application to put a
"factor" in his rating. If an internal combus-
tion engine is involved, the rating has to be
downsized by a factor of 1.4, if the engine is
driving a hydraulic unit, and as high as 1.7, if
it is driving a mechanical setup (most of ours
are in this category?) I did a few horsepower
ratings just to show how chain size changes
the ratings and they are as follows: A 20 tooth
small sprocket at 300 rpm: Size #35 chain =
.93 hp, size #41 chain= 1.21 hp., and size #40
chain = 2.21 hp. These readings are before
the factors are considered. They are not too
useful to us as shown, but demonstrate the
improvements in ratings when chains are
upsized.
The other thing that has an effect on
chains breaking is the tension in which the
chain is running. Initial installation should
have the chain slightly tight. After a short
amount of use, the pins, etc., will "seat" and
you should have a operating system with just
a bit of slack in the idle side. Avoid loose
chains, they can easily be the cause of double
the amount of shock delivered to the chain by
the power unit, when it is suddenly accelerat-
ed or slowed. If the alignment of the drive is
not what it should be, loose chains can easily
"jump off", and we will maybe read about
this.
Good practice includes keeping the chains
lubricated. Of course, the initial setup should
have everything in alignment. Avoid "offset"
or "half" links. They are usually used because
the person that first installed the drive did
not do his homework. When I setup a drive-
on the mounting plate, I always mill some
adjusting slots in it so the drive can be
adjusted in the future. I put the chain on
temporarily, between the two shafts and
check to be sure that the chain will be tight
when I weld the mounting plate down, with
plenty of adjustment left for the future.
Page 38
 If you are using a very small sprocket to
drive a large one, and the distance between
the two is short, you may have a problem. At
least 120 degrees of the driving sprocket
should have "chain wrap". That is, at least
1/3 of the teeth should be engaged. Very small
sprockets (number of teeth) should always be
avoided as much as possible, as they are the
most important factor in figuring horsepower
ratings, capacity, etc..
A word of caution: Roller chain sizes #41
and #40 have the same (1/2") pitch. Size #40
How we get “Standards”
Does the expression, "We've always done it
that way" ring any bells? The US standard
railroad gauge (distance between the rails) is
4 feet 8.5 inches. That is an exceedingly odd
number.
Why was that gauge used? Because that's the
way they built them in England, and English
expatriates built the original US Railroads.
Why did the English build them like that?
Because the first rail lines were built by the
same people who built the pre-railroad
tramways, and that's the gauge they used.
Why did "they" use that gauge then? Because
the people who built the tramways used the
same jigs and tools that they used for build-
ing wagons, which used that wheel spacing.
So.....Why did the wagons have that particu-
lar odd wheel spacing? Well, if they tried to
use any other spacing, the wagon wheels
would break on some of the old, long distance
roads in England, because that's the spacing
of the wheel ruts.
So who built those old rutted roads? Imperial
Rome built the first long distance roads in
Europe (and England) for their legions. The
roads have been used ever since.
Roman war chariots formed the initial ruts,
which everyone else had to match for fear of
destroying their wagon wheels. Since the
chariots were made for Imperial Rome, they
Issue No. 50 Engine and Wheels
is a little wider and will actually fit on #41
sprockets. Size #41 will only fit on #41
sprockets. I don't recommend at all anyone
putting #40 chain on their existing #41
sprockets, thinking that they have just
upgraded the capacity of their drive unit.
Doing so just opens up a can of worms, and
not only is the capacity of the drive compro-
mised, now you would have to deal with side
slop and possible "chain climb". If you are
going to upgrade, do it all the way for your
safety.
Keep your chains adjusted. Bob Kapela.
were all alike in the matter of wheel spacing.
The United States standard railroad gauge of
4 feet, 8.5 inches is derived from the original
specifications for an Imperial Roman war
chariot. And bureaucracies live forever.
So the next time you are handed a specifica-
tion and wonder what horse's ass came up
with it, you may be exactly right, because the
Imperial Roman war chariots were made just
wide enough to accommodate the back ends
of two war horses. Now the twist to the
story...
There's an interesting extension to the story
about railroad gauges and horses' behinds.
When we see a Space Shuttle sitting on its
launch pad, there are two big booster rockets
attached to the sides of the main fuel tank.
These are solid rocket boosters, or SRBs. The
SRBs are made by Thiokolat at their factory
at Utah. The engineers who designed the
SRBs might have preferred to make them a
bit fatter, but the SRBs had to be shipped by
train from the factory to the launch site. The
railroad line from the factory happens to run
through a tunnel in the mountains. The SRBs
had to fit through that tunnel. The tunnel is
slightly wider than the railroad track, and
the railroad track is about as wide as two
horses' behinds.
So, a major Space Shuttle design feature of
what is arguably the world's most advanced
transportation system was determined over
two thousand years ago by the width of a
horse's ass.
Page 39
 — Front Wheel Brakes —
Here are the pictures I promised to send
you on how I have mounted the Honda 250
dirt bike brakes on the front of my CDO. I'm
going to use the Honda brake shoe, mounting
hub for a while to make sure this method
works satisfactorily. I then plan on making
plates to mount the shoes to of my design so
that both (front and rear) brake actuating
arms are operating in the same direction. I
may also make them hydraulic actuated at
that time. Don Richardson
Don, in the four photographs above, shows
a perfect way to adapt a motorcycle front
wheel to a typical replica front axle.
Issue No. 50 Engine and Wheels
Note how he made an extension from the
steering arm to engage the tabs on the back-
ing plate.
I, also, note a precision shoulder bolt, used
for spindle and bronze bearings for the king-
pin. Suggestion: use a shoulder bolt for the
kingpin, to tighten things up a bit.
To top it off, a good welding job. When an
assembly looks good without paint, you know
you’re on the right track!
Thanks, for the very instructive input,
Don. Keep em coming.
Everett Moore
Page 40
 — More About Roller Chains —
By Robert Kapela
Chain drives, properly-sized and installed,
are a very reliable and inexpensive way to
operate a power transmission system. Setup
your drive correctly, maintain it, and enjoy
the rewards of trouble-free operation for your
efforts.
(For effect, I will describe some extreme
situations, found in industrial operations,
that operate mostly non-stop, for extended
periods.)
You should only have to readjust your
chains once per year or season. If you find
that your chains need adjusting frequently,
this is something you cannot afford to ignore.
It could mean that your drive is under-engi-
neered and needs upsizing from size #35 or
#41 to size #40 or larger. If you are already at
size #40, and still have problems, you have to
do additional troubleshooting to see what is
causing the problem. Where did you get the
chain? If it is very inexpensive chain from
some hard to pronounce country, this could be
the problem. "Made in America" still means
something; use high quality, name brand
chain. Is the chain dry and shiny and does it
kind of "snap" around the sprockets? This
indicates that the chain is dry and needs
lubrication. The proper way to relubricate a
chain is to remove it and soak it in medium
weight oil overnight. When re-installed, how-
ever, centrifigul force may throw some oil on
your driveway and the underside of the
machine.When you have the chain off, hold it
in your hands and see if there is significant
slop between each individual link. This will
indicate the amount of wear. Lay the chain
down full length and count the number of
links. Then, compare the extended length of
the chain section with a brand new section
with the same number of links. The extra
length of the old chain will soon tell you
if/when it is time to re-chain. When I was a
Issue No. 50 Engine and Wheels
maintenance engineer at Ford, I could get a
$50,000.00 project approved for a new con-
veyor chain installation, based on a the meas-
urements of a couple of 10 link sections of
chain alone. That is how reliable and recog-
nized this test is. To further explain this, for
example, your size #40 chain has 1/2" (.500")
pitch. The chain, usually, wears faster than
the sprocket teeth, which remain at proper
.500" pitch longer, unless the sprockets are
very soft. As chain-wear progresses, it's true
pitch distorts , measured across several links
from .500" to .505", then .510", etc..There
comes a point when you cannot properly
adjust the chain to make up for this wear. As
you tighten the chain, it will start to climb up
on the sprocket teeth. Replace long before
this.
Other factors that accelerate chain wear
include: combinations of a very heavy
machine or one that has more than normal
resistance to rolling (this would usually cause
engine overheating), a machine carrying a
heavy load, pulling a trailer, extended opera-
tion in sand or soft ground, machine is over-
powered, or engine not running smoothly.
Again, avoid half or "offset links", remem-
ber that a chain is only as strong as it's weak-
est link.
Chain takeups or tensioners are meant to
keep tension on the slack side of chains only
beween periodical mechanical adjustments.
They are nice, but not a cure-all and certain-
ly not meant to compensate for unlimited
chain wear and stretch.
Check your sprockets. In industrial use,
Engineers commonly specify sprockets with
hardened teeth. They resist wear and main-
tain proper profile for much longer than plain
spockets (double this life). They are readily
Page 41
available. Look on Everett's website for
sources for quality parts. I don't think you
will find them in the catalogs that are com-
monly mailed to your home. Combined with
low quality chain, soft sprockets can be a real
problem. The builder loses in the end,
because, now, he has to buy better quality
parts to replace the original, or use the exist-
ing machine, sparingly. Soft sprockets with
only 10-12 teeth can be especially trouble-
some. Due to the torque of the drive, the teeth
can distort and develop "hooks" at the outer
tips. If you start to hear "snapping" sounds or
the chain does not go around the sprockets
smoothly, check for this.
Although not common, a stone or other
piece of foreign material can get caught in a
— Stay Inside The Parameters —
By Bob Kapela
Everyone that builds a vintage-type repli-
ca, like ours, is proud of the accomplishment.
No matter if you followed purchased plans
exactly, modified them to fit your needs or
used your own ideas from start to finish; you
should keep in mind that a "robust", good
looking machine being your goal, you should
also stay within certain guidelines, to ensure
that the history of your machine is always a
pleasant one.
There are a lot of building parameters for
which to be aware and designers that present
plans should use these parameters. They
include, but are not limited to, wheel tread
(width), seat width, seat height, maximum
steering angles, maximum-operating speed,
brake arrangements, etc. These parameters
help to assure that we build a safe vehicle,
but there are many more where we simply
have to use our good judgment: How good is
our speed control (throttle) setup?, Does it
have a positive-return to idle? Is there a "kill"
switch, easy to access? Is there an fire
extingisher on board? Is the steering smooth
Issue No. 50 Engine and Wheels
link or between two sprocket teeth. You can
correct this during your pre-ride inspection.
If, during an inspection of your machine, you
find a broken link, missing roller, or some-
thing else, it is a poor practice to just replace
the one bad link. Go all the way and replace
the entire chain.
Try to use sprockets with split-taper bush-
ings instead of straight-bored ones. They cost
more, but are far and away the better choice.
Split taper bushings, properly-installed, grip
the shaft some 20 times greater than
straight-bored ones, yet are much easier to
remove or readjust.
Now we are all experts on chain drives!
Good driving. Bob Kapela
and tight? Is the brake linkage reliable? Is
refueling convenient? The list goes on and on.
I wish we had standardized-guidelines that
we could all follow, maybe that will come
sometime.
There is one law of nature with which I
think we are flirting and that is the law of
gravity, in our application, it is the center of
gravity and inertia. I am not a physicist, but
my imagination goes to work if I see a narrow
track machine, with a seat high above the
engine, and (to fit two adults more comfort-
ably) the seat widened beyond the vehicle's
design. A person, alone, operating a machine
like this, sitting close to the outside, clipping
along at a good pace, suddenly turning
sharply, has inertia that wants to keep going
forward. Just be aware of this and build
accordingly.
I am building my third machine at this
time, and am implementing improvements
that are not on the second one, and, certainly
not, on the first one. I, frequently, refer to the
Page 42
earlier machines for benchmarks, and consid-
er it to be an accomplishment if I can make
something clearly-better. Following, is a list
of some of the improvements:
I have the engine/torque converter unit
mounted 4" lower than on the previous
machines, where it was evenly mounted with
the frame rails. This allows everything else to
follow, and lowers the center of gravity. I
went for 48" tread width, because, I, too, have
widened my seat so two of us could fit more
comfortably. I have preached about putting
the brakes as close to the rear wheels as pos-
sible.
On this vehicle, I have a Comet disc brake
assy placed right next to each rear wheel, on
the same shaft, with the same piece of key.
The only way I can get them closer is to incor-
porate them right into the wheels. There is a
nicely-routed cable setup to the brake pedal,
which is mounted on two pillow block bear-
ings, and has an equalizer.
On the steering, a lot of guys go with a
tiller. They are simple, and authentic for
many models, but they, also, are very quick
acting. There are a few things you can do to
the steering geometry to improve this, but it
is limited. There were, also, a lot of early
vehicles built with steering wheels, and this
is what I always use, a Ford Model T steering
box. Because all of the gears are located in a
little housing under the steering wheel, they
are relatively inexpensive at this time, and
they are very easy to mount. The steering
housing has a flange about 6" in diameter,
located about 2/3 down, with 4 pre-punched
holes for mounting. It, originally, bolted to
the vertical firewall, with no other support
needed. For our use, you rotate the unit 180
degrees, and, now, you can bolt the flange
directly to the floorboard. A 3/4" dia. shaft
sticks through the floorboard, same as a tiller
shaft, on which it is very easy to mount the
lever arm, to complete the steering setup.
Having a 4 to 1 (later ones have a 5 to 1) ratio
makes the steering-procedure similar to a
modern car.
Issue No. 50 Engine and Wheels
I put a woven kevlar sleeve over the
exhaust pipe to help keep the interior of the
machine from overheating. This machine has
a sheet metal body. My earlier machines both
had wooden bodies. I picked up two sheets of
18 gauge, cold rolled, oiled stock, from a steel
supply company and took them to a, local,
sheet metal shop. Working with the owner on
Sunday afternoons (he developed an inter-
est), we cut and bent the stock. I, then, had
the hood louvered. I hope that I hit a home
run on this one, but even Babe Ruth didn't do
that every time at bat.
The last improvement is one about which
I am pretty excited., That is the tires and
wheels. I can't really go into it, because they
are not, actually, mounted yet. Everett and
myself have, jointly, been working on getting
these wheels, so I will defer to him to
announce them at the proper time, but I
believe that they will set a new standard of
excellence for us. They promise to be that
good in every way.
One last thing: I have (you probably do
too) had several people make suggestions to
me that building these machines and offering
them to the public would be "profitable." I
have never been tempted one iota to consider
this. Two reasons: one, I have been in this sit-
uation before and don't care to work for $1.00
per hour. Two, I own a small business, and, as
such, have read enough articles on a subject
called "product liability." When you get into
this, it is quite scary and can/will quickly
dampen your enthusiasm for this idea. Let’s
all continue to build them safely, improve the
designs and our building skills and enjoy
them with our families and associates. That's
what it is really all about.
Good building to everyone. Bob Kapela.
Page 43
 Re-inventing the Wheel!
There’s an old cliche about not re-invent-
ing the wheel. Who ever said that had never
build a replica horseless carriage. But, he
didn’t say you couldn’t re-design a wheel.
During the past year, I approached build-
ing wood spoke wheels from several direction,
most requiring equipment I didn’t have. The
first question to be answered was: What tire
should the rim fit? Economics dictated that
suppliers. such as Coker’s, were beyond my
budget for the application.
I guess you could say I started from the
outside and worked in or it might be better
said that I started at the road and worked up.
The tire chosen was a 3.50 x 19 motorcy-
cle tire made for front wheel use. They were
economical, costing less than $40.00 each.
The next quest was for a suitable rim.
I dislike designing something for someone
else to build based around junk yard items.
It’s different for a “one-shot” deal, but creat-
ing a wheel that could be duplicated dozens of
times by countless people, demanded a more
conventional source of supplies. A motorcycle
rim was needed but not with dimples and
holes. A rim with a flat area to blend nicely
with either wood spokes or a wooden felloe, as
the case might be. I struck pay-dirt with a
California company that manufacturers the
very rim I needed and at a reasonable price.
I had located a source of spokes after first
considering making my own. The hubs I was
considering were of the go-kart variety. These
had a lot of short comings and still didn’t
light my fuse!
It was at that juncture that I began shar-
ing ideas with Bob Kapela. Bob had already
used some high wheels made by the Witmer
Coach Shop of New Holland, Pennsylvania.
Issue No. 50 Engine and Wheels
Most carriage builders are familiar with
them as a source of elliptical leaf springs
used in the Jimmy Woods design carriages.
I ordered a buggy wheel hub from them
just to have something to feel, touch and
measure. My next design was to fit my spokes
to this hub and cut the spokes to a precise
diameter to fit snugly inside the rim I had.
I spoke by phone several times to Eldon
Witmer about what I wanted to do. Early this
summer, Ron Shutter was visiting his moth-
er in Pennsylvania and, personally, visited
Witmer's shop. Eldon expressed to him that
he wished that I would let them mount the
rim to the wheel by terminating the spokes
into a bent hickory felloe, and then heating
and shrinking the rim onto the fellow. The
rim would be finally-secured by flat head
screws into the felloe. All we would have to do
was drill a hole for the valve stem.
All this time I was in email and phone
communications with Bob Kapela, discussing
all phases of the “New Wheel.” We ended up
in total agreement as to the approach needed.
We both ordered 4 rims from California
and had them shipped directly to Witmer's.
Then came a long wait for things to happen.
It was nearly the first of September before
the finished wheels arrived. Bob Kapela, liv-
ing in Michigan, received his wheels several
days before mine arrived. Bob immediately
emailed me as to how thrilled he was with
the final results, including the quality work-
manship that you don’t often find.
During his wait, Bob had a chassis and
body almost ready to put on the wheels. I had
other projects diverting my time and I am
happy that, with Bob’s help and input, we
finally have something for “show and tell.”
Page 44
 The photos
on the next
page show
more details of
Bob’s new ride.
I am as excited
about this seat
as I am the
w h e e l s .
Reproducing
these, rounded
seats with
compound
curves, is
something we
have needed to
fully-capture
the design of
antique car-
riages. Now,
they are a real-
ity that won’t
bankrupt us,
either. More
Bob Kapela sits proudly in the fine upholstered seat of his newly finished, about these in
bright red “Speedster.” The first car using our new wood spoke wheels! a future E & W
newsletter.
The overall profile of the wheels looks
rugged with its 16 spokes. To answer those The paint job on Bob’s sheet metal body,
who will say, “Why did you use 16 spokes glistens in the sun. The rear deck has been
when most antique cars used 12?” The decorated with a “Ma & Pa Kettle” hand
answer is simple. Available buggy hubs use painting.
16 spokes. They are cast from mallable iron
with a tenon pocket for each spoke. Bob’s previous, high-wheel, carriage is
showing in the background. As with life,
In the photo above, you will note that Bob when the newer car rolls off the line, the
added a siren. Now he can clear the rabbits older ones move into the background.
and other critters out of the way as he travels
around his Pioneer Tree Farm. Now, I think I’ll turn the mike over to Bob
Kapela to tell, in his words, about the neat
Later in this letter, Bob will tell you more little red Speedster.
about the features of the Speedster. _______________
Attached are photos of my last replicar,
We will go into more detail of the wheels, which represents an early 1900's "speedster".
including how we got power from live axles to It is, in my opinion, the finest of the three
the rear wheels. The buggy hubs come with replicars that I have built. It drives very
tapered roller bearings. smoothly and quietly, steers perfect, has a
short turning radius, and, I think that it
looks good.

Issue No. 50 Engine and Wheels Page 45

 Specifications are: Motorcycle 3:50 X 19
tires, with individual load ratings of 515#,
wooden spoke wheels from Witmer, with
Timken type, tapered roller bearings on the
front wheels and machined adapters for the
rear (live) axles. Steering axle is handmade
with 1-1/2" square tubing, reamed brass
bushings, ground shoulder bolts, and
"Ackerman" lever arms. A Model T Ford
steering box is utilized. The wooden steering
wheel rim was bent by the Amish. The rear
axle member is also 1-1/2" square tubing. I
used pyramid type floor covering, and under
the hinged seat there is a fire extinguisher
and a first aid kit. The (fiberglass frame) seat
was upholstered by another Amish company
and has diamond type, buttoned-style on
black vinyl. The wheel tread center to center
is 52". The wheelbase center to center is 63".
The drive ratio is 12:1, which makes it a Comet disc brakes are mounted directly at
little speedy. It can easily be altered to 16:1, the rear wheels.
by changing the final drive sprocket from a
16 tooth, to a 12 tooth. All chains and sprock- The body is fabricated from 18 gauge cold
ets are size #40. The 8 hp., electric start, rolled steel sheet. I made contact with a local
Briggs & Stratton overhead valve engine is sheet metal Co., that developed an interest
hooked to a Comet TAV2 torque converter, and worked with me on Sunday afternoons to
which drives a forward/reverse transmission. cut and bend the steel. I had the front hood
This drives a Comet differential, with extend- louvered, and installed a false radiator and
ed 1" shafts directly pressed into the Witmer filler, complete with a temperature sensor
wheel hubs and adapters that I have made to (motor-meter). To shift from forward to
fit. The (4) pillow blocks for the rear axles reverse, there is a cable-operated shift lever
were made by using a CNC mill to machine located near the driver's left foot. The body
53 mm. holes in 5/8" X 3 1/2" stock, then can be easily removed. I installed a
pressing in Sealmaster ER 16 bearings. speedometer drive gear on the right rear axle

Issue No. 50 Engine and Wheels Page 46

in anticipation of installing a speedometer
(Model T Ford) in the future. I wired the
machine with (4) separate fused circuits. At
the present time, 3 are used, 1 is a spare. I
had the body painted by a local custom car
guy, and the pin striping etc., done by a high-
ly-recommended artist.
We start with the rim. It’s a 2.15 x 19
motorcycle size that takes a 3.50 x 19 tire.
These come from: Spin Works, 16918 Gridley
Place, Cerritos, California 90703. You can
order by phone, using a credit card. Call 1-
562-467-1522 and ask for Joe. Tell him you
want the above size rim. You can further
explain that you’re building a replica car and
are using the rims in a similar fashion as did
Everett Moore and Bob Kapela.
We had our rims shipped directly to
Witmer Coach Shop, 1070 W. Main St, New
Holland, PA 17557. This saves re-shipping
later. Be sure and let Witmer’s know that
you’re doing this so they can set them aside
for you. As we get deeper into building these
wheels, you can appreciate the amount of
coordination that is necessary.
The cost of these rims had best be deter-
mined when ordering. The nominal retail
price is in the neighborhood of $54.00 each.
However the price of steel can fluctuate
Issue No. 50 Engine and Wheels
I always liked the design of Jimmy Wood's
suspension, and I freely borrowed from this
on the spring setup and the front axle pivot. I
worked on this machine, on and off, for the
last year, and am very satisfied at the final
outcome. I hope you guys like it.
Bob Kapela
Next:
Contact Eldon Witmer at: 1-717-656-3411.
Explain that you want to have him build you
a set of wheels like the Everett Moore/Bob
Kapela wheels. He will understand what
you’re doing. Inform him that you’re having a
set of rims shipped directly to him.
At this time you’ll need to order from
Witmer’s, 2 hubs for this size wheel (p/n 20-
996). Also, get 2 stub axles (p/n 1-763)(they
include roller bearings, seal and castle nut).
If you plan on using the brass hubcaps sup-
plied by Witmer’s, order four of these at this
time. (p/n 21-123B)
These 2 hubs you’ll modify to fit a keyed
1” dia rear axle, as we show you later in this
newsletter. When this is done, ship these
back to Witmer’s for finishing.
The 2 hubs will come with the outer bear-
ing races pressed in. You will need to gently
Page 47
tap these out, using a hammer and punch.
Tap lightly, continually around the edge, so
as not to damage the hub. Save these races
for “miking” when machining the drive
adapters.
As soon as you have completed these 2
drive hubs, per the drawings in this newslet-
ter, ship them back to Witmer’s. It would be a
good idea to tag these with you name.
Depending on the season, there can be a
long lead time before you get your finished
wheels back, so utilize this time to work on
the balance of your carriage. Your front axle
can be completed, using the axle stubs at
hand. Also, the hub caps can be completed
per the drawings in this newsletter.
Work on the balance of your car and don’t
worry about your wheels. They are in good
hands at Witmer’s and I guarantee that
you’ll be overjoyed when they arrive! The
hubs will be primered, the spokes and felloes,
natural hickory. If you plan on using a natu-
ral finish on the wood, do this as soon as you
get the wheels. Wood can get smeared in your
shop from dirty hand and various hazards
just waiting to mark them for you!
All you will have to do to the wheels before
final painting is drill a hole in each (thru the
rim and felloe) for the valve stem. Because of
the thickness involved, extensions (from
Inner Bearing Race
Outer Bearing Race
Issue No. 50 Engine and Wheels
Checker Auto) will be necessary to reach thru
the felloe. Drill this hole no larger than nec-
essary and take care to have it exit the felloe
in the center. Use a smaller pilot drill to
begin. This way you can see how centered you
are, and if necessary, a little “hoochy chooch”
can be applied on the final drilling.
Don’t mount the tires until the paint has
thoroughly-cured. A simple mounting tool can
aid greatly to mount the tires, not only mak-
ing it easier but, also, to prevent scarring the
wheel while wrestling it on the floor! I have
included the plans for a simple mounting tool
I made to fit the hardie hole in my anvil. If
you don’t have an anvil, weld a mount plate
for bench mounting.
Before mounting your tires, invest in
some motorcycle tire tools (JC Witney). DO
NOT use the typical flat blade screwdriver!
The reasons are so obvious, I’m not going to
mention it again!
Borrow some of your wife’s dishwashing
detergent and add to small can of water. Use
a sponge to apply this “slickem” to the edges
of the rim and bead of the tire. This will make
tire mounting much easier and aid in the
final “seating” of the tire when inflating. It
will take about 50 psi to “pop” the tires onto
the rim.
Mount tires with outside of wheel down so
any scratches will be on inside. Retouch any
marks on paint.
The drawing at the left
shows how your 2 hubs will
look. The 2 bearing races are
shown and must be removed
The stub axle is shown
below. They come about 14”
overall length. Cut off and
build your front spindles with
these. Save the cut-off portion
for future use.
Page 48
 1 (ref)
1 (ref)
1.000
.600
2.000 DIA
1.000 DIA
1/4 std keyway
Driving Insert
Make from Surplus Center X1B Hub, Item No. 2343
It is a good idea to protect the machined
area with a wrapping of tape or other means
of protection as you make the spindles.
______________
The drawing above is for the driving
adapter that must be made and installed in
the 2 rear hubs. The 2 diameters: 1.968 and
2.000 should be machined for a slight press
fit into the hub. About a .001 to .0015 inter-
ference should be sufficient. One way to
install is to place the adapter in the freezer of
your refrigerator and the hub in the oven, set
to a minimum temperature. When sufficient-
ly heated and cooled, the parts should fit by
hand. When cooled, they should be well
secured together. Gently tap with a dead blow
hammer to insure their being fully seated.
You will note that the driving insert is
made from a sprocket hub. This eliminates
Issue No. 50 Engine and Wheels
5/8 x 18 Thd
1.968 Dia
1.625 Dia
7
1 (ref)
16
you having to broach a keyway.
You will need to machine 2 outer pilot
rings, as shown in the drawing. These replace
the outer bearing. Any free machining steel
can be used. As with the driving adapter, the
outer diameter (1.570) should be machined to
fit with about a .001 to .0015 interference fit.
The same heat/cool process can be used here,
also.
When both the driving adapter and the
pilot ring have been secured within the hub,
they should not shake loose or fall out.
Bob Kapela recommends applying
Locktite to surfaces before pressing in for
added retention. Use Red loctite.
The hub/driving insert is further secured
by line-drilling and using .250 x 3/4 long roll
pins driven in until flush with the inside (1”
Page 49
dia) diameter.
.375
1.570 DIA
Thus assembled, the roll pins can be driv-
en on through, should you ever wish to dis-
.750 DIA
assemble this hub.

We chose to do this before the spokes are

assembled for ease of working with the hub.
This is the finished hub you will send back to
Witmer’s to complete your wheel.

A
.80
Outer Pilot Ring

Hub

Driving Insert
Section A-A
After assembly of driving insert and hub,
A line drill 4 - .250 Dia holes as shown.
Press in 4 - 3/4 lg Roll Pins flush with inner diameter.

A Hub
Grease Seal

Spindle Outer Bearing

Inner Bearing Section A-A

A
Issue No. 50 Engine and Wheels Page 50
The bottom drawing on page 50, shows how
your front wheels will mount to the spindle.
The axles come with a castle nut and cotter
pin. However, a nylon insert, locking nut
could be used.
Above is an assembled wheel, cut-away at
the spokes. You will note the conical shaped
disk that clamps the spokes firmly to the hub
with 8 - 5/16 bolts. The results in a wheel that
would match most originals for strength.
— Summation —
I’m sure some will wonder why we didn’t
use the typical 12 spoke arrangement. The
reason is simple. Buggies, because of their
skinny profile, use 16 spokes for additional
strength. The cast iron (malleable) hubs are
made with sockets for the spoke tenons to fit
and are drilled with 8 holes (one between
each two spokes.
This was a case where we had to compro-
mise in favor of the practical. The same
applies to the 3.50 x 19 motorcycle rim we
chose. They were available and relatively
inexpensive.
Again, the typical tire on the prototypes of
which we want to make replicas is approx 28”
OD. Our tire is 26” OD. This puts us back in
Issue No. 50 Engine and Wheels
We decided to add the above drawing just
to tease you! What you see is an 8” brake
drum, fitted to this wheel. Yes, a lot of horse-
drawn buggies have hydraulic brakes on the
rear wheels.
They come in kits, which include 2 wheel
setups plus the master cylinder assembly,
which even includes the brake pedal!
More about hydraulic brakes in a future E
& W newsletter.
the true scale of .93:1 Only the purist will
notice or complain. I would not hesitate to
put these wheels on a nearly “full size” repli-
ca.
We are utilizing standard products and
manufacturing techniques. Bob Kapela and I
explored many avenues and settled on what
you have before you.
So, please don’t pester either Spin Werks
or Witmer Coach Shop with requests to make
it a different size or way. We are small tails
trying to wag big dogs. We do not represent a
market place big enough to impress anyone.
So, graciously, accept what they are willing to
do for us without rocking the boat.
What is a set of four of these wood spoke
replica wheels going to cost?
Page 51
Well, we must add several items together to In a future newsletter we will examine the
get the bottom line. hydraulic brakes made to fit these hubs. If
you want to incorporate these into your
1. The rim = approx $54.00 each. design, add about $250 to you budget.

2. The entire wheel including shrinking and I realize that we have moved up and
fastening the rim is approx $110.00 beyond the garden cart wheel beginner’s car-
riages and are talking about a carriage that
3. The tire, tube and rim strip should run
could cost over $2,000 to build. But compared
under $50.00 each.
to other hobbies, we’re still in the economic
This gives us a total of $214.00 per wheel
ballpark if you consider what some people
ready to mount onto your carriage.
spend on golf, hunting, fishing, boating, ham
radio, photography, flying RC and real air-
We did not factor in the shipping cost
planes, etc. My problem is I like to do all the
which will vary depending upon where you
above on a Tiddly-Wink budget!
live. The biggest shipping is the UPS from
Witmers, located in Pennsylvania.
I hope you agree that the wait for this
issue has been worth it.
Another expense not factored in is the
machined-adapters for the driving wheels.
This will depend on whether you machine
your own, have a friend do them for you or go
Any questions? Please email me.
the expensive route at a machine shop at
Everett Moore evmoore80@msn.com
$50.00/ hour.

Make from 3/4" x 10" bolt

4" OD x 3/4 ID x 1/4" thick (make 2)

4" OD x 3/4 ID x 1/4" thick rubber washer (make 2)

Weld all around Plug Weld

1" x .120 wall Sq Tube

Heat 2" length of tube red hot.
Drive into hardie hole of anvil
to produce taper matching hole

Tire Mounting Fixture For Use With 1" Hardie Hole

The above drawing depicts a “tool” I made to surface. I, also, have used it to change front
mount my tires to the rim. Since I have a tires on a riding lawnmower and mount tires
140# anvil, I simply designed it to fit the on bicycle type wheels. This handy little tool
hardie hole (square). Otherwise, a flange works so well I only wish I had made one
could be welded to mount to some other solid years ago!
Issue No. 50 Engine and Wheels Page 52
 — Extended Hub Caps to Fit Witmer Hubs —
2.5
2.0
1.5
.125 (ref)
1.750 x 18 Thd
The drawing above depicts an extended
hub cap necessary to clear the rear axle.
Besides, they look more correct than the flat
brass hubcaps made for buggys.
These are machined from a piece of 2” dia
brass stock. For simplicity, we use two blind
— Getting Started —
by Bob Kapela
Do you want to build and enjoy a replicar?
Maybe you have read all of Everett's publica-
tions and have followed the group's progress
through the E-mail messages, etc., and
maybe you have even obtained plans, but just
haven't "broken ground". If it is any consola-
tion to you, be assured that many others,
including this writer have had initial reser-
vations before putting the first two pieces of
steel together. After "breaking the ice,"
though, it starts to get more interesting and
you will find that building your replicar
starts to stimulate your thought processes to
the point that you can't wait to get back out
in the shop and make some more progress,
everyday.
Do it right. Even if you have read every
issue of "Engine and Wheels", do it again,
Issue No. 50 Engine and Wheels
Holes for spanner wrench
2.0
.250 R
holes to accept a spanner wrench for ease of
installing and removing hubcaps.
If you use a different rear axle arrange-
ment, it might not extend far enough not to
use the regular brass hubcaps available from
Witmers.
make a note of certain articles for future ref-
erence, and keep it handy. Experts tell us
that we do not retain a real high percentage
of what we read, and time dilutes that even
more. There is valuable information available
in the publications, with many good articles
and photos of machines, completed, and in
various stages of construction. Sit down
beforehand and make a written plan, stating
your goals in building your replicar. State
what kind of machine you want to build, how
you are going to power it, and the general lay-
out. This can guide you to a good start and
you can refer to the plan throughout con-
struction. Most small businesses, and all
large corporations have written plans of
action and goals. If this group were to some-
day organize and form a club, we would have
Page 53
a written plan. I am certain that one of the
goals would be to encourage the use of better
materials and methods as they become avail-
able. Another goal would be that machines
built by the "Engine and Wheels" group
would have a reputation for quality and safe-
ty, and minimum standards would be intro-
duced.
Do it first class. The foundation of your
machine meets the pavement; the wheels and
tires. I do not intend to alienate the folks that
have used Northern and Gempler type
wheels in the past. They were the norm for
several years, being easy to get, and inexpen-
sive. but now, better quality materials are
available. There is no comparison between
the Chinese-made cart wheels and the
Worksman or Witmer wheels, in quality,
strength, precision, and especially the bear-
ings. I really urge that these materials
become the new standard for construction of
replicars. Remember, that above everything
else, your newly built replicar will be a repre-
sentation of you and your abilities as a crafts-
man. You will want it to be the very best you
can do.
Don't stop with the wheels and tires.
Continue your "first class" project, when you
build the steering. Avoid using the off-the-
shelf spindles. We have covered the problems
with them in the publication. Build your own,
using the guidance of the article in the publi-
cation, (#34), with ground shoulder bolts,
— "Provenance" - "Place of origin" —
Bob Kapela
Watching "Antiques Road Show" a few
days ago, my interest picked up when I
noticed a pattern in the expert appraiser's
valuation of an item if it had "provenance".
An example would be a Civil War pistol; by
itself it may be valued at, say, $2000.00. With
provenance, like an included diary or photo of
the original owner, together with the person's
or military unit's history, the value placed on
the item may double.
How does this apply to us? We are still a
Issue No. 50 Engine and Wheels
reamed bushings, Ackerman steering arms,
etc..
Keep going in the right direction.
Depending on your choice of drives, there
will, probably, be some chains and sprockets
involved. Use size #40 as a minimum. Locate
the brakes right at the rear wheels. Soon,
front wheel brakes will be seen on some vehi-
cles. If your design permits, consider using a
steering wheel in lieu of a tiller. Maybe a
friend of yours has a worn out lawn tractor,
available for purchase at a reasonable cost.
In some cases, certain parts can be used, such
as a good condition hydrostatic drive, but oth-
erwise, resist the temptation to use the worn
out engine and linkage. It will involve impro-
vising and compromising to make it work-
able. If your budget possibly can handle it,
buy a new engine and other parts. It is
assumed that if you are going to build a
replicar, you have a bit of disposable income.
If you use this wisely, by avoiding expensive
paint jobs, custom upholstery, antique brass
lights and horns, and by doing all the work
yourself, (or bartering), you can be pleasant-
ly-surprised at the final cost. Document con-
struction throughout the project and build
the "provenance" of the vehicle. You can cre-
ate a family heirloom by doing it right. You
will be proud of your efforts for years to come.
Now get started.
Bob Kapela.
small group of people that build replica cars.
Who can foresee the future? What if this
changes if the right conditions happen? We
could organize into a national club, become
charter members of it, publish a monthly
magazine. Who knows?
My point is: include provenance as part of
your vehicle's history. Get a nice heavy duty
folder from one of the office supply places.
Put any pictures you took during construc-
tion or plans you used to build the machine
inside the folder. If you were in a parade(s)
and there was a picture of you and your vehi-
cle in a local publication, put it in. Above all,
Page 54
if your vehicle is ever pictured in "Engine and
Wheels", print the entire issue, date it, and
put it in. Include all of this information and
make it part of your machine by putting it in
the storage compartment, or making it readi-
ly available. Make an oval brass plate and
attach it to your machine. I have plates on all
of my machines, stamped with "Pioneer 1, 2,
& 3, 2001. 2004. & 2005, R Kapela". Hey
everyone, we could be the pioneer group of
something real big! Wouldn't it be great if, 25
years from now, "Engine and Wheels"
machines, with provenance, Everett's com-
ments included, are referred to as the "sec-
— Building the Chassis —
by Bob Kapela
When you build your replicar, generally
you will start with the frame and running
gear (chassis). When that is finished and
tried, you will finish up with the body.
Throughout the process of building the chas-
sis, it is very important to keep everything
square and level. Besides being pleasing to
the eye and showing good workmanship,
there are practical reasons for this. It is easi-
er to cut and fit the various components
together, neatly, and it will make the weld
connections stronger and look more profes-
sional. It will also minimize stress points in
the frame and body that could be a problem
down the road.
Start with a clean, new 4' X 8' sheet of
plywood at least 1/2" thick, which will lay flat
on the floor in the assembly area. The factory
cuts are square and straight. You can draw
some center lines for guidance, but it works
just as well to use one end and one side from
which to work. Layout your basic frame on
top of the plywood, keeping everything
square, and tack-weld everything together.
Then use some equal height spacers (like
short pieces of 2 x 4's) to raise up the frame
from the plywood. Use a 36" carpenter's level,
and check/adjust for level in every axis. When
you are satisfied that everything is square
Issue No. 50 Engine and Wheels
ond generation of quadricycles" and eagerly
sought by collectors? (We could, actually,
finally make a profit). Doesn't a vehicle with
provenance contrast with the spectacle we
recently observed on the E-bay quadricycle?
Don't underestimate what we are doing, we
are constantly evolving into building more
sophisticated and dependable, safe machines.
It could catch the public's "eye" and take off.
Paperwork is not too many persons’ forte.
You can do this on a weekend during the "off-
season". Invest the time, it could be a wise
decision.
Safe driving to everyone. Bob Kapela.
and level, complete the welding and gusset-
ing process, checking throughout the job.
When joining two pieces of square tubing
together, I like to clamp a flat piece under
each, with a pair of "C" type vise grips, then
clamp the individual pieces of tubing. This
keeps the pieces together evenly and pre-
vents you from welding something that has
an unseen twist.
You can't assume now that everything
will, automatically, stay this way. For exam-
ple, when installing springs next, and using
the available buggy seat springs, I have
found that these vary in height by as much as
3/4 inch. Match them up and if you are using
two at the rear, put the closest ones there,
then put the third one in front (if you are
building a "Woods" style). Then, when you
fabricate the body hangers that bolt on top of
the springs, you can make allowances to keep
everything level. Check the spring length,
also. A set that I purchased recently are more
than 2" shorter than previous sets I acquired
from the same supplier. It appears that they
have a new source.
When installing the springs, it is very
easy to get them out of level or twisted. When
you make the curved bases for the springs
Page 55
and bolt the springs to them, you are ready to
weld the bases to the frame member. I just
tack weld the base, then check for (3) differ-
ent things: being sure both rear springs are
parallel to the length of the frame, and both
are level in the upright position where an
imaginary line would run through the top
and bottom mounting holes. Be sure they are
both level from the pivot "eye to eye". Then
put a 36" carpenter's level on the pivot bolts,
where they protrude and check this. It is very
easy to get things out of "plumb" at this point.
Recheck your layout and then make the final
welds to the mounting-bases. Use the same
procedure on the front spring if you have one.
Now, when you fabricate and install the body-
— Carriage Designing — Then and Now —
by Everett Moore
Winter is upon us again and many are
simply “frozen” out of their workshops. This
is the perfect time to read, study, think and
design.
It is an interesting mental project to think
back over 100 years and put ourselves in the
shoes of Haynes, Ford, Olds, Benz and other
notable, horseless carriage designers of that
era. What influenced their design thinking?
No doubt it was what had been done before
them — actual machines that had been built
and worked.
As the name implies, a horseless carriage
was simply a buggy, where the horse had
been replaced by an engine, either steam,
electric or gasoline. Even Ransom Olds’ first
advertisements for the CDO related to how
his machine was easier and cheaper to main-
tain than a horse!
The horse did not go away easy. In most
peoples eyes, the horse was king and the new
fangled, noisy carriages (automobiles) were a
satanic device, whose main purpose was to
scare horses. All legislation of that day was
pro-horse and anti-auto. Most of us have read
Issue No. 50 Engine and Wheels
mounting plates on the top of the springs,
they need to be checked for level — front to
back and from one mounting-plate to the oth-
ers. You see why it is necessary to keep the
frame level throughout the process. This is
where you make any adjustments on the body
mounting plates to account for differences in
spring height. Now, when you start fabricat-
ing the body, you have a level platform from
which to start.
Keep your square and the level close to
the job throughout the building process and
recheck the work, frequently. You will be
pleased with the results. Now get started!
Bob Kapela
some of the laws that are still on the books in
some city’s today. Some of the more notable
were the typical 5 mph speed limits and the
requirement, when approaching a horse, to
disassemble your carriage and hide the
pieces so the horse couldn’t see them and
become excited!
Today, the automobile has a new antago-
nist and that is the enviormentalist move-
ment, such as the Sierra Club. These das-
tardly groups have driven automobile manu-
facturing from our shores, stopped the
drilling for oil in our own country, along with
a shortage of refineries. The automobile still
remains the villain. Has anything really
changed?
Sorry to digress from the theme, but those
tree huggers really light my fuse!
—The Chassis Came First —
The early designers were practical men
and, naturally, focused on the chassis first.
Once the chassis and power train were func-
tional, the body came next. Again, the body
was designed to be practical first and “pretty”
second.
Page 56
 The influence of the horse-drawn buggy
shows heavily in their designs, from the
wheels, suspension, seat and even the canopy
top. Only the front axle was designed to have
steerable-spindles rather than turning the
entire axle, as in their horse drawn counter-
part.
What body they used served as a place to
mount the controls necessary for the driver.
They were, usually, in a position to be within
easy reach of the driver.
As with some of our designs, brakes were
minimal to non-existent. Ford had none on
his Quadricycle, other than rubbing his shoe
soles on the front tires! Olds placed a brake
band near the differential in a greasy inv-
iornment. Such placement provided a very
minimal amount of brake power.
Just as we do today, they sought available
and existing parts to use from sources such
as buggies and bicycles.
After the turn of the Century, more atten-
tion was given to the body and creating a
pleasing, while practical design. Passenger
comfort was considered, along with means of
carrying items needed for a “road trip.”
Sheet metal body parts started having
compound curves and in a few short years,
— A Natural Problem With Vertical Shaft Engines —
Have you experienced starting problems
with your small hp vertical shaft engine and
wondered why?
If so, one of the first things to consider is
a natural feature of these engines that were
designed, primarily, for push type rotary
lawn mowers. These mowers have decreased
in value until they are virtually a throw away
item, not worth any sizable repair bill to fix.
To keep the cost competitive, some engine
manufacturers have cut every corner possible
Issue No. 50 Engine and Wheels
the automobile had advanced to where it
could no longer be produced by a cross-roads
blacksmith shop. Large punch presses were
required to form body parts and forge steel
parts. Foundries were required to pour iron
castings for engine blocks and other parts.
The Body Now Becomes First
With the chassis more or less taken for
granted, attention to the body design became
the focus of the manufacturers. Cars sudden-
ly had to start looking “pretty” to maintain
market status. Gradually, women became a
factor in the marketing atmosphere. “Honey,
I want that pretty little blue car over there.”
How many of us have bought a particular car
because of input from our wife?
I can remember when brochures for new
cars always had a center fold, featuring the
frame and chassis, complete with x-ray views
of all the hidden, mechanical features that
purported to make this car superior to the
competition. Try to find such detail today! All
the focus is on the exterior “beauty” and crea-
ture comforts.
I think that one of the attractions to our
hobby is the fact we can and do focus on the
chassis. As the name of this newsletter
states: Engine and Wheels!
to be competitive. One such way they do this
is to decrease the size of the flywheel. Since
most of these mowers have the blade
attached to the engine shaft, the blade acts as
a flywheel.
Remember your model airplane engine
you had as a kid? The propeller was neces-
sary to be able to run it. If placed in a model
boat or car, it was necessary to add a fly-
wheel.
When we, merely, attach a pulley to the
Page 57
shaft, the engine suffers from insufficient fly-
wheel and the result will be difficult starting,
sometimes backfiring. Without the necessary
flywheel action, pull-starting will be difficult.
The engine will not start, but will still inhale
fuel from the carburetor, resulting in easily
flooding the cylinder and plug.
A quick fix is to add more weight to the
shaft. Use a double groove pulley for extra
weight. If shaft length permits, add a chain
sprocket in addition to the pulley. With a
sprocket of about 6 inches diameter, it should
The Wheel Is Re-invented
— Another Time!
Just when I think we can go no further in
improving our wheel/tire situation, I am
pleasantly surprised. Such was the case
recently when an email from Gerry Williams
of Prescott Valley, Arizona, alerted me to a
bicycle tire that we all have overlooked.
We have been limited by the standard
“balloon” size (26 x 2.125) bicycle tires.
Measuring 26 inches overall diameter, they
fell a bit short of duplicating the original 28
and 29 inch diameter tires of the antique car-
riages we try to duplicate. Also, because of
their thin construction, flats are a curse.
Gerry owns a “Merry Oldsmobile” CDO,
made in the 50’s by Air Products of Ft
Lauderdale, Florida. Being a perfectionist for
detail, he was never happy with it’s smallish
tires. A search at a local bicycle shop revealed
that there was a size of tire made for heavy-
duty mountain bikes. The size is 26 x 3.0
made by Kenda. They are the Flame model.
The large profile of these tires allowed
Gerry to use his original 26 x 2.125 tires as
liners, by cutting off the bead. This was fol-
lowed with heavy-duty, thorn-proof tubes
filled with slime. With this “bullet-proof” set-
up, the bullhead thorns, that have plagued
our Cottonwood parade, met their match!
Issue No. 50 Engine and Wheels
add sufficient weight to act as a flywheel. If
desired, the sprocket teeth can be machined
off.
Since Tecumseh engines seem to be the
greatest offender, replace it with a Briggs &
Stratton or Honda.
If your engine is driving a hydrostatic
transmission, you may not experience as
much trouble, since the belt and driven-pul-
ley is adding to flywheel weight.
The following pictures show the tires
mounted on his CDO. It’s easy to note how
the increased size more fully duplicates the
original size tires. The OD of the Kenda tires
is 27.5 inches OD. We recommend they only
be mounted on Worksman or equal quality
wheels.
Have your local bicycle shop order them
for you. If they tell you there’s no such size,
politely have them search their catalogs.
They are reasonably priced at less than
$25.00 each. Another brand has this size with
knobby tread for less than $50.00 each.
Kenda, also, make 3.00 tires in 20 and 24
inch rim size. Another company make 26 x
3.00 tires with knobby tread.
When visiting a bicycle shop, remember
that any retail establishment is only going to
stock what sells. Therefore, they are going to
have to special order these for you.
The photos, on page 59, show the Kenda
mounted on a 26 x 2.125 rim. Bear in mind
that the tires you see here have a 26 x 2.125
tire inside them as a liner! Inflated with a 26
x 2.125 heavy duty, slime-filled tube, you are
looking at a “bullet-proof” set-up.
Notice how much they resemble the
antique tire on the original prototypes. Sorry,
guys, they aren’t available in all white!
Page 58
 These photos show a
set of 26 x 3.0 Kenda
Flame tires on the
road, carrying a “man
size load”

Gerry Williams is at
the tiller while yours
truly hitches a ride. I
have so many grand
kids in the area that
want to drive
Grandpa’s cars, that I
had to thumb a ride!

— Changing Wheel Size On An Existing Carriage —

There exists a sizable amount of, what I
call, Fort Lauderdale replicas, that were
equipped with 20” bicycle size wheels and
tires. With the body scaled down a tiny bit,
they look a bit small, especially when driven
by a full size guy like Ron Shutter.
Ron decided to change things a bit on one
of his collection.
A careful examination indicated that the
20 inch wheels could be replaced with 24
inch. Of course, this would increase the
potential top speed while lowering the torque
to the road unless drive train ratios were
altered. Ron left them as is on this change.

Issue No. 50 Engine and Wheels Page 59

 Before
The above photo shows Ron Shutter’s
CDO as he drove in the Cottonwood Parade
last year. This little two seat carriage has it’s
heritage tied to Ft Lauderdale, Florida. It’s
blood line was a family of slightly-scaled
down carriages that came equipped with 20
inch bicycle-size wheels. Thus equipped, the
CDO looked too small, especially when driven
by a “full size” guy like Ron.
To improve things a bit, he adapted 24
inch Worksman wheels to the rear, by weld-
ing an adapter as outlined in E&W issues 24
& 25.
— Amish Buggy Brakes —
At the present time several builders are
concentrating on the use of hydraulic brakes
on our replica carriages. Bob Kapela and I
are using the brake kit intended for use on
Amish buggies. They are high quality and
relatively inexpensive, with the additional
feature of fitting the wood spoke wheels men-
tioned earlier in this issue.
In my study of these brakes, I was sur-
prised to see a lot of Amish buggies have the
drums installed on the front axle, as opposed
to the rear. Some of you who live where the
Amish are prevalent or who have seen the
Harrison Ford movie, “Witness,” may have,
also, noticed the placement of brakes.
In a recent conversation with Eldon
Witmer, at the Witmer Coach Shop, I asked
Issue No. 50 Engine and Wheels
After
The front wheels, with the brake drums
an intregal part of the hub, presented a dif-
ferent problem. Ron obtained a couple of 24
inch Worksman rims and a handful of heavy
duty spokes and began the arduous re-spok-
ing these two wheels.
The photo on the right shows the improve-
ment this larger wheel made to the overall
appearance. The addition of a beautiful sur-
rey top completed the beautification of this
neat little car.
about this and learned that, yes, the Old
Order Amish, who use steel tires on their
buggy wheels, do place the hydraulic brakes
on the front wheels. The reason being that
the weight transfer lessens the ground con-
tact on the rear wheels and they simply slide
as sleigh runners.
However, on buggies used by the
“English” and others, equipped with rubber
tires, the brakes go on the rear wheels. With
rubber tires, the front wheels would transfer
too much braking torque to the front axle and
possibly damage the fifth wheel, where the
axle pivots to steer.
It is interesting where we “rocket scien-
tist” have to go to learn what’s really happen-
ing!
This is something to consider for those
who plan to add brakes to the front axle.
Page 60
 — Caveat Emptor —
Latin — "Let the buyer beware" — by Bob Kapela
There is a principle in commerce that the
buyer is responsible for assessing the quality
of a purchase before buying. The opposite of
this is "Caveat Venditor" (vendor), "Let the
seller beware". (This may have to do with
accepting third-party checks, etc., I'm not too
sure) There are variations of "Caveat", like
"Caveat Lector" (reader), "Let the reader
beware". A prudent person in this day and
age would be wise to observe all of these time-
tested principles.
Recently a replicar was offered on Ebay.
Many of us saw it and commented on it. It
was presented as an "Exact copy of Henry
Ford's 1896 Quadricycle". After the item(s)
appeared on auction, there was silence for a
short time, then the comments started pour-
ing in, expressing our collective disgust at the
obviously fraudulent claims of the item's
legitimacy, contradicted both by the written
claims, and the photos of two different vehi-
cles. It almost became a contest among us to
see who could find the most discrepancies. It
appears that the item was purchased for
$2600.00. At least it didn't go sky high, or it
would have been a worse shame. This whole
matter stinks and does not do our group any
good. The seller has nothing to do with our
group.
Unfortunately, there are too few of us in
our hobby. We are not that well known to
have a major effect or to be a well-known
source of information for someone trying to
determine the value and correctness of a
replicar. Maybe this will change in the future,
as we grow in size and stature and become
known. Sometimes, though, the prospective
buyer is so "pumped up with enthusiasm",
that it wouldn't make much difference what
they were advised, anyway. Sooner or later,
although too late, the buyer will discover
what was really purchased.
How does an item get to be advertised and
sold, when it is so inaccurate? Is the seller
deliberately trying to deceive the public, not
Issue No. 50 Engine and Wheels
realizing that there are experts on virtually
anything ever made, written, designed, or
thought of? In the case of the replicar, the
photos of two different vehicles convinced me
that this could have been the case.
Sometimes, though, an item has a "legend"
that goes with it, and the legend grows over
time. The seller thinks he is selling a vase
from the Ming Dynasty, when, in fact, it is a
piece of Carnival glass. Either way, though,
the buyer can get fooled and not get value for
his money. Will the legend of the
"Quadricycle" now grow even more: will we
see it on Ebay again, with an even more excit-
ing write-up??
I looked on the "Google" site, under
"Caveat Emptor", and page after page of
information popped up, with items like
Estate sales seeded with fake antiques, fake
Family History searches (useful if you collect
old telephone numbers), on and on and on,
all with a common theme, which sperates us
from our money. This site is probably visited
more often "after the fact". In a recent issue
of "Popular Mechanics", the magazine
exposed several fake vehicle "gas mileage
extenders". Every single item failed to
increase mileage, and some even reduced it.
At the end of the article, the magazine stated,
that paradoxically, sales of some of the items
could actually increase, as the clever seller
will readvertise elsewhere, citing, in the ad
"As shown in Popular Mechanics".
If you have never built or owned a
replicar, and would like to enjoy one, except
you don't have the mechanical skills, time,
tools, or whatever to construct one for your-
self, there are some guidelines that you can
use to help you get true value for your invest-
ment. Sales of replicars are not every day
occurances. If you come across one at an
estate sale or other means, try to determine
it's lineage, who built it and when, if plans
were used, and any other information you can
determine. Can you see it start up and run,
Page 61
and can you drive it? Push on it sideways
with your hands and see how much slop is in
the steering and chassis. What kind of motor,
drive, clutch, brakes, steering, etc., does it
have? Are there provisions for adjusting
chains, brakes, and steering? Check the
frame for quality and above all, check the
welds. Poor quality welds are a dead give-
away to poor quality construction. There are
parts of a replicar that should all be welded
and there are parts that never should be. Be
able to pick these out. Are there grease fit-
tings at obvious wear points? This is not a
complete checklist. If you have faithfully read
all of Everett’s "Engine and Wheels" issues,
you will have a very good idea on how to
judge a quality machine. Our group has
many serious, friendly builders, with a com-
mon goal of constantly increasing the quality
of our efforts. Talk to one of the group that
lives near you or email any of us. If we don't
have the info, we can direct you to someone
who does. If you see a newly built machine,
but it lacks any of the improvements that we
have talked about in the publication, use cau-
tion. Also, look at the person's workshop, the
Buying and Selling a Replica Horseless Carriage
by Everett Moore
During the past year and, no doubt,
increasing in the future, is the selling of
homebuilt replica automobiles, mostly of the
“brass era.” Usually found on Ebay auction,
the description is many times deceptive.
Most of us can recognize a carriage built
from Jimmy Woods’ plans. Yet, they will show
up on Ebay as Oldsmobiles, Fords, Curved
Dash Olds, etc. and claiming to have been
build in 1902, etc. If a prospective buyer, with
little knowledge of our hobby, were to read
the advertisement, they could easily be mis-
lead by such, less than honest, advertise-
ment.
When buying, anything on Ebay, always
look at the bidders feedback — this can tell
you a lot. There will be the bidder’s user
name, followed by a number in parentheses
Issue No. 50 Engine and Wheels
equipment in it, and other machines, trac-
tors, etc., on the property. They can be a sort
of indication of how the person builds and
maintain things. If you are really lucky, you
could stumble upon a "Rip Van Winkle", that
is the term for something built a long time
ago, and stored away out of sight. That could
be exciting for all of us.
Value — How can we assign a true value
on one of our replicars? I am at a loss here
and welcome some suggestions. Even if I was
inclined to sell one of my machines, what
would be a fair price? For now, forget about
time spent, concentrate on supplies and serv-
ices. I am going to throw a guess out there
that most of us have at least a couple thou-
sand in real money invested. Or more. Much
more in the case of my hi-wheeler (issue #22).
(maybe my wife won't read this or I may be
buying some new carpet or something) . My
first car is insured with Hagerty for 5K and
the hi-wheeler for 10K. That is what I esti-
mate it would cost to hire a professional to
build and replace one of them.
— Caveat Emptor — Bob Kapela
such as car-man (13) for example. By clicking
on the 13, you can observe his buying habits.
Always look for a sniper (more on this later).
The typical beginning bidder will start bid-
ding 2 or 3 days or more before the close of
the auction. Such action tends to cause
excitement amongst other bidders and they
will follow suite by raising the bid, long
before they should. This can sometimes have
the same effect as at a real, auctioneer run,
auction — it will sometimes get the bid high-
er than the item is worth. Good if you’re the
seller — Bad if a buyer.
The auctions to be wary of are those with
2 or 3 bidders with zero or only 1 or 2 feed-
backs. They will almost, invariably, run an
item higher than it is worth, simply because
they haven’t yet learned how to bid.
Page 62
 If you plan on buying on Ebay at a price in
your favor, you must learn how to snipe. I
understand there are computer programs
created for this. However, it can be done very
easily without the help of anything except a
watch with a sweep second hand.
The term “snipe” simply means to wait to
bid until there’s only about 15 seconds left
before the auction closes. Should this bid
place you as the high-bidder, no one else has
the time left to raise your bid and you win!
The method I use is to bring up 2 screens
on my monitor. On one have the actual auc-
tion page. On the second screen, go on to the
bidding page, enter your bid and advance this
screen to where all you have to do is click
“confirm..” Careful — don’t click this button
yet.
Now, go back to the auction screen. You
next want to establish the exact time (on your
watch) that the auction closes. When the auc-
tion gets down to 1 hour or less remaining,
the screen will show the minutes and seconds
remaining.
Your next chore will be to determine
where on your watch dial the second hand
indicates X number of minutes and 15 sec-
onds. This is your magic bidding spot. You
want to place your bid at approximately 15
seconds before closing. It is best to do all the
preceding at least 10 minutes before closing.
Now relax, remain calm and start refresh-
ing your auction screen by clicking the
refresh button on the magic dial spot you
have previously-determined. Lets say you
start this at approximately 10 minutes before
closing. After clicking at the right dial spot,
your screen should refresh and show 10 min-
utes 15 seconds remaining. Wait another
minute and repeat. The screen will now say 9
minutes, 15 seconds. You don’t have to do this
every minute until there’s only about 4 min-
utes left.
The remaining time you’re now looking for
is 1 minute, 15 seconds remaining. Now,
casually switch over to your bidding screen,
while continuing to watch the sweep hand on
your watch. Don’t place the curser arrow over
Issue No. 50 Engine and Wheels
the confirm button until about 2 or 3 seconds
before “pulling the trigger.” The reason is to
prevent accidently bidding too soon.
The second hand is counting down from 1
minute 15 seconds until it, again, reaches
your “Magic Bidding Spot”. As it approaches
this spot, carefully position your curser arrow
over the “confirm” button and when it
arrives, click your mouse and place your bid.
This is when you feel your heart beating
and your hand is starting to shake. Your bid-
ding screen should renew with either:
“Congratulations, you are the high bidder” or
“you have been outbid.”
Switch back to your auction screen and in
a few more seconds, refresh it. It should now
indicate whether you won or lost. If you lost
it simply means there was another sniper in
the game the same as you and he/she either
bid the same amount as you only a second or
so sooner or had a maximum bid higher than
yours.
If you won, congratulations, you have
your first CK (confirmed kill). Happy sniping!
Just a closing thought on your maximum
bid. Assess the item you’re going to bid on
and determine, to the best of your ability,
what it is worth to you. Never place a sniping
bid over this amount. For example, if an item
is setting at $75.00 and you would be glad to
buy it for $120.00 but no more, go ahead and
place a sniping bid of $120.00. You can’t lose
by having to pay too much and the chances of
another, unseasoned, sniper bidding much
over $85.00 to $100.00 is slim.
Never forget to factor in the shipping cost
into your total outlay. Good luck.
Page 63
 Licensing and Registration
Arizona's HB 2017, has been intro-
duced for the 2006 session to revise the
state's old-car registration statues.
It provides for a $16 one-time registration
fee for vehicles 25 years old and older. The
bill, also, provides for a $50 one-time license-
plate fee and a one-time $34 vehicle-license
tax for these vehicles.
The measure, also, allows the director of
the state’s Department of Environmental
Quality to enact an exemption from emis-
sions inspections for 25-year-old and older
vehicles.
A minor side note of the bill is a descrip-
tion of a "collector" class of vehicles, in addi-
tion to the usual "classic" and "antique."
Collector vehicles are defined as either
A.) At least 15 years old and "of unique or
rare design, of limited production and an
object of curiosity," or
B.) "Maintained primarily for use in car
club activities, exhibitions, parades or other
functions of public interest or for a private
collection and is used only infrequently for
other purposes," and have "a collectible vehi-
cle or classic automobile insurance coverage
that restricts the collectible vehicle mileage
or use, or both, and requires the owner to
have another vehicle for personal use."
The main purpose of this definition is
related to legislation enacted last year giving
these cars an exemption from emissions
inspections (EPA approval is pending).
Courtesy of Hemmings
Legislation is slowly being improved.
However, everything is predicated around
real, original horseless carriages and/or cars
that fit the age requirements.
It seems that about 1 out of 5 emails I get
about our replicas, concerns licensing and
registration, usually for the wrong reason! It
seems everyone wants to be able to drive the
streets with their replica.
I am growing tired of giving the reasons
why we shouldn’t try to mix with normal traf-
fic, legal or not!
Issue No. 50 Engine and Wheels
Our only concern should revolve around
driving in parades and similar activities. Any
sanctioned event will usually be covered by
the sponcering orginization’s insurance. This
needs to be examined further.
Most parade instructions will clearly
describe the start, route and place of finish.
Period! End of Parade! You will usually be
instructed to have a pickup vehicle or trailer
at the parades end.
The blanket insurance under which you’re
driving the parade, ends when the parade
ends. A lot of replicas will drive a return route
to the starting point rather than take the
trouble to have a pickup vehicle.
The danger here is: they are driving the
return route, perhaps with police approval,
but, without insurance, unless they have
their own. To make matters worse, this
return route is sometimes along the same
parade route. There can still be children run-
ning into the street, picking up candy, etc.
We are dealing with two entities,
Licensing by a government organization and
insurance by a commercial company. You
should have no trouble figuring out where the
most effort will be needed.
When dealing with any government
agency just remember the Latin phrase:
“Non-Bastardus Carburundum”
Page 64
 — Wiring Hints —
by Bob Kapela
There are several ways to do the electrical solenoid will be grounded when mounted on
wiring on a replicar. Some may be simpler the metal frame and normally does not need
than the one I describe, but no single plan a separate ground wire. When you first pur-
will work for every possible situation. This chase it, if your engine has a built in charging
one works for me and I used it. In any event, alternator, there is usually a red wire that is
the key to a good, professional-looking job is not connected to anything. This wire is to be
neatness. Run your wires together in a loom connected to the positive terminal of the bat-
as much as possible. You don't want to see tery, or if closer, to the battery connection of
individual wires criss-crossing each other all the starter solenoid. If you want to get fanci-
over the finished job. er, you can install an ammeter in the circuit.
Instructions, usually, come with the engine if
It is assumed that someone doing this has
purchasing new.
a basic knowledge of automotive wiring, how
to properly crimp terminals, make connec-
If your body is wood, you must be sure that
tions, strip wires, etc.. Don't use solid core
you "ground" the accessories, such as lights,
wire, use regular stranded automotive
horn, etc., to complete the circuits. Run wires
wiring. It is available at Murray's, regular
from each to the metal frame or back to the
Hardware Stores, etc, in 50 and 100 ft. long
engine, whichever is more convenient/neater.
spools. Use size #16, or #14, at least, and get
The ignition switch will, also, have to be
a roll of red and black, as a minimum. Get
grounded, in order to be able to turn the
terminals, some small wire ties, and 12 or 15
engine off. (I will use the term "ignition
ft. of "loom" to run the multiple wires inside
switch" throughout the article. Ignition
of, for neatness. I also got two fuse holders
switch and starter switch are one and the
from Witmer (Part #51-173 @ $2.60 ea. Each
same)
holds two glass automotive fuses. Use 10 or
15 amp ones. Cole Hersee #M-414, or M-415
Sometimes the ignition switch, light
fuse blocks will work, as well as several other
switch, horn switch, etc., are located near the
types.
engine, usually on the exterior, under the
seat area. Another location is at the front
Start with the battery. Ground the nega-
"dashboard", near the steering wheel/tiller.
tive terminal of the battery to the engine
Either location works fine with these plans.
block with a proper battery cable. Then run a
Continue by mounting the 2 fuse holders
smaller ground wire, also, from the engine
near the engine and battery, where they can
block to the metal frame. This will make it
be easily accessed in the future. Cut 4 pieces
more convenient, when you are grounding
of wire long enough to run from the fuse hold-
the individual lights, horn, etc., to complete
ers to the positive terminal of the battery, or,
the various circuits. Then, connect the posi-
better yet, to the battery connection of the
tive terminal of the battery to one of the large
starter solenoid, if it can be easily reached.
terminals on the starter solenoid. The other
Put the wires inside the loom and connect
large terminal is connected to the starter ter-
them to one side of the fuse holders, so each
minal. If your engine doesn't have a regular
fuse holder has one wire connected to it. Now
starter solenoid, purchase a 12 volt one.
at the battery end, twist all 4 wires together
There are more than one type; for this job,
and crimp them onto one larger terminal con-
purchase one with two large terminals and
nector. This connects to the positive terminal
two small terminals. If you buy one with just
of the battery or the battery terminal on the
one small terminal, it usually means that the

Issue No. 50 Engine and Wheels Page 65

starter solenoid. Now you have made a "load"
or "power" center, with 4 individual fusible
circuits available, which is more than ade-
quate for most replicars and usually leaves
one "spare" circuit. Caution, this short sec-
tion of wiring does not have fused protection,
so be really sure that the wire loom will never
rub, catch, or be pinched by anything, or be
stretched in the future, causing a short-cir-
cuit.
It is nice to have brake lights during
parades, so I mount a mechanical brake
switch that will complete a connection when
the pedal is depressed. I use a Cole Hersee
#8486 or #8487 (there are others). Run a wire
(mark it #1) from the #1 fuse to one terminal
on the brake switch and from the other termi-
nal of the brake switch back to the stoplight
at the rear of the machine. (Normally, you
will be using a combination brake light/tail
light unit. The unit’s body is usually ground-
ed and has two wires, one red, and one black.
The brake light wire is commonly the red one.
Check it to be sure, it is the brightest of the
two filaments.) Connect the brake wire,
install a fuse, and if the unit is properly
grounded, your brake light is now functional.
Remove the fuse and leave all the others out
for now, and disconnect the battery for safety.
Next, mark six separate wires so they can
be identified at both ends, from #2, through
#7, put them inside the loom tubing, and
route the loom neatly from the load center
area to the area where the ignition switch,
light switch, horn button, etc., are located. It
takes a special ignition switch for a magneto
equipped (ours) engine with an electric start
to properly start it and shut it off. I use a Cole
Hersee #95539 or a #95516. I prefer the
#95539 because it has a better key rather
than a generic one. Wire #2 connects at fuse
#2 and at the "B" (battery) terminal of the
ignition switch. Wire #3 connects at fuse #3
and at the battery (input) connection of the
push-pull light switch. Now, you have 3 fused
circuits being used, leaving one for a spare,
Issue No. 50 Engine and Wheels
for future use. Wire #4 connects at the "S"
(starter) terminal on the ignition switch, and
at the small terminal of the starter solenoid.
(The second small terminal of the starter
solenoid is connected to ground.) If no second
small terminal, the solenoid body is ground-
ed, but, probably, has to be mounted or con-
nected to the frame/engine block). Wire #5
connects to the "M" (magneto) terminal of the
ignition switch and at the (usually black in
color) magneto wire at the engine. (When you
turn the ignition switch to "off", this
"grounds" the magneto, preventing spark
production, thus shutting the engine off. Wire
#6 connects to the "L" (load) terminal of the
light switch and because this wire goes back
through the loom to the load center area, it is
continued on and hooked up to the tail light
wire (usually the black one). You need to hook
a second, individual wire to the load terminal
on the light switch and run this to power the
front lights. You probably will have a light on
each side of the machine so you need to "Y"
connect the wire at a convenient spot so each
light will have a source of current. Be sure
both lights are grounded. Some push-pull
switchs have two load terminals, if they do,
use one for the tail light wire, and one for the
front lights. If there is only one load terminal,
both wires will have to be connected to it.
Wire #7 connects to the ignition switch
mounting plate (metal) and to ground. If your
replicar has a metal body, the ignition switch
may already have a connection to ground. In
this case, wire #7 can be left in place for a
spare. You can, also, run a spare wire during
the initial setup if desired, at the time you
route the loom to the dashboard.
There is an "A" (accessory) terminal on the
ignition switch that has power, when the
switch is in the "on" position. This terminal
can be used to power the horn or other acces-
sory (radio?). On the use of a horn, if it is just
a small, low power unit with which you prob-
ably will be able to operate with just a horn
button. Run power to one side of the horn
from the "A" terminal, then complete the cir-
Page 66
cuit by running the ground wire through the
horn button and to the second wire or frame
of the horn. However, if the horn or other sig-
nal uses significant current, then you will
have to install a horn relay to handle the cur-
rent (simple to do). You will know if you need
a relay if, after some use, the horn button
kind of "sizzles" when you press it, or has to
be "twisted', pushed hard, etc., to complete
the connection, or if the horn "stutters".
This is a basic, generic-wiring setup, but it
works for me. Run all your wires neatly so
they won't rub, be pinched, or stretched in
the future. Use wire ties to make the instal-
lation neater and more professional looking.
Don't install the fuses or battery connections
until the job is completed. Common safety
practices mean using correct terminals and
workmanship. Also draw a schematic on a
hard card and attach it to the body near the
load center to complete the job and for future
troubleshooting (rare). Put a fuse in the spare
unit and you will have one with you if you
ever need it during a "run".
Happy Wiring!. Bob Kapela.
_______________
Below, there’s a schematic depicting the
wiring that Bob just described. Since there
will seldom be two carriages with identical
wiring, this schematic is one way to do it.
Since there’s an infinite number of ways to
wire a carriage, it is intended that this article
will provide the necessary basics that will
enable you to better layout your own particu-
lar wiring situation. Both Bob and I welcome
any and all feedback and will try to answer
any questions that might arise.
Everett Moore

Right
Right Tail light
Head Alternator Stop light
Lamp
Light SW
Fuse
Engine
Starter
Starter Solenoid Fuse

Stop Light SW

To Mag.
Spare Fused Circuit

Horn Fuse
S
M B
+ -
A
Horn SW Battery
Ignition SW Left
Left Tail light
Head Stop light
Lamp

Wiring Schematic

Issue No. 50 Engine and Wheels Page 67

 — More Electrical Stuff —
Engine Wiring — Our engines will usual-
ly come from two sources; new and used. In
the horsepower range which we use, they will
have some degree of electric wiring, peculiar
to that particular engine. Unfortunately,
most owner’s manuals will have nothing
about the electrical system. Even the pull-
start models will, usually, have a kill wire,
that when grounded, will kill the engine. On
electric start engines you can have several
varieties: 1) No alternator, 2) Alternators,
ranging from 3 to 20 amp. Some snow blower
engines are equipped with 110 vac starters,
to be plugged into a receptacle to start.
Naturally, no alternator or battery needed.
The smaller horsepower engines, with
12vdc electric start, may not have an alterna-
tor. The battery on the equipment is charged,
from time to time, by a separate charger,
plugged into 110 VAC.
Most large riding lawnmowers will have
the blade(s) turning on jackshafts, belt driv-
en from an electric clutch on the engine shaft.
Since there is substantial electric draw, when
the clutch is engaged, most engines will be
equipped with a 16 or 20 amp alternator.
Now, if you aren’t confused enough, some
of the more high dollar engines will have a
fuel shut-off solenoid, on the bottom of the
carburetor. This solenoid must be energized
for the engine to run. When the ignition
switch is turned off, the solenoid is de-ener-
gized and a spring closes the valve, instantly
killing the engine. Without this, some older
engines with a carbon buildup, will continue
to run a little, even with the ignition off. This
is referred to as “dieseling.”
I recommend that, before installing your
engine (either new or used), you remove some
of the shrouding to expose the routing of
every wire associated with your engine. At
this time make a wiring diagram, noting the
color of each wire and where it terminates on
the engine.
Issue No. 50 Engine and Wheels
Some engines will be equipped with a
multi-terminal plug, where some wires will
terminate. It is a good idea, at this time, to
make a drawing of this plug, noting to which
terminals the particular wires go. Although
an engine can be “hard-wired” in place, a plug
and receptacle make removal and installa-
tion of the engine a lot easier, plus looking
more professional.
Most engines will have wiring for spark
producing and the alternator. Small engines,
originally, had conventional breaker points
and condensers similar to earlier autos.
Battery charging was accomplished by
attaching a DC generator via a “V” belt. An
automotive type voltage regulator was used
to charge the battery. The spark was pro-
duced by an automotive type spark coil.
Today, these same engines have solid-
state ignitions, which eliminates the points
and condenser and the periodic replacing and
adjustment, necessary in years past. A mag-
neto is accomplished by embedding a permi-
nante magnet into the flywheel. It was only
logical to place a fixed stator with more coils
and utilize this rotating magnet to produce
an AC voltage. A small, solid-state, bridge-
rectifier is used to convert the alternator volt-
age to DC, outputting directly to the battery
charging circuit.
Our engines are 4 cycle, while the fly-
wheel/magneto produces a spark, with each
revolution. However, only every other spark
is used for ignition. This means that 1/2 the
sparks produced are not used. This is
referred to as “wasted spark” type ignition.
There’s so many different situations that
it is impossible to present a useful schematic
or diagram to fit all requirements. So, again,
I suggest that you make a diagram of your
particular engine and keep it with your other
documentation.
Everett Moore
In previous pages, we introduced a practi-
Page 68
 — Witmer Hub Modification Improvement —
cal, wood spoke, wheel. Since these were built
by combining a motorcycle rim to an Amish
buggy hub, spokes and felloe, some adapting
had to be done to fit to a 1” dia., keywayed
axle shaft.
The hub only comes with the bearing
races already pressed in place. Originally, we
removed both of these and fit a drive adapter
instead of the inner (large) bearing. The outer
bearing race was replaced by an outer pilot
ring.
So modified, the hub would now fit onto a
go-kart type rear axle, where the outer 2
inches are machined to .750 and threaded.
These axles provide a least expensive way to
make rear axles. (Caution: Don’t use one from
Northern as they are imported, poorly made
and then painted, making them oversized.
Use an Azusa axle, available from
Manufacturer’s Supply)
We feel an improvement is presented on
this page. Simply, leave the outer race intact
and in place of the outer pilot ring previously
Issue No. 50 Engine and Wheels
19°
.500 1.500 DIA
1.160 DIA
.750 DIA
Make from 6061 - T6 Aluminum or Eqv.
DUMMY OUTER BEARING
used, machine a dummy outer bearing as
depicted in the drawing above. This elimi-
nates the tight machining required by the
pilot ring.
Without words, the assembly drawing
below shows the dummy bearing in place.
What you’re seeing here is from future
plans that will incorparate an enclosed rear
axle, complete with hydraulic brakes.
At some stage of building a replica horse-
Page 69
 More Electrical Stuff applicable to
Horseless Carriage Replicas
At some stage of building a replica horse-
less carriage, the builder is likely to start
thinking about lights — more precisely, head-
lamps and tail lamps. Some, who use Yankee
starting engines, don't require a battery and
therefore may only add dummy, non-func-
tioning lamps to their carriage. After all, how
many of us are actually going to be driving at
night and need working lights?
If you have an electric starting engine,
most likely you'll have a battery and charging
system. So, why not add a bit more realism by
having working head and tail lamps. This
article is not about building these lamps, but
is about the wiring of the same.
I realize that I may be addressing people
with zero electrical knowledge to someone
with a PHD in electrical engineering.
Hopefully, all can benefit. We're going to look
at about the simplest lighting circuit that you
could use. The headlamps are, typically, sin-
gle filament seal beams, such as used on farm
implements. Check the wattage and use only
those that draw the minimum amperage
from our fragile electrical system. We don't
need high and low beams on our basic
machines. The tail lamps are, again, single
filament such as clearance lamps. We also
want to choose the ones with the least cur-
rent draw.
What we're showing is what is known as a
schematic drawing, not to be confused with
an actual wiring diagram. A schematic only
shows the actual electrical pathway, where
the connections shown, may or may not corre-
spond to the actual hook up.
A wiring diagram can be a photograph or
drawing, where the actual path of the wires
and their terminations are shown. Since no
two carriages may be exactly alike, each
Issue No. 50 Engine and Wheels
builder will have to figure out his individual
wiring diagram. Of course, both the diagram
and schematic will have to match. In this
article we will be looking only at the schemat-
ic.
In Fig. 1 we see a schematic of about the
simplest lighting circuit that you could use.
Besides the lamps and wire, the only other
parts are a fuse holder and a SPST (single
pole - single throw) switch. This switch can be
either a toggle, push-pull or rotary, depend-
ing on your desires.
In the real automotive world, the tail
lamps would be on a separate, fused circuit.
This is so if there’s is a short in this circuit, it
won’t, also, wipe out your headlamps. Due to
the simplicity of our carriages, fusing the
entire circuit would probably suffice.
However, if you contemplate night opera-
tion, where the loss of your headlamps would
present a hazzard, then by all means, fuse
the tail lamps separately.
Some will say: “I want brake lights, also.”
Ok, brake lights are a great feature, especial-
ly, when driving in parades. It is just common
courtesy to alert the person behind you that
you may be slowing down or stopping.
While it would be a simple matter to have
2 filament tail lamps, such as the ones used
on trailers. We’re going to show a simple,
inexpensive way to have brake lights by the
addition of a stop light switch and a 4 ohm -
10 watt, wire-wound, resistor (See your Radio
Shack Store).
Fig. 2 shows the simple change to our
basic shematic. By studying this, you should
see that when the brakes are off and the
lights turned on, the current will flow
through the 4 ohm resistor to the tail lamps.
This drops the voltage to them, resulting in
Page 70
 HEAD LAMP TAIL LAMP

LIGHT SWITCH BATTERY

FUSE
HEAD LAMP TAIL LAMP

Fig. 1

HEAD LAMP TAIL LAMP

LIGHT SWITCH BATTERY

FUSE
HEAD LAMP TAIL LAMP

STOP LIGHT SWITCH

4 OHM
Fig. 2 10 WATT
RESISTOR

their being dimmed, however, sufficient to switch is a motorcycle shop that carries a lot
function as tail lamps. of aftermarket products. They will, usually,
have an inexpensive switch, designed for
When the brakes are applied, a SPST motorcycle operation.
switch is closed. This shunts out the 4 ohm
resistor and delivers the full 12 volts to the
tail lamps, making them brighter.

All this is done with an inexpensive, sin-

gle filament, tail lamp. You’ll need a SPST
on/off switch and fuse holder from any auto
supply store, a 4 ohm - 10 watt resistor
fromRadio Shack and a brake-activated
switch.
If you have hydraulic brakes, then, you’ll
need an appropriate switch to plumb into the
brake line, usually at the master cylinder.
For mechanical brakes, a good source for a
Pictured here is a sample MC switch. It
comes in a kit with a bracket for attaching
one end to somewhere on the motorcycle
frame. The switch plunger is attached to an
extension spring, the other end of which is
attached, with a bracket provided, to the
brake actuating rod.

Issue No. 50 Engine and Wheels Page 71

 A good lever arm mechanical switch would 0.620
0.630
be a Cole Hersee 8486 or 8487. These cross to 15.74
16.00
0.227
0.257
Delco D851, D852, D853, D854, and #10-32 UNF-2B
(2 PLACES)
5.76
6.52

Motorcraft SWG317 and SWG318

1.736

A real good one is a mechanical push or

44.09

pull n/o spst Cole Hersee 8466. The plunger

can be either pushed or pulled to "make", and
has drilled mounting holes. This looks like
the best mechanical one.

There are many available for hydraulic

brakes. One good one with 1/8 pipe dryseal
thread is a Cole Hersee 8626, Delco 476S or
4760. GM 403936, or Motorcraft SW311.
These all "make on rising pressure" and are
n/o spst.
1/8-27 PIPE THREAD
(DRYSEAL)

Advanced Wiring
Techinques
for Replica 0.450 ø
0.220

Antique Cars
5.59
11.43
1.670
42.42

TURN SIG
HEAD LAMP RY 1 KILL ENG TAIL LAMP

ALT
TURN
SIG SW I A START
TURN SIG SW
S
HORN R
FLASHER B

AM
TURN SIG START
HORN SWITCH SOL'D
FUSES
LIGHT SWITCH TURN SIG
HEAD LAMP TAIL LAMP

BATTERY

STOP LIGHT SWITCH

4 OHM
10 WATT RESISTOR

Fig 1

Issue No. 50 Engine and Wheels Page 72

 In some of the last few issues of Engine &
Wheels, we covered the basics of replica
antique car wiring. In this issue we want to
include a few more features that might be
desired on a well-equipped project.

The schematic in Fig. 1 depicts a carriage

with a fairly well equipped electrical system.

We left off in issue No. 43 with a pretty

simple lighting circuit for those cases where
that was sufficient. In this article, we want to
add to that circuit with such items as: A key
start switch; a starter solenoid; a kill circuit Fig 2
to stop the engine, when the key switch is
turned off; an amp-meter to indicate charging
turning! They have been added to the circuit-
or discharging; Turn signals; and a horn or
ry for those who want to go all out with the
sounding service of your choice.
finishing touches.
Fig. 2 shows the ignition switch we
Fig. 3 shows 2 - 1 ohm 10 watt, wire-
referred to in this article. Also, pictured is an
wound resistors. We called for a nominal 4
available wiring harness that’s available for
ohm resistance. However, Radio Shack only
this switch. This helps make a neat installa-
stocks this resistor in 1 ohm and 10 ohm val-
tion and can be easily unplugged for trouble
ues. We have chosen to hook 4 of these in
shooting.
series, resulting in 4 ohm. We are dealing
with some variables in this circuitry because
Adding turn signals can be done several
of the type of lamps you might be using for
ways. Schematically, we have shown the use
stop lights. By hooking other than 4 in series,
of a typical, combination tail/stop light where
you can control the difference in brightness
a dual filament bulb is used. The filament
between tail and stop lights. You might want
intended to be used as a stop light, will be the
to experiment here to obtain the desired
brighter of the two. It would be best to use
results.
this filament as the tail/stop light and use the
lesser filament for the turn signal. The rea-
Below, Fig. 4 shows, schematically, what
son is, for replica carriage use, a bright stop
we mean by connecting these resistors in
light is more important than a turn signal
series. The total resistance (in this case-4
light. For parade driving, the stop light is
ohm) would equal the number of 1 Ohm resis-
important, while the turn signal really isn't
tors hooked in series.
needed, as we all know where everyone is

4 Ohm

1 Ohm 1 Ohm 1 Ohm 1 Ohm

Fig 3 Fig 4

Issue No. 50 Engine and Wheels Page 73

 If you're adding to an existing wiring sys-
tem where only a single filament tail lamp
has been used, (as shown in previous article),
a separate lamp could be used, strictly as a
rear turn signal (as on the front).

The ignition switch, used here is a typical

one found on many riding lawn mowers. The
key offers only token security, which should
be sufficient for our application. It has no
"kill" terminal; therefore, we use a small,
inexpensive relay to ground the magneto,
when the switch is turned to the off position.
Fig 5
Fig. 5, above, shows the relay we chose for
our circuitry. As called out on the part list, it
comes with the wiring harness and plug as
shown.
Fig 6
are constructed of wood, mounted to a steel
frame. Some of the wiring can be grounded to
this frame, however, the negative terminal of
the battery should be connected to directly to
an engine mounting bolt. Subsequent ground
wiring can be, also, attached to this same
bolt.
A schematic of the ignition switch is given
in Fig. 7. The switch has three, key switched,
positions: off - run and momentary start. You
can see which terminals are energized with
each key position. In the start postition, ter-
minal A is momentarily-disconnected to
remove the engine altenator from the circuit.
The S terminal is momentarily energized to
activate the starter solenoid.
Fig 7
B
R

On the preceding page, Fig. 6 shows the S

amp meter used in our circuitry. While, you A
could wire this circuit without an amp meter, I
it is an excellant addition to monitor your
charging system vs. the drain imposed by the
electrical equipment.

While no politary is shown, it is quite easy SW

OFF RUN START
to hook up. If the needle deflects in the wrong POS

direction, simply reverse the terminals. B

A
Refering back to Fig 1, you will notice
that all ground connections are depicted a tri- I
angle symbol. In an all metal body car, most R
of these connections could be made to the
S
body itself. However, many of our carriages

Issue No. 50 Engine and Wheels Page 74

 I highly-recommend using the available
plug/harness to connect to this switch.
If any soldering is done, I want to caution
you to be sure and use rosin core solder for all
electrical connections. This may sound a bit
juvenile, however, I have seen some expen-
sive eletronic gear destroyed by a fellow who
was building his first amateur transmitter, a
Heathkit AT-1. Helping him troubleshoot it, I
got a finger in my mouth and, immediately, I
knew the trouble. This was shortly before
Heathkit started putting rosin core solder in
their kits. This young fellow had used acid
core solder from his dad’s tool box. Naturally,
this voided any warrantee. This must have
happend more than once, because you old
timers can remember when Heathkit started
packaging rosin core solder with all their
kits.
If anything confuses you or if you have
further questions, don’t hesitate to email me.
I recommend everyone obtain a Foley-
Belsaw catalog. It is a great souce of lawn
mower parts, all usable on replica carriages.

Electrical Parts List

Description Vendor Code Part No.
Ignition Switch FB EGR5979034
Harness, Ignition Switch FB EGR5979833
Starter Solenoid FB EGR5979578
Amp-Meter 15-0-15 FB EGR5979914
Kill Button (use for horn switch) FB EGR5978252
Relay (RY-1) (includes harness) JCW BM149433
Flasher (turn signal) JCW BM132596
Antique-Style Horn (optional) JCW BM377204
Turn Signal Switch RS 275-0654
(spdt - center off)
Resistor RS 271-131
1 Ohm - 10 Watt Wirewound

Vendor Code = FB Foley-Belsaw

P.O. Box 419593
Kansas City, Mo 64141
1-800-821-3452
Vendor Code = JCW JC Whitney
Website: www.jcwhitney.com
800-529-4486
Vendor Code = RS Radio Shack
Local Store
Always check our website: www.smallcarplans.com for links to the latest in suppliers.

Issue No. 50 Engine and Wheels Page 75

 Kaw-Liga . . . .
. . . . . . that poor old wooden head . . . . . .
How many designer/builders ever wound
up with a lever or control you couldn’t reach?
Has anyone located a steering wheel that
interfered with their stomach? Remember
the Ford Model T Fat Man Steering Wheel?
This clever, after-market product made get-
ting behind the wheel easier.
Using Franklin-MintScale Models As a Source
Of Accurate Dimensions
Pictured above is the Franklin-Mint 1910
Cadillac Roadster that Paul is using.
One builder, Paul Norman mentioned
using a scale model of a 1910 Cadillac that he
obtained from Franklin Mint. In previous
Issue No. 50 Engine and Wheels
Ever positioned a brake pedal that put
your knee into your chin? Come on, be hon-
est!
While perusing an art supply store, I
found Kaw-Liga, an articulated artist model
for human motion study pursuant to sculp-
turing.
He measures 12 inches in height — a per-
fect 1/6 scale man. It so happens that I have
a 1/6 scale model of Ford’s Quadricycle.
I realize that few of our designer/builders
have a 1/6 scale model of what they are build-
ing. However, most will have a sketch or scale
drawing, hopefully to scale. If you would con-
struct from cardboard (a file folder will do) a
flat, articulated man to place over your draw-
ing, you can easily see if the placement of
controls, etc. is within easy reach of your
Kaw-Liga. You can either make a generic 6
footer or make it to your own measurements.
issues of E&W, we have suggested this same
source of accurate dimensions for building
your “practical replica” of one of the old brass
classics.
They are, typically, priced at about $150
each. After they have been available for a
while, they, sometimes, show up on Ebay auc-
tion. I obtained both a 1896 Ford Quadricycle
and an 1886 Benz off Ebay, myself.
Pauls Model is 1:24 scale. Using a digital-
reading caliper, measurements from this
model, merely, have to be multiplied by 24 to
have the actual dimension.
Dimensions thus obtained are generally,
sufficient for our purpose. The Franklin crew
will, usually, find a prototype in a museum
and, with permission, photograph and meas-
ure in preparation for making the dies to cast
parts for the model. The only inaccuracy I
Page 76
have noticed was on the Ford Quadricycle,
where they have the crankshaft arms at 180
degrees, when actually, they are the same —
both pistons travel together, only fire oppo-
site. But, this is a moot point unless you were
going to use the model as a guide to build an
actual engine.
In perusing their online catalog, I found
models of the following “old cars” that might
be of interest our readers:
1886 Benz
1904 Mercedes Simplex
Are we really building replica’s or what?
Replica <noun> an exact replication of
something, carbon copy, clone, dead ringer,
double, duplicate, facsimile, isomorph, like-
ness, replica, reproduction, simulacrum, spit
and image, twin.
Simulated <adjective> serving as a cheap or
inauthentic substitute <synonyms> artificial,
bogus, dummy, ersatz, fake, false, imitation,
mock, phony, pseudo-, sham, simulated, spu-
rious, substitute [antonym] genuine.
Practical <adjective> readily serving a pur-
pose <synonyms> functional, handy, practi-
cal, useful,
It was recently brought to my attention
that we might be in error in calling our
handy-work “replicas.” Almost all of us,
including myself, use this word, continually,
to describe what we do. It has become second
nature to call our carriages replicas.
If you will look in a dictionary you will
find definitions similar to what I have listed
above. Following the actual meaning of
“replica” there’s none of us who have built
true replicas. Jimmy Woods and Bob Kapela
are the exceptions, because they didn’t pat-
tern their carriages after a particular make
and model. The Woods’ carriages are truly
Issue No. 50 Engine and Wheels
1905 Rolls Royce
1907 Thomas Flyer
1907 Rolls Royce Silver Ghost
1910 Cadillac Roadster
1915 Stutz Bearcat
While the price is not cheap, they might
be a wiser investment than buying gas to
travel to a museum, where you might not be
able to get beyond the rope line.
They are fully-detailed inside and out.
You’ll find hidden detail to, perhaps, answer
some un-answered questions.
generic. Kapela’s wisely-named his; Pioneer 1
thru 4, after his Pioneer Tree Farm.
It is interesting to note that many
builders of the Woods’ design, made a few cos-
metic changes and called their carriages
Oldsmobiles, Fords, Ramblers, etc. All it took
was a “nose job” and it did resemble it’s new
name sake.
Over the past year, I have been designing
on what I, originally, called a Ford Model “T”.
It has undergone more changes and
“improvements” than you can imagine.
However, I cannot honestly call it a Model T.
While it will resemble, to the untrained eye,
a “T”, how can I call it a T replica, when it
will have a Briggs & Stratton engine, several
versions of transmissions, a roller chain
power train and hydraulic brakes?
The only “T” items will be a radiator filler
neck & cap and a steering wheel. I wouldn’t
have to use these except for the fact I already
have them!
Henry Ford, naturally, called his cars
Fords. So why can’t we name our cars after
our selves? At the risk of sounding vain, I am
considering calling my next creation, a
Moore. Granted, the casual observer will look
at it and say, “Look at that little Model T
Page 77
Ford.” However, the fact remains, it will fea-
ture my design on the steering, power train
and rear end. Only its profile and rough
appearance will resemble a T. It will, also,
resemble a dozen other similar looking brass
era cars — it’s just that the T is more recog-
nizable.
While we’re rambling in the abstract,
another question arises: Just how close does
a replica have to be to, honestly, be called a
replica? Taken to ultimate, literal meaning, a
replica would have to have every last detail
duplicated as closely as humanly possible.
How about adding the adjective “practi-
cal” to the noun “replica” and we have a
“Practical Replica” — an adjective phrase, to
better describe some of our carriages.
Let’s say you’re attempting to build a
replica Model T Ford. To do so, you would,
naturally, obtain many spare T parts. If you
had to make a part or parts, you would be
obligated to make them to appear and func-
tion as the original part.
No Briggs and Stratton in this baby! You,
again, are obligated to either rebuild an exist-
ing, 4 cylinder, T engine or to make casting
and machine your own. To be a true replica,
your finished car must appear to the trained
eye to be a genuine Model T Ford.
You take your creation to an antique car
show and while stretching your suspenders,
you proudly exclaim to passerby's, that you
How many of you old timers remember
the famous Burma Shave signs that were
prevalent on our highways when we were
kids.
AROUND THE CURVE
LICKETY-SPLIT
ITS A BEAUTIFUL CAR
WASN'T IT?
Burma Shave
Issue No. 50 Engine and Wheels
built this “replica” from the ground up! You
are very proud of your T — you did a magnif-
icent job. But, friend you are not standing in
front of a replica Model T — you are stand-
ing in front of a RESTORED Model T.
Trying to build a replica of a car that was
built in the millions — where thousands may
exist today, is traveling a very thin line
between building a practical replica or mere-
ly restoring.
When George De Angelis built his replica
of Henry Ford’s Quadricycle, he didn’t have to
face the restoration issue just discussed.
There was only one car in existence. What he
built was going to be either a true replica or
a practical replica. His easily falls into the
category of true replica.
Bob Shook’s Quadricycle, featured in
Issue 46, page 3, would easily fall into the
category of being a practical replica.
Bob Kapela’s Maytag Toy Racer will, also,
be a practical replica. While the casual
observer will call it a Maytag, a close exami-
nation will reveal how Bob substituted and,
in most cases, improved the original design.
On my upcoming project, I am going to
avoid the replica/restoration issue, altogeth-
er. It will be a brand new, 2006, Moore Model
A! Think about doing the same with your
projects, if they fall into the “replica” catego-
ry.
NO MATTER THE PRICE
NO MATTER HOW NEW
THE BEST SAFETY DEVICE
IN THE CAR IS YOU
Burma Shave
A GUY WHO DRIVES
A CAR WIDE OPEN
IS NOT THINKIN'
HE'S JUST HOPIN'
Burma Shave
Page 78
 The wheel that got a lot of us started in this hobby
The old faithful, Northern Tool garden
cart wheel, tire, tube, strip and ball bearings
— all for $27.99! As we all seemed to have
moved to the high road of horseless carriage
design; it is all too easy to point an accusato-
ry finger at the very wheel/tire combination
that got a lot of us started in this hobby.
This wheel was never designed or intend-
ed to be used on any fashion of motor vehicle
— even a low-power parade machine. While
Northern still lists them under grounds
maintenance, I’ll venture to guess their main
customer of this product is someone trying to
build a horseless carriage on a budget. I’ll
even go further out on the limb and wonder if
these wheels had been available in 1896,
would Henry Ford have used them on his
original Quadricycle?
Both Jimmy Woods’ designs were built
around these wheels. All my first plans were
predicated on the Northern wheel. But, my
problems stemmed from the thin tires and
tubes being susceptible to punctures.
Jimmy even “torture tested” the Northern
wheel for load-carrying capabilities in the
Issue No. 50 Engine and Wheels
5th Issue of Engine & Wheels newsletter.
They will carry an amazing load, while trav-
eling in a straight direction. It’s cornering,
where we meet our “Waterloo.” If you analyze
the loading on any cycle wheel, you have to
realize that bicycles and motorcycles turn by
leaning into the turn. Analyze the load vec-
tors presented, and you’ll find the largest per-
centage of loading is still radial with a much
less amount applied transversely.
Any vehicle that doesn’t “lean” presents
almost a reverse of the loading that a cycle
places on it’s wheels. This makes slow speed
operation so important. Combine high
speed and sharp turns and you’re asking for
an ambulance ride to the emergency ward!
Would I recommend this wheel/tire combo
to a new builder? The answer is a qualified
YES. Because of budgetary limitations, you
absolutely can not afford more $$ for wheels,
— I would nod, yes. However, don’t complete
your carriage and then send me pictures with
the notation that, with an 18hp Kohler twin,
this bad-boy hit 35 mph and was still acceler-
ating!
So, lets not totally forget the wheel/tire
that got a lot of us started. However, quoting
Dirty Harry from Magnum Force, “A man
has to know his limitations” — in this case,
also, his wheel/tire limitations.
Page 79
 SHOP SAFETY
It may seem to some that I am always
griping about something. I’ve even been
accused of being paranoid! So be it. When I
see unsafe design and operation of our home-
built carriages, I would feel irresponsible if I
didn’t point to the problem. If I am at fault it
is probably my, sometimes, poor way of com-
municating. Forgive me — I’m too old to
change!
I was watching one of the motorcycle
building shows on TV, recently, when I
noticed some horrible safety violations. I’ll
never understand why, to appreciate motor-
cycles, one must have long hair and tattoos!
Forget the tattoos — it’s the long hair that
was creating enough safety violations which
would have gotten this guy thrown out of any,
well supervised, manufacturing shop.
He was shown operating several rotating
machining tools — his long hair almost
touching the rotating part! Some operations
were producing sparks that could have set his
hair on fire!
I got to thinking about our hobby shops
and the safety hazards we encounter. The
universal problem we all face is having ten
pounds of stuff in a five pound bag. Most of
our shops are cluttered. Sometimes my own
shop isn’t safe to walk through, let alone
operate machinery! So, if I point a finger at
you, I have three fingers pointing at myself!
Proper eye protection has to be our num-
ber one concern. We can still function with
nine fingers, but without our eyes, it’s white
cane time. Eye shields and goggles are rela-
tively inexpensive — get plenty and have
them at each work station, readily available.
Besides having eye protection, getting
into the habit of using them must be devel-
oped. We are, usually, enthused about what
were doing and it’s easy to be concentrating
on the job at hand so hard that we start mak-
Issue No. 50 Engine and Wheels
ing chips while we look admiringly with our
naked eyeballs! ! !
Most safety devices that come with power
tools are well thought out. However, there’s
one exception and that is the blade shields
that accompany all new table saws. I am cer-
tain that manufacturers add them for only
one reason — product liability — strictly a
CYA situation. The one item that should be
used with all table saws is a pusher stick.
One item worthy of adding to a table saw
is a magnetic switch. Since you’re already
wondering? “What’s a magnetic switch,” let
me explain it like this: You’re in the middle of
a sawing or dadoing operation on your table
saw and your electric power suddenly goes
off. Naturally, your table saw stops. Your
attention is diverted to determine what “cut
the power.” You look for that thrown breaker
or blown fuse. Soon you learn the neighbor,
also, lost power. Oh well, time for a cold one.
As you go about doing some non-power
requiring job, what is the one thing you most
likely forgot to do? That’s right, Bubba, you
forgot to turn OFF the power switch on the
table saw! When the power comes on minutes
or hours later, you may not even be in the
shop. The part on which you were working is
still on the saw, with the blade engaged.
Guess what — the saw starts running again.
A magnetic switch, outwardly, operates
the same with one exception: it has an elec-
tro-magnet that is energized, when the
switch it turned to ON. The switch contacts
are held closed until you turn the switch off
or — loss of electric power de-energizes the
magnet, thus breaking the contacts. This
switch will remain OFF — until you purpose-
ly turn it on again.
Second to a magnetic switch, use self-dis-
cipline and always unplug your saw when
Page 80
such a power outage occurs.
Most metal working produces sparks and
sparks can cause fires. Always make sure
your spark path is free of “kindling.” Have
fire extinguishes in handy to reach locations.
Home workshop safety is largely a matter
of common sense. Take the time to analyze
your own situation.
For the balance of this article, I’m going to
let Bob Kapela speak to that which he knows.
Bob was a supervisor in the shops of Ford
Motor Company for over 30 years and is a
recognized authority on shop safety.
************************
Shop Safety
If you have ever been employed at or even
visited a large industrial plant, you know
that even before you can step onto the pro-
duction floor, you will be required to don your
"ppe". (personal protective equipment). This
is done for your own protection and the
Company's interest. In many cases, the ppe
consists of safety glasses (almost a 100%
requirement, everywhere), and hearing pro-
tection (ear plugs), but may, also, include
safety helmets, safety toe shoes, shoes with
metatarsal guards, confiscation of matches
and lighters, and on and on.
Through the use of statistics, accident and
injury reports, and common sense, it has
been proven many times over that the proper
use of ppe reduces injuries. But, for some rea-
son, there is always a core group of, other-
wise, excellent employees who resist using
ppe. In over 30 years of being a Supervisor, I
probably reminded people to don their ppe
thousands of times. In really hard cases, the
disciplinary process is used to correct improp-
er behavior. When this person is called to
task about this, they often rationalize and
become defensive. It takes tact when remind-
ing a person so they will accept your sugges-
tions.
Issue No. 50 Engine and Wheels
Just because you are out in your own shop
at home doesn't mean that you can drop your
guard and ignore the use of ppe. You should
always wear safety glasses, when performing
almost any mechanical operation. I, recently,
saw a photo of a person operating a drill
motor. The long hair hanging down and the
loose clothing were recipes for disaster. If you
have ever witnessed the aftermath of a trau-
matic removal of a large portion of someone's
scalp, or a similar injury from hair or clothing
caught by a rotating machine, you know
about what I am talking.
Be careful in your shop. If you are weld-
ing, don't wear polyester clothing. Loud oper-
ations call for hearing protection. Grinding,
sanding, painting, etc., all require proper face
mask/respirators. Put safety stands under
elevated projects before working underneath.
Don't go out on a Sunday morning with your
tie still on, and start up an engine. We all
want to be exchanging messages with each
other for many years. Let's all do our part,
and set examples for each other, so we can
achieve this.
Sometimes it is, almost, necessary to have
a "safety standown" in your own shop, espe-
cially after a "near miss". A safety standown
requires you to make an in-depth inspection
of your work area and practices. Typical
things to look at are tripping hazards,
improper storage of flammables, outdated
fire extinguishers, obsolete emergency phone
numbers, blocked exits, tools that need repair
(chisels,etc.), frayed electrical extension
cords, frayed air hoses, and so on.
Don’t ever allow horseplay in your work
area. A simple air nozzle blow gun can
become a deadly object if used in horseplay. A
balloon filled with acetylene may be some-
one's idea of a joke, until it blows up in your
face.
Be safe and build more replicars. Good
building to all.
Bob Kapela.
Page 81
 Small Engine Wiring
In past issues we have had articles on the
entire carriage wiring, without getting deeply
into the engine, itself. Recent events indicate
to me that this is a subject past due. A builder
came to me with questions about correctly-
hooking up his engine. The conditions he
faced were about as complicated as you will
find when dealing with a used engine.
We were dealing with an 11 hp Briggs &
Stratton that, from all indications, had been
a replacement engine on a low-end garden
tractor/mower. It had a starter and alternator
battery-charging system.
It’s ignition magneto was a solid state, no
points or condenser, variety that indicated
the engine wasn’t too old. All the mechanical
functions were in great shape and, was an
excellent choice with which to power a Jimmy
Woods’ carriage, once it was wired correctly.
The project became challenging because
he lives on the east coast, while I am in
Arizona. It took quite a bit of emailing, JPEG
and PDF to convey information back and
forth. The one thing that was really compli-
cating everything was how the former owner
had wired this replacement engine to the
tractor. No matching color or wire size. No
connectors — just pigtail and tape — most of
the time. A bare wire didn’t seem to bother
that shadetree mechanic. It was during this
adventure that I realized that an article on
small engine wiring was in order.
Let’s examine the wiring associated with
the typical lawn tractor engine. We will
assume the engine has an alternator and
starter. On first examination you will find dif-
ferent colored wires coming from strange
places on the engine. Tracing them will
reveal they, usually, all come from under the
shroud covering the flywheel. At this stage of
the game, it may be good for you to pull the
shroud off, in order to better trace the wires.
Issue No. 50 Engine and Wheels
Pulling the flywheel may, also, be necessary.
With the flywheel off, you will see two,
separate electrical systems that operate inde-
pendently of each other. They are two differ-
ent animals living in the same barn, so to
speak. One will be the ignition module — the
other will be the stator assembly of the alter-
nator. Both these systems share a common
item — the embedded magnets in the fly-
wheel. Some engines will have both of these
under the flywheel. Others will have the
alternator stator inside the flywheel and the
ignition module on the outside.
On more modern engines, old timers will
be perplexed when they fail to find the old
standard points and condenser. One of the
greatest improvements was when manufac-
turers started using solid state ignition tim-
ing. While inexpensive modules are available
to replace points and condenser on older
engines, today's engines feature this all con-
tained in the magneto module. The "trigger-
ing" circuit consists of a transistor and dis-
crete components all "potted" together with
the magneto coil. Part of this circuitry is a
"triggering coil," which senses the position of
the piston by the passing flywheel magnets.
By the "solid state" switching of the transis-
tor, it fires the spark at the correct time.
As you may have guessed, this type igni-
tion produces a spark with each turn of the
crankshaft. Since our 4 stroke engine only
needs a spark every other revolution, this
type of ignition acquired the name "wasted
spark."
A typical magneto ignition module (See
Fig. 1) only has 2 wires coming from it — a
high-tension wire that connects to the spark
plug and a kill wire or terminal. When this
wire is connected to chassis ground, it will
ground out the magneto and kill the engine.
What we have described thus far, is typi-
Page 82
 Fig. 3
Fig. 1

A typical ignition/magneto module is

shown above. You will note the high-ten-
sion wire will usually have a clip on it to
attach to the spark plug. You will, also,
note the terminal spade top center. This is
where the kill wire attaches.
cal of all modern, lawn tractor, engines
whether they are pull rope started or have a
starter/alternator charging system.

Now, let us examine the charging system.

You will find, neatly hidden under the fly- Fig. 4 18 VAC output
wheel, the alternator stator assembly. to rectifier
Alternators are, thus, named because they
produce alternating current (AC). This is In Fig. 4, above, a typical stator assembly
accomplished by the flywheel magnets rotat- is shown, schematically. Note that the
ing around the coils of the stator assembly. coils, that surround the outside of the
The pictures in Fig. 2 and 3 show a typical assembly, are all wired in series with two
wires going to the outside world (in our
case, the rectifier/regulator module)
When the flywheel is re-installed, the stator
assembly is completly hidden inside it.
While the engine is running, a voltage
check can be made across the two wires to
ascertain that AC voltage is being generat-
ed. Continuity would, also, show here.

Briggs & Stratton stator. The red and black

(other color wires may be used) wires termi-
nate in a two prong connector to continue on
to the rectifier, where a nominal 18 VAC will
be changed into 12VDC that will be used to
charge the battery.
Fig. 2

Issue No. 50 Engine and Wheels Page 83


Fig. 5
18 VAC input
From Stator
gnd to chassis
Fig. 6 12 VDC out
In Fig. 4, above, a typical stator assembly
is shown, schematically. Note that the
coils, that surround the outside of the
assembly, are all wired in series with two
wires going to the outside world (in our
case, the rectifier/regulator module)
When the flywheel is re-installed, the stator
assembly is completly hidden inside it.
While the engine is running, a voltage
check can be made across the two wires to
ascertain that AC voltage is being generat-
ed. Continuity would, also, show here.
The rectifier/regulator module is a small,
encapsulated device that contains 4 diodes to
make a bridge rectifier, as shown physically
in Fig. 5 and, schematically, in Fig. 6. Since
these devices emit some heat, they are usual-
ly found attached to the air shroud, where
Issue No. 50 Engine and Wheels
they can take advantage of some of the cool-
ing air. They, typically, will have three termi-
nals — ground is achieved by one of the
mounting-screws, connecting to engine/chas-
sis ground. Of the three terminals, the outer
most two are connected to the two leads com-
ing from the stator coils. (No polarity
required as this is AC) The center terminal is
for providing 12 VDC.
Some engines may have a solenoid valve
located beneath the float bowl. A single wire
or terminal will come from it. The purpose of
this valve is to prevent the engine from run-
ning after the ignition is shut off. This is
more typical of engines with some hours on
them which caused a carbon build-up in the
combustion chamber. While running, some of
this carbon deposit may become glowing-hot
and, when the spark ignition is shut-off,
serve as a "glow-plug" that keeps the engine
running semi-diesel. With a lawn mower this
could be a very unsafe situation. When this
valve is de-energized, a spring closes it to pos-
itively-stop fuel flow.
Other, high-dollar engines may have a
wire or terminal, coming from an oil sentry
sensor. This will light an indicator lamp on
the dash, should oil pressure drop.
We, now, have only one item left and that
is the starter. This is, simply, a smaller ver-
sion of what you would find on your automo-
bile in the driveway. The only electrical con-
nection will be in the form of a large copper
terminal and nuts. While it is possible to find
a starter with an attached solenoid, this is
usually not the case. This large terminal will
attach with an equally heavy wire/terminal
combination to one of the heavy terminals on
a remote mounted solenoid switch. The other
heavy solenoid terminal will attach with
another heavy wire/terminal combination
directly to the positive terminal on the bat-
tery. A typical solenoid is shown in Fig. 7.
The two large terminals are shown on the
top. On the base, you will see a small spade
Page 84

Fig. 7
lug for attaching a wire to the starting cir-
cuit, either on a combination key switch or to
a simple push-button switch. In either case,
12 VDC is applied, momentarily, to this ter-
minal, where it will cause contact between
the two heavy terminals, completing the cir-
cuit from the battery to the starter.
This particular solenoid switch is for side
mounting. You may encounter other type
mountings. However, the basic operation will
be the same.
Issue No. 50 Engine and Wheels
What we have tried to do is describe in
terms applicable to a typical engine set-up.
There are several makes of engines and
dozens of models and versions. Of all the
engines available, Kohler seems to be the
very best in many areas. Typically for Kohler,
they have standardized their engine wiring
as much as possible and provide a color coded
chart to help the consumer. A copy of this
chart is shown below.
Besides the small engine electrical sys-
tems, just discussed, we should examine
some different type systems that you may
encounter. In order to meet competition,
some engine manufacturers, have done some
pretty clever things to cost reduce their
engines. We, previously, mentioned the intro-
duction of solid state ignition timing. That
was a win-win situation — they produced a
cheaper engine and the consumer got a better
engine.
To lessen the heaver DC requirements of
the alternator circuitry, when supplying all
the tractors electrical needs, they developed a
dual circuit alternator. The alternator has
two windings — one pure AC and the other
with a diode included to produce about 3
amps DC.
The AC circuit was intended for lights
only. You could have headlights any time the
engine was running, battery or not.
The minimal DC output was sufficient to
keep the battery charged
We wanted to include information on this
system for the benefit of anyone trying to
decode a used engine with unknown heritage.
Fig. 8, on the next page, was taken from a
Briggs and Stratton service bulletin. It, clear-
ly shows the wiring schematic for a typical
lawn tractor using an engine with a dual cir-
cuit alternator. It shows a carburetor cut-off
solenoid valve that may or may not be pres-
ent on your engine.
Page 85
 Fig. 8

One clue to look for when you are “de-cod-

ing” your used engine is to observe the color
of the wires coming from the alternator
stator. If you are dealing with a normal, Fig. 9
AC alternator that is going to a separate
rectifier, both the wires will, normally be
of the same color, since there’s no polari-
ty needed. However, if your engine has a
dual circuit alternator, the two wires will
be different colors. In the case of Briggs
and Stratton, they are usually black and
red.

Using a voltage meter, you should

observe about 18 VAC when measuring
between the black alternator lead and
the engine crankcase. Measuring from
the red lead to engine crankcase should
indicate 12 VDC.

No separate rectifier is needed as this

has been accomplished with a diode in 18 VAC output 12 VDC output
the stator itself. to head lamps to charge battery

Issue No. 50 Engine and Wheels Page 86

 One thing of importance, when installing
any engine in a homebuilt, horseless car-
riage, is to make sure the crankcase of the
engine is thoroughly grounded to the frame
and negative terminal of the battery.
The schematic in Fig. 9, on the previous
page, depicts a typical dual circuit alternator.
We chose red to indicate the AC circuit and
green to indicate the DC circuit. This has
nothing to do with what wire color you find.
— Thoughts on Ignition Switches —
As you dis-assemble your used lawn trac-
tor to obtain items that can be used on your
new buggy, you will, naturally, encounter the
ignition switch. A word of caution is in order
here.
It is not uncommon to find the tractor
manufacturer has used a switch made espe-
cially for them and may not conform with
what you expect. A bad situation is where
they terminate the magneto kill wire to a
switch terminal. No doubt their custom
switch connects this terminal to chassis
ground when the key is in the off position.
However, there’s other terminals on the
— Some Thoughts about Used Lawn Tractor Engines —
This issue looks like a good place to inject
some thoughts about the selection and use of
a used lawn mower engine. I think I would be
safe in saying that the vast majority of home
built, horseless carriages are powered by an
engine that served its first life cutting grass.
Budgetary restraints force most to carport
sales, want ads or a friend cleaning out the
garage or storage shed. Typically, there'll be a
used riding lawnmower, with a price tag ask-
ing for what the owner perceives as a "good
price."
Before you grab your wallet, let's take a
few minutes and think about this.
Issue No. 50 Engine and Wheels
You can see how each circuit depends on a
chassis ground. When using a carriage with a
wooden body, such as the Jimmy Woods car-
riages, ground must be wired to any electrical
component such as lights, horn, radio, PA sys-
tem.
switch and it is all too easy to connect your
kill wire to the wrong terminal and instead of
grounding the magneto, you give it a jolt of 12
VDC. By playing Russian Roulette in this
manner, you have just lost $55.00 for a new
magneto module.
Unless your ignition switch is so designed
and has a terminal clearly marked for the kill
wire, you might want to consider using a
seperate relay to ground the kill wire.
While fuses aren’t shown in the B&S
wiring diagram, it would be good practice to
have an inline fuse in the light circuit and
another in the wire to the ammeter .
Competition and mass production have done
wonders getting the price of new riding lawn
mowers down from several thousand to
between 1 and 2 thousand dollars.
Manufacturer's demands on engine produc-
ers have resulted in a lot of cost cutting.
Riding lawnmowers seldom use engines of
their own manufacturing. Even John Deere
riders, typically, use Kohler engines. Bottom
of the line may use Tecumseh. Those in
between will use Briggs & Stratton and
Honda.
Caution when it comes to John Deere —
Page 87
the name and green color will sometimes
raise the used price. Don't be fooled — the
engine is, usually, a Kohler with the trans-
mission made by Spicer, Peerless, Hydro-
Gear, Dana or other. Inside, a JD is no differ-
ent than any other rider.
The same applies to other "Big Name" rid-
ers such as: Snapper; Wheel Horse; Troy-
Built, Toro, Allis Chalmers and others.
Remember, you're after the engine and
maybe the transaxle, only. Sears & Roebuck's
Craftsman riders will be found in a lot of car
port sales, simply because they sell so many.
Since Craftsman riders are made for Sears by
other manufacturers. I am including a list
that matches Sears' model No. prefixes to the
company that made that particular series of
equipment.
Prefix Manufacturer
247 MTD
809 AMF
536 AMF
502 Murray
131 Roper
917 Roper / AYP
143 Tecumseh
358 Poulan / Weed Eater
200 Tecumseh Two-Cycle
Sears carries a large amount of repair
parts and, if you have the model number, you
can go on line and look at assembly drawings
and order needed parts. They are not always
cheap, but at least they have some of them.
You'll find riding lawn tractors in one of
two conditions: 1) It will run, can be started
Issue No. 50 Engine and Wheels
and used, as is. This is great for ascertaining
the functioning of the engine, but may carry
a higher price tag. 2) It has been drug from
the fence corner, where it has been sitting for
some time. The battery, if there, will be down,
the tank dry (possibly rusted), at least one
tire is flat and it can't be started. Here's
where you can really get a bargain, if — you
adapt the right frame of mind. You have to
assume that, in the worst possible case, it is
a total piece of junk, the engine isn't worth
fixing and the transaxle is iffy. Don't — I
repeat — don't pay more than you can recov-
er by selling off a few items on Ebay.
You have to assume that the seller is des-
perate to get rid of it. It's going to cost him to
take it to the dump. The dealer, where he got
the new shiny replacement, didn't take trade-
ins. Now his wife wants the eye sore gone.
The poor fellow would almost pay you to haul
it off. Offer him $20, take it or leave it.
Remind him that it's a gamble for you, since
it's not running and the fact he replaced it,
tells you something. Don't be surprised if
you're soon riding home with a $20 riding
tractor in your trailer, which you convenient-
ly brought with you. Deal fast and be gone.
Always have a $20 in your shirt pocket and a
trailer or other means of immediately haul-
ing it.
Later, you find that you can get it running
with a minimum of expense for a new fuel fil-
ter, spark plug(s) and replacing the kill wire,
as the old wire had a worn spot in the insula-
tion, allowing it to contact the tractor frame.
You have a smile from ear to ear. So does the
guy you bought it from. With his $20 he has
stocked the fridge with his favorite brew and
his wife is now happy!
Well, in real life, things don't always go
that good. However, the point being made is
to never pay more than you can recover, if you
bring home a pile of junk.
Now, if you’re looking at a push mower
Page 88
with a 5 to 6 hp engine, sitting in a carport
sale, go real easy here. Remember, these
things sell at Wal-Mart or Sam's Club for not
much over $100, brand new! In this case, $10
would be a most generous offer.
These little lawn mower engines have to
be the most abused devices ever made. Oil is
seldom changed, only added. In most cases,
these shouldn't be brought home, even if
someone offers to give it to you.
Engines removed from push type mowers
or even new engines designed as a replace-
ment engine for these mowers all have the
blade coupled to the vertical engine shaft,
with an adapter and cap screw into the end of
the crankshaft. The attached blade acts as an
added flywheel on the engine. Remember the
model airplane engine you had (or may still
have). You didn't dream of starting it without
the propeller attached. The propeller acted as
a flywheel. If you put this engine in a model
boat, a small flywheel had to be added.
Some engine manufacturers, in order to
make their engines cheaper, have lightened
up the flywheel and use the presence of the
rotary blade to complete the flywheel require-
ment. Now, when we replace the blade with a
small V pulley, we are not adding much "fly-
wheel." To compensate, always use a cast iron
pulley and, if the length of the shaft permits,
add something in addition to the flywheel,
such as a larger cast iron pulley (unused) or
even a large brake disc - anything to add "fly-
wheel."
This is a good place to discuss brands of
engines. Today, we are blessed with a huge
selection of engines from which to choose.
From my own, personal, feelings generated
from experience and input from other such as
this recent email:
"On engines, I particularly do not like
Tecumseh products. They are very tempera-
mental when starting, and I have, personally,
Issue No. 50 Engine and Wheels
observed problems with two of my neighbor's
13 hp single cylinder engines. The fins on the
flywheel are plastic, they just snap onto the
flywheel. Also the magnet segments on both
the charging circuit and in the starter are just
epoxied on, instead of being cast-in. I have
seen both rectifiers on his engines fail, and
one starter — due to the segments falling off.
I pulled the flywheels for him and we removed
the stator parts. Now he has to re-charge the
battery between uses."
I first learned of the flywheel/starting
problem from corresponding with a builder
who was using a Tecumseh engine. From
other input, it seems they lead the list in cost
cutting measures to be able to compete. I
realize that many of you are using Tecumseh
and I hate to bad mouth your choice of
engines. If this case, I have no first hand
experience with this brand engine and am
merely reporting information that I have
received from others.
I consider Kohler the Cadillac of small
engines. You'll even find hydraulic valve
lifters on them. Couple this with solid state
ignition timing and about all the servicing
necessary is the normal — check the spark
plug(s), air cleaner and oil. No point or valve
lifter adjustment required!
One more thing before I close this article
—Alternator output — on engines thus
equipped, you'll find 3 amp; 10 amp and 15 or
more amp alternators. When judging a used
lawn tractor, look to see if it has an electric
clutch to stop the cutting blade. Since this
requires more current to keep the clutch
engaged, it is common to find the engine,
also, has a higher output alternator.
There's more that could be written on this
subject. However, with these few bits of wis-
dom, I think I save more for later.
Page 89
 — The Anatomy of a Wreck —
Everyone who reads this newsletter has
heard about James Kesler’s nearly fatal
wreck earlier this year. I have editorialized
about this and some of the contributing fac-
tors such as inadequate brakes.
Just recently James sent me a CD of sev-
eral pictures of some of the elements of his
wreck.
The picture below shows the hill where
his carriage lost it brakes. Looking down the
street doesn't reveal the slope, until you look
at the spacing and offset of the mobile homes
on the left side.
I estimate the road to be approximately a
12% grade. This is twice the typical 6% grade
common to interstate highways that trans-
verse mountainous terrain.
The smoothly paved surface plus easily
rolling bicycle size wheels, offer little rolling
resistance. A transmission connected to the
engine with a typical, belt-tightening, clutch,
coming off the throttle should allow the
engine to offer enough resistance that only a
slight amount of braking would have been
necessary.
However, lose the coupling to both engine
and brake, and you have a run-away machine
that would tend to accelerate quickly.
What we see above is the shaft coupling
on James’ carriage. Typical of the Jimmy
Issue No. 50 Engine and Wheels
Woods carriage, the transaxle is mounted off-
set so the axle on one side is connected to a
driving-sprocket. The opposing axle is too
short to reach the other side, so a piece of
1.00 dia shafting is coupled to the axle.
Now, we get to the problem that several of
you have faced which is obtaining a transaxle
that doesn't have a keyway. Instead, we will
find a small spline or, in some more inexpen-
sive lawn tractors, a double “D”.
In the photo, top of next page, we have a
short piece of 1.00 dia ID tube welded to the
extension shaft. The tube and axle are then
drilled to accept a 5/16 dia bolt.
We now have injected two problem areas:
1. Drilling a .312 hole through a 1.00 dia
shaft reduces the cross-sectional area of the
shaft by almost 40%. Using a bolt where the
threads intersect the shear surface of the
shaft and coupler, the cross section of the bolt
is, also, reduced. A .312 dia hole in a .750 dia
shaft, reduces it’s cross-sectional area by
nearly 50%!
2. The bolt demands a Nylon lock nut and
cotterpin (as we see in the photo).
Typical, of all of us are so anxious to take
that first ride abound the block, that we over-
look some simple things like locknuts.
We have all been guilty of this. On my
first run of the Quadricycle, I had some parts
Page 90
attached with only hex nuts (no lock washers
or lock nuts). When I got back from my run, I
was missing a bracket and hardware. I
retraced my path but never found it. I had no
choice but to make another!
On the bolt shown here, it is well secured.
However, prior to the wreck, only a hex nut
was used and the locking nut was forgotten.
These little carriages have a lot of vibra-
tions going on throughout the chassis. Just
the right condition to loosen and back off a
hex nut, which is what happened in James’
case.
At the beginning of his downhill run, the
bolt fell out, completely separating the drive
train and brake (1) from the rear wheels. The
carriage suddenly became a free-rolling skate
board!
James had little choice except to try and
ride it out. However, near the bottom of the
slope there appeared an obstacle. He avoided
it by steering sharply to the left and the rest
is history!
The following pictures depict the forces
imposed on the right wheels and how they
failed.
In Photo No. 1, next page, we see the
damage done to both right wheels. Note how
Issue No. 50 Engine and Wheels
the front wheel curled under from the sudden
side load, bending the rim but not dislodging
any spokes.
The rear wheel was a different story. With
the weight of the engine and power train
more to the rear, the spokes were, literally,
ripped from the rim. This allowed the right-
rear axle to dig into the pavement and upset
the carriage, throwing James, violently, to
the pavement, resulting in a concussion.
Photo No. 3 shows the body damage, pri-
marily to the seat which impacted the pave-
ment.
Photo No’s. 2 & 4 show the total destruc-
tion of the right-rear wheel. It is interesting
to note that both wheels never lost inflation
which is many times typical of full size auto
wrecks.
Nearly everyone has used the Northern
Tool garden cart wheels at one time or anoth-
er. They were inexpensive and from tests run
by Jimmy Woods in an early issue of E&W,
they withstood a tremendous radial load.
These cheap, Chinese-made wheels have
no nipples on the spoke ends. They are, mere-
ly, staked on the inside of the rim, which
resulted in their being easily ripped out.
Although we will never know for sure, I
can't help but wonder had the rear wheel not
Page 91
 1 2

3
totally collapsed and allowed the rear axle to
dig into the pavement, would the carriage 4
have remained upright, skidding sideways to
mph is satisfactory.
a stop?
I, personally, think it’s time to rethink our
A bicycle-type, spoked wheel is designed
sense of values, when it comes to using the
to take a great radial (perpendicular to axle)
Northern garden cart type wheels. Yes, the
load. When a bicycle or motorcycle turns, it is
Worksman wheels cost more, but not nearly
leaned into the turn, proportional to radius of
as much as a trip to the emergency room at a
the turn. This allows the load on the wheel to
hospital! I would give odds that had James
remain radial, with little side load. However,
used Worksman wheels, the spokes would not
when the same wheel is placed on a 4 wheel
have pulled from the rim. Their stronger rims
vehicle, there is no leaning, when steering;
might not have folded-up either.
therefore placing a side load on the wheel.
Would this have prevented a roll-over?
When the speed of the vehicle is kept rea-
Possibly, and certainly not, by the rear axle
sonable, the side load will seldom exceed the
digging into the pavement! Our carriages,
strength of the wheel. However, when speed
like the originals we copy, all have an exces-
is increased, the side force on the wheel
sively-high centers of gravity. This, coupled
increases on a non-linearer curve. This is
with a relatively narrow tread width, gives
why the leading designers in our hobby are
the perfect formula for a roll-over, when turn-
constantly preaching against building “fast”
ing at excessive speeds.
carriages. We all agree that a maximum of 12

Issue No. 50 Engine and Wheels Page 92

 — Bail out time! —
I realize that its easy to “Monday morning
quarterback” situations like this one.
However, let’s think for a minute about what
anyone in a similar situation could have done
to avoid the nearly-fatal results.
When flying an airplane and an “off field
landing” (a nice way of saying crash!)
becomes inevitable, you have only seconds to
survey your terrain and observe the rule of
thumb which is — if you’re going to hit some-
thing on the ground, pick out the softest and
most inexpensive object. A hay stack is better
than a concrete grain elevator. Of course, if
you can avoid both and land in a wheat field,
so much the better.
Now, go back to the picture on page 1 and
try to find the softest, cheapest objects to use
to decelerate your run-away carriage.
— Drawings - Plans - Blueprints —
These are terms we see all the time —
perhaps without giving it much thought.
However, the term blueprint is really an out-
dated term that still is embedded into our
thinking processes. Think about it — when
was the last time you saw a "blueprint?" A
blueprint was simply a method of reproduc-
ing a drawing, unlimited times, for distribut-
ing to others in the manufacturing operation.
It was, almost, solid blue with the defining
lines, dimensions and pertinent information
appearing as white lines. Many times they
were difficult to read because of lacking in
clarity.
Beginning with the industrial revolution,
drafting became an important link for engi-
neers to communicate with machinists,
assemblers and everyone else involved in cre-
ating a finished product. To be valid, a draw-
ing should convey enough information that
the pattern maker, foundry, machinist etc.
could make a part that would fit and func-
tion, as desired. If the part was manufac-
tured by an outside vendor, the machinist
Issue No. 50 Engine and Wheels
How about shrubbery in some of the front
yards? How about the support posts to some
of the carports? Before the speed picks up,
make a wide turn and go into an up-sloping
front yard.
Not a real good way to meet your neigh-
bors by defoliating their prize shrub or
knocking down the corner of their carport,
but, it would still be cheaper to fix the dam-
age than go to the emergency room . . . . or the
mortuary!
My only hope is to have this visual repre-
sentation impact the mind-set that many
may have developed.
A special thanks to James Kesler for shar-
ing his mishap with us. Having done so, he
may be responsible for saving a life someday.
probably never saw or even knew where the
part he was making would go. All he needed
to know was on the drawing in front of him.
In the past, the draftsman created the
original drawing on a translucent material,
which was reproduced by placing it on a piece
of photosensitive paper and running them,
together, through a machine where they were
exposed to a bright light. Where lines and
printing appeared on the original, light
would not pass. When exposed to ammonia,
the paper would "develop" with the area, not
exposed to light, remaining white, while the
remainder of the paper turned blue. Thus,
this acquired the name "blueprint."
In about the 50's better printing methods
and machines were developed, whereby the
finished print was now white with lines and
printing appearing as dark blue or black.
Therefore the old term "blueprint," became
obsolete. The basic technique of drafting
remained about the same. The only change
worth noting was the material on which to
draw the original.
Page 93
 Also, changing through the years was the
overall concept of where drafting fit into the
overall engineering process. From the turn of
the century until the 50's, drafting was a
highly respected and important part of the
manufacturing process. Top of the line com-
panies such as Caterpillar Tractor Co. operat-
ed with the idea that a machinist would be
more inspired to make a quality part, if he
was looking at a clear and well-done print of
that part. This placed the burden upon the
draftsman to produce quality drawings, to
rigid company standards.
The opposite extreme to companies such
as Caterpillar were little 3 - 4 man outfits,
where drafting was considered a necessary
evil! Many times their documentation con-
sisted of some hand drawn sketches on what-
ever was in front of them on which to draw. If
parts had to be made by an outside machine
shop, they simply sent them a sample part
with the instructions: "Make like this one."
Enough history lesson — Where are we
today? If you’re still using a drawing board, T
square or drafting machine, you are simply
doing it the hard way. With an inexpensive
CAD program, your computer becomes an
entire engineering department for you.
Is there anything worse? Yes! Those who
go to all the effort to design and build a car-
riage or anything, without documenting it so
if someone else wants to build one, you mere-
ly hand him copies of your drawings, even
sketches.
Spend $39.95 and get a copy of Delta Cad
(see the links page) and learn how to use it.

— Yes —
Women

May Have

Influenced

Today’s

Automotive

Design ! !

Issue No. 50 Engine and Wheels Page 94

 Period Costuming
By Ted Wagner
This is a subject right up my alley. I’m a
Civil War re-enactor and participate in
Living History Events in the Midwest and
occasionally at some Civil War National
Battlefields. For me, driving a replica horse-
less carriag and dressing the part go hand-in-
hand. Some of you maynot prefer this route,
but for me it’s all part of the fun.
Deciding what to wear takes a little bit of
background information and planning. For
the sake of a general time period, I will refer
to the year 1900. There are 1900 era patterns
for making clothing. Most are for women, but
you can get lucky. I will provide a list of
resources at the end of this article.
When thinking of attire, you have to think
of several factors. First, one must understand
context. We generally take day-to-day events
and our day-to-day actions for granted.
Clothing, language, food, transportation, etc.
are part of our daily activities. We think
nothing of putting on a pair of jeans and ten-
nis shoes today. But, even today, the key to
what we wear is context. Are you going out to
dinner at a nice restaurant? Are you going to
Church? Jeans and tennis shoes are probably
not appropriate. Are you going to the office?
What’s the dress code at your office? What do
you wear when you work in the garden? What
do you wear on a day-to-day basis if you are a
farmer? These are all questions you should
ask and consider the answers. You must
answer these questions when dressing for
1900.
Second, one must consider economic sta-
tus. Most of the country in 1900 was agricul-
tural. But, also, remember that in 1900 the
class society in America was still quite
strong; much more so than today. Take a look
at who was purchasing cars in 1900. In
Indiana, where I currently reside, most of the
horseless carriage owners were wealthy by
Issue No. 50 Engine and Wheels
Normally, we pull on our jeans & T shirt and
then head for the parade, with little thought
about how we look.
It was refreshing to see the photo of
Kenneth Lewis’ family in full period attire.
This can really add to the presentation of
your carriage.
1900 standards. You wouldn’t find too many
farmers or factory workers buying a horseless
carriage. It wasn’t until mass production,
several years later, that the average person
began buying the automobile. A middle to
upper-class gentleman, who would have
owned a horseless carriage in 1900, wouldn’t
have worn bib-overalls.
Third, one must consider the environ-
ment. What clothing was worn for traveling
by horse and carriage? What clothing was
worn in warm weather? What clothing was
worn in cool weather? For answers to this
question, you can find many photographs. We
must take into consideration context and eco-
nomic status before adding environment.
In 1900, travel on foot, by horse and horse
& carriage were normal modes of transporta-
tion. In the west, dusters were primarily
worn to protect the traveler’s attire. Those
who could afford an automobile of this time
period wore “proper” attire nearly on a day-
Page 95
 inclement weather, the heavier the better.
Dusters can also be worn. Although more
appropriate for those west of the Mississippi,
they would be appropriate for any driver.

Shirts were primarily cotton in 1900.

Fancy shirts were linen, and a bit more
expensive. Many shirts were collar-less at
this time. Adding a collar was necessary for
wearing a tie. Print shirts were still in fash-
ion by 1900. However, most gentlemen pri-
marily wore white cotton shirts as they were
cheapest for all classes of men. Ties were
becoming quite varied in both the style of cut
and materials from which they were made.
Ties of simple patterns were most common;
stripes, polka dots, etc. However, many were
plain colors; the most common color of the
neck-tie was black. Bow-ties started to hit the
It doesn’t have to be a parade. Don Terry
fashion trend at this time.
and his Granddaughter, Tiffany are cos-
tumed very well for their appearance at an
Trousers were generally loose fitting com-
Arkansas Cowboy Action shooting match.
pared to the trousers of the middle part of the
19th century. However, the bottoms of the
Tiffany even carries her rifles and ammo on
trousers were cuffed and close fitting to the
grandpa’s quadricycle.
ankle at the turn of the century. Plain colors
were readily available, but pin-striped and
to-day basis. A collared shirt, tie, trousers,
simple checkering were becoming popular.
and dress shoes and hat were mandatory for
well-to-do folks. There were two primary
dress codes in 1900. If you worked in an office
environment, it was shirt, tie, and dress
trousers. If you worked outside, it was pretty
much anything goes to some extent….bib-
overalls, jeans, cotton shirts, etc. Just as
today, the work environment dictated one’s
apparel.

We briefly covered day-to-day wear; shirt,

tie, hat, trousers, and good shoes. What about
a coat? An over-coat or period sack coat is
appropriate. Think of a sack coat as a modern
day “sport jacket” or suit coat. Sack coats
were on their way out in 1900, but were worn
daily by gentlemen of all walks of life. Men of Seated on Don Terry’s quadricycle is a pret-
all social levels wore over-coats of some type. ty young lass, known around the Cowboy
The sack coat could be thought of as an match as “Velvet Glove.”
“every day” coat. Longer coats of heavier
material were used in travel and for more Velvet is nicely attired in period costuming.

Issue No. 50 Engine and Wheels Page 96

Knickers were in fashion, but were used pri-
marily for athletic outings such as boating
and golf.
The men’s fashion statement was the hat
in the 19th century. For the most part, the
importance of wearing a hat continued in the
20th century until the late 1950’s. Today, not
too many young people have continued this
tradition. In 1900, the bowler/derby was most
popular. The “newsboy” cap, as it is common-
ly called, became available before 1900. It
became popular because it was made of wool
and other cheaper cloth materials. The top-
hat was worn but it was primarily reserved
for important social events. One must always
remember that gentlemen always wear a hat;
always remove it when going indoors.
Your research on the Internet will find
quite a bit of women’s information over
men’s. This article should help you get start-
ed concerning men’s attire. Your best bet is to
find patterns and have the clothing repro-
duced. In a pinch, the safe bet (and least
expensive) is to wear a plain black cotton suit
(no vest) with a white shirt and tie and a
bowler. For shoes, wear black leather shoes.
Oxford style shoes are a safe middle of the
road shoe or a regular black leather laced-
shoe is fine.
— Clothing and Article Sources —
Internet Links to get you started
Men’s Dusters
http://www.premierclothing.com/Dusters.html
Men’s Shirts
http://www.premierclothing.com/Menswear.html
http://www.tstitches.com/store/TSM-715.htm
Men’s Hats, Collars and Neckties
http://www.premierclothing.com/MensHatsAccesso
ries.html
Men’s Overcoat/Frock, Pants and Shirt
Patterns (Near the bottom of the page)
Issue No. 50 Engine and Wheels
http://www.5rivers.org/en-gb/dept_20.html
http://trulyvictorian.netfirms.com/menscat.html
Hats:
http://www.hatsinthebelfry.com/page/H/CTGY/der
by_bowler_hats
http://www.felthats.com/Derby_-_Homburg_/
http://www.mikethehatter.com/
http://www.villagehatshop.com
http://www.dadshats.com
Important Sewing Information for
Men’s Clothing
http://www.marquise.de/en/1900/howto/men/index.
shtml
Women’s Clothing and Duster
http://www.premierclothing.com
http://www.5rivers.org/en-gb/dept_20.html
Article Sources:
http://www.costumegallery.com
http://www.costumegallery.com/Hat_History/1910
Jean L. Druesedow, Jno. J. Mitchell Co.
“Men's Fashion Illustrations from the Turn of
the
Century. Dover Publishing. 1990.
Gernsheim, Alison. Victorian and Edwardian
Fashion: A Photographic Survey. Dover
Publications. 1981.
Illustrations used from “Men’s Fashion
Illustrations from the Turn of the Century”.
Druesedow, J.
and Mitchell J. 1990. according to guidelines
outlined in book.
Page 97
 How Close is Close cost of perfection is sometimes never getting
When It Comes To Building the job totally done. We need to think about
other types of wheels and tires. We need some
a Replica Horseless Carriage?
original designs instead of concentrating on
one or two originals. Don’t be afraid to go off
I coined a term when describing my own
on your own with a “freelance” design. The
Quadricycle. I called it a “Practical Replica.”
same person who exclaims “What the hell’s
Practical in the sense that by cutting a few
that,” would probably say the same thing to
corners and bending a few rules we can come
an accurate, to the last bolt and nut copy of
up with a carriage that resembles the origi-
an Ford or Olds copy.
nal yet is practical to build. We only nit-pick
among ourselves. The typical parade observ-
We need to start thinking (remember
er looks for a few moments at what is passing
thinking costs nothing) about some “street
in front of them and writes it off as an “old
legal” designs. How many of you remember
time car.”
the King Midget. They began in 1946 and
continued under changes of ownership, until
I’ll always remember the day, about a year
the early 70’s. They filled a novelty niche at
ago, when I took the first trial run in my par-
the time with a “take it out of the crate and
tially assembled Quad. The neighbors across
license it” little automobile. Their demise can
the street from me have a fairly steep drive
be attributed to many things including
way and I wanted to see how the hydro-stat-
increased governmental control of the auto
ic was going to function, so I drove up the
industry plus the Ralph Nader’s who want to
drive and partially into their garage, where
keep us from hurting ourselves.
my neighbor lady was working. She looked in
surprise and her first comment was, “What
We need to think beyond garden cart,
the hell’s that!” Could I have expected her to
bicycle size wheels which definitely have
exclaim, “Gee, I see you’re building sort of a
their limitations. Wood spoke wheels would
replica of Ford’s Quadricycle?” Hardly. Her
allow us to venture into the Model “T” vin-
comment is probably typical of most when
tage cars. Anyone for building such wheels?
they see our cars for the first time.
One wheel/tire that’s available and inexpen-
sive is the 8 and 12 inch size trailer wheels
To me, putting a curved dash on a Jimmy
such as sold by Northern. There’s definitely
Woods design is close enough to call it a
promise there for those who want to “think
“Practical Curved Dash Olds.” I want a
out of the box.”
reverse on my replicas. I want a reliable, easy
to start engine. I did use a “Yankee” starter
(you yank on a rope!) to eliminate an electri-
cal system.

Even builders like Tom Daws, who spent

40 years gleaning parts and building the
engine, still used 26” bicycle size wheels. I
doubt if anyone complained! George De
Angelis, probably came as close to duplicat-
ing the original as anyone ever will, still
added a brake. Who really cares?

We need to get more cars on the road, not

spend years looking for that special part. The

Issue No. 50 Engine and Wheels Page 98

 — What Product Do We Need—

You may have guessed it — a basic, for-

ward/reverse transmission!

In the 2 photos on this page, you see a per-

fect power train, as presented by Tom
Klobucnik. A belt type torque converter driv-
ing a F/R transmission. This was chain cou-
pled to a differential.

Both of these units were manufactured by

Comet. They still make the TC, however, the
F/R transmission has been discontinued,
with the few remaining being grabbed up by
the alert.

Originally, made as an OEM product for a

phased out, commercial application, they
were a bit costly when available. But, when
surplused out, the price got down to around
$150.
Our lowly numbers fail to impact the
manufacturing supply/demand — cost vs.
selling, price formula Thus, I don’t think we
can expect someone to make one for us.
So, the challenge is presented to you
inventive types to design a basic forward /
reverse “device” that most home builders can
make one for themselves.
Reverse isn’t used much, but when need-
ed, it sure beats having someone push you or,
even worse — having to climb off and push it
yourself!
It doesn’t have to transmit a lot of power
— just enough to back up a few feet. If you
study some of the first riding lawn mowers,
you’ll find many used a simple, friction drive,
reverse.
THINK!

Analyzing our practical need for a reverse,

we must realize that many carriages don’t
have a reverse. We don’t need a powerful,
stump-pulling unit. Just something that will
let us accomodate the fellow ahead of us in a
parade, who must back up.

It can be electric, V belt or friction. Don’t

forget about the elusive double V belts that
are found on agricultural equipment. It must
be readily available parts — stay out of the
junk yards! Gears and the bearings required,
almost put us out of the acceptable price
range.

Issue No. 50 Engine and Wheels Page 99

 Above, Bob Kapela’s Pioneer 4 Wrecker stands ready for service
Below, Pioneer 4 is towing Pioneer 3

Issue No. 50 Engine and Wheels Page 100