SACA,
NW Newsletter
Steam Automobile Club of America,
Northwest Chapter
Vol. 17 No. 1 Spring
2004
SACA NW Chapter
Officers:
President Myles Twete of 4936
SE Flavel Drive Portland, Oregon
97206 503-267-6465 (home
503-777-2110) email:
mylest@teleport.com Secretary/Treasurer/Editor: Pat
Farrell, 6647 Bridgewater Lane, Sedro
Woolley, WA 98284
360-856-1294 e-mail <rp.farrell@verizon.net>
The NW Chapter of SACA newsletter
is sent out the first week of each season of the year. Cost of our hardcopy newsletter is $5 a
year.
Our mission is to perpetuate the
use of the steam automobile and to share information pertaining to them.
Events:
April
3, 2004 SACANW business meeting, 2
PM in the foyer of the EXPO building at the Portland
swap meet. Allen Glickman has
arranged the SACANW 6:30 pm evening
dinner at "Chevy's Fresh Mex Restaurant". Chevy's is located south of Tony Romas (Where we have had
dinner before). The address is 4315 N E Thurston Way,
Vancouver; located just South off the State
Hwy 500 freeway and N.E. Thurston Way
interchange.
April 14th
-17th, 2004; HCCA Bakersfield, CA annual tour/swap meet. Steam
cars and parts are guaranteed to be there. April 16th and 17th are the swap meet
dates. Call 661-587-7688 for more
information.
July
8-9, 2004 Stanley Museum
consignment auction, Kingfield Maine. Call 204-265-2729 for information
July
11-16, 2004 Centennial of the Climb to the Clouds Auto Race up Mt.
Washington. New
Hampshire.
Call 204-265-2729 for more information.
July 31-Aug
1, 2004 Brooks, Oregon Steam car mini tour and steam meet. Gates open at 7am.
Interesting towns nearby. Also a 1916 Covered bridge. Visit the
Brooks Power land web site for a list of their activities
http://beta.antiquepowerland.com/info/2004show.html
For more information on the mini tour, contact Eric Gleason
at gleason@netcnct.net
September
17-18, 2004 Chicagoland Chapter Open SACA meet, Berrien
Springs, Michigan. Contact Bill Ryan for more info at
847-945-8088
September
19 - 24, 2004 Western National Steam car
meet. Steaming to Steamboat
2004 Western Steam Car Tour
in Avon &
Steamboat Springs, Colorado. Five days of relaxed touring in the
heart of the Rockies at the peak
of Colorado's fall color
season. The tour is open to all production steam cars (models prior to 1930).
Enjoy five days of relaxed touring in the heart of Colorado Ski Country at
the height of the fall color season. The tour begins and ends in Avon,
five
miles west of Vail on Interstate 70. From Avon, we
steam up to Steamboat
Springs (85 miles) and spend three nights there before returning to Avon.
Sunday: Avon:
Registration and puttering around Avon and the Vail
Valley. Firing-Up Banquet.
Overnight in Avon.
Monday: Avon:
Sightseeing tour of approximately 50 miles in the Eagle
Valley. Spend the night in Avon
again.
Tuesday: Avon
- Steamboat Springs: Steam from Avon up to
Steamboat
Springs, about 85 miles. Overnight in Steamboat Springs, a combination of
authentic western ranching town and jet-set ski resort.
Wednesday: Steamboat Springs:
Tour the Elk River Valley
just outside
Steamboat Springs. Visit Steamboat Lake State Park
and enjoy a western dude ranch barbeque lunch. Approx. 80 miles.
Overnight in Steamboat again.
Thursday: Steamboat Springs:
Explore the countryside between Steamboat Springs and Craig,
Colorado (about 40 miles west of Steamboat).
Third night in Steamboat Springs.
Friday: Steamboat Springs - Avon:
Return to Avon from Steamboat Springs.
Blow down Banquet will be Friday evening in Avon/Vail/Beaver Creek. Spend
the night in Avon before leaving for home Saturday
morning.
For further information: Rob Reilly
2360 Juniper Ct.
Golden, Colorado 80401
Phone: (303) 526-2641
Email: SteamTour@PeakConsultingServices.com
October 17- 23, 2003 Gateway to the Ozarks invitational Steam Car tour. Eureka,
Missouri. Contact Ann and Jack Doerr at
636-938-5844 or email them at jhdoerr@juno.com
Join our other members by going e-mail. As
suggested at our spring business meeting, we can cut chapter costs by e-mailing
our newsletter out, rather than printing and mailing them out. We can also pass the saving on to
those that only get the emailed newsletter by cutting their dues to a lower
rate. The new lower dues rate with
be discussed at our next business meeting in April. If you could help us reduce our costs by receiving only the
e-mail copy, please e-mail your editor at rp.farrell@verizon.net
Correspondence:
Ken Foster writes.
In August and September I was showing the Stanley
at local car shows. I had been asked to put the EX into the Browning
Museum here in Ogden
at the Union Station for the Winter. We felt it a "good thing to
do."
I felt it would be educational for the people to
see and experience. We were just to sign the papers when I had my surgery
and the curator of the museum's Mother died...so we agreed, because we couldn't
get it together, we would do it "next year."
This week, Jan 5, the museum is in jeopardy...apparently
hit by hard times the museum is having the staff cut and all activities
are up in the air.
I wanted to report this as an exciting seasonal
contribution for other Stanley
owners to consider in their home towns. Also supplying their local
libraries with Stanley books to put
in for reference...drawings, photos, etc. It will be a good donation to
the local community.
Then in the summer the fun begins again on the road.
I am still optimistic. I still think we, as Stanley
owners, can share our passion with others when the snows are high.
Ron Thurber wrote
that he and his wife Rena have accepted a two year calling from their Church to
serve a mission as "volunteer" directors of the Historic Mormon Trail
Visitor's Center in Omaha, Nebraska. They were to leave January
10, 2004. Their son
Ryan has trailered their 1909 "O" White Steamer to Ryan's home in San
Jose, California to be played
with for two years. Ron and Rena's
new address is: Mormon
Trail Center
at Historic Winter Quarters, 3215 State Street,
Omaha, Nebraska 68112
Phone # 402-453-9327, email rthurber@earthlink.com
Jerry Heermans of
Tigard, Oregon
wrote: While sorting through some
of my files, I came across the enclosed Oregon Journal article covering Ralph
Wortman and his 1901 Locomobile (one of the first cars in Oregon).....
I vaguely recall someone (either Bruno Galliano or myself) trying to make
contact with Wortman, but without results. Know anything about the Wortman Locomobile?
Editor: Dear
Jerry, Sorry for the delay in answering your letter. Mike McGinnis of Lake
Stevens, Washington has read the
booklet of "A Horseless Carriage Comes to Town." Edited by Phillip N. Bladine. It is a cute real life experience of
just what can happened when the horseless carriage first arrived. I highly recommend reading this bit of
history. Sorry, I don't have any
current knowledge about where the Wortman Locomobile is today. Jerry, thank you also for the article
on the 1912 Stanley steamer article
that you sent in.
To our readers:
Jerry Heermans sent us an article about how Stanley Steamers were
designed for the disabled.
"Betty Turner's Grandfather was paralyzed from the waist down in an
industrial accident and in 1912 they purchased their Stanley Steamer. With a special ramp and a rope hung
from the rafters, Grandpa could hoist himself in and out of the steamer. He had bought a steam car because they
could be operated entirely by hand.
After firing up the boiler and hoisting himself into the driver's seat,
he was ready for an outing. Grandpa
eventually replaced the old steamer with a new Chevy. The pizzazz of the steam
car was gone. No shouting or
waving from the people, or the barking of the dogs. Neighborhood dogs were accustomed to Chevys. And today, few
people remember Sistersville's first and only steam car and the
"crippled" man who drove it."
Kobus van Jaarsveld writes:
Many thanks for the comprehensive
guidance. I recall having read your excellent contribution to the SACA
Bulletin Vol 15 Number 4 under the heading " Bullet proofing the 10 horse
Stanley engine" Because it was to hand at the time of the rebuild of
my engine, I incorporated the wrist pin modification and positively secured the
pistons to their rods by means of setscrews the same way as you advise for the
crank throw to the crankshaft. It was obvious to me that they had to be
done. I left the rest of the engine as it was, all standard.
I have just re-read that article again, carefully. It
prompts me to ask that if I follow through with all the recommendations
you make, except for the two-piece connecting rods, will it be materially
inferior to the full Howard Johnson treatment? Bear in mind that I am not
going to drive the thing across Africa. It will be
used for a shortish run once a month or so and perhaps at max a leisurely 200
mile tour in the company of other old cars once a year. I must admit
though that the spirited performance does imbue me with sufficient enthusiasm
to occasionally do a drag start against something exotic, like the time I dropped
a 4½ litre Bentley at the lights! I guess there is a price to pay for
such exhibitionism.
Dear Kobus,
Howard Johnson hasn't yet made a 10 HP
kit for your EX as I know of. His only kit has been for the type 6
engine 1910 through the 1914 Stanley
engine only. If his kit was available for your engine, I would
not hesitate to spend $4,000US + for it because it will save you and your
car a lot of grief down the road. It is far superior to my bullet proofed
engine fix made from vintage parts. The vintage parts have metal
fatigue that can always come back to haunt you.
Your rational of not doing a good rebuild
job on your EX because you don't plan any long trips with it, doesn't hold
water. It has been my experience that you will have more of a chance of
breaking your EX by occasional runs out of your garage rather than on a long
tour. You answered that one yourself when you mentioned your drag
race against the Bentley. The most critical time for an engine
problem will occur when you first steam up and you start to roll, or when you
pin the throttle open on a sudden start. These two cases usually don't
occur on a long tour. Starting out from cold, a slug of water will easily blow
things apart. And when pinning a throttle open, a steam engine
produces maximum torque at zero RPM and that is enough to break axles, engine
frame rods, crank throws, wrist pins and so on. I always get the car rolling about 5 mph first and then I
slowly increase to full throttle. I have broken enough parts by sudden
starts that I am now gun shy of suddenly powering on from a complete stop
My article of bullet proofing a 10 hp Stanley
engine still is the latest word while working with original parts. There
is some controversy on whether to use grade 5 or grade 8 bolt stock for
wrist pins but so far I have not seen or experienced where one is better than
the other. Using shallow set screws on the crank throws is a good move as
long as the stock main bearings are still used. When modern bearings are
used, using the set screws on the crank throws weakens their press fit and the
cranks throws have had a tendency to crack the full length of the
keyways. There are hundreds of type 6 engines running around with modern
main bearings and the crank throws have been weakened by using the set
screw. It is a toss up whether or not to use the set screw
interference on the crank throw to crank shaft. I have never had a
crank throw slip off using the set screw, but I have lost three crank
throws by not using the set screw. Yet I have had two crank throws
split down their keyways while using modern main bearings and a set
screw. Howard Johnson has overcome this problem by making the crank throw
main journals a larger diameter and also they are the same outside
diameter size (correct pressed fit) as his new roller bearing mains inside
diameter. This has given the crank throws more mass of metal for
integrity for a tight permanent press.
SSsssteamer
Nick Dante writes:
I would like to think that my 13 Stanley would be ready to tour by June but it
seems unlikely. It is now in my shop almost completely torn apart. So far the
restoration is going very well. There are a few things that I would like to
have your help on. First and foremost is the plumbing. I just cannot figure it
out yet. I need a plumbing diagram for the Model 64 and I wonder if you could
tell me where to get one and then I will have a load of questions to bother you
with. It is much different than my 735 was. I have a load of nickel plating
ready to go to Victoria Plating. They do a great job and for less money than
here. Were the head and parking light nickel plated? They look like they never
were. Was there a low water automatic on this model and if not would you
recommend putting one on? I like the idea of having one. What were the body
color choices? I have seen red, green and black. Were there any others? I found
some original yellow and pin striping on the undercarriage which I have
duplicated. I need to find someone to do pin striping.
There is a chance that I may
be able to make the Steamboat Springs tour but I will have go with the odd ball
wheels that were on the car.
Dear Nick,
First of all, for your Stanley
to give you as much return on its dollar invested, it has to be as correct to
original as possible. Going from there, I will proceed to
answer your questions. The plumbing for the model 64 and your
condensing cars are about the same. From your operator's manual, you
will find out which valve locations are used for what. If you make a
mistake, no big deal that another 5 minutes cannot fix. I believe that
your 1913 Stanley has been fitted
with a pilot fuel tank. If that is the case, then your 1919 plumbing
diagram is the map to use. This plumbing diagram is available from
the <http://stanleysteamers.com> website for free or the Stanley
museum would like to sell you one. Feedwater heaters were used for the
first time in 1913. A low water automatic was used on your car and if you
have a good one, use it. If you have an automatic water by pass, that too
would be nice to have under the hood. I find that by not having an
automatic water by pass, I am more vigilant on my water supply.
All 1913 Stanley
bodies were finished in Ivory Black; the 1913 running gear is always gray, and
the finish of the "light" metal parts is black and nickel
finish. There wasn't any brass anywhere showing. 1911 was the first
year that Stanleys did away with
their brass finished parts and they went nickel for all their bright metal
parts. The Stanleys built
before 1913 always had yellow running gear. The cars built after 1913
always had black running gear, except the mountain wagons which always had red
running gear. 1913 is a unique year with its gray running gear.
The
running boards and front floor boards are finished in gray linoleum and bound
with aluminum. The tires on the model 64 are 32 X 3 1/2 inch tires on
clincher rims.(I would use straight sided 33 x 4 ) Attend the
Steamboat springs with the oddball tires. I have attended tours with odd
ball tires more than a few times.
Harry Hibler
writes: February
12, '04 I just returned from a week with my dad. He had his
first ride today but was only about a block long because the right rear tire
blew off the rim... AGAIN!!! That's the third time for that
wheel and with two different tires. Time to try a different rim. Best Regards
Art Hart writes: Bet he's not using flaps! Gotta
use flaps on these crumby new clinchers, especially in the small sizes.
The tires would blow off my
1901 DeDion-Bouton (all white Coker button treads - 28 X 2-1/2) at 60
psi just sitting in the garage before I put flaps in them. Also you gotta
run at least 60 psi in them. A lot of people don't realize that.
The tire will move around on the rim and pull the valve stem off if you
don't and 9 times out of 10 the owner blames the tires or the rims.
Art (who learned the hard way)
Technical:
The Auto
Diesel Piston Ring Co. makes flat cut/stepped rings and a few other designs
especially for steam use. Look them up, they are in Cleveland
Ohio. Longtime maker of steam engine rings.
Dick Moore
of LaVerne, California
wrote that his scratch built Locomobile is now running fine. His first time
out, he drove it to and from a car show that was ten miles away from his
home. While there, he earned a
trophy for Peoples Choice".
He is please with the way that it runs. It maintains over 200 psi boiler pressure on level ground at
25 mph, and steers very well with the front geometry he built into it.
Eric Gleason writes: I
talked with Don Bourdon yesterday and it looks like my boiler is about a month
away from completion, I still have plenty to do in what little free time I have
before it gets here. Bob Ullrich came over yesterday and helped me lift out the
old boiler, made patterns of the drilled and tapped holes on the top and bottom
and sent them off today. Still have to fabricate an oil separator, play with
the burner, get a new superheater fabricated, etc. Hope I am done by July! Hope
all is well with you, Eric
For Sale:
"The
Stanley Steamer, America's
Legendary Steam Car"; by Kit Foster.
It has more than 500 pages, 12 inch X 9 inch format. More than 350
pictures, many never before published. Their ad says, "At last, the
definitive book on the Stanley
steam car is done! Five years in the works, the Stanley
Museum has put the full force of its
archives, expertise and connections to work to make this a resource worthy of
the Stanley steam car and the
museum that celebrates it. A virtual Who's Who of Stanley
experts and historians- from Delaware's
Thomas C. Marshall to Brent Campbell, the grandson of Fred Marriott's mechanic,
George Monreau has vetted facts. From the main text to photograph captions and
appendices, every part of the book has been reviewed in depth. The result is a
single source of history, background, and the people who made it. This book
pulls pieces of the story together into one place, weaving disparate fact into
a whole story that's waited a century to be told. Not a shop manual or just
another car book, this is a landmark publication that will appeal alike to
historians, car people - and anyone interested in a good read about American's
legendary past....." I knew that it would happen some day and it finally
has. Figures of when each model began production and ended
and how many of each model were built, is included. Also included along with
many other add ons is Hardman's serial number range for each year of Stanleys
produced. The book will keep you busy for quite a while. It may be expensive,
but if you have anything to do with a Stanley Steamer, this book will be
impossible to work without. It can
be purchased through the Stanley Museum.
Wanted:
I am looking for a
Besler Smoke Generator coil- I'm sure you know what I mean- The monotube
stainless steel coil that was used to generate the steam- I think they had the oil injection
point in the middle somewhere.
There are mild steel ones available- but I'm looking for the stainless
type using about 5/8" - ¾" OD tubing. Chuck Williams
3450 Meadow Wood Drive
Kelseyville, CA 95451 email: chukalexa@mchsi.com