".......Those hit and miss engines are too cool. How hard are they to get parts for now?......."

Parts for the more common ones (like the Waterloo Boys, Internationals,. Fairbanks Morris John Deeres etc) are not too bad. Some guys are having small runs of the more commonly needed parts cast, and/or you can usually find one being parted out that is not economically repairable.

Like the early days of the automobile there were hundreds of small manufactures (and bigger companies like Waterloo Boy were making "contract engines" to customers specs) meaning low production numbers and virtually impossible to find parts for some engines

I remember when Dad restored the old Waterloo Boy back in the mid 60s .......of course long before the internet or vendors dealing with the old stuff (I was probably 10-12 at the time). He needed a couple of Gaskets and rings for it. He bought a couple of sheets of gasket material which solved one problem. The big issue was rings. As I recall the Waterloo Boy took a 1/4" wide ring, and of course nobody offered one that width in the right diameter. The counterman let dad spend some time with the parts books and dad finally found an 1/8" ring the right diameter. Dad simply used 2 rings in each ring land and cut his own gaskets. He needed valves for it too, but was able to find a couple of stainless small engine valves that would work. I thought he was the smartest guy in the world when he got it running.

On a side note the engine was free (it turned over when I got it), and the rings and valves he put in there back in the 60s are still in it (after a valve grind and cylinder honing). I couldn't save the head gasket dad had made, so I did the same thing he had and cut a new gasket for a sheet of material. The one thing I did a little different than dad was have the tank decals custom made at the local graphics shop......they wern't available then or now.

My Grandson Cade was looking over my shoulder when I went thru the engine pretty much like I had done with Dad (truth be known I suspect Dad was looking down on both of us and smiling). Who knows by the time he has kids or grandkids it may need to be redone again.


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