CATransplant
Admiral
- Joined
- Feb 26, 2005
- Messages
- 6,319
So, I had a garage sale this Saturday. I decided to sell the 1965 Honda E1000 generator my dad had given me about 15 years ago. It's been sitting in my garage, waiting for me to get to it and attempt to fix it. Dad told me it wouldn't start when he unloaded it on me.
Heavy thing for a 1000 watt generator. About 150 lb.
So I dragged it out from under the workbench where it had sat for all those years and had a look at the thing. It didn't look like it had a lot of hours on it, so I figured it I could get it to pop with some starting fluid, I might be able to convince some poor guy to buy it for a few bucks at the sale.
I looked into the fuel tank, and it was dry as a bone. I checked the oil. It was full. So, as a lark, I poured about a quart of gas in the tank, then looked at the starting instructions on the decal.
1. Open fuel valve.
OK, but which position is open? I pull the hose to the carb. It's not the down position on the valve, like I would have thought.
2. Close choke. Yeah, well, I had to pull the air filter so I could see which position the unmarked lever should be in.
3. Turn on ignition switch. An unmarked toggle switch was on the thing's control panel. Unmarked because the lettering on the panel had faded out completely. Still, it was the most likely thing, so I switched it to the up position.
4. Set Throttle control to Start. There was a Start label on the throttle, but no arrow indicating what that should line up with. This old generator required you to set and lock the throttle manually to get the voltage you wanted. From there, a vacuum operated load control kept the engine running at that rpm. Turns out it wanted the throttle wide open with the choke on. Again, having the air filter out helped.
4. Pull starter rope.
I had my can of starting fluid at the ready, but thought I'd turn the engine over a few times before using it. So I gave the rope a yank.
Darned if the thing didn't start up on the first pull and settle into a nice smooth run, once I had opened the choke about halfway. I guess my dad had missed one of those steps.
First pull, after 15 years of sitting idle! I wish old outboards did that, for pete's sake!
First guy at the garage sale bought the thing, too.
Heavy thing for a 1000 watt generator. About 150 lb.
So I dragged it out from under the workbench where it had sat for all those years and had a look at the thing. It didn't look like it had a lot of hours on it, so I figured it I could get it to pop with some starting fluid, I might be able to convince some poor guy to buy it for a few bucks at the sale.
I looked into the fuel tank, and it was dry as a bone. I checked the oil. It was full. So, as a lark, I poured about a quart of gas in the tank, then looked at the starting instructions on the decal.
1. Open fuel valve.
OK, but which position is open? I pull the hose to the carb. It's not the down position on the valve, like I would have thought.
2. Close choke. Yeah, well, I had to pull the air filter so I could see which position the unmarked lever should be in.
3. Turn on ignition switch. An unmarked toggle switch was on the thing's control panel. Unmarked because the lettering on the panel had faded out completely. Still, it was the most likely thing, so I switched it to the up position.
4. Set Throttle control to Start. There was a Start label on the throttle, but no arrow indicating what that should line up with. This old generator required you to set and lock the throttle manually to get the voltage you wanted. From there, a vacuum operated load control kept the engine running at that rpm. Turns out it wanted the throttle wide open with the choke on. Again, having the air filter out helped.
4. Pull starter rope.
I had my can of starting fluid at the ready, but thought I'd turn the engine over a few times before using it. So I gave the rope a yank.
Darned if the thing didn't start up on the first pull and settle into a nice smooth run, once I had opened the choke about halfway. I guess my dad had missed one of those steps.
First pull, after 15 years of sitting idle! I wish old outboards did that, for pete's sake!
First guy at the garage sale bought the thing, too.
