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axtion_jim
Member
Username: axtion_jim
Post Number: 28
Registered: 11-2010
| | Posted on Tuesday, March 19, 2013 - 12:03 am: | 
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Just had an other Vivian come through the door. Joe said that it was stuck, but I had doing a full rev befor he hit the end of my drive way.
My question is what did they use to firer the plug, as their is no mag drive or distributor drive either off the cam or the water pump. The head is cracked and the cylinder a little ruff, both are a easy fix.
Will try and post some photos as soon as I can figure out how to resize which is a real pain. |
robert
Senior Member
Username: robert
Post Number: 528
Registered: 07-2003
| | Posted on Tuesday, March 19, 2013 - 11:03 am: |
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Smallest gas engine Vivian made was 4hp. Bore was 4" or 41/4" I forget which. As for ignition, earlier engines had a Bemus or Cuno timer on the 1/2 stub end of the camshaft, then at certain point in the 20s they went to Atwater Kent Type H timers, and on the larger engines at first a slot was cut through the top of the timing gear cover and a bevel drive unit was bolted on that had a gear meshing with a timing gear and driving a 1/2" stub shaft vertically on which the timer sat. Later they built that unit into the upper crankcase, and finally they ditched Atwater Kent when he closed up shop in 1936 and went with Wico or American Bosch magnetos driven off the timing gears by an added gear in an extension of the timing gear cover out to the starboard side. A flange for the mag was bolted to the underside of the extended timing gear cover. (3rd photo)
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robert
Senior Member
Username: robert
Post Number: 529
Registered: 07-2003
| | Posted on Tuesday, March 19, 2013 - 11:09 am: |
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Here's a 10hp single with the CUNO on the stub of the crank. This engine was also available with make & brake ignition as all of the large gas Vivians were.
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axtion_jim
Member
Username: axtion_jim
Post Number: 29
Registered: 11-2010
| | Posted on Tuesday, March 19, 2013 - 11:55 pm: |
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The only remaining portion of the serial number is 55 that is clear and maybe an 8 at the end, so I`m missing one number. I will attempt to up load some photos and as you can see their is no place to attach any type of ignition system. Well that was a waste of time, the photos are to big. |
robert
Senior Member
Username: robert
Post Number: 530
Registered: 07-2003
| | Posted on Wednesday, March 20, 2013 - 12:11 am: |
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MS Paint will shrink your photos: Image>Stretch&Skew then Image>Attributes to see how large it is. I think 100Kb is the maximum allowed.
Your SN is probably 1558 then, but could be 2558. Vivian gave up producing the 4hp at some point in the early 30s I believe. Serial numbers were reaching the high 3000s when the company stopped production, from what I have seen. |
axtion_jim
Member
Username: axtion_jim
Post Number: 30
Registered: 11-2010
| | Posted on Wednesday, March 20, 2013 - 09:18 pm: |
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I shall try to post the photos of the Vivian    |
axtion_jim
Advanced Member
Username: axtion_jim
Post Number: 31
Registered: 11-2010
| | Posted on Wednesday, March 20, 2013 - 11:42 pm: |
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Now that we have accomplished that, you maybe able to see in the first photo that the only hole in the timing cover is for the oiler.Looking at the plate for the on the cam extention, nothing their for a cuno timer. I do have a cam cover with a drive gear arrangement for a magneto. I will have to make a bracket to mount up the mag.
I checked the serial number and I believe the fist number is a 1 and the last is maybe a 4. |
robert
Senior Member
Username: robert
Post Number: 531
Registered: 07-2003
| | Posted on Thursday, March 21, 2013 - 02:56 pm: |
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Looks like an early one. Definitely "Vivian Gas Engine Works" Head and manifold (and maybe cylinder) are probably later replacements, that was not unusual. The early manifolds were two bolt, not four, and had a diamond-shaped flange. The crown nuts on the head studs are not original. They were oversize hex nuts originally. Have you got the rest of the gear selector & lever? This is probably a Snow & Petrelli-built gear rather than one Vivian built themselves; that came later. If you have a flat bar lever, check both sides of the grip area for Snow & Petrelli markings stamped in. |
axtion_jim
Advanced Member
Username: axtion_jim
Post Number: 32
Registered: 11-2010
| | Posted on Thursday, April 04, 2013 - 12:16 am: |
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Robert I have a extended housing that will bolt on to the front of the engine. So my question is about the zero that is stamped on the cam gear, it is in the straight out starboard side position or 9 o`clock with the crank at about 5 degrees before tdc for the crank pin am I correct. I also plan to make up a mounting bracket to attach the mag. I have a Wico model A with a left hand impulse that should work. Just have too machine up a spider coupling. I also have to change out the crank shaft as the one that belongs to this engine will need a lot of work on the crank pin, maybe some one else can use it. |
robert
Senior Member
Username: robert
Post Number: 543
Registered: 07-2003
| | Posted on Friday, April 05, 2013 - 12:05 am: |
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Jim, I can't help on the cam location etc. without an engine in front of me to refer to, sorry. You'll probably find if you look closely that the stub end of the camshaft where it protrudes through the water pump drive eccentric has been sawn off. Simplest and most original way to get this engine going would be to drill and tap the stub and put in a threaded rod to replace what is missing. You could silver solder or loctite the threads when done. |
