Blog

A blog about my the history, acquisition and operation of my 1911 Model 62 Stanley Steamer.

SACA - Day Two

Another early start. Up at 6, breakfast at 7​. In the parking lot by 7:30. During breakfast I commented to the fellows on what I thought was a pilot fire issue and was enlightened on the operation of main fuel system if a situation were to arise where the fuel fails to vaporize completely.  You see, at operating temperature the fuel should vaporize completely and be a clear spray out of the main burner jets. When you first fire your vehicle it is a clearly visible liquid because the main fuel vaporizer is not hot enough to completely vaporize the fuel. Now with my keen deductive powers I recalled commenting to Ken that the fuel looked wet the previous day when we fired up. Then it dawned on me, we must have the wrong fuel mixture. It turns out I had too much kerosene mixed into my gasoline and with the short Vaporizer currently on my car it was unable to vaporize it. The true cause of the fire on the first day was a rich, unvaporized fuel mixture that pooled in the burner pan and lit off when the main burner cycled off. We remedied this problem by siphoning out some fuel and adding more gasoline to make it easier to vaporize.

​ Today the tour took us over to the Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum. Now I'm not a huge aviation enthusiast but this museum was down right spectacular! It's home to the Howard Huges's "Spruce Goose" along with countless other historical planes like the DC-3, B-17, Spitfire, Ford Tri-Motor, etc.  If you are ever in the area I would highly recommend putting a day aside and going to visit this museum.

 The drive was a lot more relaxed today because we had figured out the issues that caused our fire. It took us thru the country side and across a quaint little ferry.  We continued having minor issues with the pilot fuel not vaporizing and had to relight a few times but nothing major. In good Stanley touring fashion we manged to miss a turn and take an imprompt to tour of Marion County. We ended up stopping at the local fire department for directions and quick splash of water.  All in all it was another great day on the road!

2012 SACA Steam Tour

 The 2012 SACA Steam Tour was based out of the Oregon Gardens Resort in Sliverton Oregon and had an attendance of eight steamers. Two whites and Six Stanleys. It was a four day tour covering approximately 200 miles.​

Day One​- August 1 - 38 Miles

 Man they start these things early! Ken and I were up at 6am and started getting the Stanley ready for that days tour by 7:30am. It was all standard issue maintenance, refueling etc. The tour was booked to leave at 9:30  and I think one car did but rest of us filtered out a lot closer to the 10am mark.  Being only a 38 mile drive it should have been a breeze. I've toured over 70 miles in a day without issue. Boy was I wrong this time...

 We made it the 12 miles to the first water stop at the country store and the Stanley was performing fine. ​As I pulled into the parking lot the main burner cycled off and lit off what I assumed was my branch forks. Not a big deal. Ken hopped out to take a look and I promptly made the decision to just drive  off the fire by going up and down the road a couple of hundred meters. Well, by the time I got back to the water stop and got out to take a look, the front of the burner pan was on fire as well as the front axle, branch forks etc. I opened the bonnet only to get about a foot of flame off the top of the boiler. Not good. As I frantically tried to blow out the fire on the axle and burner I saw Ken had found the fire extinguisher, pulled the pin and was aiming it at the car. I told him to cool it, it's only a "controlled burner fire" (not exactly the truth but it sort of calmed him down). After about 40 minutes the fire burnt itself out and we were back on the road. No damage at all!

 The next stop was lunch at the very scenic Silver Falls State Park . The car ran okay but after the fire, which we didn't know the cause of, our nerves were running high.​ We thought we had seriously flooded the pilot and saturated the burner pan. Would it happen again?

​ After leaving the falls there was a long climb right out of the gate. We had good steam pressure and no one in front of us, so it was of little problem. As always after a good climb up, there is a good down hill after.  This was definitely  the case this time. Getting used to not having the engine as a bit of a brake is quite an experience. The pilot went out a few times on the road to the next water stop, which was at Silver Falls Winery. When we arrived we met up with Pat Farrell in his 1916 Stanley Mountain Wagon full of people and we waited for the rest of the cars. Only one more vehicle, Rob William’s 1910 White, showed up after an hour and a half. We decided then to continue on the route back to the hotel. We found out later that one of the 735's had serious boiler problems and needed the trailer.

 Once back at the hotel we had a much needed swim before we got in the truck and went to Alex Beamer’s house in Salem for a fantastic dinner. Thanks go to Alex and his wife for opening up their home and providing such an excellent spread. As well we got a chance to see Alex’s 1911 Model 63 Stanley project. It’s looking very nice. Maybe the next tour Alex??​

 All in all it was one of the most difficult 38 miles I have ever driven in an antique car and it took the better part of eight hours​! Touring a  steam car, I’m finding out, is completely different than touring a gas antique vehicle.