Steam Car Blog

Burt Hermey writes:

Yesterday the Stanley's engine/rear axle assembly came home from the brake shop. It's now sporting two new disc brakes in place of the old band brakes.
Today begins the process of reinstalling it. Lots of little things to remember along the way!
Once in the car the engine will get a bath of Gunk, then the crankcase cover will be installed (with new gasket, of course!)

​Steam Car Enthusiasts,
I wanted to reach out and announce the 2021 Midwest Steam Car Tour.  We are shifting the tour days slightly from past tours.  We will be touring starting on Saturday September 11th and the final tour day is Thursday September 16th 2021.  The tour is based out of Cedar Rapids, IA and the host hotel is The Hotel at Kirkwood.  You can book your stay at the hotel by calling 319-848-8700 or toll free at 877-751-5111 and ask for the Midwest Steam Car Tour block.  The hotel only has a little over 70 rooms but has a very large parking lot for trailers.  We hope you will join us for a nice roads tour.  More details to follow.  We are excited to see everyone out touring again. 


If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me by email or phone below.


Thank you,


Mark Culver
319-981-2799
mark.culver@ecicog.org

The 2021 Eastern Steam Car tour is underway, with the first two days having taken place. Photos courtesy of Billings Cooke, Sarah Moon, Herb de la Porte, Steve Bragg, and Mark Turner.

​Well after an eventful start to the weekend with the Range Rover developing a boost leak and the trailer getting a flat tyre, I finally got to George Hounslow's house for some work on the Nelson!
Ever since I have owned the car, it hasn't steamed well. It has been very lazy raising steam and once running it was very unreliable at re-lighting often causing blowbacks and fires the wrong side of the burner plate.
George and Peter worked all weekend to clear the fuel system and generally check over the whole car. I am chuffed to say it is now running incredibly well and looks like it generates steam very well. Next job is to get a steam test and I can take it for some proper test drives on the road.
I had previously cleaned out the fuel tank (Thinking this was the cause of the issue) but had overlooked the fuel pressure vessel! Turns out this was full of rusty, sludgy gunk! It was this gunk that kept blocking the entire system.
I cannot thank George and his family enough (Peter Hounslow & Sarah Hounslow) for making me feel so welcome and being so generous with their help, guidance, time & delicious food haha. I have learnt so much this weekend and look forward to many more weekends like it. This is what being part of the Steam Community is all about.

Check out this video of Bill Lloyd talking through and firing up his 1924 Doble E11 Steam Car.

Thank you to Ian Larcher for providing us with these fascinating pieces of Literature on White, Locomobile, American, Crossland and Vapomobile Steam Cars. 

Billy Barnes has almost finished this 1910 Stanley Model 60, just awaiting paint. 

Jim Trotta writes:
My new water pre-heater which uses exhaust steam thru heat exchange. The water side has water from the water pumps to boiler. This is so you can use heat from the exhaust steam to heat the incoming water. This helps greatly as your not putting cold water into the boiler.

Photos and Videos courtesy of Jan Kuhlmann.

The Hood Steam Car, produced in Massachusetts by the Simplex Motor Vehicle Company between 1900 and 1901. It featured a single-acting, four cylinder engine with a magnetic admission valve, with the exhaust ports being opened by the pistons. The intake valves were operated by three small electric batteries, and superheated steam was produced in a flash boiler. 

Little more is known of this make of Steam Car, if you have any further information please contact us. Anthony Theriault is looking for more information on the marque, and provided the photos of a survivor below. 

Here are some photos of the cars Bill Barnes has recently been working on.  A Stanley 740 tourer, 731 Roadster, SV Sedan, 1914 Stanley 606, and a 1923 Stanley 740 Roadster. 

Steam Dreams writes:
​
I’m rebuilding a 20 HP Stanley engine. The block was apparently operated with too
little steam oil and the valve seats were damaged as well as a bronze repair was attempted with poor results.
This repair of the worn valve seats uses a machined steel plate and high temperature silver solder - very pleased with the results. Gilbert Hall and Rempco did the work. My crank gear also had a broken tooth, I had a NOS gear that was pressed on.

Mark Herman writes:

Amelia Island 2020, 1st in class, 1902 Grout Brothers Steam Car Model K Prototype. Bill and Barbara Parfet, Hickory Corners, Michigan.

Congratulations to the Parfets, Mark Iles, and the M S Herman & Co crew:
Peter Kruger
Fran Gozzi
Al Romano
Scot Sanford
Tom Kokenchak
The best team ever.

Billings Cooke continues to work on his Grout Steam Car Tilly:
"From what we can gather from photos of other Grouts, Tilly originally had 1 brake on the differential hub. Dad put a cable pulley system on Tilly when he added the second shoe. It's a tight fit, because the brake linkage has to pass through the engine. Took me a bit, but we're upgraded to rods."

Tom Attwood writes:
This weekend just past, saw the first steaming of the year for my Stanley 726 that I was lucky enough to acquire just a few months ago. Greatly encouraged in the purchase by George Hounslow having spent the New Forest Tour navigating for him on his Porter Steam Car. I am incredibly grateful to George and his parents for then leading the recommission of the car, sorting out a number of jobs associated with wear and tear, as well as preparation and arranging a hydraulic and steam boiler test. A number of safety improvements/replacement parts, not to mention extremely good tuition in maintenance, management and driving! After many weekends work from myself but 10x more from George, we had a very successful 3 days cruising around Wiltshire in some pretty challenging terrain at times. The Stanley performed faultlessly and I really couldn't be happier with it! Here's to a busy 2020!
Unfortunately the weather has been rotten and the roads are filthy so the car got quite dirty, the photo below was taken Sunday morning. However, Sunday afternoon was spent in the garage cleaning for a few hours!

GMA engineering have produced these replacement burners for White Steam Cars built from 1906 onwards.

Billings Cooke has now fitted the Don Bourdon Burner to his Grout Steam Car, replacing the original burner, seen in the photos. 

Roel Rasker writes:
Today we ( Arnoud Carp and Roel Rasker ) assisted Philippe Mulders to get started with his model 60 Stanley in the city centre of Maastricht.
Philippe is new in steam but after a few hours he was able to start the car without any problems himself.
This now means there is a beautiful, unspoiled, original Stanley in the Fineautomobiles Collection in The Netherlands.

Hi, does anyone know anyone who designs and builds modern computer controlled steam engines for retrofitting into a standard modern car? Something which even someone with no technical knowledge could drive. 
Thank you.
Stephen Taylor

If you can help Stephen please email him taiping194@gmail.com.

Can anybody help with a drawing for the stub axle for a Stanley or Locomobile buggy?
If so Please Contact Udo Joerges via ujoerges@aol.com.

The Grout Steam Car that is being restored by M.S Herman & Company is coming together after much hard work.

Photos courtesy of  Joe Shukay. 

​Engine rebuild progress...the block, piston rods, crank assembly, heads, are all shipped off to the machine shop for machine work. The block will be bored and new pistons made (new rings too). The piston rods will be hard chromed and thread repair done...finally the crank gear will be replaced (chipped tooth) with a new old stock gear.