Part three of the Mountain wagon rebuild. 
During the 400 kilometers I have gained a lot of experience with the Mountain wagon.
​ The car was finished with a few details left to do, but these details were of great importance. During the journeys the throttle sometimes squeezed which made giving gas very difficult. I had made the throttle rod too short and throttle unit was engineered too tight. Now I have moved the throttle unit and extended the distance of the rod by approximately 8 cm.

​ 
I have now driven the first kilometers. I had made the connecting rod of the water pump too light. This broke off almost immediately. I am also still looking for the right adjustments from the burner.  I am listening to every strange sound I hear while driving. And there are a lot of them. After every trip I get more used to the car. The boiler maintains good pressure and the fuel system also functions properly. After every ride I come across small things that are easy to solve.
 
Building this car was a nice adventure. I have met nice people and learned a lot.

                                      Roel Rasker recreates a 1915 Stanley Mountain Wagon.
                                                                PART ONE

After the restoration of my Stanley EX in 2017​, I was looking for a new project.
The choice soon fell on a mountain wagon. These cars have always had my interest, since my first meeting with Peter Williams's mountain car at the Dorset Steam fair a few years ago.
 
First I started looking for an original mountain car. Because these were not available, or too expensive, I decided to build one myself. My preference was initially for a 1909 model with a wooden chassis with 3 benches.
To be able to drive the car in the Netherlands, however, I had to work with an existing old Stanley chassis. Otherwise it was not possible to get it road legal in the Netherlands
.
That's why I decided to go for a 1915 model on a 735 chassis. It was important that I could find an old chassis whose restoration to the original model was not possible.
In England on steamcarnetwork website I found a 735d chassis with chassis number. This was a great start to a big new project.

I could also buy a 20 HP engine in England. With this I already had a solid foundation. In the future I might replace this engine for a 30 hp engine but first I want to see if the engine is strong enough.
 
I had set aside 2 years for this project. But by working full time on it, I succeeded in half a year.
I did a size study on the basis of photos of a 1915 MW, which in my opinion was quite original, after which I made a dummy body with a bench in plywood.

​ 
These sizes were pretty good and with some minor adjustments I started producing the MW. Because this is a reproduction I naturally had some freedom to build the car the way I want. Among other things, more space between headboard and first seat, exchangeable seats, and a fixed propane gas tank for the pilot light. I also preferred copper gas lamps instead of electric lamps. The floor is completely flat so that the car can also be used as a pickup

 The convertible top is made of curved ash arches. The rest of the frame is made from various existing  parts. An upholsterer has covered the convertible top and also provided the leather upholstery of the four seats.

I had the bonnet and the fenders made at Vintage Wings in England. The fenders were perfect.

I still had a lot of work on the hood. The company could not make the louvres. That is why I made a steel mold and punch with which I could apply the louvres manually.

                                                              The EX Body

 I had the opportunity to purchases the body of the EX from Louis Biondi now deceased.
He and his brother had built quite a few different models Stanley bodies from original bodies he had acquired. Most of these bodies were built over thirty years ago and were finished into complete running cars and are still in the family collection.
 The original EX body is still in a storage trailer at the family estate, two far gone to restore into a finished car. I had the opportunity to go over it in detail and do several drawings and was allowed to bring the floorboard with the foot rest home for a more detailed copy for pattern work of the footrest. My EX body is as good and accurate copy as could be duplicated.
 Photo of the body as received was the start of a four-year project, and learning experience of Stanley cars in general and a very detailed study of the model EX.
 The body required replacement of some wood do to dry rot but in general was in very good condition. I had to build the base of the front seat. The original would have been a single seat. I built it as a two-cushion seat as the left hand side is the access to the water tank. I also had to build the entire back seat and all the hardware for the railing. I built most of all the metal parts and hardware for the car; we will get into those later.

The Boiler and Burner
​
The boiler is quite straightforward, designed with the ASME code in mind. The shell is rated 2500 PSI busting pressure well above the code’s 3.5 times working pressure. The heads are SA-516 grade 70 and are 3/8 inch thick per the minimum allowed for boilers less then 42 inches in diameter. The welding is PW-16.1 (a)The welded assembly was stress relived after welding. After tubing it hydro at 1000 PSI for well over eight hours.
The burner I cast in ductile iron and drilled it with 4000 holes. The venturi tubes are oversize from the original of 1-1/4 to 1-1/2.  The vaporizer and pilot, burner, nozzle are as the original and the fuel is as original gasoline.
The water level indicator is of my own design and was incorporated into a Stanley type gauge. Modern but very reliable and accurate. The Stanley EX originally used the bucket type level indicator.
The operation of this boiler is manual for feed water, except for the steam pressure regulator that turns the burner fuel on and off.

Springs, U-Bolts & Hardware

This was a main concern of mine. From all the information I could gather the springs should be 1-3/8 inch’s wide. I was unable to locate any manufacture of springs of this size. 1-1/4 and 1-1/2 were available. I decided on going with the 1-1/4 springs and I would add an extra leaf.
The Stanley springs are unique in the shape from what is on the market. Each leaf would have to be re-cut and re-arched. The main spring ends would also have to be reworked to give it the shape of the Stanley end. To do this a thick washer was obtained from the spring supplier with the square hole already punched. These washers had to be welded to each side on both ends and added weld material and grinding was needed to get the desired shape.
I ordered six springs so as to have four extra long leafs and some spare leafs if I mess some up in reworking them.
Each leaf had tapered ends both in width and thickness and had to have about three inches cut of both ends and reshaped to a round radius and tapered in thickness.
Each leaf also had to be re-arched; this was done cold by hand using a template.
About six inch in from one end a tab was welded on the underside of each leaf and ground to a little knife edge protruding down. A corresponding groove was ground into the leaf directly under it. This keeps the leaf from moving off to one side. The early cars did not have the tabs on the sides of each leaf.
I still need to make new bolts with a larger radius on each end to match the original.
This work took a little over a month to complete.  I would not want to do it again. 

​

                                                      CAD Drawings in JPEG

photoalbum\rolly\axle\4.5 BC Stanley Front hub as machined.jpg    
photoalbum\rolly\axle\axle assembly-a.jpg   
photoalbum\rolly\axle\axle end.jpg   
photoalbum\rolly\axle\Left Spindle.jpg   
photoalbum\rolly\axle\Perch pole and spring casting.jpg   
photoalbum\rolly\axle\Perch rod end.jpg   
photoalbum\rolly\axle\Spindle Pin and Parts.jpg   
photoalbum\rolly\axle\Stanley Hub Cap.jpg   
photoalbum\rolly\axle\Tie rod ends & small parts.jpg   
photoalbum\rolly\axle\U bolt.jpg   

                                                                 
​The rear end as built was modified slightly from the original. I have included the drawing as was original, and as modified.
The axle ends were modified and built with five inch tapered keyed ends, and the drums were made to accept them. The bearing are deep grooved sealed ball bearings and are arranged so when the wheel is installed, tension and preload is applied to both the inner and outer bearing. No side thrust from the wheel is against the planetary gears. The gears used are original.
The inner brake band cleaves and bolt was modified per the drawing so as to facilitate the ease of adjustment. The outer brakes originated in 1907 and I modified them by bonding brake lining material to the bronze shoes. All castings are 85-55-06 ductile, the axle tube is 3/16 - 4130 and the axles are 4140. The front axle is the same except for the spindle castings; they are A-148 structural steel 110,000 Tensile and 90,000 Yield and have tapered rollers for bearings.
​

                                                           CAD drawings in JPEG

photoalbum\rolly\r-axle\Brake cam actuator rod.jpg
 photoalbum\rolly\r-axle\Brake cam-3.jpg
 photoalbum\rolly\r-axle\Brake parts.jpg
 photoalbum\rolly\r-axle\Brake parts-a.jpg
 photoalbum\rolly\r-axle\Center yoke.jpg
 photoalbum\rolly\r-axle\cross brace casting.jpg
 photoalbum\rolly\r-axle\Gear.jpg
 photoalbum\rolly\r-axle\Modified axle end.jpg
 photoalbum\rolly\r-axle\Modified brake band attachment bolt.jpg
 photoalbum\rolly\r-axle\Modified Brake cleave as built.jpg
 photoalbum\rolly\r-axle\Outside brake shoe.jpg
 photoalbum\rolly\r-axle\Rear axle assamble-a.jpg
 photoalbum\rolly\r-axle\Rear axle end Hub.jpg
 photoalbum\rolly\r-axle\Rear axle yoke spacers.jpg
 photoalbum\rolly\r-axle\Rear axle parts.jpg
 photoalbum\rolly\r-axle\Rear axle yoke spacers.jpg
 photoalbum\rolly\r-axle\Rear Perch pole and spring casting pattern.jpg
 photoalbum\rolly\r-axle\Truss Rod.jpg
  

Assembly of the front and rear end together with the perch rods is quite straightforward.
Caution needs to be taken to keep the rear end from bowing and also to keep the wheels square to each other.
The tie rods needed some forging to copy the original. The rods are 3/8-OD with 9/16 hex stock slipped over the rod and silver brazed in place. The ends of the rods are then forged in a die to a larger diameter to ½ inch to enable them to be threaded to 7/16-20.
The perch rods I used are hickory as I was lead to believe by others was as the original. Other builder of reproduction Stanley’s are using 4130 steel aircraft tubing.
The Yellow paint used was computer matched to old paint on original borrowed drums, it was wet sanded to remove dirt and oxidation. It matched up to John Deere Yellow TY25641. John Deere has six different shades of yellow paint. Other brands also had a match.
The wood wheels are original Model EX wheels and needed a lot of epoxy and finish work. New wheels are still available.

                                                  CAD Drawings in JPEG

 photoalbum\rolly\running gear\EX running gear.jpg

photoalbum\rolly\running gear\Perch rod cross brace bracket.jpg

photoalbum\rolly\running gear\perch rod cross ties.jpg 

 photoalbum\rolly\running gear\EX running gear.jpg

photoalbum\rolly\running gear\Perch rod cross brace bracket.jpg

photoalbum\rolly\running gear\perch rod cross ties.jpg

With pressure being applied to get the car finished we were instructed to skip some of the much needed work. So after 5 months we commenced final assembly .

Final assembly of the new gas box containing two propane gas bottles, including an auto change over device. When one  propane  bottle  used as the fuel for the pilot runs out the second one automatically takes over.
The new electrics box was finished . It housed a new battery, fuse box, switches for turning on the 12 volt spark system, this system keeps the pilot on irrespective of conditions, so no jumping out to re-light the pilot. The spark runs constantly whilst the car is running. The box also contained a port for plunging in a 12 volt compressor which was also also installed in the box, a battery condition indicator gauge was also installed. 

Final checks to pipework and burner installation.

Check, bleed and adjust the newly manufactured and installed braking system

Install the refurbished and lacquered lights. Complete the wiring and check that all 12 volt LED lights work.

,Final check for new rear box and water tank pipe work prior to the box being upholstered.

Finishing pump pit and bulk head controls and gauges. This was followed by pressure testing the systems. 

With the car finished as instructed  we did one road test and the car was then taken away.
Five months of hard work was now over and complete but not to our satisfaction. Although there are no genuine parts on this car could  still be one of the the best replica Model 85 Stanley's  around.

                                                                 Steering

The steering was found to be in a very dangerous condition. We concluded that the steering was  incorrectly installed by the then owner when the car was first constructed in early 2000.
The pinion to segment mesh was just connecting on the tip of the segment resulting in extreme wear and load to both the segment and pinion. We recommended to the owner that a new segment and pinion should be installed in place of the existing pieces, or that the pieces should have a non destructive test to check for cracks etc. in the units. Unfortunately this suggestion was refused.

                                                            Boiler and Burner.

With the steering complete we turned our attention to the boiler and burner.
With the new boiler ring complete we inspected the boiler for installation.
​Although the owner had himself installed a new Bourdon boiler and burner a few months earlier we discovered that the installation had been incorrectly done (this had lead to some of the major fires the car had recently had). 
As can be seen below an attempt to seal the burner to the boiler was made but failed, note the fire damage and damage to the recently fitted new burner.

As can be seen we saved the burner outer skin, although we did have to weld in some new sections to replace the burnt areas and replace the inner skin correctly including new insulation .
The boiler was re-drilled and tapped with NPT thread in the correct places. We plugged the incorrect tapped holes, but this was a problem as the holes had been drilled slightly into the boiler shell itself meaning the plugs hit the burner inner skin not allowing the burner to fit correctly to form a seal. We did overcome the problem successfully.
So we were now satisfied that the boiler, which had been re-insulated and newly skinned on the outside with stainless steel (rather than reuse the burnt galvanized sheet as used before),and the newly refurbished / repaired  burner were ready to be installed.

                                              Spare Wheel Carrier and Siphon Hose

A new design of siphon hose carrier was installed to tidy up that area. We also installed a mirror on the frame work to allow the driver to view the water level indicator for the water tank.

Above as it was.

New design of siphon hose carrier plus a rear view mirror was added to the new frame to allow the driver to view the water tank level in the indicator tube.