Part three

With the major work complete we now turned our attention to rebuilding the car.
All the main steel work had been black powder coated and unpacked ready for inspection and assembling.
We decided to pipe up the under body of the car first. So with the body turned over access was easy allowing for neat pipework to be accomplished.

This method of assembly also allowed us to install the newly made and insulated fire wall and bulk head piping, exhaust and much more as can be seen from the photos.

A new feed water heater manufactured in house was installed into the exhaust system.

The pump pit was assembled prior to installation . The fuel and water tank we also fitted and held in place with wood straps. This also allowed us to complete most of the pipework.
The piping in the pump pit was later altered. the alteration was requested by the owner. He wanted the rear pump (SECOND PUMP) to be operated on the steering column instead of the front pump. That way he could run with the front pump on all the time but operated by the floor mounted valve meaning he could put the second pump on easily by operating the leaver on the steering column. He reasoned that he did not have to bend down when driving to operate the second pump when needed.
The boiler blow down valves were also operated from under the bonnet (hood) instead of from under the car body. Again this meant that the boiler blow down could be done without bending down to get to the valves.

The fire wall piping also included the installation of a steam driven donkey pump for pumping water into the boiler. This was made some years ago by my father in-law John Liming and refurbished by him for installation back onto the car.

A second water tank was also made.
 A luggage  carrier was made and fitted to the rear of the car. Then a wooded box with a lift up lid was made and upholstered. Inside the box was the second tank and spare parts box. The rear bodywork was strengthened with a steel frame inserted into the frame work under the rear seat. This was to make sure the weight of the water tank when full did not stress the body .

The rear water  tank top was level with the front water tank top. This allowed both tanks to be filled to capacity. The rear tank was piped to the front tank using a one inch stainless pipe, incorporating a flex joint as we did not want the pipe work to be rigid. Because of the design the rear tank gravity fed the front tank as water was being used. A shut of tap was also fitted.
The front water tank was also altered. It discovered that the siphon and overflow pipes inside the tank were fitted two inches down from the top of the tank. The meant that the tank could never be filled to capacity. As is normal with Stanley water tanks ,top hat pieces were added to the top of the tank. these stand up above the top of the tank by about one inch. The old over flow and siphon pipes were removed and new ones were then correctly fitted.

Founded in 1900 by Major D Porter of New York, inventor of the Porter Motor, the Porter Motor Co. of 950 Tremont Building, Boston Massachusetts, claimed to build “The Only Perfect Automobile”. In that case, perfection was too much for the average American of the time, as the company folded in 1901.
Many claims were made by Major D Porter (Major being his Christian name, not a rank). Automatic water control, a perfect burner, a fuel and water supply that will last 60 miles; all to be made in a 100 ft x 35ft factory “within a mile of the business section of the city” that is “well fitted for building motor carriages”.
All wishful thinking. Further research carried out by my friend Keith Burton during his visit to Boston revealed that Major D Porter’s occupation was a “Patentor”, patenting others inventions for a living hoping to live of the royalties. Inventions with patents in his name included an electric motor and a Fibre Container, very similar to modern day Cardboard Milk Containers. However, at the time, it seems his income was slight; he and his family shared a house with another family in a modest house in Boston; the company office of 950 Tremont building, was in fact a hotel-9th floor, 50th room. It seems that a factory, of the type previously described, was built, the building surviving until fairly recently.However, it appears Major Dane Porter was arrested for Larceny of upward of $3000 . A Canadian by birth, he attempted to repatriate to Canada towards the end of his life, and indeed, died there in 1918, aged 59.
I believe my car to be the only Porter Stanhope ever produced. Featuring a much more complex chassis than most steam cars of the period, a swivel joint is incorporated into the centre of the front axle, with the chassis tubes “bottlenecking” in towards the front axle, allowing a foot of independent movement of each front wheel. Furthermore, truss rods that go from the front axle towards the back of the car, have hook joints on either end to allow further flexing of the chassis. Over complicated perhaps? Simpler, rectangular shaped chassis’ worked perfectly well on the rough roads of the time, and were almost definitely cheaper to build; over-engineering perhaps. All for a price of $750, similar to a contempory Locomobile of the period, the company’s chances of survival were slim.
I came to owning this car when, in 2013, at the age of 15, I decided I would like to build a tiller steered steam car, having experience with my family’s Stanley, Mobile and White Steam Cars. Help from a kind friend of mine, Basil Craske (who has helped me considerably throughout the subsequent restoration project), managed to get me a new boiler from America, and the tracing of a set of patterns and formers for making a Locomobile Chassis, along with brand new carriage springs. Just as I was about to start having the chassis castings made, a friend emailed. I had been trying to help him find a London to Brighton Veteran Car Run eligible steam car, and he had come across a partially restored original car in the states, which he asked my opinion on. It seemed a good buy to me, at the right price. Negotiations with the owner, proved to my friend that it was outside his budget, although at the time I had no idea of the cost. A month or so went by, and with little progress on my chassis, my thoughts turned to this car in America. An email to the then owner then proved that the car was available for a very reasonable price-indeed, I could never have made a chassis for that money, and there were many more expensive parts included in the sale, including the body and gauges.
So a deal was done, with me purchasing the car with my savings. Indeed the whole project has been funded by myself, with some kind donations from Family and friends! A friend was also importing some Steam Car parts from America, due to arrive in August 2014, this now being February of that year. But then there were some delays with some parts he was having refurbished. The Porter Stanhope eventually arrived in the U.K in August 2016, which neatly coincided with the start of my gap year before going to university, something I had always decided to do, so that I could restore the car.

In the Next Part-The Restoration Begins.

​George Hounslow

Posted with permission of SACA.

                                                           PART ONE

​My name is Roel Rasker from the Netherlands. As a regular visitor and exhibitor at the Great Dorset Steam Fair i became more and more interested in steam cars. After building a Likamobile from Steamtractionworld in 2009 i have had different Locomobiles. The Locomobile i own now is a good running car from 1900 witch was previously owned by Steven Theobald. I drove last Melle tour in Germany almost without any problems ( thanks George Hounslow for riding with me and helping ! ).
A few months ago i went to America to have a look at a 1907 Stanley EX. This car was advertised for a long time on the Steamcarnetwork website as well as other websites. On this trip i have bought the car and i also went to Don Bourdon to meet him and have a look at his workshop. There i orderd a boiler and burner for the EX.
This week the car arrived to my home. I am planning a full restoration. Most work i can do myself having some experience in metal- paint- and woodwork. Some parts i will have to buy.
The car has number 3511 and is very original. In the deal was also a new body. Pictures show the old parts temporary put on the new body. I want to use as much as possible from the original body. This will be a lot of extra work, but an old car is original only once.
In  this and future articles I will try to show pictures from the process. If anyone has ideas or parts to complete this car, please let me know.
Best regards
Roel

KELLYlink
I looked at that car closely at Hershey. It's a wonderful starting point, with so much original material and build detail. I do applaud your intent to retain as much original material as possible. It's much more interesting to have a car where a high percentage of its content came bolted together into the same car out of the Stanley factory door all those years ago.

-​                                                           Part Two
I have decided to use the new body. The old body was cracked and damaged to much to restore and still keep enough strength. A lot of parts from the old body will be used on the new body as pictures show. The car has been in a accident once. both wood layers were badly damaged and the body was not straight.
This week i have done a lot of sandblasting on wheels,leaf-springs and chassis. Every part is cleaned and spray-painted in a K epoxy coat. Between sandblasting all kind of small parts are made, cleaned or repaired. The steering column did not move anymore and i had to make new bronze bushes to get it working the way it has to.
The steering-system is pre-fitted on the body before painting the steering column. I have glued and riveted brake liner on the brake-shoes. I gained experience with this process on my Oldsmobile curved dash so this was an easy job. Also much work is done on the differential. The 3 gears are made from scratch and it took a lot of measuring and testing before everything runs fine. For this part i had help from a 84 year old local craftsman. The un-restored top gives a little bit a “titanic” feeling but gives a goo idea how the final layout will be. The engine is taken apart and checked on wear. All parts look fine and it didn't take much work to get the engine running on air. Some small parts were missing but i have took them from a spare engine i have.
Back to the sandblasting cabinet.....................................

                                                            Part Three
​After sandblasting and small repairs the framework is given a 2K epoxy coat and a 2k Color paint.  

                                                                   Part 4               

Working 40 – 60 hours a week on the Stanley EX i am making progress. Robert Hurford did a great job adjusting the front wheels. It was nice to meet him at his workshop in the old mill after a week of dust and steam at the Great Dorset Steam Fair. At the GDSF i also bought a beautiful taillight. It happend to be exact the same model as on Terry Fry’s EX.
After testing the engine i mounted the copper covers  on the engine. I made a 18 mm thick oak pump-pit board and prefitted all the pumps. The missing parts are made in brass on my lathe.  

 The two fuel pressure tanks are made of steel and the inside was corroded. In America i bought two beautiful and safe new thick copper tanks. They are mounted under the seat so unfortunately you can not see them when the car is ready.
After pre-fitting most of the parts i have taken everything apart. The body is given a epoxy coating and after a lot of sanding it is now spray-painted in Brewster green.

 All the preparation is done in epoxy. The last layer of paint is done by a professional in a spray booth . My worst nightmare is that someone says; “nice car, did you paint it yourself ? “. The very original seats were in very good shape but the paint was very old and needed to be removed completely. The wood underneath was in perfect shape.

​
                                                                    Part 5:
 
After receiving the body parts back from the painter I started to assemble all the parts.
I made new oak running-boards and attached the mudguards to them. Everything was pre-fit before painting. That made assembling the parts a easy job. I had to remake a few brackets that attach the mudguards to the body of the car.

Last month I also received the ordered parts from the Goold family. These parts are beautiful machined and everything fits perfectly. I used the, time correct valves and valve wheels as  advised by Grant Goold.

With a almost ready car but without a burner and most of the plumbing I took the car to the national road traffic service to get it road legal. Nice detail is that the address for the national road traffic service unit is Stanley road. 

This inspection was for me the most difficult part because I did not put the car up for inspection before I started the rebuild. I had to convince the inspectors that it was the same car as I bought in America. Luckily i could convince them with a lot of pictures. So far I have spent 6 months restoring the car and i can not wait to receive the burner so I can start test-driving the car.
 
 
Merry chrismas and a happy new year to you all.
 
Best regards



​ROLLY EVANS
12/26/2017 12:01:43 pmBeautiful job. 
I see your restoring the pumps as original. If you want maximum performance add a second fuel pump back to back like the water pumps or you will need a passenger to keep pumping up the fuel pressure. 
I also added a pressure reducing valve on the pilot to hold the pilot fuel to 30 PSI. The main fuel I run 120 PSI. 
Rolly 

 
                                                                Part 6
                                                             Pin-striping
I applied black details to the green body. This was a time-consuming process of masking and spraying. After this I applied the yellow lines with a Buegler pinstripe tool. This is a tricky process that requires a steady hand. On youtube movies it looks very easy, but you have to be very patient for a nice result.

It took me almost a year to complete this car. It was great fun and I learned a lot.
 
I would like to thank everyone who gave me tips and advice and of course the suppliers of specially tailored parts.

​Roel Rasker.
​

                 Part One of Brent Campbell's Steam Car Renovation.    

The car I am replicating is the second of three cars made especially for F.E Stanley's son, Raymond (1894-1985). As many many people know I restored the first car Raymond designed,which his father had requested the factory to build to what Raymond specified.
Since Raymond was only 16 when the first special car for him was built (1910-11) FE surely had to over-see the "build" of the car at the factory.That is why i nicknamed it "Effie".
Luckily this car is one of the survivors and its history has been verified and detailed information can be found on Kelly Williams "The Stanley Register Online"in the 1911 model year , serial number 6052.
​the second car built for Raymond was completed in April of 1912 and was serial number 6700 as verified by the original Stanley serial number book that is in the custody of Virginia Landry, Fred Marriott's (the test and racing driver for the Stanley Factory)  grand daughter.This fits since the first car is recorded in the book as being delivered (sold) April,1912. The book has Fred`s name inscribed on the cover as it was his job to record the model,serial number,and delivery date when vehicles were sold.

Fred Marriott didn`t like Raymond (pictured above) according to all accounts of people who new them both. Imagine an 18 year old owner's son bringing in his special car for service and advising the service manager of what needed attention.  Fred would have to take care of his boss' son ahead of other scheduled work in all likelihood, even if the problem was minor such as a yellow pilot! No wonder Fred remembered the serial number, and description of the car since he probably had to drop everything to tend to it during the three years it was in  service. Never "sold" but not forgotten by Fred!

Ray liked his cars low with a racy look. He did graduate from Harvard with a degree in Automotive Design. The first series V nose Stanley condensing cars were designed by him and are generally considered the most attractive of the condensing body styles.
"EFFIE" was almost four inches lower than production Stanleys at the time he designed it. Thirty horse power cars are large imposing vehicles, be it a model 87 touring car or a mountain wagon.
The first car built for Ray is anything but large or impressive. Rather  "a wolf in sheep`s clothing" in appearance. EFFIE IS PICTURED BELOW.