I thought that I would share my fix up clean up of a Jensen 35
The Jensen 35 was a very common Jensen but the model was discontinued by Jensen but since there were a lot of hem out there they show up on Ebay frequently.
Here it is, a Jensen 35 as received excepting that I had spent a couple of hours on clean up with it, mainly on the front of the boiler.
The first thing I did was give it a good cleaning, there was the remains of a sightglass holder rusted on the bottom sightglass hole and just some general dirt from being an older engine. I used Acetone around the sightglass holes and it took a lot of elbow grease. QTips and rags.
I then fitted the sightglass mounts because I wanted to see them on it
Next, the Ohm Meter was brought out and I checked for shorts and for continuity. Good news, no sorts, bad news, no continuity between the prongs of the plug. This could mean that the element is bad, or that the wire is broken someplace between the element and the plug. This means that the engine must be disassembled to find out. In doing so, I will show you the parts of the Jensen 35, most of these parts are common to all electric Jensens.
first I removed the Chimney base from the wood base, the Heyco connector was dry rotted and crumbled. so no pictures if it for now.
Next I removed the rest of the engine from the wood base revealing the Asbestos insulation sheets. There are two pieces between the wood base and the metal shelf in side the Firebox.
The next step is to drill out the four eyelet rivets that hold the shelf in place.
revealing another sheet of Asbestos
That done, I removed the two heater mounting screws
Allowing the heater to be removed
Next I cleaned the Wood Base as well as I could
Then I removed the Flywheel
and then drill out the 4 eyelets that retain the Boiler Straps
The disassembled Firebox assembly and Boiler
Although it might not show it, this is the Boiler after two hours of vigorous polishing
The Firebox has been lightly sanded, cleaned and the Repainted.
Now for the Heater element, I clipped the probe from my Ohm meter onto the wire about 6" from the element as it is far easier to mend the heater cord buy joining the cord there and although the Heyco was there, the insulation was frayed at that location. No such luck. I then clipped it three inches from the element and had the same problem, the wires were loose at the point where they joined the element.
Lo and behold I discovered a sloppy soldering job at the tabs where the wire joins the element, could the element have melted solder? I think so, I bet anything that 20 or 30 years ago maybe longer ago, a repair had been made. When you are attaching wire to a heated surface, a MECHANICAL Connection is requires as solder melts.
The tabs on a over 50 year old heater element are very Fragile, it doesnt take much to break them off and if one is broken off, a new element is the only fix. Therefore the utmost amount of care must be taken. I desoldered the wires and scraped the tabs so very carefully and then grabbed a new cord.
This is the time when if you want to salvage the molded end on a cord that you pass the cord through the chimney base as the plug will not fit through the hole.
I then stripped the outer insulation back several inches and then the wires themselves about a half of an inch. Eyelet type crimp on connectors were then attached to the wire ends, these are then attached to the tabs of the heater element using #4-40 screws and TWO nuts per screw. This is to avoid the nuts ever coming loose, a bad thing if they are energized with electricity.
Here it is at that point
Now that the paint is dry and the heater is repaired I am ready to proceed with reassembly.
My hands were shaky and so I have no photos of the eyelet installation, I used a #2 Phillips screwdriver to initially set the eyelet from the inside of the Firebox, this is done by placing the exterior of the eyelet on a piece of hardwood and then placing the tip of the screwdriver on the eyelet and striking the handle of the screwdriver with a hammer, next I used a flat tipped punch to snug the eyelet
Here is an eyelet, Phillips screwdriver and a brass punch
This is done four times and thus installing the Boiler straps, the boiler has to be in place before you do this by the way.
Next the heater needs to be installed
Then the heater screws are installed from above, take note that the heater needs to be pushed up against the boiler so that good contact is made between the heater and the boiler, no use heating air.
Next the Asbestos insulation needs to be placed below the heater, I note that two thicknesses of insulation came with this engine for this location.
Now the shelf gets installed
There are four eyelets that hold the shelf in place, I used a pair of pliers to hold a Phillips screwdriver bit to do this
Next the lower insulation is placed in position, a curved piece below the shelf and a flat piece on the wood base
The Firebox gets screwed to the Wood base and the Chimney base is the next area of concern, I fasten the ground wire to the Firebox and prepare to install the Heyco Fastener
That involves a bit of squeezing the Heyco with a pair of Chanel Locks and pressing it in place, this can be a hassle but once done, it is done and the Heyco does work as a good strain relief.
The Chimney base gets screwed to the wood base and the Flywheel, safety Valve and Whistle get installed.
I then installed the sightglass blocks as this makes it at least look complete.
The Parts arrived, plus Indiana Rog was so kind as to give me some Silicone Fuel Line cut to make gaskets for the sightglass tube
Installing the Sightglass Tube is not difficult, I followed the Instructions on IndianaRogs Temple Of Steam Web Page
http://www.indianarog.com/
More Specific is Rogers Restorers Toolbox page
That done, the job is complete!
The Jensen 35 was a very common Jensen but the model was discontinued by Jensen but since there were a lot of hem out there they show up on Ebay frequently.
Here it is, a Jensen 35 as received excepting that I had spent a couple of hours on clean up with it, mainly on the front of the boiler.
The first thing I did was give it a good cleaning, there was the remains of a sightglass holder rusted on the bottom sightglass hole and just some general dirt from being an older engine. I used Acetone around the sightglass holes and it took a lot of elbow grease. QTips and rags.
I then fitted the sightglass mounts because I wanted to see them on it
Next, the Ohm Meter was brought out and I checked for shorts and for continuity. Good news, no sorts, bad news, no continuity between the prongs of the plug. This could mean that the element is bad, or that the wire is broken someplace between the element and the plug. This means that the engine must be disassembled to find out. In doing so, I will show you the parts of the Jensen 35, most of these parts are common to all electric Jensens.
first I removed the Chimney base from the wood base, the Heyco connector was dry rotted and crumbled. so no pictures if it for now.
Next I removed the rest of the engine from the wood base revealing the Asbestos insulation sheets. There are two pieces between the wood base and the metal shelf in side the Firebox.
The next step is to drill out the four eyelet rivets that hold the shelf in place.
revealing another sheet of Asbestos
That done, I removed the two heater mounting screws
Allowing the heater to be removed
Next I cleaned the Wood Base as well as I could
Then I removed the Flywheel
and then drill out the 4 eyelets that retain the Boiler Straps
The disassembled Firebox assembly and Boiler
Although it might not show it, this is the Boiler after two hours of vigorous polishing
The Firebox has been lightly sanded, cleaned and the Repainted.
Now for the Heater element, I clipped the probe from my Ohm meter onto the wire about 6" from the element as it is far easier to mend the heater cord buy joining the cord there and although the Heyco was there, the insulation was frayed at that location. No such luck. I then clipped it three inches from the element and had the same problem, the wires were loose at the point where they joined the element.
Lo and behold I discovered a sloppy soldering job at the tabs where the wire joins the element, could the element have melted solder? I think so, I bet anything that 20 or 30 years ago maybe longer ago, a repair had been made. When you are attaching wire to a heated surface, a MECHANICAL Connection is requires as solder melts.
The tabs on a over 50 year old heater element are very Fragile, it doesnt take much to break them off and if one is broken off, a new element is the only fix. Therefore the utmost amount of care must be taken. I desoldered the wires and scraped the tabs so very carefully and then grabbed a new cord.
This is the time when if you want to salvage the molded end on a cord that you pass the cord through the chimney base as the plug will not fit through the hole.
I then stripped the outer insulation back several inches and then the wires themselves about a half of an inch. Eyelet type crimp on connectors were then attached to the wire ends, these are then attached to the tabs of the heater element using #4-40 screws and TWO nuts per screw. This is to avoid the nuts ever coming loose, a bad thing if they are energized with electricity.
Here it is at that point
Now that the paint is dry and the heater is repaired I am ready to proceed with reassembly.
My hands were shaky and so I have no photos of the eyelet installation, I used a #2 Phillips screwdriver to initially set the eyelet from the inside of the Firebox, this is done by placing the exterior of the eyelet on a piece of hardwood and then placing the tip of the screwdriver on the eyelet and striking the handle of the screwdriver with a hammer, next I used a flat tipped punch to snug the eyelet
Here is an eyelet, Phillips screwdriver and a brass punch
This is done four times and thus installing the Boiler straps, the boiler has to be in place before you do this by the way.
Next the heater needs to be installed
Then the heater screws are installed from above, take note that the heater needs to be pushed up against the boiler so that good contact is made between the heater and the boiler, no use heating air.
Next the Asbestos insulation needs to be placed below the heater, I note that two thicknesses of insulation came with this engine for this location.
Now the shelf gets installed
There are four eyelets that hold the shelf in place, I used a pair of pliers to hold a Phillips screwdriver bit to do this
Next the lower insulation is placed in position, a curved piece below the shelf and a flat piece on the wood base
The Firebox gets screwed to the Wood base and the Chimney base is the next area of concern, I fasten the ground wire to the Firebox and prepare to install the Heyco Fastener
That involves a bit of squeezing the Heyco with a pair of Chanel Locks and pressing it in place, this can be a hassle but once done, it is done and the Heyco does work as a good strain relief.
The Chimney base gets screwed to the wood base and the Flywheel, safety Valve and Whistle get installed.
I then installed the sightglass blocks as this makes it at least look complete.
The Parts arrived, plus Indiana Rog was so kind as to give me some Silicone Fuel Line cut to make gaskets for the sightglass tube
Installing the Sightglass Tube is not difficult, I followed the Instructions on IndianaRogs Temple Of Steam Web Page
http://www.indianarog.com/
More Specific is Rogers Restorers Toolbox page
That done, the job is complete!