Rock Island 1½ HP

Specs are:
 Rock Island plow Company sn # 4341 1 1/2 HP @ 500 RPM Bore X Stroke= 3 3/4 X 4" Build between 1911 and 1913 Flywheels are 16" in diameter.

Rock-Island when just purchased. This engine was in bad condition. The piston was broken, the connecting rod was welded at three places, the cylinder head was broken along with some governor parts.

This is the piston of the Rock-Island. We have had cast a new one, and also a new head, governor bracket, main bearing cap, and connecting rod. Machining the piston went quite straight forward, but the head was a different story. It has cost a lot of head scratching about how to do this with only a lathe. We managed to machine it only with a lathe. Unfortunately no pictures were taken. A friend has made new valve-seats in the head and made new (used) valves fit.

The new head fitted for the first time on the engine.

This is the first time the engine was taken to a show. After it was performing very well, we knew it was ready for the cosmetic restoration.

The igniter is quite big for such a small engine.

The now almost finished engine. Rock Island did not build the engines in their own factory but actually bought them from the Jacob Haish Company in De Kalb Illinois. Jacob Haish only made these engines for R-I between 1911 and 1913. This little 1 1/2 hp model was revered as "little daisy"

The Finished engine. It run's quite slow for a 1½ hp.

Finished ready for the show season.

Question's or comments?   h.terpstra@wxs.nl