# One More To Put Back Into Service



## Waterlooboy2hp (Nov 29, 2011)

It`s time to start on this one. Some of you may recall, that I picked it up on Craig`s List last winter. It is a 1964, Snow Shark three stage blower, made by Moto-Mower. (24") . 

This is what I am starting with.----

















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First thing I figured I had better do, was to get the Kohler k-141 engine running. The inside of the gas tank, was coated with what looked like petrified honey. The inside of the carb, was plugged solid with the same stuff. I stripped all the parts off the carb.
I had nothing on hand, that was meant for soaking carbs in. Tried some paint thinner and a few other liquids, that I did have, but nothing had any effect. Had a can of After Wash (used on furniture, after the paint stripper is wiped off). I was ready to try anything at this point. As soon as I dipped the carb body into the clear liquid, the clear liquid started to turn brown. In a matter of a few minutes, the carb body was clean as a whistle, inside and out.

I had an additional tank, that was super clean to start with. With that and new gaskets in the carb, I put it all back together. Started right up and runs perfect. Not even a hint of smoke. I wanted to keep the original engine on this blower, so I am pleased that it well only require cosmetics.

Next, I will start taking the whole machine apart and sand blasting as many parts as I can. The bucket and the main frame are one piece, so that makes prepping it for paint a bit more of a challenge. I`ll post info and photos, as I go along with the restoration.

I do have one question at this point. What should the position of the augers be to each other ?? Should one be 1/4 turn ahead of the other, like on a 2 stage blower ?? ---- John


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## Spectrum (Jan 6, 2013)

A noble endeavor to be sure, enjoy the project. I always thought they were cool.

I hear from Snow Shark owners from time to time.

Pay close attention to the traction transmission whatever it is. That seems to be the hot spot.

Pete


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## Spectrum (Jan 6, 2013)

Waterlooboy2hp said:


> I do have one question at this point. What should the position of the augers be to each other ?? Should one be 1/4 turn ahead of the other, like on a 2 stage blower ?? ---- John


That's a good one. I'm inclined to think that the upper auger is really meant to feed the lower. The upper seems to be leading and there's not much value in stuffing the top of the impeller housing. There is no lower wrap to let it draw snow to the back. That being said the top to bottom relationship is probably random in the conventional sense. If you want to think it out you might envision the center of the top auger to have a pulsation as the central paddles go buy and the lower may want to lag a bit so the snow falls behind the existing charge and has time to join the flow.


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## micah68kj (Oct 8, 2011)

Here's another up in your area, John.
Snowblower MOTO MOW


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## Waterlooboy2hp (Nov 29, 2011)

Spectrum said:


> That's a good one. I'm inclined to think that the upper auger is really meant to feed the lower. The upper seems to be leading
> =======================
> 
> In the photos, I had removed the drive chains for the augers. The augers got rotated. Forgot to note the original positions. I kind of think, that as long as long as the 2 augers are not timed in the same position to each other, the flow of snow into the impeller will remain more even. ---- John


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## Kiss4aFrog (Nov 3, 2013)

I may be on drugs but . . .






I think those are so cool and I've been trying to find one locally.
Very interested in what you run into on it.


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## AL- (Oct 27, 2014)

Interesting looking machine and I like the reddish brown color, although the original color may have been just a brighter red. Both my 1964 Bobcat and !970 Snow-Away have the paddle-wheel impeller. The Bobcat has 1/4" steel paddle blades but the Snow-Away has 1/2" thick rubber blades. I replaced these ruibber ones with NOS but they broke easily as they were old rubber and rotten. What does your machine have?


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## Kiss4aFrog (Nov 3, 2013)

micah68kj said:


> Here's another up in your area, John.
> Snowblower MOTO MOW



I like that Moto Mow


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## Waterlooboy2hp (Nov 29, 2011)

AL- said:


> Interesting looking machine and I like the reddish brown color, although the original color may have been just a brighter red.
> 
> ================================
> 
> ...


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## Waterlooboy2hp (Nov 29, 2011)

Well, things are moving along. I now have a Shark Pile.










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Not everything went smoothly. The impeller was rusted solid to the shaft. The bolts came out easy, but that`s as far as it went. I ended up cutting the shaft off, on each side of the impeller hub. With that done, the impeller blade lifted right out with the remaining piece of the 3/4" shaft, still in the hub.
I drilled an 11/16" hole, down through the piece of shaft in the hub, but not quite all the way through. That allowed the old shaft to collapse inward, when I set a punch in the hole and hit it with a hammer. -- 

The impeller and the now 3 parts of the shaft. ( I will go ahead and make a new shaft).









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The wheels presented the same problem. Rusted solid to the 3/4" axle. I cut the axle in half. I just pulled the wheels and all, out of each side of the frame. Next, It took a 10 pound hammer, but I got the axle halves out of each wheel. I wanted to save the axle, so I took a piece of scrap round bar stock and bored a 3/4" hole through it. That gave me a 4" long tube joint, to reconnect the axle halves back together. A real close fit, with some Loc-Tite and later on some roll pins. Should still be over-kill in this case. Thought about welding it, but was afraid it might warp. I am replacing the original wheels, with these Jacobsen hubs and 2 piece split rims. (same as I did on my American Lincoln 3 stage blower).



















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Now I can go ahead and sand blasting and wire brushing all the parts. --- John

"Busy as a bumble bee, stuck in a tar bucket"


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## AL- (Oct 27, 2014)

Good to see you are gaining on it! 
How many speeds does it have?


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## micah68kj (Oct 8, 2011)

Your work, attention to detail, and ingenuity have always impressed me. I don't have the patience or tools to do all that work.
Keep us up to date on your progress, John.


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## Waterlooboy2hp (Nov 29, 2011)

AL- said:


> Good to see you are gaining on it!
> How many speeds does it have?


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It really only has 2 speeds. It has forward, neutral & reverse with one control and Hi, or Lo with another. --- John


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## Waterlooboy2hp (Nov 29, 2011)

micah68kj said:


> Your work, attention to detail, and ingenuity have always impressed me. I don't have the patience or tools to do all that work.
> Keep us up to date on your progress, John.


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I have just about all the parts painted now. Here are a few photos.---

















These next two were taken in the barn, with light from the setting sun pouting in through the doors. Kind of washed out the color a bit. The first photo above is the correct shade of Orange. 
















The Z shaped slot on the control panel was beat up some from use. I had some .090" stainless steel, so I made up a cover plate to dress it up a bit.
















The wheels came out nice.









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Well, I`m loosing daylight, sitting here at the computer. Best get back to work.


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## Big Ed (Feb 10, 2013)

Looks too nice now, you going to use it? :biggrin:

Where did you end up getting the color from?
Almost looks like Chevy orange, in your searching for the color match did you try an Advanced Auto store?


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## Waterlooboy2hp (Nov 29, 2011)

Big Ed said:


> Looks too nice now, you going to use it? :biggrin:
> 
> Where did you end up getting the color from?
> Almost looks like Chevy orange, in your searching for the color match did you try an Advanced Auto store?


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The 3ed place that I was sent to, was strictly auto paint. Did not know that, until I got there. They could match the paint, but the cheapest price was $40.00 for a quart. Decided to keep looking.

A few days later, I was in Home Depot for something and glanced at the paint samples. Did not have my part with me, but one color caught my eye. Maybe a bit dark, but I would settle for it. It is called Top Tomato. 

Took the sample card back to True Value and their machine came up with a match, that was not so great, However, the color that did come up, was off just enough to be a near perfect match for my part sample. I was tired of running, so I told the girl to go for it. I was at a point where I would have painted it Purple.

Yes, I do plan to use it. 

One odd thing about the machine, is that the Kohler engine had a Manual Compression Release. Tracking down the info about that, was fun. --- John


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## AL- (Oct 27, 2014)

Good that you found some paint. It's not my machine but I think its great that you are fixing it up.


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## Waterlooboy2hp (Nov 29, 2011)

Got the part of the drivetrain that powers the wheels, installed. Hard to believe that the system is so simple. 








Report this image

Added a few more parts and got things right side up again. I painted the handlebars white, because the chrome was in such bad condition. Used a flap disk to remove the remaining chrome.

Before and after stripping the chrome ---








Report this image

Starting to take shape, It may have some potential after all. --- John


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## lee h (Jan 18, 2015)

Nice wook, I love these kinds of restorations.
You have a great imagination for detail and 
you get it done. Very nice.


Lee


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## Kiss4aFrog (Nov 3, 2013)

Almost hate to think of it going out in the snow. :blush:


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## GtWtNorth (Feb 5, 2014)

Very nice work, I also like to see this kind of full restoration but I'm not a purist. I am wondering how much snow it will throw since the angle iron blades on the impeller look pretty small. A kit will probably help a lot.


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## Waterlooboy2hp (Nov 29, 2011)

GtWtNorth said:


> Very nice work, I also like to see this kind of full restoration but I'm not a purist. I am wondering how much snow it will throw since the angle iron blades on the impeller look pretty small. A kit will probably help a lot.


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I picked up a Peterbilt mud flap with a want ad on the local Free Cycle site. A local truck driver took the time to check with his fellow drivers and found one for me. I will cut the pads from that. I am making stainless steel backing plates from the weight on the mud flap and will bond the pads to them. That assembly will be bolted to the existing angle iron blades (may make them adjustable). Overall, the rubber pads will be 1/2"+ wider and 5/8"+more from front to back. The original blades, will just be a way to mount the pads. ---- John


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## Big Ed (Feb 10, 2013)

Top tomato.......looks great.

Peterbilt mud flap....now we are talking class.:wavetowel2:

How did you clean the chrome before you painted the handlebars?


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## Waterlooboy2hp (Nov 29, 2011)

Big Ed said:


> Top tomato.......looks great.
> 
> Peterbilt mud flap....now we are talking class.:wavetowel2:
> 
> How did you clean the chrome before you painted the handlebars?


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I mentioned above the before & after photo of the handles, that I used a flap disk (on my angle grinder) to remove what little chrome was left.

I thought it was kind of neat, that I will have a Peterbilt impeller kit, on this snow blower. Been working more on the impeller kit this morning. Want to get it installed, before I put the augers back in. --- John


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## Waterlooboy2hp (Nov 29, 2011)

I made some progress with the impeller kit. You can see in the first photo, the excessive size of the gap in the original housing. Also, I pre-drilled and tapped mounting holes, for the pads.










First I made 4 stainless steel back-plates, from the weight, that was on the mud flap. I left about am 1/8" clearance on each side and the lead edge. I extended the rear edge an extra 1/2", or so.










Second, I cut 4 rubber pads, a bit larger that the back-plates, so I could trim each one as needed. One side of the pad is ribbed, so I decided to bond the plate to that side.(not bonded yet in the photo). The other side is re-enforced with cord and will take more of a beating. Also, cut them in such a way, that the lead edge was in part of the mud flap, with no ribs.










I bonded up one plate and pad with Shoe Goo. After some triming and fitting, I got one of the 4 in place. Here is what it looks like as it enters the housing with snow.










And, as it leaves the housing to pick up more snow.










Another thing that was needed, was the scrapper bar. The old one was only 1/8" thick from the factory. It was in sad shape. Made a new one from 1/4" stock. Material was not quite as wide, but will do the job.










The skid shoes needed new soles. They were pretty thin, near each end. Needed some strap iron of some kind, so it was off the my scrap iron pile.

Found the hinge section, that I had removed from an old sofa bed. Trash man got the sofa and I kept the metal part a few years ago. Torched off what I needed and welded a piece to each skid. Then heated and bent the ends to match the old ones. Now has a nice raised rib, down the center also. --- John


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## Waterlooboy2hp (Nov 29, 2011)

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After getting everything back together, I added gas and oil and started it up. Things all seem to function as they should.

After it ran for a bit, I noticed that paint had burned, where the heat box is tied to the extended muffler stud. The stud transferred excessive heat to the sheet metal of the heat box. This is the factory setup. ---










I made up a stainless bracket to fasten the box separate from the muffler stud. Shortened the stud and made use of some tapped holes in the block to bolt the bracket on. ---










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The other addition, that I made, was a tensioner, for the chute control rod. Vibration was causing the chute to float around while running. I had a small piece of Nylon type material, called Nyron. Just enough to make this clamp. Now the chute stays where I direct it. ---










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Here are some additional photos, taken prior to the heat box modification. You can see in the 1st photo, the manual compression release, to the left of the spark plug. They only made this for one year. The head was cast to allow the use of it. The release was missing and the hole plugged with a bolt, when I got it. I used one from an old Mac chain saw. ---





























































I replaced all the exposed hardware, with Stainless Steel. It has been a fun project. ---- John


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## AL- (Oct 27, 2014)

Looks great! I'd love to be there when you first take it out in some snow.


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## nwcove (Mar 2, 2015)

you do some fantastic work !! hope to see some pics and feedback when the snow comes.


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## GAR (Nov 7, 2014)

That is a great restore and a very cool looking snow machine. I would love to see a video of it eatting threw snow!


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