Yes, always add warm tap water to gas tank bath. Even when the water cools it still moderates the temperature of the tank. As gas exits the tank the tank will rapidly cool and gas pressure and efficiency thus drops so the water really really helps. Most of my other engines have the gas tank in the cab adjacent to the rear of the boiler - with no water bath. Those engines take a little teeny bit longer to get going but once up to pressure the gas tank is kept continually warm beside the boiler. The nature of Shays, with the engine in the cab and offset boiler means no room to put the tank there. Your loco will need to bed in, in both directions but looks and sounds great to me! Mine sounded like yours. Now it is enjoyable to hear the whine of those bevelled gears!
@@northernutahlivesteam3566 I am sure that things will improve after a couple of runs. The leak can maybe fixed by turning on the bolts of the lid a little bit more. Good luck, don`t use to hot water , handwarm is good enough.
@@MrBramMoos your expertise is very valuable to me, Mr. Bram. Thank you for the advice. I did try tightening the screws, no success. Do you feel this leak is severe enough to cause such a loss in pressure? She steams up fairly well, but pressure drops steadily when I open the throttle.
@@northernutahlivesteam3566 I will have a chat with a friend of mine who has the same model and see what he has to say. I haven`t had the change to run one of these. Will come back to you about it. Maybe my friend can bring it to our GTG this weekend and I can do some filming.
Try pulling the ring collar off the air inlet holes at the burner, it looks like it was all the way over the inlets. I have also found that you don't necessarily need hot water for the fuel tank bath, room temperature water will accomplish the same results. And like Terry said, it needs to run in a bit. Fixing the leaks probably helps a little, but not the core issue
She actually runs pretty smoothly, after all the running in, tuning, and etc. just needs more heat. Adjusting that ring did help a little. She just needs a tiny bit more heat. After discussing with other owners of the same engine, 4 out of 4 of them have #8 jets. Mine has a #5. I’ve ordered the bigger jet and have every confidence that will resolve the final issue.
@@northernutahlivesteam3566 that's good, mine came with the drive shafts reversed, I seem to be getting plenty of heat, but I think I have burr on the gas valve, because I feel a "notch" when I open the valve
@@northernutahlivesteam3566 I'm not sure what jet I have, I know that with water in the tank bath, even at ambient temperature the burner behaves better. So far I have only swapped the drive shafts to the correct locations, we were supposed to have a steamup today, but it was canceled due to the rain, so I have yet to fire it up again and run it
@@timothyboles6457 well post a video on your channel, whenever you do run her. The size of the jet should be stamped on the thing that kooks like a hex nut, where the gas tube connects to where the firebox door would be if it were a real engine. Can just jiggle it straight back to pull it out; just pushes back in.
Runs less worse after fixing leaks between steam chests and cylinders. Still not great. Need to figure out how to get more heat out of the gas jet. Will keep wearing it in.
Yes, always add warm tap water to gas tank bath. Even when the water cools it still moderates the temperature of the tank. As gas exits the tank the tank will rapidly cool and gas pressure and efficiency thus drops so the water really really helps. Most of my other engines have the gas tank in the cab adjacent to the rear of the boiler - with no water bath. Those engines take a little teeny bit longer to get going but once up to pressure the gas tank is kept continually warm beside the boiler. The nature of Shays, with the engine in the cab and offset boiler means no room to put the tank there. Your loco will need to bed in, in both directions but looks and sounds great to me! Mine sounded like yours. Now it is enjoyable to hear the whine of those bevelled gears!
Hi, I have 2 of them, with 2 and 3 Cyl, they are the great, powerful locomotives, cheers Fabrizio - like 3
I know it is a good engine. Just need to troubleshoot why it’s not holding steam well. Plus need to get better at running gas.
Thanks for reply, yes I knw your problems, at moment, so I think you can easily repair problems, cheers Fabrizio@@northernutahlivesteam3566
Thanks for reply, so I know that you can repair that little problems, cheers, Fabrizio@@northernutahlivesteam3566
Nothing wrong with this engine, you will have lots of fun with this engine.😀
I’m hoping the poor steaming is just a matter of wearing it in and a bit of a learning curve for me, as this is my first gas engine.
@@northernutahlivesteam3566 I am sure that things will improve after a couple of runs. The leak can maybe fixed by turning on the bolts of the lid a little bit more. Good luck, don`t use to hot water , handwarm is good enough.
@@MrBramMoos your expertise is very valuable to me, Mr. Bram. Thank you for the advice. I did try tightening the screws, no success. Do you feel this leak is severe enough to cause such a loss in pressure? She steams up fairly well, but pressure drops steadily when I open the throttle.
@@northernutahlivesteam3566 I will have a chat with a friend of mine who has the same model and see what he has to say. I haven`t had the change to run one of these. Will come back to you about it. Maybe my friend can bring it to our GTG this weekend and I can do some filming.
I’ve just subscribed; something of a surprise to me because I thought I’d been a subscriber for ages!!
Thanks for subscribing Nigel. I watch your videos pretty much every day. However, I can only occasionally think of something to say in comments.
Way to go Karl. Hope you work out the bugs. Very cool.
Thanks Chief, will get it figured out eventually.
Try pulling the ring collar off the air inlet holes at the burner, it looks like it was all the way over the inlets.
I have also found that you don't necessarily need hot water for the fuel tank bath, room temperature water will accomplish the same results. And like Terry said, it needs to run in a bit. Fixing the leaks probably helps a little, but not the core issue
She actually runs pretty smoothly, after all the running in, tuning, and etc. just needs more heat. Adjusting that ring did help a little. She just needs a tiny bit more heat. After discussing with other owners of the same engine, 4 out of 4 of them have #8 jets. Mine has a #5. I’ve ordered the bigger jet and have every confidence that will resolve the final issue.
@@northernutahlivesteam3566 that's good, mine came with the drive shafts reversed, I seem to be getting plenty of heat, but I think I have burr on the gas valve, because I feel a "notch" when I open the valve
@@timothyboles6457 you had to disassemble and swap the driveshafts? What size jet does yours have?
@@northernutahlivesteam3566 I'm not sure what jet I have, I know that with water in the tank bath, even at ambient temperature the burner behaves better. So far I have only swapped the drive shafts to the correct locations, we were supposed to have a steamup today, but it was canceled due to the rain, so I have yet to fire it up again and run it
@@timothyboles6457 well post a video on your channel, whenever you do run her. The size of the jet should be stamped on the thing that kooks like a hex nut, where the gas tube connects to where the firebox door would be if it were a real engine. Can just jiggle it straight back to pull it out; just pushes back in.
Awesome engine.She'll run smooth as snake poo when she's run in I'm sure😁
Runs less worse after fixing leaks between steam chests and cylinders. Still not great. Need to figure out how to get more heat out of the gas jet. Will keep wearing it in.
Where is your choke ring (or whatever Accucraft calls) it set? Have you experimented with that?
@@Terrys-Steam-and-Bricks yes, been fooling with that ring. I was calling it the carburetor. .
@@northernutahlivesteam3566 it is very like a carburetor 😊
Looks good I have a kit to build
Awesome. Keep us posted on your progress.