Well, since Franz hasn't shown up to Indy dragging his metallic green lawn ornament welder, and I suspect he isn't on his way, I decided to subject myself to the ultimate torture; I drug a "project" SA-200 out of the woods and home over the weekend.

Being a cheap sucker, and not really having any commercial use for such a device, I've been on the lookout for one in my budget - which is next to nothing - and I found one.

The guys who sold it to me got their money's worth watching me almost wreck my truck into a tree while trying to drag it out of the woods. Then working up a frenzy of sweat trying to drag the thing up onto my trailer with a come along.

It's an oldie - I think around 50-60 years old - which is not that bad, because I'm an oldie too. Like me it's got some parts that are getting faded and rusty, and some of the plumbing seems to need repair. Also like me, it's got some extra heft. It's mounted onto a homemade truck frame trailer with the most massive frame rails, bumper and leaf springs I've seen in awhile - looks like the back end of an army truck or something, and was heavy too.

Anyway, got it back to the shop and took a look - Pretty rough.

The welding leads are there - but the rubber is rotting right off the copper. The face is so faded you can't even read it. The sheetmetal is remarkably intact just a few pinholes in the hood near the hinge. Underneath is a mixed bag; generator looks pretty good, but the current selector is broke in two. The spark plug wires, oil lines and some of the wiring is rotted away. Even the fan belt is thin in spots. Interestingly the throttle linkages all moved.

Put a breaker bar on the engine - stuck, as suspected. I think the thing has been sitting for an awfully long time.

So it may or may not be salvageable. I'll try to get the engine to turn and see if I can get it to run before I start buying parts. I'm going to mix up some magic juice and let it sit in there for a few weeks and see if I can free it up.

I've worked on continental L-heads many times, so that doesn't scare me much - My first car was an early CJ-3a with one. I know nothing about the welding end of the thing - any advice on what to look for first?

Hate to mention this but usually when they sat like that the cylinders will be full of rust that looks like cornflakes.
If they are it ain't worth sh!t.
Don't ask how I know.

If you do get it running, Snowjoker should know where there is a good selector switch.

I've gotten some engines running that you wouldn't think would ever see the light of day

Welded holes and cracks in the block - welded up aluminum heads, 2 strokes that have eaten their own roller bearings and beat the crap out of their heads.

The good thing about the continental is that it doesn't run very fast, and it's pretty heavy for the size of engine. Some rust is no problem - you just gotta get it to start turning.

And if I don't get it moving, I know I can get my money back at the scrapyard, and probably sell some parts off.

So I dumped it full of Marvel Mystery mixed with Acetone - we'll see if it loosens up in a week or two.

Picture of the Welder

Thought you said BIG wheels.

My first sat on 9.25 - 20 tires.

Yesterday I took the radiator off in order to get better access/leverage on the crankshaft bolt - still haven't gotten it to turn over, but I couldn't get a very good bite on it before.

Interestingly, this model still had an access hole in the battery box for a hand crank to fit through. There is also a metal guide that fits up snug near the crank bolt and keeps you from messing up the battery with the crank. I think I'm going to have to cut it off to get a socket onto the bolt. Then I should be able to apply a bit of leverage.

One bit of good news - it was full of green antifreeze, which spilled all over the place because I had to cut the lower hose off. So it didn't crack the block from cold weather.

About 5 more bolts and the whole engine/generator assembly comes out.

In your eefin dreams!

Splitting that machine is a walk into nightmare land!

Be somewhat careful how much force you put onto the hex nut the crank slips into, it can be broken off. (Don't even think of asking)