Questions on Lalley F

Hey, HAPPY THANKSGIVING everyone. Hope this posting finds each and everyone of you happy and healthy. Gus, hope your Western Electric turkey is delicious.

Now, I can never write a short posting so please bear with me and I do apoligize in advance for the length of this posting. I have a Lalley Model F that starts easily and runs great. I have three questions concerning its operaion. I have a Model HU Operator's Manual (thank you, Gus Simms) and use this as a guideline for my Model F. For a gas/oil mixture ratio the book says 5 gallons of clean gasoline to 1 pint of mineral oil. I use a mixture of 1 gallon gas to 1/2 pint of non-detergent oil (16/1). The engine does not smoke nor do the ball-bearings make any dryness noise. However, since the engine putts along at 1700 RPMs should I enrichen the mixture to 12/1 to give the bearings a little more lubrication. For 1 show last year I did use the 12/1 ratio and the engine did smoke (like a Maytag-no insult intended). If I am harming the bearings, piston rings, sleeve, etc. I will use the 12/1 ratio, but if the 16/1 mix is OK I would rather stay with that!! Question #2-In the governor resevoir the governor rotates in a level of oil. How much oil? Just enough to lubricate the governor shaft? Or 1"? Or 1/4 resevoir full? How much? On the Model HU, the book states, there is a resevoir glass oil guage to check the oil level which should be maintained about half way up on the glass, but, viewing the picture of the entire engine, I cannot tell at what height half way full is in relationship to the bottom of the resevoir. Because the Model F is designed differently in the governor and resevoir area I am uncertain as to how much oil the governor needs to "sling around". Question #3-Occasionally, on shut-down the engine will "fire" or pop with the Magneto points shorted-out. To shut-down the lightplant, I shut the tank gas off, wait 10-15 seconds, pull the mag. kill switch. From engine full speed to complete stop takes 30-35 seconds and during this time the piston is still taking in and exhausting fuel. I normally run 2 lightplants for 20 minutes, then rotate to 2 other lightplants, so this lightplant is started-up and shut-down once every 2 hours (unless someone wants to see it run on request). The engine "fires" or pops maybe 1 of every 3 shut-downs. During the 30-35 second shut-down it will "fire" about 10 seconds after the mag. kill switch is pulled for maybe 2 seconds, then about 5 seconds later for 2 seconds and then a third time 5 seconds later for a couple of seconds and then not fire anymore. I know it is igniting the fuel drawn from the carburetor, what do I do to stop this firing? I could shut the tank gas off and let the carburetor run dry, but I don't want to because of the way the engine "misses out" when running out of fuel. I tryed, prior to pulling the mag. kill switch, slowing the engine by holding the governor arm down but still got the popping on shut-down. The cylinder head is hot, but the cooling tank water steams very little during the 20 minute runs. I know the magneto is not bleeding "juice" to the spark plug because I pulled the plug wire off on several shut-downs and still had popping. This Lalley is the only high speed, 2-cycle lightplant I have so I have no other unit to compare it with for shut-down. Is this normal for a Lalley? Does this go back to fuel/oil ratio? Is the head possibly hot enough that it ignites the drawn gas? If so, why not throughout the complete shut-down? None of these questions are real earth-shattering, I just do not want to long-term damage the engine due to my ignorance in not asking questions. I would appreciate your help, suggestions and information on the above questions. Thank you in advance!!! I would like to find a reprint of a Model F manual, gladly paying for any copying, mailing and incurred costs. On another subject. Harry, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!! I wrote 6 or 8 weeks ago inquiring about other lightplant/generator collectors and never dreamed you were working on developing a new section devoted to lightplants/generators/electrical equipment and related. I. for one, am grateful beyond words for electrical "stuff" is my playtime passion!!

Hi Loren: The 1 Pt. to 5 gal. is 40 to 1, so you should be plenty rich on oil. Today's 2 stroke engines run many more RPM'S at around 32 to 1 oil mix. I would use one of the 2 stroke oils they sell today rather than the non DT. (My Chose) others may disagree. As long as the gov. is splashing oil around things will get enough oil. There may be a large carbon build up on the head or piston from the extra oil which could cause it to run on with the switch off. Good Luck TOM

Loren, you could do like I do, if an engine worries me I just don't run it. These guy's are old..., they may not run like they were intended to. Running some of my stuff makes me very nervous. I take satisfaction knowing they will run. Last summer I had five generators on my trailer, my favorite ran for 5 or 6 hours a day, my confidence in that one was very high. The one I had least confidence in got started twice in the entire season, it ran good both times. My favorite generator runs good, but will never generate, I'm still the proud owner and it shows as well as a lot of my other stuff.