Still ticking

The Beast continues to struggle but it powered through the four inches of heavy wet snow we got last night and my driveway is once again clean.

I don't know how much more snow is coming this week but I did see something about a possible small northeaster on Thursday.

As always, I guess we'll just have to wait and see what the New England weather is gonna do

⧫
As I told Pat, I'm about 90% certain The Beast's loss of power is a valve issue. I replaced the carb two years ago and within a month, I took the new carb off and put the old one back on. I've also replaced the spark plug. None of those changes have made any difference.

It's not a timing issue because that would manifest itself immediately. The loss of power the machine is experiencing doesn't rear it's ugly head until the machine is heated up.

A combustion engine needs five things to run correctly: fuel, air, spark, timing and a sealed combustion chamber. Replacing the carb showed me the fuel and the air are fine. The fact it runs at all means that the spark is fine and the timing issue would happen when the engine was cold or hot.

That means the problem is most likely with the seal on the combustion chamber and these flat head Tecumseh's are notorious for having valves that actually stretch out over time. That causes a small gap between the valave and the valve seat during combustion.

As I said, I just need it to make it until April. Once the weather warms, I'll rip it apart and see what I see.

I'm hoping it's the valve and not the cylinder or the piston rings.

I hate replacing piston rings and I'm not equiped to rehone or replace the linings of the cylinder.

⧫
Back in February of 2024, my friend John lost his mom. Here we are one year later and his dad passed away yesterday evening.

I've known Tulio almost as long as I've known John. He was a good guy, a good husband and a good dad.

His three boys are devestated but they will move forward.

⧫
Like I predicted yesterday, that hockey game between the US and Canada was a wild game

And for the record, the US won 3-1.

The US will take on Sweden tomorrow at 8:00.

⧫
Here are some links:

• I wonder if it's the same zoo that painted dogs to look like pandas or dressed up dogs to look like lions?



• Only in Florida.



• Mr. Finnbogason and the Repeated Sasquatch Hunt would be a great name for a 1950s rock-a-billy band.



• Musks child-programmers start poking around the Treasury and suddenly the Treasury gets hacked. Coincidence? I don't think so...



• Oh good. Just what we need...