Unimat-SL DB-200 Teensy Weensy Micro Mini Lathe

I'm not sure I can call this a real lathe but it was marketed as one. And it does make chips. Very small chips. Someone online said, "it makes steel wool." I now know what they mean. But this lathe wasn't bought to make stuff on a regular basis. I mainly got it because it is so cute and comes in its own little box.

1957 Petter Diesel Engine Gets A New Air Cleaner

Prior to buying this engine, I'd called the previous owner and asked him some questions. One was about the air cleaner, or more accurately, about the missing air cleaner in the photos. I asked if he had the air cleaner. He said something to the effect that it does have an air filter but not the original. When I went to buy the engine, the below photo is what I found mounted on the engine. It's the white pleated thing. He said it was a vacuum cleaner filter (!) but it works fine.

Installing The Choke In The Cushman

Well that didn't go as planned. Yesterday when I made the choke screws, I figured I'd have the choke butterfly installed in a half an hour, tops. What I failed to remember was that not only the choke butterfly and screws were missing, but also a choke rod spring was missing. Ok, so no big deal. I'll just rummage through my small assortment of springs and find one that works. Not so fast, cupcake. I did find a spring that looked like it would work, but upon further inspection, it didn't fit over the choke rod casting. No big deal, I'll just heat up the spring, anneal it, bend it around some, then re-harden it. After two failed attempts, I finally realized it would be faster and easier to just re-shape the spring without all the annealing/hardening business. Fortunately, the spring I'd found was long enough that I could sacrifice two failed attempts and still have enough spring material to make a third one. This first photo shows the finished product and the two failures.

Cushman Carburetor Choke Butterfly And Screws

When I got this Cushman, the choke cable had been disconnected from the carburetor. The previous owner said the cable was rusted stuck, which it was, but he failed to mention to me that the choke butterfly and screws were not in the carburetor. He said he'd been through the carburetor, so he knew the butterfly was missing. No matter, I was sure I could find the missing parts online. Nope. Apparently this Keihin carburetor is maybe specific to this type of engine, I don't know. The engine does start fairly easily without a choke but in the wintertime, I'm sure a choke would be helpful. So what's one to do? Why, make the missing parts, of course. Here's what I had to start with: