Just bought a 6hp engine...Fairbanks-Morse?

I just bought this engine. The fellow said it is a Fairbanks Morse 6hp. I can confirm the 6hp because of the sn tag. There are faint remnants of orange paint on the engine, but the edges of the flywheels have remnants of green. What color was this originally? Does it look like a F-M?

It is in great shape. There is a broken piece in the governor that I believe I can fix. He also has a casting for this part that need to be machined, if I can't just fix the old one. No big deal.

It came with the hand crank, which I am very happy about. It seems to be in excellent condition. No cracks, or welds. Muffler is perfect. Great compression. Mag needs the spark wire attached, but will shock you when it kicks, so it seems ok. Gas tank good.

I also came with a firewood swing table cutoff saw you can see part of in the background. Wood completely rotted on it, but the iron is all there. No idea of brand on the saw. I can provide pics if anybody knows about these.

This is my first engine and I couldn't be happier!

• FM 6hp

I decided, what the heck. The tractor show I had wanted to go to was rained out anyway.

So I go there, and before to long, I hear the unmistakable sound of a hit & miss engine.

I walk over, and there it is- my exact engine! Well almost- it was a 7hp Economy nad mine is a 6. Both are model S. But exactly like mine in every detail, except the gas filler was on the back side whereas mine is on the governor side. Amazing! I picked his brain quite a bit and got some good advice.

So, I feel pretty sure mine is an Economy. There are no bolt holes for a crank cover, which would indicate a hercules. And there are all these little remnants of red paint.

So anyway, I removed the fuel check valve, unstuck it (thanks for the suggestion Jim!), and put it all back together. It started right up!

I have a bit of slop in the rod bearing, so maybe shims need removing. But it runs great!

I did notice some out of trueness in the flywheels. Enough so that the whole trailer shakes when it is running. But I guess this is normal. There are certainly no signs of damage anywhere.

So now I just need to figure out a good shade of red. And I wonder if anybody has repoduced the decals?

I agree that the cooling tank has the flared up inlet that seems to be characteristic of Hercules. The link is to a pic of what appears to be the exact engine.

It is curious though that it was clearly painted reddish orange everywhere (like an Economy)except the flywheels, which have green traces (like a hercules). Perhaps they just repainted it at some point.

A lot can happen to a machine in 90 years...

So- where can I find the correct color paint for this saw? I'd like to get as close to original as possible. Somebody must have researched this.

BTW- last night I fixed the broken governor piece and I'm going to try to get it going today! Woohoo!

• One just like mine (but prettier!)

• How to Paint Your Hercules Engine

Sears sold the Economy line.

Here's a link to an Economy engine site found on the 'net:

• Economy