It don’t look to good but I got a feeling you are the man for the job good luck and please keep us posted.
Chuck
Chuck, I’m not quite the ‘man’ for the job, but I like your optimism! I’d like to think I’m up to the task, too.
At this point, I think bringing the 8100 is just a matter of time and parts. I think by now I should have everything I need on hand, or on order from Jeff Kane. It’s going to have a few battle scars, as I don’t think it’s worth the extra effort and expense that would be necessary to make it look brand new again. But I can live with it. A pristine 8100 is anywhere from $300 to $600, an original 746 in presentable condition is usually $700 and up. I’m sinking about $40-50 in parts into this engine. Factoring in the price of admission, I think I can live with a few cosmetic blemishes.
-El
2 Likes
Continuing to play ‘catch up’ on posting the progress pix…
I forgot to show these other views of the tender ‘guts’. What can I say? looks terrible. Afaik, aside from the capacitors and maybe the trim pots, there isn’t much on the board that I’d expect to need replacing. I can already tell at least some of the caps have failed.
Now, back to the engine. This was the moment when I really started to think “oh no, what have I gotten myself into”. In my infinite wisdom, I had somehow thought that lubricant, which is typically oil-based, would have ensured no harm to the gearing. After all, oil and grease repel water.
Well, what I had failed to reckon, was that it seems the grease Lionel was using in the '70s and '80s was no match for whatever this poor engine went through. Somehow, even though the drivers only experienced minor rusting, the worm took one hell of a beating.
Fortunately the brass worm wheel was unharmed, just filthy.
looking up towards the front of the loco, with the smoke unit out, there was some rust on the smoke lever, but the damage was fortunately minor compared to the smoke unit bracket that sat near it.
And speaking of the smoke unit and bracket, here’s some views of that, removed from the chassis.
there was almost no good metal left under all that rust, it had been seriously eaten up by the rust.
Here’s some pictures of the E-Unit. It was at this point I discovered that the pawl and plunger assembly was completely frozen.
From what I can tell, water got up into the plunger, and rusted it up severely. I believe the rust expanded outwards some, completely locking the plunger within the E-Unit coil. There simply wasn’t a non-destructive way to separate them, and in the end I am needing to replace both parts. New ones are on order from Jeff Kane.
Now we get to the motor. And oh my, my my my… if the rest looked bad… well, the motor just takes the cake. What a mess!
I soaked some oil into it, and began to take it apart, only to discover that the cause of the cracked brush plate was due to rust eating up and expanding the field studs where the screws for the brush plate go. They fell apart when I tried to undo the screws.
I’m still on the fence with the brush plate… I think I might be able to save it with some JB weld and a little patience. We’ll see.
now, back to the motor. I did my best to extract the armature. It was a challenge. You can see what’s left of it, the E clips, thrust bearings, and thrust washers here:
I think the thrust bearings might just actually be ok (after a serious cleaning), but the washers and E-Clips are toast.
The armature shaft is rusty as can be, and the worm is truly chewed up beyond saving. At the time I discovered this, absolutely nobody had these armatures in stock anywhere. I thought I was pretty much screwed.
Here’s the field and motor body. It’s definitely not great by any stretch of the word, but I think it’s salvageable.
I have new field studs on order from Jeff Kane. My hope is to drill out and remove the old ones, and soak the field in some rust remover. Clean up the body, and see where we stand. If all goes well, then it can go back together with a new armature and hopefully run again.
I think these are all the pictures I have for now. Will keep folks posted when I have more to share. Wish me all the luck you can spare, goodness knows I need it 
-El
8 Likes
No comment, other than you are one brave soul. 
Rich
1 Like
I will say it again if anyone can fix it you are the man! 
Chcuk
Uh, Ellie, the next time you want to give us a horror show can you wait until Halloween? 
This has been more terrifying than a Christopher Lee Dracula movie!
3 Likes
LOL X LOL
Love it Ellie!
5 Likes
The latest and greatest from the 8100 is that I have attempted to make some progress with the motor. I was able to grind off the rivet heads and separate the field from the motor body.
Unfortunately, the next stage of the process is to remove the field studs. And it turns out, my field studs have absolutely no interest in being removed- I was expecting I could simply tap them out, but they refused to budge whatsoever. It seems I have no choice but to drill them out. Hopefully that goes well.
I have a few other projects to tackle for the 8100, including making an attempt at a brush plate repair, and making a replacement smoke element to hopefully resolve the anemic performance of the original one. And of course, the E-Unit awaits rebuilding… never a lack of stuff to do.
-El
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