Primarily Petroliana Shop Talk Forums Shop Talk Petroliana Forums General Petroliana Discussion ECO Air Meter

Thanks Jack, I'll send you a money order for $13 US today. I would appreciate the opportunity to read the first portion of your new book, and will post a review on Old Gas.

Chris

Money Order in the mail at 3 p.m. today.

here's what it looks like torn down...appears to be all there, it's definitely a Model 240 Islander...

and a few more... about the only thing that seems out of whack is that its very stiff to operate... it seems that the crank shaft may be slightly bent...

LOOKS LIKE A BEAUTY; GET OUT THE ZIP STRIP...

GASPUMPCHAS

just completed an 97 model last night. does anyone have a "trick" to get the front and back skins on the base without chipping paint??? i taped the edges of the base with electrical take and that worked well, but a small chip still happened at the hardest impact point. any advice or tricks that are known to work? chuck

Chuck,

Here is the section of my new book covering the installation of the covers.

Holding the front cover so it doesn’t scratch anything, spray the face and the “AIR” glass with the Windex. Wipe everything dry and clean.

Now, carefully lower the frame down on the towel, keeping the front cover from touching or scratching the frame.

Jack’s Tip: I don’t believe I have ever installed a front cover (or a rear cover for that matter), without chipping something. You will be installing the covers inside the lips of the frame and most of the time they just don’t want to fit. Sometimes you have to encourage them, this causes chips, mostly to the frame. Don’t get in a hurry installing the covers, the more time you spend, the less chips you will have to touch-up.

Installing the front cover should be from the top down, try and fit both sides up near top, then press the cover in as you go down toward the bottom. Most of the time you will get one side to fit, but the other side may need some help slipping into the frame.

Jack’s Tip: Hitting the cover with the side of your hand is not recommended. One year at Carlisle I was still putting some ECOs together. I hit one with the side of my hand, the hand hurt for two weeks and when I got back to St. Louis I found out I had a broken hand. Use whatever is necessary, but not your hand.

Once the front cover is where it should be, carefully turn the unit over. Insert the two cross strips (did you use the tap on the screw holes in the strips?), drop in the screws and tighten them. Turn the unit over and make sure the front cover is still seated.

Now is the best time to insert the Reset Handle. Loosen up the two Housing Frame screws I told you not to tighten, this will make it easier to put the handle on. Once the Handle is on you need to adjust the mechanism. What I mean by this is sometimes the gear that the Handle attaches to, will come in contact with the upper cross strip, just push it up before tightening the 3/8” housing screws.

Installing the rear cover is much like installing the front cover. Start by installing the upper part and work your way down the edges, while looking in the screw holes to see if either one of the upper holes lines up with the hole in the cross strip. If it does, put a screw in and just start it. If both holes line up, put both of the upper screws in. If the holes do not line up, use the small punch through the hole in the cover to line up the cross strip so you can put a screw on the other side. Thread the screws down to the cover, but do not tighten them. Work on the edges again, pushing them in until you can get a screw started in the lower part of the cover. Again, you may have to use the punch to line up the holes. Get the two screws started and work them down slowly, especially if the sides of the cover are not seated.

If after all this you still can’t get one side of the cover to seat you may have to use one of the next two solutions.

Make sure the screws are screwed down to where they are touching the cover, right before you start to bend in the cover. Get a towel and fold it up so it is at least an inch thick. Place this over the corner of the cover that won’t seat, lightly hit it with a small hammer, this should seat the cover. If it doesn’t try my last resort.
Tighten the screw a little bit in the corner where it won’t seat. Place a flat blade screw driver against that corner of the cover, again where it won’t seat. Hit the screw driver with a hammer. This should seat the cover. It will probably chip either the cover or the frame a little bit, but it is on the bottom and on the back, so it shouldn’t show.


Just part of my new book,

Jack Sim

thanks GASPUMPCHAS.... can't wait to get your CDs Jack... any thoughts on the top shaft removal? it appears that the stiffness is in the brass bearing, but I can't seem to get the shaft/bearing assembly out... is it a press fit? tks Chris

appears that the shaft was not seated properly... looks like someone had tried to pry the gear off and unseated the shaft... I drove the pin out, pulled the gear, reseated the shaft and reassembled... it now spins with one hand... I pulled the strainer and it was clean, put some temporary hoses on, and put some air to it from the compressor, every thing runs, it holds air, pumps, dings and equalizes...

Just took a look at the picture of the rear of the mechanism. No wonder it was hard to turn, someone turned the unit up over 100 lbs. and when it gets that far it has a tendency to lock up.

Sounds like you are on your way, if you have any questions, just post them here.

Jack Sim

thanks Jack... I removed the tag from the rear cover in preparation for sandblasting, and it looks like the unit may have been cream coloured originally... the paint underneath the tag looks original and is off white in colour... however the frame looks like it started life painted red.. were there any companys that had such a paint scheme?

There are no records of colors used on the ECOs other than the statement that they would be supplied in a brilliant red. I do know that Marathon used an off white, and Mobile used a white. During the 1980s white units were also offered by the company as a standard color.

I was the first to start two-toning them. It is pure fantacy, but it shure makes them look nice.

Jack Sim

It's been raining here, so I've been concentrating in the air meter rather than the Bennett 956.... here's some progress on the ECO... finished cleaning and calibrating the mechanism, sandblasted the sheet metal and frame, and here what they look like with two coats of primer and four of red... (also built a light for the mechanism)...

Chris

sandblasted


finished cleaning and sandblasting


rear of mechanism


painted

Folks,

Any way to tell the age from the serial number on this unit? it reads 10 Z 6769.

Thanks,

Chris

It was made in either October of 1954 or 1977. If it has copper tubes as shown in the picture just above it is probably a 1954. This would be a very early model as they were introduced in 1947.

One of the features of my new ECO Air book is a section called "What year was my ECO made?"

By the way, don't try to install the mechanism into the frame with the face attached. Install the mechanism, then put the face on.

Jack Sim

thanks for the information Jack. Also appreciate the assembly tip... I'm looking forward to the CDs that you are sending me so I can read the manual and the first part of your new book...

Chris