Re: Compression on a 1946 3.6 HP Firestone?
Nice looking motor. I'll bet the compression is the least of your worries. I have about 30 motors of varying makes and I can't remember the last time I had a compression issue. I rarely check compression if the motor turns over. Most of these old motors were not used enough to wear out. Not that it's a bad thing to check and it's easy. See if you have any reasonable compression. Sometimes I put my thumb over the spark hole and pull it and that usually tells me what I need to know for the time being. Compression problems are rare. What you want to find out is does it have spark (use a spark tester - cheap). Clean the carb and tank and make sure it's getting fuel. With those two it should fire up. If it does; go from there: new plug, ignition wire (metal core) if needed, points cleaned and set, lower unit grease (use Lubriplate 105 available at NAPA). I predict the carb will be the most pain. I have 4 Scott/Firestones of the same era and all with carb problems. Anyway, if you get it running don't go looking for too much trouble. Do what has to be done and run it. By the way- it's the same as a Scott Atwater.
