Mogul Engine Restoration Takes Time

Enlarge Image Image Gallery Johnnie Hough's 4 hp Mogul engine (SN BZ528), manufactured in 1914. "It was originally a stationary engine," he said, "But I put it on skids for shows. Photo by G. Wayne Walker Jr.

As a collector of International Harvester engines, Johnnie Hough knew exactly what he wanted: a 4 hp Mogul engine. So, after years of looking, when he finally got a shot at one, he jumped on it ... even if it meant buying the Mogul engine sight unseen. 

"I got it from a guy from Idaho," he said. "I made a deal on it from a picture I saw at Waukee (Iowa)."

The screen cooled engine falls neatly into the "rare" category.

"It's pretty scarce," he said. "They only made 200 of them. Most 4 hp Moguls were hopper cooled, and had a bigger tank."

It wasn't the biggest project he'd ever taken on, but it was time consuming.

"I bought it in 1995, and I just finished it this spring," Johnnie said. Finding parts for the 1914 engine was a challenge.

"I just found the last piece I needed for it at Portland (Ind.) this summer," he said. "It was an inline check valve for the plunger pump. I had just plumbed in two check valves, but now I'll put in this original piece."

The Mogul engine was missing a piston when Johnnie got it.

"Somebody had bored it for a different piston," he said, "but I found the original piston for it."

"The mag was pieced together from a bunch of parts, and the original armature looked like it had been burned," he said. "A friend of mine, Vince Chapman, Tulsa, Okla., cast the water pump bracket and eccentric in cast iron. I made the fuel pump in steel, and I machined all the parts."

The Mogul's bright green color generates a fair amount of comment and question at shows, Johnnie said.

"A lot of people say it's too light, but standards in those days were not as close as they are today," he said. "They'd mix paint a batch at a time, and it could vary a lot.

"I have the original skids from a Mogul junior," he said. "They were all covered in grease, but when I cleaned them up, underneath I found the original color, and this is it."

At the same time he was working on the Mogul engine, Johnnie was restoring an upright 3 hp Famous. The hopper-cooled engine (serial number LF721) dates to 1912. It was more of an undertaking than the Mogul.

"It was in the worst shape when I got it," he said. "It was just a big pile of parts.

"The crankshaft was bent, so I had to straighten that, and I had to make a gas tank," he said. "It was missing a carburetor and fuel pump, but new ones had been lined up and were part of the deal."