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Access to the engine is through a smallish flap just in front of the controls. By turning the two rusty knobs we unlocked it and were able to get our first real glimpse of the engine. I think the thing that surprised me most at this point was just how small it is. I had a go-cart for a few years with a five horsepower motor and this is only about twice that size with nine times the horsepower. The other thing that bothered me was how dirty everything was despite it just being washed. Guess that's just me being anal like normal. |
Before we tried cranking it over I wanted to make sure everything was cleaned out. The black was a mixture of compost, oil, and fuel. Add to this the monster cobwebs hanging off everything and it was a place fit to find prehistoric bats. Now, to be fair, I like things to be clean but this was more to help with getting the area nice enough to work in without tracking dirt into the spark plug holes or griming up the ignition coils - purpose versus aesthetics.
| Since everything was much more tidy, just for grins we decided to give the engine a pull. We didn't expect it to start (which it didn't) but we did find out that it turned over relatively easy and with no strange sounds - not rusted into a boat anchor! We ventured a few longer and harder pulls but the engine didn't want to do anything but wheeze at us. No spark and, pulling out the plugs, apparently no fuel. Good deal of old lacquered fuel, though. New plugs were on the list. | 
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The search was now on for parts! Where to turn? There are no known hovercraft dealers in Columbus, at least not known to me. That left me with the internet and the local motorcycle and boat shops. The internet, while good for information, can be a grab bag for most other things. The one boat shop I stopped at did have something things I was looking for but they were mostly cosmetic and could wait until later (mooring cleats, new lights, etc.). I was able to find help a at local motorcycle/ATV/jet ski/snowmobile shop not too far away from the house called MJ USA. He took a look at the plugs I had and upgraded me to something much more modern, and less likely to interfere with radio and television transmissions.
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Excited to have new plugs, I raced back out to the house...the following weekend. Having a full-time job and a thirty minute commute both ways tends to limit how much a project can be worked on. Nonetheless, the new plugs were much nicer than the old one. In short order they were installed and, with a touch of hope, the cord was pulled and the engine...wheezed. Again and again and there was still no love. A shot of ether into the spark plug holes, however, did get us a result, albeit for a few seconds. That meant the problem was with fuel - the carburetor. |
The lines were pulled off (cut off, actually) and allowed to drop to the floor. That in itself was a fortunate mistake. Oblivious to the leakage of fuel from the hoses we proceeded to take the carb off. Only after realizing what was happening with the lines we quickly tied them up to a higher spot. The fortunate mistake was that while the gas was really old it flowed from both lines. That meant that our carb was suspect - just like we'd thought.
| With our fuel delivery unit in hand, we proceeded to the workbench to look it over under better lighting. The housing looked fine but anywhere fuel had touched was a mess. We were not optimistic but thought that a good thorough cleaning might be in order...after we had procured a rebuild kit. This proved to be the next hurdle since, while the carb was a Mikuni, no one, and I mean no one knew what model it was. What this translated to was a sizable outlay in cash. Okay, plastic, but you know what I mean. Back to MJ and he cut me a good deal on a new Mikuni Super BN carb, fuel lines, and a primer system. | 
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It was at this point that life intervened again and it would be months before I was able to get any time to seriously work on the Hurricane. In the meantime, I was able to work for on it a few minutes here and there but nothing that could be considered do anything worthwhile. So now, armed with what I was sure we needed to get it going, it sat while I had little time to go to my parents.
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