Greetings, All, Today, I've been working on some stoves, and also some pumps that were sent to be rebuilt. One of the stoves on which I worked was an Optimus 8R that Mom (actually my Mother-in-law) gave me last year for Christmas! She found it in a swap meet in Mesa, Arizona, and bought it for $10 to give to me as a present! I've said it before, and I'll say it again, I have one heck of a fine Mom-in-law!!! 8) This stove came with a mini-pump in it's own little case (hand-made), and the proper cap for it, as well as the wrench/spindle tool. I decided that I would prefer to use this with an older regulating spindle that I had on hand, and installed that straight away, keeping the original wrench as a tool. Once I cracked open the fuel cap, I smell..... yep, you guessed it, KEROSENE!!! Hey, no wonder she got it for such a good price! The stove has not been used that much in it's life, and it's previous owner did the usual bone-headed mistake and tried to use it with the wrong fuel!! Obviously, it didn't work, so he sold it to Mom at that swap meet, and probably thought he pulled one over on her to get $10 for it!! Rebuilding the fuel cap was first in line, and I accomplished that with some help from my good friend Arne Kåre, in Norway!! Yep, he flew right over and gave some safe and sage advice on rebuilding the SRV, whilst I was doing the NRV!! OK, so he didn't fly over. But, it was from HIS outstanding post of a while back, that I got the info for just how to do this in a safe manner!!! So, in a way, he WAS here with me, helping!! Here's the link to his excellent tutorial, but I warn you Newbies, this is better left to those who have learned enough from their past mistakes that they won't burn down their houses in the trying of it!! I'm actually serious about this, and ask you to wait until you have done some amount of successful fettling before you give this a try!!! https://classiccampstoves.com/threads/5518 After filling it with Coleman fuel, and rebuilding the cap, everything else was checked, and the little 8R was set aside to see if the wick would draw up the fuel, or if I needed to replace that, too. In 20 minutes or so, I installed the Mini pump, and gave 3 slow pumps. Cracking the spindle, there were some bubbles coming out of the jet, and then raw fuel. "In for a penny, in for a pound", the little stove was taken outside, forthwith, primed, and fired up!! It sputtered, and fluttered, and flared up a good bit, then settled down to a regular prime. Probably burning off the kero residue inside the burner, and in the spirit cup. Once it settled down, it had a lovely and very strong flame, with a good pattern, though the tips were very yellow. In a very short time, however, the yellow begin to disappear, and very soon, I was rewarded with a wonderfully strong blue flame, with excellent form, and very stable!! Here's how it all looked: And, finally, here's this nice little 8R after testing, along with a printed version of Arne Kåre's excellent post on rebuilding the mini pump cap!! Many sincere thanks to Arne Kåre for his help in this, and a huge hug and kiss to my Mom-in-law for always finding me some fun stove when she's out and about!! She thinks that, one day, she will actually find me an Optimus #9 and keeps a photo of one in her purse, so she can recognize it when she see's it!!! MAN, am I blessed, or what!?!! 8) 8) Take care, and God Bless! Every Good Wish, Doc
Evening, OMC, Thank you, very much! Yes, I really lucked out when it came to my MIL!! Not only did I marry a fantastic woman, but her Mom is a fine gal, too!! Twice blessed, and eternally grateful! Take care, and God Bless! Every Good Wish, Doc
Mistake correction: Mom gave me that stove for Christmas in 2008, and not last year!! I just found my notes on that. DANG, how time flies!! Sorry for the error.... Doc
Evening, Brother Dave, Thanks a lot! I decided to go for it, and see how it turned out, and kept a trash can nearby in case I needed to quench an out of control fire!! By the Grace of God, it worked out just as I hoped, and now I'll be using this little guy anytime I want to use an 8R! Take care, and God Bless! Every Good Wish, Mark
Belated happy birthday Mark! Nice fettle, and looks to be in very good condition. A perfect blue flame. My relatives also have a copy of my wish list . I've got an 8R but usually pick up my 99 instead. Must make an effort to use the 8R more. I have a sight unseen, well priced, No8 on it's way to me. Described as "used condition, but still in good working order". Fingers crossed . Best wishes, Terry
Morning, Doc! Great post on the fettle of your 8R. What a nice MIL you have! I too am fortunate to have a really nice MIL, who has brought, as gifts, many a liquid fuel burning appliance. Nice flames! sam
Made coffee on one of my 8R's this morning, my fav STABLE stove. I'm gonna put a sparker on one of mine soon. Keith
When my boy started in Tr. 49 in about 1980 or thereabouts, I was Shanghaied into fixing 8 or ten stoves, mostly Coleman 400's. There were four 8R's that looked as if they'd been run over by a half track. I used two to cannibalize for parts and got 2 8R's and all the 400's running. Some were simply damaged by having been stomped on to put 'em out, but mostly from trying to run 'em on kerosene, diesel oil and in one case rubbing alcohol. I wonder if some adults are able to read English. Foul language, as found needful, rinsing with coleman fuel , and some judicious metal bending got all but two or the 8R's running well. Those two I kept for "Trading Stock". I think since reading this thread and Doc's excellent post, I'll fish those last two poor old ill treated 8R's out of the back of the stove locker in the snake pit and try to get 'em working. Da Missus has gone to REI a couple of times to do some Christmas Shoplifting and bought me two repair kits she saw on the rack of stove accessories.(Bless her) She caused a bit of a stir when her REI # was noticed at the check stand. The kid at the cash register had never seen a 5 digit membership number before. The Manager gave her a 15% discount in appreciation. Anyway I have parts to fettle 8r's now and will be detail stripping some burners and doing some steel re-fab work over the next day or two. Thanks Doc, for inspiring me to action. I have no idea what I'll do with two more working 8R's. I guess they can cuddle in amongst the working ones I have accumulated. I've never liked the 8R's that much, dunno why, they seem to be good lil' units. The Svea 123 (Non-R) just seems to have outshined 'em in my estimation. /rant: ON/ I did have some rather harsh words for the Scouts and "Adults" in the troop when Arne and I started there about learning to use machines with an actual working part working part and not stomping 'em or kicking 'em into the creek when they didn't work to the operator's satisfaction. I also took my concerns to the Scout Commitee of Tr. 49 and over time got the Troop to stop buying gear for the kids as giving them things engendered no respect for items, even expensive ones, that the boys had not earned. Some of the parents were aghast that I thought the kids should earn the gear they needed. The kids, however, seemed to get a kick out of making buddy burners and adapting tin cans into free camp cookware. Again some of the parents were shocked and annoyed at this "low class" attitude about things. I pointed out at committee meetings that when I was a kid, my family simply didn't have spare money to throw at a problem that could be easily solved for free and was more fun if it did it myself anyway. Some adults are simply too cotton pickin' dumb to be allowed near anything with a moving part. Here it is, thirty years later and I'm still annoyed. /rant/OFF Gerry
Ha ha, Doc. NOW I read your warning about messing with the fuel cap after I'm done. Well, it all worked okay (so far). Although I am new to messing about with stoves, I have a lifetime of tearing things apart and playing with them. I still have my eyebrows!
Hi, Brad, Yep, ain't that they way it goes sometimes?!! Please note, as a teaching tool, the strong flame on my little 8R has gotten no more than three pumps from the Optimus mini pump. It most certainly did not need any more power, as you can see. So, please do yourself a huge favor, and go easy on the pumping of 8R stoves, as well as SVEA 123 and 123R stoves. Word to the wise!! Take care, and God Bless! Every Good Wish, Doc
Thanks, Doc. I remember the original instructions when I bought the pump said to do no more than 3 pumps.
