Yellow Fever

[randys444]

Previous to installing the JLO, the motor was bench tested a couple of times. The last time we ran it we noticed that the throttle shaft was broken off were the keeper clip holds it into the carb.We were always operating from the idle adjustment side. I tried a couple of sources to find a replacement but came up empty. Snocatpete suggested to use a shaft from a different model Tillotson and customize it to make it work, so thats what I did. Luckily I found a local small engine shop in town which had a HL292 of off a old cement saw. I bought the entire carb. for $10.00.
This worked very good and was pretty easy to do. Thanks Pete for the suggestion. I have ran the JLO since and it works great.

[randys444]

Here is a picture of the reworked shaft in my original carb.

[randys444]

It was suggested by Barrie to change the mounting bracket location on the muffler. The original brackets were mounted to the rigid part of the engine frame and the vibration over time would crack the material. The fix is to change the mount to the cylinder head area.
Across from the spark plug you can see one of the 3 S.S. buttonhead bolts I used for the fuel tank mount.
The black firewall is so shiny it looks like a mirror in this light.

[randys444]

Had a busy week. Everything coming together nicely. Still have to install the starter recoil.

[randys444]

Starting to look like a 444. Just about complete, have to install the starter cable and recoil.
Wish I knew how many hours went into this project.
I bought it 4/16/16. A little less than a year for the restoration.

[myoldhus-ski]

Looking great Randy! Have fun. Hopefully your snow conditions are better than here. The snow is now so hard it is live driving on concrete.

[randys444]

I got my starter/recoil issue finally resolved this weekend. Just posted some info on Q&D about Hus-skis. The recoil was bought separately from the JLO. Ended up reversing the recoil, getting a longer cable, needing an intermedite plate and buying new pawls,caps and springs. Everything is working nicely now.
I was excited to be getting this done and forgot to take some internal pictures.(wanted to do that).

[DAN THE MAN]

Hello RANDY
Beautiful job.

DAN THE MAN

[randys444]

Finally got the 444 out of the workshop. I knew it would be a happy machine with ALOT of T.L.C. I would like to thank all the people on this forum for the endless information, advice and access to parts. Especially Barrie, Peter and Bruce. Without these guys I would have never gotten this project done this fast.I have met a lot of wonderful people while doing this 444 and that alone has been worth all the late nights in the shop. My brother Mark is the one that gave me the yellow fever, in starting our grandfathers 600. Hopefully we can get another project to work on in the future. Thanks Mark for all your input on this job, couldn't have done it with out you. Lastly my wife who has been very patient and encouraging during this process,( think she was happy to get me out of the house.) I spent more than I expected but she didn't say a word .This let me do the quality job that I envisioned this Hus-ski could be.
Hope everyone enjoyed my postings as much as I enjoyed sharing my work with everyone. Thanks Randy
Here are the pictures of the finished product.

[randys444]

I just got this finished right before a nice snowfall, might be our last of the year as our temps are getting warmer. It was a perfect time to see how it performed. Mark and I both got to run it a couple of times this past week and are happy with how it runs and handles. It would been a long summer of waiting if I couldn't drive it this winter.
Also another pic. at the end of were this 444 started.