I found an old dirt compactor in a warehouse and made an offer on it. The agreed price was $70. I was more than happy with the price as it costs that much to rent a compactor for one day! The previous owner did warn me "I don;t know if it will work again, I put it aside a while ago and do not remember why."

This then became a challenge to get this compactor working.

Step 1:

I took it home and tried to start it up but had no luck :(

Step 2:

The first thing it noticed was that the spark plugs were dead. I changed them and still no luck.

Step 3:

Then I decided go to TechShop and try to repair this vintage (30 years old) dirt compactor.

Step 4:

After spending a lot of time and not getting a spark a DC approached me and offered to help me with this project. Dream Consultant s, "DCs" are the guys walking around and assisting people like me who have a project but no experience on that particular project. He helped me to take the ignition system apart and check the platinum contacts. These had no contact whatsoever.

Step 5:

After filing the contacts, he told me that we needed to adjust the gap of the contact to 0.020.
I started looking for a blade caliper, after inquiring at the front desk I was informed that Techshop Menlo Park did not have one.
I then started to look for a thinner blade to use as a blade caliper.
I measured everything from business cards to potato ships bags trying to find a fit.
Imagine my surprise when I discovered that the the cover of the box for the platinum contact was exactly 0.020.
I used the cover as a tool of measurement to adjust the platinum contact gap.

I was able to reassemble everything was even able to get the plugs to spark!
(thanks to the DC (Dream Consultants from Techshop) and a good luck :))

Step 6:

Then I put gas (everything was completely dry: carburetor, gas tank)

I was so surprised to push the switch and the motor started, coughing and chugging, but starting, WOW :)))

Step 7:

I adjusted the carburater and was ready to get busy

Step 8:

The end result of this project will be the compaction of dirt shoulder in front of my house in La Honda, CA

This project will take approximately 40 hours. If I had to rent a compactor at the rate of the more than $70/day,it would have cost quite a bit. Thanks to the DC from Techshop the repair was done, the dirt compactor works great. I made it at Techshop.