Canadian Coleman 325 made 1/85

Hello fellow lamp/lantern lovers,

I received a 325 Coleman lantern today so I got busy seeing what could be done to get her up and running.


There was no glass globe. I will have the glass globe for this lantern shortly.

The 325 is in fair condition with a few chips in the paint. The top is in excellent shape as it the handle.


The decals on the other hand are in very poor condition.


The first thing to do was dismantle the lantern. I found that both O-Rings were shot. There are 2 on this lantern one is on the eccentric block which stops the fuel flow and one on the control valve. Both were replaced and oiled.

I was having problems with the fuel tank coating flaking off so it took me about an hour to get the inside of the fuel tank clean. Yep it's a royal pain in the arse to clean up the inside of these tanks.

I also found the fuel pickup tube was almost totally plugged so I had to take care of that so now it was time to reassemble this lantern and give here a try. I tried to light the lantern and it was starving for fuel so dismantled the lantern again and found the aperture at the bottom of the pickup tube was partially plugged so I got that sorted and reassembled the lantern once again.

I don't really like the O-Ring setup due to the possibility of having a fire hazard when these O-Rings fail so I replaced the original Coleman fuel vaporizer with a 339 kerosene vaporizer along with the preheater cup. Let's face it if the O-Rings fail while running on kerosene all you will have is a mess to clean up. To depressurize the tank all one needs to do is loosen the filler cap.

OK it's time for some action shots.
Preheating and yes I know it's almost as fun as watching paint dry or grass grow.


Up and running and this lantern is bright even during the day light.


I hope you enjoyed the presentation.

Cheers,
Norman

 

Thanks, Norman.

Cheers

Tony

 

I noted your remark on the pain of preheating and had to smile.

I like pre-heating and lighting a kerosene lantern, I suppose it is similar to foreplay.

Back to your post, nice lantern and conversion. I the 625 and kept it original, it is a bright and noisy beast!

 

Well presented and a good fettle done. I like your conversation to kerosene for the sake of safety, again well done.
Cheers
Pete

 

Your description about pre heating gave me a smile.
And it's a nice lamp anyway.

Matthias

 

Thanks guys for your kind comments.

This lantern does run very well on Kerosene, but again it would run fine on Coleman fuel as well.

 

A very sensible conversion!

 

It's running nicely Norman.

 

Thanks guys.

 

Hello,
After reading this post I purchased a 339 generator for my 325A and it is a but longer. See photo.