It may be rambling but I for one appreciate the insight and depth of knowledge that I gain.....
-----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of waterguy Sent: Wednesday, June 03, 2009 7:13 AM To: UnifliteWorld Subject: [UnifliteWorld] Re: Old Generator needs some help. I need advice. [In reviewing this post, I realized I ramble on. It's very late, and I've been working since 8 this morning, so I'm a little punchy. My apologies in advance.] *WOW!* I looked at the pictures you posted on the Uniflite World web site. That, sir, is the most unusual generator I've ever seen. Is the motor part a one-cylinder? The flywheel exits the side of the crankcase, so I can't see how it would be an inline multi-cylinder with that flywheel orientation unless there's a 90-degree gearset in the crankcase; but I'd expect to see some sort of casting for the crankshaft end bearing on the top of the crankcase. It could be a very long opposed twin, but I think I see the edge of the generator housing under the starter motor. So the motor drives the alternator (AC generator) via the exposed cogged belt on the side. Very strange. My guess (and it's only a guess) is that you've got some sort of home-built installation there. A horizontal, one-lunger diesel power unit with a belt drive to a separate alternator unit. That motor is probably some agricultural or industrial unit . . . could be John Deere, Case, maybe an old Lister or SAAB, or any one of a number of other ag/industrial stationary power units. Poke and prod and peek around with a flashlight and a mirror and see if there's a name cast into the crankcase or cylinder block, and keep an open mind -- don't just look for marine engine names. If you find any sort of name, Google it and see what you find. I know Yanmar made a line of side-shaft one-cylinder diesels. Try putting a wrench or socket over an exposed bolt that's an integral part of the motor - like a cylinder head bolt or something. If you can't find an Imperial size that fits, try metric. If you get a perfect fit with a metric wrench, that strongly suggests foreign manufacture. Looking at the pictures, it appears that the raw water pump is mounted on some sort of fabricated bracket and driven by a belt off the flywheel. I don't see a fresh water pump at all, it may be a non- circulating thermosyphon water jacket, which strengthens my suspicion that the motor is some agricultural/industrial unit. Non-circulating cooling systems were pretty common on stationary motors; I've seen old McCormick and John Deere motors (really old, with big flywheels driving big leather belts for threshing machines and so forth) where you just filled up this big well on top of the motor with water, and the heat from the water would just transfer to the air without a radiator. Though there could be a direct-drive pump that I don't see; but the heat exchanger bolts right on to the cylinder housing, so I think what it does is runs cool, raw water through a coil inside that housing, which pulls the heat out of the non-circulating water that surrounds the cylinder. Now I know why it has the San Juan Engineering plate on the heat exchanger; SJE made fresh-water-cooling conversions for marine conversions; my 440 Chryslers have SJE fresh water cooling, and I am very confident that they were original equipment options from the Uniflite factory because I have the original photographs and manuals in my owner's manual books. SJE was in Bellingham, where the Uniflite factory was. And that kind of makes me question my comment that it was a home-built installation, because Uniflite used SJE fresh-water-cooling conversion sets. Weirder and weirder. In their earlier years, Uniflite kind of did their own thing. Yet, by 1983, the year of your boat, Uniflite was mainstream enough that they wouldn't have cobbled together some random assemblage of parts for a genset. If it was homebuilt, whoever did it could have scavenged a SJE heat exchanger system from some other, more common, genset. Yet, the housing on your motor looks like it's a custom fit for whatever that motor is. Weird, weird, weird. Have you tried contacting the boat's former owner(s) for their insights? If you can find a local independent diesel repair mechanic (especially some old curmudgeon who chews tobacco and swears a lot), it might be worth buying an hour of his time to look it over. I'm not surprised your marine surveyor and engine surveyor and mechanics were stumped, it just doesn't look like a marine unit. I really try to keep my boat original, but if I had something like that, and it seemed to be nearing the end of its life, I'd start saving for a really nice new Westerbeke or Northern Lights marine unit. That would make a nice winter project. You know, I keep going back to those pictures. I'm looking at that air filter housing; that's something else odd. Most marine engines don't have true air filters; they have backfire flame arrestors, which are a sort of metal mesh affair that mainly keep backfires from flashing out into the engine spaces, but don't really clean the air (not much dust out on the water is the theory). But yours looks like some sort of true filter. Note that it might be an old-style oil-bath filter; these used a shallow sump of oil, and the air flow was forced to to make a sharp 90 degree turn right over the oil. The theory was that dust particles in the air would be thrown off as the air made the sharp turn and stick in the oil. It sounds goofy, but they actually work well. Most cars up to the 1950's used oil bath filters, and I have a lawn mower and lawn aerator that do. You service them by taking them off, pouring out the old oil (recycling, of course), and refilling with clean 30- weight. There should be a "fill-to" line cast into the housing, and you only use a little oil in the bottom of the housing. Of course, if you take off that cap to the filter housing and there's a paper filter in there, ignore everything I just wrote. Please keep posting to this thread. I am tremendously curious about your genset. Thanks. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "UnifliteWorld" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/UnifliteWorld?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
