cool old engines - the latest additions to my hoard

A couple of old engines that I just acquired. Onan twin cylinder gas. model ACK.
There's not any info on the web about them, but they are obviously military surplus.
I figured that they must have been made for running a compressor (possibly refrigeration) but I am just guessing.

I'll tinker with them and get them running but after that......... ????????????
Any info on them you guys may have would be really appreciated.





Fairbanks-Morse magnetos:


Pierce governors:


Tillotson carbs:


Specs:

When I was a kid, one of my first bikes was a 1966 Harley Davidson XLCH Sportster . It had a Tillotson carb and a Fairbanks Morse magneto. Thank God it didn't have a governor. They probably won't leak as long as you don't put any oil in them. Cool engines.

Hook 'em up to dynamos and save 'em for zombie apocalypse generators.

I thought that there would be more people interested in old air cooled engines on this forum......... I guess not.

I recently inherited an Onan/Miller welder from my father. The engine is similar in layout to those in your photo, but I recall that it is rated at 18 hp, so it might be a bit bigger displacement.
I remember great excitement when the welder was purchased. I was about 12 years old at the time and learning to weld, so it was wonderful to have this nice little 230 amp stick welder right out the back door.
The On an engines are a beautiful thing, easy start, smooth running and very reliable. They also have their own sound, quite a nice bark.
With the Onan/Miller you can flip a switch and run the unit at a high idle for AC and DC generation, 5.5 kW as I recall.
Great for repairing a Caterpillar out on a job. The welder can be used as a genset to power a portable grinder to v out an area to be welded, the switch to weld for the repair.
As far as people here not being interested in old aircooled engines, don't be offended. I put up a question in the BSA section and there was no response to that! At one time BSA motorcycles claimed that one in every three motorcycles in the world was a BSA, so I was surprised that there wasn't any response.
But this is primarily a Norton Commando site, lots of interest there.

Glen

They look in good shape and may run fine. Onan or small engine builders might have manual and parts lists. The magnets looks like fairly common type that magneto repair/supply places will have parts and setting advice.

Mark said:

I thought that there would be more people interested in old air cooled engines on this forum......... I guess not.

Click to expand...

They're not exactly 28-cylinder radial aircraft engines. Other than the external mags, they're pretty similar to what's in most lawn tractors.

Danno, if you think that they are commonplace, please post a pic of another one.

3600 rpm will run a hydraulic pump just fine. A hydrostatic drive tractor is what I have been thinking of.
they are pretty heavy though.

Pretty cool. The not-so-exotic stuff is more in my league. I have a pretty old big Briggs & Stratton single in pieces with a broken connecting rod.

The Fairbanks-Morse mags: I had to replace an armature which would die when the mag got hot. This was on a '46 Allis Chalmers tractor. At least these are made to be fixed out in the farm field.

Let us know when you fire them up. Video?

Russ

I just had a similar Kohler long block from these guys delivered with my Bore Tech barrels and new piston kit installed and noticed they deal with Onans now too.
http://shop.kustomlawnandgarden.com/ONAN-PARTS_c9.htm
We have started having some parts made and some we are getting from aftermarket suppliers at a huge savings over OEM parts. OEM parts are not any better or give a better rebuild. The quality of a rebuild depends on who is rebuilding and the work they do. We get hundreds of calls each year from people that had an engine rebuilt elsewhere with Genuine OEM parts and the rebuild is junk. We sell only parts we have tested and used without fail. I have used the aftermarket Onan parts we sell here on my own tractor for a couple years now and they are as good as any on the market.

http://www.smokstak.com/forum/showthread.php?t=53354


http://www.lawnmowersshop.co.uk/20hp-on ... ower-2.htm


Have a look at this website; they were used in a lot of applications;

https://www.pplmotorhomes.com/parts/gen ... -parts.htm

Mark said:

A couple of old engines that I just acquired. Onan twin cylinder gas. model ACK.
There's not any info on the web about them, but they are obviously military surplus.
I figured that they must have been made for running a compressor (possibly refrigeration) but I am just guessing.

I'll tinker with them and get them running but after that......... ????????????
Any info on them you guys may have would be really appreciated.

Fairbanks-Morse magnetos:

Pierce governors:

Tillotson carbs:

Specs:

Click to expand...

I've got a Onan CCK 4KW GenSet which can do 120V or 220V. 1800RPM purrs like a kitten.
Reliable but a little fuel heavy for continuous use. Wish it was Diesel.
Cheers,
Thomas
CNN

i was thinking maybe for a generator

prob easy to find out with a few calls here
https://www.google.ca/search?q=stabilar ... ator+parts

this link jumped out
http://www.steelsoldiers.com/showthread ... ice-Online

I started looking around last night using google to find advice on buying military surplus generators and was shocked to see so much bad advice and misinformation out there on a variety of message boards ranging from the wacko survivalist boards, gun owner boards, to home owner groups. (this is not to claim all survivalist are wackos, just that some members of the group can be a bit off the deep end and not living in the real world). Some of this advice may be considered a matter of opinion, you don't want a big heavy generator, and others are just plain wrong like, the small 3KW diesel powered military generators have rope pull starters and Onan built engines that you can't find parts for. The later obviously confusing the difference between the MEP-016 family members (a,b,c,d, &e).

Click to expand...

I think that they were originally intended as power for refrigeration units (reefers).

The 3600 rpm is cool as most CCKs were set at 1800.
3600 RPM will run a hydraulic pump easily which really opens up the possibilities for these little engines.

I still haven't gotten around to playing with them yet.
I'm in the process of building a new shop so all of my projects and tools are packed up for the time being.