Fairbanks Morse - First smoke

[cschuerm]

It's been a fun week.  I'd dropped off a wish list for parts at the local oilwell supply shop after I bought the engine.  Although I don't think they really appreciate a hobby customer, they told me they'd see what they could dig up and call me someday.  Wasn't really hopeful I'd hear back, but I did.  Dropped by yesterday and they had a very dusty old box with a pristine NOS radiator, a new fan, bearings, all the mounting hardware, springs, nuts, bolts, and everything.  Freshly rebuilt mag (well, the box said rebuilt in 1993), a carb rebuilt kit, and some other misc bits and parts.  I decided I wanted to see if I could get the old gal to run before I start a total teardown, so I cleaned out the carb, installed the new mag, and put new valve springs on.  Put a little squirt of gas in the primer cup, filled the carb, rolled the flywheels, and she hit on the first click of the impulse coupler and settled in quickly a nice smooth run.  Absolutely awesome.  This is one smooth, nice running engine!  I almost hate to tear it down, but my goal is a museum quality restoration.  May have to just play with it a bit more first :-)

cheers,
Chris

[rcavictim]

Way to go Chris!  How big is this thing?  Got pictures you can post?

[cschuerm]

Sorry - just had to share the excitement of bringing an old engine back to life.  RCA, there are a few pics in the previous "Fairbanks ZC" thread from when I first brought this engine home.

Chris

[rcavictim]

Sorry - just had to share the excitement of bringing an old engine back to life.  RCA, there are a few pics in the previous "Fairbanks ZC" thread from when I first brought this engine home.

Chris

Chris,

Could you save us busy exectutives a lot of time and post a hotlink to the thread?


Edit:  I found it.  Wow, that is a biggie!  Nice!
http://www.microcogen.info/index.php?topic=2399.0

[billswan]

Chris

OH MY, please more pix. I am down on my knees begging for more pix............

By the way are those BIG flywheels held on with gib keys? They might be really challenging to remove so as to preserve pristine museum quality.

I for one vote for a complete step by step commentary on your up coming rebuild.

Billswan

[cschuerm]

I'd be happy to document the process here if there is interest.  Just didn't want to spam up the board with my non co-gen hobby projects. 
Regarding the flywheels, Fairbanks didn't use tapered keys.  The flywheels have a split hub with a giant pinch bolt and a straight key.  You remove the bolt then gently drive a wedge in just tight enough to allow removal (and hopefully don't crack the flywheel in the process).  This is going to be a fairly labor-intensive restoration just due to the mass of the parts.  Unfortunately, the base and flywheels are too large to fit in my blasting cabinet so will have to be cleaned the hard way.
I think I'll play with the engine a bit more today then start the tear-down.  I'm glad there's interest so I'll do my best to take pix and keep y'all updated on the progress.
Chris

[rcavictim]

Yes please too from me Chris. It isn't a diesel but it looks like one close enough and as you may be aware, an engine like that seems to automatically trigger a lot of flywheel envy around here.    The only partial cure is lots of pictures to admire.  I'll be looking forward to your project progress reports.  Since it is running so nicely I doubt I'd have the courage to tear it down.  I'd be polishing and painting the outside and leave it at that.

[mike90045]

Please, many pic's and reports.  Something you discover may spark something for others.

[cschuerm]

A few pix:
Cylinder head: rocker actuated exhaust and two "atmospheric" intake valves

[cschuerm]

Dual fuel carb.  Built in fuel pump for gasoline and feed for vapor (well gas, LP, LPG, propane).  Note compression release/primer cup on cylinder.

[cschuerm]

Flywheel: straight key with giant pinch bolt.  You can see the bearing housing behind the flywheel.  The crank runs on tapered roller bearings.

[cschuerm]

Clutch pack.  Using the round handwheel, you can operate the clutch while the engine is running.

[billswan]

Chris

Thank you for the first installment of pix.

Gee I think that for the size of those castings I would have thought it might be larger than 18 hp.

You are really starting to make me feel like I need one to

Good luck

Billswan

[LowGear]

Mr. Happy's flywheels will never be the same in my eyes again. 

Propane at almost $5 a gallon isn't a real consideration here on the islands.  Neat engine; please keep the photos coming.

Casey

[mbryner]

Awesome.     Loved seeing the pics.