Technical Automotive parts in industrial applications

I used to do a lot of work on the Philaadelphia Mainline and there are loads of emergency generators in the basements of the mansions mostly running on natural gas. Most are Hemis but I've come across more than one big block Chevy and several four and six cylinder Fords on small 100 amp units. When you can get them, they are always mint and maintained over the years religiously. There is a Hemi powered siren still on the roof of a building in Ardmore. Not a fire house so I suspect it was cold war era nuclear warning for Philadelphia. Ir has been left with the sheetmetal off on the roof so it's pretty much trash.

 

The engine I am going to build for my '63 Ranchero is a 200 I-6 that came from a welder... A Miller I think...

LynnW

 

I picked this up from an old farm yard so I suspect it served farm duty. Model t engine still in part of it's original frame. It has a wide belt drive attached to the transmission for maybe a sawmill or threshing or? I particularly like the homemade repair on the engine block where I assume a connecting rod made a hole. It still turns over great after sitting outside for unknown many years. I'd love to get it running. The patch makes for great conversation.

 

My dad’s friend’s Ranch in Indio, CA. 1953

Hello,

My first real encounter with a tractor was in 1953. My dad’s friend had a large ranch in the Indio, CA area and we drove out there from Long Beach several times. At that ranch, I was able to get behind the wheel of a tractor with giant wheels at the back. My dad’s friend even started it up and let me rev the motor. It was like sitting on a live horse hanging on, with the steering wheel as the only thing to grab.

That area of So Cal was dry, dusty and hot. It certainly was a definite contrast to our ocean influenced area in Long Beach. Being dry, hot and dusty, was not my mom’s cup of tea. We only made two trips out there during this time. She kept telling my dad about how hot it was. 1953, our big Buick 4 door did not have air conditioning, so that may have been one of the reasons my mom did not like going out to that desert climate area.

Jnaki

I am not sure that it was a date ranch as we brought home a lot of dates in crates, but also a lot of fresh vegetables. But those fields did not have the high speed, powerful sprays or sprinklers. There were rows of crops covered with something and water troughs next to each row. there was a motor running in the far reaches of the huge yard. it pumped water to those rows of crops.

My brother thought it was a car running while we were playing in the dirt and throwing rocks. It was a set up similar to this one a Flathead motor turning over a pump to send water to the rows of crops in the huge farm.

Dates? Yes, we remember plenty of dates and date farms. But something tells me it was vegetables.

A sample automotive engine
"A stationary engine is mounted on a foundation or a platform on a foundation and powers a pumping plant at a permanent location. A portable engine is mounted on a trailer or skid that is intended to operate at multiple locations over short durations."

 

Many combines over the years used automotive engines

 

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I cut my teeth working for IH dealer back in the 80's. As an apprentice I was sent out in the field with the Journeymen mechanics when they needed an extra pair of hands on a job. Sometimes just to clean parts for them. One job I was sent out on was to LAX to help a mechanic working on one of those tugs. We got done with whatever we were working on and he told me to follow him around to the back end and he opened up the compartment doors and said take a look at that, and there was a hemi sitting there, just as you describe, powering the generator used to start the jet engine. The main engine was some huge 500+ cu in IH gasoline V8 engine.

 

Yep, all the orange groves around here had those large fans which were only used a few nights per year when the temps got down to freezing. They circulated the air and kept the frost from setting on the oranges and freezing them. Many were old V8 gasoline engines, Ford flatheads, SBC's, Chrysler hemis, etc.

 

And of course there are the V8's that are used as compressors, with 1 bank firing on gas and the other bank compressing air. And this was not only used decades ago, there are still engines working like this today out in the natural gas fields in CO, NM, TX & OK. We have a customer with maybe a few hundred Ford 460 V8's converted over to run on natural gas, with 1 bank firing on the gas and the other bank pumping the gas down the line. That's raw unfiltered gas straight out of the well, it's nasty stuff.

I found this video showing a flathead where 2 pistons on each bank are fired on gas, and the other 2 pistons on each bank are compressing air. They stagger the pistons, so the two inside pistons on the driver side and the two outside pistons on the passenger side are firing. (if I have my Ford cylinder numbers correct, that'd be # 2, 3, 5 & 8)

 

Back in 60-70s, my orange farmer grandfather had a water pump powered by one of the Pontiac 195 half-V8 engines. I don't have any details, it pumped water out of the canal to flood the field.

Sent from my SM-A102U using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

Another source for 200 Fords like this are Versatile 400 swathers. Very cheap to buy now as they are older and way too small for today's farmers, at least around here.