Folks Of Interest Picked up an interesting Flathead.

Craigslist , love it or hate it, sometimes you get lucky.

Found this flathead last week on the Vermont border, 2-1/2 hour drive each way.

Story goes...this motor was purchased as an industrial motor and never been in a car. It was used in a building downtown Boston and was commissioned to run a back up water pump. It had a governor and was run on propane. It came with all the propane conversion parts and the pump input shaft.

The best part is the stand it mounted on. All cast iron.


It also has a Stewart warner tach drive and cable.


I called my man Tommy Caruso who is the local flathead guru to help de code the motor.

Turns out it's a 41-42 Merc 99A with a raised intake deck, 3-3/16" bore

It is soooo clean inside, probably the cleanest iv seen.

 

The flywheel has never had a clutch on it and still has cosmolene on it

 

Here's the cast iron stand that was lagged to the ground.

You can see the out put shaft that bolted directly to the crank and had a belt driven pulley pressed on to it.

 

Stewart warner tach drive, look at how long the water pumps are.

 

Wow! What an incredible find!

 

So Pete........what project you going to stuff it in?

 

guy here has a 32 V8 bought new to power a cotton gin on propane. He says it is very clean inside too

 

Even has the OG champion plugs

 

I have no idea....just couldn't pass this up, I was stunned that it actually came from Boston. It was removed from the building right next to the museum of science.

 

I was told it ran a back up water pump but the bellhousing says general power co. On it? I have no idea.

 

That's cool!
Great find.

I used to work in the shop that maintained a fleet of taxi cabs run on propane.
Propane doesn't wash down the cylinders like gas does so the oil stays clean a lot longer and the engine won't gunk up. The problem we did have was engines running hot and burning valves and cracking heads.

What are you going to put it in?


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great score

 

Some people buy lottery tickets, But OL' Hollywood Pete just scans the local craigslist and WINS! Way to go Pete .

 

I still buy lottery tickets...never win tho

 

Nice score!

 

cool......

 

Note to self . . . START WATCHING Craig's list. 99A block, great score!
Tom

 

If its a Mercury engine, it has the wrong distributer for 1942 so it should have 19A on the heads and its a 1941

 

Great Find!


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Great !

 

Wow! Terrific score Pete! The setup is damn near a museum piece. It must have VERY minimal run time on it. Did it have an hour meter on it?

I found a couple of things on General Power, Quapaw, OK, including a HAMB post with one of their stands, which looks to be a later (non cast) stand. Looks like they also once made hand water well pumps.

https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum...-heat-risers-and-steel-pack-mufflers.1014590/

 

That cast stand alone is worth the price of admission! Very cool find.

 

If you had a well, you could run a pump that would take off the first layer of skin.
That's one heckuva find.

 

Very cool- and a merc to boot! Supposedly an engine that runs on propane doesn’t even ‘need’ oil, as the propane lubricates as well (not saying to run it sans oil!). Cool parts and pieces anyways.
Great score!

 

Great score!!
Speedy Bill's museum will be contacting you!

 

A propane fueled engine still requires oil. Propane has minimal lubrication qualities but it doesn't wash down the cylinder like gasoline does. That is why propane fueled taxi's can get 500k mileage. I've seen chev. V8's torn down for a maintenance check and re-bearing with 150k and no cylinder ridge or scoring.

 

I woudn't say that as I have seen far too many worn out or damaged fork lift engines that ran on propane. Those all had correct maintenance and oil changes on time too. The engines are normally very clean inside and the oil usually looks clean after running the prescribed hours between oil changes.

 

That engine is a beautiful thing.

 

" It was removed from the building right next to the museum of science."

If society appreciated old machinery, that engine assembly would have been simply moved over to the museum.