What could be done before the Internet was around to tell you it can't be done.. 1915 Peerless with MASSIVE damage and gas welded aluminum repairs. It's being torn done for work NOT related to these ancient repairs.
That's a lot of heroics to save that engine. Whenever it was done the welding labor rate was probably more than the car was worth.
Wow all that destruction on the bottom end must have come from a crank- rod failure. Somebody really wanted to save the block and found a really good welder. Would be hard to do today much less back when.
You can't imagine what a feat is was to weld that engine. I TIG welded an aluminum oil pan from a '32 Ford and the oil just kept leeching out of the aluminum when I applied the heat. I finally sent the pan to a company that did "high heat vapor degreasing" and it helped, but wasn't perfect. Any idea when that job was done?
Good Lord! It looks like somebody tried running it on nitro! You'd almost think it was welded together from parts of three other blocks. There's actually a lot of other interesting things to look at in these pictures. The pistons look like they're about the diameter of a pop can. Safety wired grade 5 rod bolts. The two lug drive coupling that I haven't completely figured out yet. Soldered copper oil pipes running around in the crankcase. Castle nuts on the main caps. The brass I.D. tag riveted to the block. The long stroke and the rods to go with it. How many main bearings does this engine have?
Wow. Had an old welding instructor back in the 70s who still taught gas welding, but always told us we'd never use it at a job. I knew I would, cause I wanted to play with old stuff. His gas welding on aluminum looked like magic and voodoo to us. His work was beautiful, and ours always looked like shit. He was probably born about 1915, and could do anything with a torch. X2 on the porosity of old cast aluminum. Always hated trying to TIG engine parts.
So let's see..... it is (was) a running engine, so it gets a basic engine refresh, valve grind and re-ring, fix oil leaks. 3 main bearings, small bore, mile long rods. The crank throws are curved between the main and rod journals, never seen a crank like that. The rods are polished, and it looks like it's been balanced. External oil pump, cam driven of a lobe and arm. The copper tubes just squirt oil where needed. If I had to guess, the block was damaged at some point while disassembled and sitting somewhere, not while running. Not freeze damage as there is no water in the block. Best guess is repairs were done in the 40-50s based on car owners history/knowledge. No additional welding, the repairs are all good.
That welding is amazing. It would be nice to have met the person who did it. His work does live on as a tribute to his talent.
mind boggling work. I would guess they probably had to align bore the mains and cam tunnel as well, you would think welding up that amount of damage would cause some distortion. Incredible.
That's awesome, if there's a will..................... Wonder if it could have happened in a crash? Motor vehicle crash.
Never seen that much alloy welding, but have seen a lot of braze repair on old cast iron machinery. A real art and SKILL all but lost today, probably.
Can you just imagine how much they had to pre-heat that block and keep it hot Might even take two guys one to pre-heat and one to weld it ' those dudes had talent ' DND
my guess is, that's not it. In all likelihood even in the late fifties, "replace" was probably not a viable option for a 1915 Peerless.
1915 was the first year for V8 cars in America. In addition to the well known Cadillac there was Peerless, Cole 8, Daniels and others. Peerless used a Hershell-Spillman engine made by a manufacturer of carnival rides! Certainly a rare car and rare engine.
During this era of the teens (maybe a few years before) the 3 Ps were the luxury cars in the US. Packard, Peerless and Pierce Arrow. All three makes were great cars. I owned a 1912 Peerless Model Model 36 K Touring with a big inline 6 cylinder. I believe it had 578 cubic inches that I acquired unrestored from my grandfather. I sold it to a gentleman in Texas unrestored and I believe it later sold restored for close to $400,000 and is now in Fountainhead museum in Alaska. They were really great cars. Doug (NoboD) is right the two lug connection is for the magneto, common in many of these cars as they often ran dual ignition. The welding is quite good for sure but it does not surprise me. My grandfather started restoring these old brass cars and classic cars in the 40s and I worked in his restoration shop starting in 1964. I remember prepping aluminum blocks and heads to be sent out and welded and we would finish the welds on their return and was hard to tell what had been done. I remember I worked on some aluminum Rolls Royce heads that had holes from corrosion that most would throw away today. My grandfather showed me how to make the aluminum pieces to be welded in (just make it pretty close to fitting)and when the heads came back I was amazed. Some amazing craftsman back then. My grandfather hired retirees from the old auto plants to do the restorations and they were pretty good but I ran into some guys that were really talented.
There are similar drives on either side, magneto, water pump, distributor, something else maybe I can't remember at the moment. The amount of welding is unbelievable. The entire back of the block was welded back on to the sides, which were in dozens of pieces. I see a fair amount of early stuff at my work, never seen anything even close to this.
Badshifter, I realize you are doing the engine work but would be nice to know what body style the engine is going in. Would really like to see it when it is all done. Really smooth engines and great cars to drive. Many during that era were not so great to drive. As you probably know when they went out of business in the 30s after prohibition they switched from cars to brewing, becoming Carling Brewing Co (Carling Black Label)
That's a definitely "" I can do it """ Over on Ford Barn there a Thread , I have seen ,I thank it called ""Farmer Repair's"" or Fixes
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