What will replace Hercules IXB engine

[John Anthony]

I have a great running continental F163 and wondering what will have to change  to make it fit or a engine from a lincoln   welder can anybody  help? Engine that is there smokes bad and will rebuild it, but sometimes its easy to upgrade a working machine. John

[John D]

I have a great running continental F163 and wondering what will have to change  to make it fit or a engine from a lincoln   welder can anybody  help? Engine that is there smokes bad and will rebuild it, but sometimes its easy to upgrade a working machine. John

Let's see if I understand - you have a 4cyl Continental available and you want to know how to fit it into your Cletrac to replace your Hercules IXB that smokes bad?  What model Cletrac do you have?

I had a similar challenge, but most of the engineering was done already - my AG-6 originally had the 6 cyl Continenal, but it had been swapped out for a Willys Super Hurricane [ 6 cyl Continental].  Since they were dealing with the same basic block, they were able to adapt the Cletrac waterpump to the automotive engine, and the flywheel and rear engine mount (bell housing front cover) was a straight bolt-on.  I suspect this was an easier conversion than yours may be.  

The biggest issue they had was that the automotive engine has a timing chain, while the industrial version of the engine has timing gears, which drove the governor.  They closed up the governor mounting hole and used a belt driven governor.  Sounds like you won't have that issue.

Here's where some good old fashioned measurements come in handy.  Assuming your Continental has a fan & waterpump, how will that align with the fan shroud on the Cletrac?  Would be tough to get all the other engineering done and realize you can't use the fan... but that's what electric fans are for