New OC3 owner in Virginia

[Lowspeedlife]

Found some surplus Lombardini liquid cooled diesels with low hours on them. They are 1800 rpm generator engines, but that just means they have governors with quick response times. 3 cylinders, 18.4 hp at 1800 rpm, (gubment always rates things low). I worked for the local Lombardini distributor in the '80s. They are nice engines, easy to work on, parts are available, though not cheap. They come as standard on some Pasquali Italian tractors. Just another option.
Scott R.
(Edit 8:00 pm)
Did a little more checking, these are only 12.4 hp at 1800 rpm so thats a not going to be big enough for me.  Still if the price is right might be good for gensets.

[Blake Malkamaki]

How much are they and what do they weigh? Might make good garden tractor replacement engines? Gravely?

[Lowspeedlife]

Hi Blake,
 they are actually in 9 kw mil surplus gensets. Anyone interested can PM me & i'll give them the info.

[Jack in NB]

Hello Scott -

None I've seen (have worked on 4) had pressurized cooling systems. The overflow tube was near the top inside the header tank, just under the cap, with no provision for the sealing collar found with pressurized caps.

[Lowspeedlife]

Hi Jack,
Thanks for the reply, so the hole in the bottom of the top radiator tank is for an overflow tube. Good thing I haven't soldered it closed yet , what was in there, a piece of brass tubing about 5/16 ths or 3/8 ths of an inch? Or was it copper?  Did it turn to the left after it exited & have a hose attached or was it tubing all the way down to the frame? Maybe I can find a picture some where. If not I'll just wing it. It will all be under the sheet metal, no one will see it.
   Scott R

[John Schwiebert]

If you stick with the Hercules you need an IXB engine manual. The IXB-5 engines and the L versions are covered in those manuals. If you don't keep it I am sure somebody that pulls one of the crawlers (B. F> Avery) would want a stroker crank for his pulling tractor. IXB 5 means it has 5 timing gears. IXB-3 as used in the crawlers have 3 timing gears. Also are your bearings shim adjustable? Main bearings are being reproduced, but bring your checkbook ($$$). I might have an extra IXB manual, there are a couple different ones.

[Lowspeedlife]

Thanks John, I've already ordered both an IX service manual & an IX-5 parts manual for 29.95 each (at least the the shipping was free). Hopefully they will be here soon. Have read everything there is on the Internet about the IX series of engines, but hadn't found anything about the cooling system being pressurized or not. As to bearings, I didn't see any shims when I removed them but that doesn't mean they should not have been there. Anything I should be looking for that would tell me if they should be there? Looks like valves are about $30.00 apiece, Stiener has ring sets for $69.00 but they state they are for three compression ring / 1 oil ring pistons. Mine have two compression & two oil rings, maybe they will make-up a set for me looks like they are all "custom" ring sets. Haven't located bearings but really haven't tried since I'm not sure what the journal size will be.
       Scott R.

[Jack in NB]

Scott -

Re the overflow - I'd guess it is 1/4" copper tubing. And it ran down the right side of the rad to the bottom - behind the core fins, and tight to the mounting tinwork. I think it was soldered at a few points on the way to the bottom, but could be retained with 2 or three clamps held on with screws or #6 or #8 bolts and nuts.

It has to be held firmly so it doesn't flip out and catch the fan.

I'll double check mine in the morning, and if any change, will update this post.

jack

[Lowspeedlife]

Thanks Jack, coppers a lot easier to form than brass, think I've got 1/4 & 5/16ths 'round here someplace.  Time to start diggin' LOL!
  Scott R

[oliverchris]

Rad is not pressurized. I have a decent spare IXB5, if you need it? Bottom end was rebuilt to 10 under. Was fitted on an HG68. But I have not run it yet as it came without a distributor 
It does have the cut-out for a magneto though.

[Lowspeedlife]

Thanks Chris, I'll keep your kind offer in mind as I find out how much it will cost to get my existing engine back in shape.  Took the block, crank & head to a small local machinist that has been doing machine work for over forty years. He's going to tank clean the block & head, pressure check it & see what it really needs. At this point, I see it needing : sleeve replaced in cyl #1, new sleeve in cyl #2. New valve seats for all four exhaust valves. At least one valve guide (cracked). Crank mains ground .010 under size.  New main & rod bearings, cam bearings, four sets of rings & one new piston. Interestingly I found about a foot & a half of steel tie wire in the cooling jacket of the block along with four small pieces of cast iron about the size of a dime & about 4 times the thickness of a dime. I think these are the water pump impeller vanes! All four were on the left side of the engine just below where the water pump discharge hose connects back to the block. I had a hard time getting the water pump/distributor drive housing off the engine as I could not get it to turn, finally i did get it to move by applying a pipe wrench to turn it about an inch, to allow the timing gears to disengage. Should hear back from the machinist by the weekend. Hes going to see if he can locate bearings & a piston for me.
                                                                    Wish me luck!

Scott R

[Lowspeedlife]

Well this is rapidly turning bad, my block needs at least three cylinders bored out ( that means all four), new valve seats on all exhausts & several new valves. the crank mains ground undersize & new bearings, as John S said they are expensive. My machinist got a quote of $488.00 for the mains & rods alone. I have located three NOSrod bearings & bought them just cause the auction was ending. So with new pistons, rings bearings & machine work, just making the engine run is getting costly. Surplus center has the little Caterpillar/perkins C1.1 engine for $2200.00. Looks like I'm easily going to spend that on this one. I'd jump on the cat but there is no bellhousing & the flywheel is not set up for a clutch. The only info I have found on bellhousing/flywheels is that they are hard to find & expensive, like 1200 to 1500 bucks.  That puts it into the $3700.00 range. Maybe I should be looking for a cummins 4lbt or similar engine. There is still Chris' IXB-5 offer, decisions, decisions, decisions!


   Scott R

[oliverchris]

I can sell you a new set of rods and mains for 30% less than that. Every bit helps 
Chris

[Jim Leap]

Hello Scott,

I'm in a similar situation with an older IXK block in an HG. It has the "poured" crank main and rod bearings. They all need replacing along with pistons, valves etc. etc. It got way to expensive. I recently purchased a little Kubota 1105 diesel engine with a turbo out of a Jacobsen mower. I'm in the process of working through all of the details of a swap. Swaps get expensive too. It is looking like my biggest challenge will be coming up with the right clutch/bell housing combo. I will be putting in an "under drive" transmission as well. I have a model A trans but I may end up with a small transmission (if I can find the right one) with the same output shaft spline configuration as the smaller Kubota clutch discs. It will be a long drawn out process for sure but, if it all works out, will provide a very fuel efficient little crawler.

Jim Leap
San Juan Bautista, CA

[Blake Malkamaki]

We have the experimental HG that was used in the development of the OC-6. It has on Oliver 77 engine and performed well with it. You may want to consider something like that.

Blake