I thought this was cool..(it's not mine).. http://cgi.ebay.com/Old-collectable-Lincoln-Welder-powered-by-Flathead-Ford_W0QQitemZ7619725719QQcategoryZ113743QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
hear at work we have a flathead powered generator that hasn't been started in some 20 years use to be started monthly. a big 4 kw's it was for the emergency lites for the ba*****t. Watercooled at the time off a big water tower and the exhaust is exited out the side of the building. Ed ke6bnl
that is definitely cool. I remember seeing a rocket olds powered planer on ebay not too long ago. amazing how ingenuitive people were back in the day.
My uncle in eastern Wash has one like that with a flathead 6 in it! That thing will weld about anything, uses it aalot around his farm. jerry
My LaSalle motor used to be a lighting generator. Hasn't been started (turns good though!) for about 28 years.
I have seen a flathead powered welder on a farm in Kansas. I was told that it came out of a combine...and was adapted to drive the welder. I checked it out...damned if they didn't use a lot of flat heads in combines. When I was looking for a 392 for my g***er project I ran across a guy in Ill that had a generator powered by a 392. Man that would have been one gas eating generator.
WARNING GUYS, I AM A LOCAL RESIDENT AND CAN TELL YOU THE SPACE COAST (BREVARD COUNTY, ***USVILLE, COCOA BEACH, ETC.) IS ONE OF THE MOST CORROSIVE AIR ENVIRONMENTS IN THE WORLD. THE RUST DAMAGE ON THAT FLATHEAD IS PROBABLY BEYONE SALVAGE. This is basicly like cape hatteras, the salt is mixed in the air with a 80 percent humidity level most of the time, the result is a mixture that puts holes into steel in fast time. i know he says it cranks, but if you don't believe me, look at the heads... ****ing forget about it. my father works for Nasa on the shuttle for United Space Alliance in raw materials so if you want proof or data let me know. everything on the launch pads is replaced due to corrosion every 2 years or so. if this flathead has been in ***usville for more than 10 years outside i'd say it's a goner. this aint arizona.. LOL you lucky *******s...
Grandpa always tells a story about when he helped to build an aluminum plant for the government right after the war started. One of the things he remembers about the job site was not the fighter planes flying over-head, not the armed guards all over, but the awesome sound of the flatty powered welders running inside of a building. As a young boy, this sound just made him want an old Ford even more... More story details here.... http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=57830&highlight=lancaster
Most of the old movie theatres in new zealand had a flatmotor powered generator in the ba*****t as a backup power supply .
A mate scored a Model A banger motor out of a farm pump as it was 'dead' and the owner couldn't fix it or buy replacement parts for it any more. (Distributor cap cracked). He went to the wreckers and bought a little Jap 4cyl that was running, swapped it in and got a banger motor that had never been revved much above idle in all it's life for a clean swap. Cheers, Glen.
at the dirt track I raced at in the mid 90's they had a hemi powered water pump to empty the water out of the middle of the track when it rained. was a long night when you get there early to help set up the pump and piping and listen to an open piped hemi run at 3k rpm for 4 hours straight (believe me, it's not as pleasant as it sounds) before it was time to get your own car setup to race. was a crazy pump though. thing would empty 2.5ft of water out of the infield of a 1/4 mile track in that 4 hours.
My dad had a flatty powered welder he built in about '54 or '55. They were fairly common back then usually using a war surplus aircraft generator,(alternator?), to run them. I remember the 97 on it had a sort or friction lever on the carb to adjust the speed. If you wanted more heat you ran the flatty faster. As I remember, this thing worked real well. He had it mounted crosswise in front of the Manley boom on a Chevy COE wrecker and used to make extra cash welding at the dirt races. I recall him winning a bet at the shop one day stating he could weld a coke bottle to the wrecker fender with it. And he did! Obviously the idea was to run the bead close enough to the bottle base to fuse the gl*** to the 1/4" plate fender deck. The bottle stayed on there for a few years until the truck was retired for a new Ford in '59, with a split boom Holmes I might add.
we have a v8 falthead here at work at Disney Studios, Water cooled that would generate 4000 watts, had 4 giant bulbs at 1000 watts each set up for the monthly generator checks. It just sits in our chiller plant now. Was used to light up the walk ways in the ba*****t for safetey if you had a power outage. I can get a picture if needed ED
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