Nearly all of the old wind machines in the orange groves in Redlands, Highland, Riverside area were flathead Fords. I have one, with the ch***is (it makes a cool test run stand). They used a toploader three speed coupled to the prop mechanism.
Back in 2000 we were out in Colorado, at an old gold mine at Cripple Creek that was made into a tourist site, and the elevator motor that took us down inside the mine and back up was an old Chrysler hemi. I took a picture of it at the time, but don't know what happened to the photo.
been there done that and it was awsome .it is cool to say you went into a gold mine and a hemi toook you there. here are some pics
Never say Never...........There were indeed 392 Industrial Hemi's. There is an airaid siren at Don Garlits Museum with a 392 for Power. Chrysler, more than anyone, was in the business to sell product. If they could build it they would sell it.
Orchard air sprayers also used industial engines from different manufacturers. I've seen 4 cyl flathead Willys to diesel John Deere over many years, and maybe a gas IH or two. Always know your surroundings...........
One year when Billetproof was held at Garlits place he dragged out his hemi powered air raid siren. That baby was LOUD ! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JEfYnByuTQ0 http://www.billetproof.com/billetproofvideo/avc-view.aspx?v=24 Don
Correct...most I have seen in Texas are 331 Industrial. They actually run "backwards" on irrigation pumps ......some internals will have to be changed. Most were set to run at 2650 RPM on larger 8" pumps. My 2 cents
One last time. There were no 392 hemis built for industrial applications. This is not to say that somewhere, at sometime, someone didnt swap out a true industrial for a 392 car engine. And industrial engines did not have any longer stroke than their car. truck. or marine counterpart. Sorry, its just not true.
Petronix, formally the Per-Lux Ignitor was originally developed to replace points for continous running engines in 24/7 situations.
This is a little Onan generator that uses a flathead Ford for power. It's still in use, in a small town municipal pump house.
Running a gasoline engine to pump water has to be expensive, but farming is what it is. True story of two vintage aircraft builders driving through Oklahoma and hear off in the distance the sound of a V-12.Some searching and find a WW2 vintage Allison 1710 engine running huge pumps.Considering gas engines under load use about 1/2 a gallon per hour per HP,that a lot of ****ing fuel. I've seen all sorts of old gas engines running industrial generators from Y Block Fords to 12 cylinder Cat Diesels.Many now use gas turbines (like a helicopter engine) because they can be made to burn cheaper fuels. Sometimes the engines are changed on a regular basis as a maintenance program for back up generators.Saw a pair of 454 Chevys than ran on natural gas for short money.Natural gas fired engines are down rated on power compared to gasoline ,moderate RPM's, were in fine shape.Two bolt mains,cast cranks,forged 8.5 pistons.
I used to work at a machine shop in west texas. We rebuilt some Irrigation well motors. Most were 455 olds. Once we went out to a big alfalfa farm to pick up an olds motor to rebuild and under a lean to on a big barn was about 20 retired hemi well motors. Would have been nice to have had the forethought and resources to buy them up and store them for 40 years. They more than likely all went to s****.
I repaired the oil pan on a Chrysler Hemi engine that was the emergency engine for a chair lift on a ski hill. In the event of an electric power failure the hemi was used to bring the people down ... there was a flathead Ford engine in the other lift ... the owner owner wasnt interested in up grading to a modern V8 ...
According to the people at http://www.victorysiren.com/x/index.htm those sirens used the 331 hemi. It appears they were mainly built in the early 1950s, before the 392 was introduced.
One of my 8ba's, this was from the Las Angeles area ran on propane in a orchard on a big fan. The valve chest was clean with no sludge. Vergil
i have a 331 industrial hemi .. was used for pumping water on pecan farm, ran on propane....still has the paint on the valve springs.... it was a one owner... low hours super clean,,,, the industrail hemi motors have a different timing cover and freeze plugs i think the crank snout is also a little different as well... Hot Heads offer all the parts to convert it over . alot of these had adjustable rocker arms as well...
Not true. EVERY SINGLE industrial I have seen firsthand (more than a dozen so far and ALL were tagged by Chrysler as an industrial engine) used the same timing cover, crankshaft, block, etc as p***enger car engines. NOT a single one of them had adjustable rocker arms either. Just because the covers could accept them does not mean that the factory therefore had to put them in. When you truly understand how a manufacturer's engineering changes, production, and cost saving measures all work, then it all makes sense.
I've seen other references to air raid sirens using a 392 besides the Garlits one. You can say never, but remember back then if you had the money and said "I want this" and the company had it to sell you, or could build it off the shelf? You'd get it.
That may be true, but it is still a car engine diverted into something else, not a purpose built Ind. engine.
I grew up around pump motors. The farmers where I lived used a variety of engines, sometimes their choice was made for durability reasons, sometimes the choice was made for economic reasons, and the depth and volume of the water was a big consideration as well. I have seen everything from an Isuzu diesel from a Chevrolet Luv, to big *** diesels. Those pumping from shallow 8" wells were likely to make an economic purchase. Most were V-8s converted to natural gas. The brand of engines bought new tended to change with who sold the most economical (cheapest) engines at the particular time the farmer needed the engine. For a time Chrysler industrial ruled, then Ford industrial, and then when big block Chevy crate motors got dirt cheap, that is what was mostly used. Diesel motors converted to natural gas were very popular also. ***mins 855s were popular as well as Caterpillars for the high end pumps. Farmers were adept at using what was available, they would often take inline 6s and V-8s out of cars and trucks. They would all last pretty well so long as hardened valve seats were in place to deal with valve recess caused by running on natural gas. Every pump I ever saw was designed to turn at 1720 RPM. The engines were connected to a "gear head" via a driveshaft that was about 4' long. The "gearhead" converted the the horizontal rotation of the driveshaft to vertical rotation via a ring and pinion. The gear ratio of the ring and pinion determined the RPM at which the pump engine would operate. (as a side note, the pump, called bolls, or bowls, were down in the water, connected to the gearhead by a driveshaft 100', 200' 300' or even 600' long. The driveshaft ran in WOODEN bushings, lubricated by "turbine oil" set on a slow constant drip, thus it was important NOT to overspeed the pump, lest you burn out the bushings. ) Anyway, for the folks who were pumping deep and/or 12", 14" or bigger wells, big engines were the rule. Some would even run a TANDEM gearhead, with one Chrysler hemi on each side of the gearhead. The "second engine" would in fact run backward, but all of the other pump motors I have seen were standard rotation. The RPMs the engines ran varied depending on the gearhead used. For example, we had an 855 ***mins that ran with a 4 to 5 overdrive gearhead, meaning that this engine ran at about 1,370 RPM. Another well we had ran a BBC (and at one time an IH V-8, 406?,) it was set up with a 5 to 4 ratio, this engine ran at about 2,150 rpm. The gearhead ratios and capacity varied quite a bit, as did the engines used. There were local shops that would add to the mix of engines a lot. It was not uncommon to start a pump and not shut it down for 3 or 4 MONTHS. The ones that ran natural gas burned super clean, and the oil would last a season. Typically, we were getting 3 or 4 years out of the V-8s before rebuild or replacement, and 10 + years out of the converted diesels. Typically, (in my experience) the wear that would knock these engines out of service (the V-8s anyway) was valve recession, even with hardened seats. Seldom did one of these engine die by virtue of catastrophic failure, cylinder, and/or bearing wear. Another interesting point is that I would only see one of these pumps with a radiator every once in a blue moon. These engines typically incorporated a heat exchanger built into the pump output. This is pertinent because these engines would often live their whole life without experiencing a single overheat situation, might make a difference with a flathead....
The Jalopy Journal
