O/T More old big Engines, Maybach V-12

In light of the recent Miller V-16 I thought I would share my project from work....

I've spent the past couple of months at work finishing the restoration of a 1400 cu.in Maybach V-12 that will be installed in a Panther tank. This tank was built by Daimler-Benz in Berlin in February 1944. This tank was crossing a stream in January 1945 and fell through the ice, submerging up to the top of the hull. The crew dropped an explosive charge in the turret, which blew up the turret and caused all sorts of damage to the hull and engine. The tank spent the next 45 or so years submerged before it was recovered. It eventually made it to California where we almost have it completely restored.

The last major piece to finish is the engine which I hope to be starting next week. The later Panther's and Tiger 2's use a Maybach HL230 which is a 23 liter (1400 cu.in.) V12. It uses a roller bearing crankshaft, where the crankshaft mains are the actual inner race for the roller bearings. Maybach tried to keep the engine as compact and light as possible. The engine is externally smaller than the 1100 cu-in ford V-8 that powered our Sherman's and M26 Pershing tanks.

Here's a quick video that shows some of the engine features.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xU35UDVX8q8

I hope to have it running next week and will post a video as soon as I have it. DAVE

 

Wow, thanks. What will it be used for when finished? Military museum?

 

Doesn´t look at all bad for something that spent 45 years in a river! I´d love to see it running.

 

Tank motors are pretty racy.

 

Which engine is in the Blastolene Special?
That thing looks pretty sweet man.
You are posting video once it's running right?

 

Very cool, can't wait to hear it run!

Really good looking engine too.

 

Any idea how many of those were made? Beautifully styled engine!

 

Here's a couple of albums with some detailed pictures of the engine rebuild:
http://www.kodakgallery.com/davemarian/main/panther_engine_asm

http://www.kodakgallery.com/davemarian/main/panther_engine_pictures

http://www.kodakgallery.com/davemarian/main/pictures_to_print

During the war they built approx. 6200 Panthers most have which used this engine, they also built about 1300 Tiger's, the later Tiger's used this engine. They may have built 8000 or so of these engine total. There is maybe 40 or so Panthers left in the world. Right now there is maybe 3 or 4 that run. This is the only one in private hands in the U.S. I think the U.S government has maybe 4 or 5 Panthers. Most all of the Vehicles laying around after the war got recycled. Ours wasn't recycled because it was submerged in the river.

When this engine is finished, it's going back in the tank that came out of the river. Looking back at the pictures, I can't believe we're actually almost finished. December 23rd will be 5 years that we have been working on this tank.

Early this year a show "Tank Overhaul" aired which had an episode on the Panther. Our tanks was one of the featured vehicles. Here's a short clip that has details of the vehicle, how it got in the river, and how it looks now.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8AvS39D0q1w

I'll post more videos as I take them, hopefully one of it running next week!!!! DAVE

 

Awesome! I enjoyed that!

 

Interesting film clip. I have seen the operational Tiger 1 at the Tank Museum in England, though unfortunately, not running. Thats on its second motor after the first one threw a rod after it was rebuilt! Ouch. I have to say, impressive though the Panther is, it looks like a toy when standing next to the Tiger.

Funny that every German army vehicle (except one) ran on gasoline.

 

Of all the horrid things the Nazi's did, they sure did build some amazing planes, tanks and cars.

Really some amazing engineers those Germans are

Hell, even their guns are the cream of the crop (ie. Mauser bolt action, H&K pistols)

 

What ryan said was an understatement. WOW

 

The US Army has a Tank museum located at Aberdeen Proving Grounds in Maryland, northeast of Baltimore. I have not been there for over 20 years but I recall that they had least 1 of every tank used in WW2. I recall seeing a bunch of German tanks there. I don't recall any that were open where you could see the internals.

N B R

 

The U-Tube is incredible. I'm amazed how well preserved the whole thing is. The engine castings look brand new. Thanks for posting this info.

 

Has anyone seen the show Tank Overhaul on the History channel? They can do some pretty incredible stuff to recreate parts and restore parts.

http://military.discovery.com/convergence/tank-overhaul/episode/episode.html

 

I saw it several times on the 'Military Channel'. I congratulate those working on it, and others like them. Deep pockets help!

Other episodes were of a museum in England that restored a Comet and a Sherman tank. Those guys were pretty entertaining. Better than most of the How-To car show guys over here!

Steve

 

wow it was the military channel, I was on the site and I didn't even notice

 

check your PM's

 

We used parts from 2 engines to make this one engine. The block, heads, crank,crank and con-rod bearings, rods, pistons, valves, cams, and rocker arms all came from the engine that was submerged in the river. The engine filled with dirt and fresh water and was actually fairy well preserved. The aluminum pistons didn't even have any corrosion.

The original valve covers, magneto housing , intake manifold, and carbs, were wasted from the explosion and water damage.

Our second engine is pictured here:

http://www.kodakgallery.com/davemarian/main/engine_2_disassembly?

This engine was found less than five years ago in Berlin. The story is that they were digging for utilities in an industrial area, hit something hard and metallic, called the bomb removal crew and found that it was a complete Maybach. as you can see these carbs (being cast zinc) were also wasted. Michael Gibb, A collector in the U.K. gave us four usable carb bodies and we scavenged the balance of the parts from our original 2 sets of carbs.

If your not bored by these pics, I have hundreds and hundreds of pictures...

We are also currently restoring a WW2 Sherman and the differences between the 2 tanks is just incredible, the Panther easily has 6-7 times the number of parts that a Sherman has. If everything was fully operational a Panther is a superior vehicle. The Sherman was easier and faster to build and maintain, and in the end that made a huge difference. DAVE

 

Thanks for sharing!!

 

I can't belive you are on here. I saw that program on tv. Awesome!! I am surprised the engine parts weren't ruined. 5 years! Wow! really cool.

I was laughing at your title they put up on the screen while you were talking - "Tank Restorer" - that is a pretty unique title for sure!

 

Mate, you are a superstar!! I used to restore WWII Aircraft, there is something about bringing something like that back to life. The T model may have changed the world a little, these things formed the world as we know it now. There is something special about rendering these things complete as a homage to they who served, they who fell and above all to show us that this need never happen again
Doc.

 

That sounds exactly like the tank they recovered on that Tank Restoration show on tv. Like all of the shows they made alot of progress restoring it but the episode was over.

 

I think you are on to something man!!!

 

What method of rust removal did you use? Anything like has been discussed here (electrolysis, molasses, etc)?

~Jason

 

Thats because it is! Well spotted that man

 

caddydave,

Thanks for posting- great detail shots! Would you have any pics of a Renault FT 17 engine/bay, or any contacts that could supply them?

Thanks, Bill

 

We have a Renault tank here, it will take me a few days but I can get you some pictures. Do you need shots of just the engine compartment? As far as I know our is a fairly complete runner.

As far as the rust removal goes. We use aluminum oxide in a blast booth for what I would call "durable parts" and glass beads for anything that is fragile and or aluminum. The complete hulls and turrets get sand blasted.

The engine block we cleaned with wire wheels and brushes, we probably have a couple hundred hours in the cleaning of the block alone.

We use epoxy primer on almost every piece before it gets the correct shade of paint. Most of our top-coats are actually water based "egg shell" type finishes that are super durable and get harder with time..

One of the most difficult parts of the whole process is figuring out how to dismantle or disassemble a bent or damaged piece that you may or may not have manual for. Even if a part is totally unusable we try and disassemble everything without completely destroying the part. These bent or damaged parts then become the template for the cad drawing and new part.

On the engine front...We're ready to fire it once I get the starter back. We had the starter working properly on the bench but ran into a few adjustment issues once it was installed. As soon as we get it running I'll post a video!! DAVE

 

very cool Dave, there was a story on the net the other day about folks getting busted digging up similar tanks in the Balkins somewhere when they were not ment to be.