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Plymouth 1929 drive train turned into treshing engine

Started by Relic68, February 25, 2015, 11:11:01 AM

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Relic68

Hello everyone; I came across a intresting piece of agricultural engineering, a (I think) 1929 Plymouth engine turned into stationary engine, to drive a treshing box during WW2. The gadget was on its way to the scrap heap, I couldn't let that happen so I decided to save it. Engine number is - as far as I can read it - U3948. It has original radiator, gear box, most of the fuel system, some of the instruments, and what turned out to be a governor made out of a Model T Ford generator. The pot metal parts are gone, of course. I'm trying to restore it to running condition. Hope the attached picture is viewable.

Relic68

Wanted to add, that I'm located in Finland. There's no real hope of finding enough parts here to make this unit into a automobile again, I guess these are rare vehicles in Scandinavia. The worst problem at the moment is the distributor base, which is crumbling. I have a few friends in the engineering business who have promised to look into it.

chetbrz

It certainly looks like a 1929 U engine.  The radiator shroud is from a 29 and the engine number U3948 would put it in approximately the first quarter production of 1929, that is if the engine numbers were sequential. 

BTW... You can buy a new distributor base.  There are a couple of threads about this part.

Chet...
http://www.1948Plymouth.info           Web Master - Forum Administrator - AACA member

Crazydave

Interesting find. Your right on the distributor base, finding one in usable condition will be almost impossible. A few of us on here have made our own distributor bases, and there is a source here that reproduces them. There is a lot good information and knowledgeable nice folks, on this site.

Take a look in my thread, this is what I did. http://www.1948plymouth.info/28Q29U/index.php?topic=811.0

Also more discussion about the bases here http://www.1948plymouth.info/28Q29U/index.php?topic=966.0

Good luck and welcome

Relic68

Thanks for the friendly answers, I will study the links. So far I have dropped the oil pan and everything looked good and oily there. I guess the engine didn't run much as a stationary unit. The Carter carb is a mess, thou, looks like there were some pot metal parts inside and they have turned into powder. Could be that the farmers modified it. The engine was run on tractor kerosene after being started with gasoline. I think it didn't clock up many hours as a tresher, they probably got something better to run the machinery soon.

Old Man

#5
Many years ago I was asked by a now deceased Plymouth guy to accompany him into the hinterland about 150 miles north northwest of Toronto to pick up a Plymouth 4 cylinder engine. We ended up in a logging camp of sorts in the back of beyond and the '29U engine was on a large farm wagon of the type used to collect hay bales. It had rubber tires and the yoke was still attached. The engine was mounted on hard wood pieces to make up for the missing frame. It looked just the same as yours and with the hood pieces and dash still in place. I forget how the engine drove the saw blade but the transmission was still in place. (I think it was with the common farm 6" rubber/cloth belt on a coned wooden block on the driven end and on the driving end. The same as old steam tractors drove threshing machines.)  A huge,possibly 8 to 10 foot in diameter, homemade saw blade was on sleeper blocks with half of it through the wooden planked floor of the wagon. The teeth were maybe cut 4" into the blade circumference. No safety cover above or below the wagon floor,nothing. It had obviously been used to cut very large trees down into usable pieces back in the 30 and 40s. My friend had been given it for nothing,just take it away. It still exists somewhere in somebodys '29U in Ontario I can't remember where exactly. This use of engines from cars was very common in Canada. I've seen others still mounted and ready for a day's work.