stuck 478

[Rockdriller]

Originally Posted by Cayoterun

Abus: Glad you made it home in good shape. It was a great Okie Panhandle "Bull session" with both of you.

NOW, get in gear, and let us hear your old 478 breath fire, thunder, and rattle the shop windows. I'm sure it will bring back many memories of hearing those old engines roaring day and night pumping water back when we were much younger. I'm sure you've changed about 40 water tubes from an open ditch, the water got ahead of you, then the ditch broke. Great fun trying to plug the hole, Huh?

What always amazed me, and still does, is how long those things would run between overhauls. I was never around one that had an hour meter on it, but wish I had. Wish I knew. We tried to estimate them on this V12, but no way to be real accurate, so tried to be conservative. Conservative truth will raise enough eye-brows, and see the questioning looks on people's faces. Makes you wonder if your "honesty" factor hadn't just fell in the sewer in their minds.

Hope you don't find any serious snafu's on your motor as you get further along.

Golly, it sounds like we sure missed the boat.
That had to be a great BS Session.

I wouldn't be surprised to find out that hour meters were seeing #'s reaching high into the tens of thousands of hours between O-Hauls..

Happy New Year to all of you.

[Cayoterun]

Rockdriller: Your right. The guys here that ran them compared YEARS, instead of hours.
Most of them would run 24/7 around 6mo. a year, except every 2 weeks, kill them, drop the oil and filter, grease the drive shaft, check coolant, and go again. Never cool down. They sit out in the weather all year, except some guys had frame and roof/w open sides over them. Sure didn't take a new guy long to learn how to drop the drain plug, and filter can without getting too much hot oil on himself. Between changes, oil was added while running by watching a site gauge on the pan.

Another V12 I fixed up, we know was on a pump for over 20 yrs, but no way of knowing how many overhauls it had. The 478s were just as tough.

[Ed Snyder]

Speaking of how tough these engines are, a fellow member of our Southern Oregon Chevy/GMC Truck Club has over 600,000 miles on his '65 GMC panel. The 305E in it has never been overhauled. He said it's starting to get a "little tired" now, though.

[Cayoterun]

Originally Posted by Ed Snyder

Speaking of how tough these engines are, a fellow member of our Southern Oregon Chevy/GMC Truck Club has over 600,000 miles on his '65 GMC panel. The 305E in it has never been overhauled. He said it's starting to get a "little tired" now, though.

Good example, Ed!

I can't imagine why it would be getting a little "blow-by" and needing a quart now and then.

[Rockdriller]

'Yote,
When the V-12 was coupled to an irrigation pump, did they use a closed coolant system with a radiator....or was it cooled via open system (using pump water)....like a Marine Set...?

[Cayoterun]

[QUOTE=Rockdriller;51777]'Yote,
When the V-12 was coupled to an irrigation pump, did they use a closed coolant system with a radiator....or was it cooled via open system (using pump water)....like a Marine Set...?[/QUOTE

Rock:
I'd call it a closed system, but no conventional radiator.
On the pump discharge pipe, (the end well water came OUT of), they have a pipe about 6 feet long and 3-4" bigger in diameter than the pump discharge pipe. The inlet and outlet pipe on the "cooling coil" is the same diameter as the pump pipe so well water passes thru this large chamber @ about 50 degrees. Inside the bigger chamber, it has 5 or 6 copper pipes about 2" in diameter running horizontally inside the big chamber and connected to an inlet and outlet welded outside of that chamber wall for the engine coolant hoses to connect to. The coolant is isolated inside the copper pipes from the well water, and anti-freeze can be used. Fresh well water, and coolant never mixes. So, the engine coolant is cooled by well water, as it passes over/around the continuous copper "cooling pipes".
The thing is shaped like a great big muffler to look at it from the outside, and this system is used on all well motors, regardless of size.

They do have a "surge tank" on the front of the motor so the coolant can expand and contract, as well as access for adding water, etc., that holds 5-6 gallons of coolant, but no or very little help in cooling. but it's all inter-connected.
The whole system holds 15 gallons or more.

This is a lot of words, and probably clear as mud, but hope you get the idea.

[North Alabama Gearhead]

When I worked at a GM plant with maintenance, we sometimes had assemblies that would be stuck from seizing due to heat as well as rust. Another product you might want to try vs. Mystery Oil, is KROIL. I have attached the link to their website.
http://www.kanolabs.com/

[Rockdriller]

[QUOTE=Cayoterun;51780]

Originally Posted by Rockdriller

'Yote,
When the V-12 was coupled to an irrigation pump, did they use a closed coolant system with a radiator....or was it cooled via open system (using pump water)....like a Marine Set...?[/QUOTE

Rock:
I'd call it a closed system, but no conventional radiator.
On the pump discharge pipe, (the end well water came OUT of), they have a pipe about 6 feet long and 3-4" bigger in diameter than the pump discharge pipe. The inlet and outlet pipe on the "cooling coil" is the same diameter as the pump pipe so well water passes thru this large chamber @ about 50 degrees. Inside the bigger chamber, it has 5 or 6 copper pipes about 2" in diameter running horizontally inside the big chamber and connected to an inlet and outlet welded outside of that chamber wall for the engine coolant hoses to connect to. The coolant is isolated inside the copper pipes from the well water, and anti-freeze can be used. Fresh well water, and coolant never mixes. So, the engine coolant is cooled by well water, as it passes over/around the continuous copper "cooling pipes".
The thing is shaped like a great big muffler to look at it from the outside, and this system is used on all well motors, regardless of size.

They do have a "surge tank" on the front of the motor so the coolant can expand and contract, as well as access for adding water, etc., that holds 5-6 gallons of coolant, but no or very little help in cooling. but it's all inter-connected.
The whole system holds 15 gallons or more.

This is a lot of words, and probably clear as mud, but hope you get the idea.

It's as clear as beer...
It sounds like it uses a heat exchanger type system.
You sure did explain it just fine.

Thanks 'Yote.

[abus319]

NOW, get in gear, and let us hear your old 478 breath fire, thunder, and rattle the shop windows. I'm sure it will bring back many memories of hearing those old engines roaring day and night pumping water back when we were much younger. I'm sure you've changed about 40 water tubes from an open ditch, the water got ahead of you, then the ditch broke. Great fun trying to plug the hole, Huh?
Yote( I like that)
Yeup we used open ditch irrigation for two years. The worst part of it was digging the ditch. We used a 35hp DC Case which was waaaay to light, and every time the ditcher hit a big rock the front end would head for the sky. It would be a rodeo till either the rock came loose or I chickened out. If it was more than a few feet off the ground the impact would break all the bolts in the front end....

I got really good at plugging the hole/ break. I would start a bunch more tubes and let it draw down and shovel like crazy.

I did manage to get a little work done on the 478 today. Got the old pallet bolts loose, the stand flushed and the extra brackets off and cleaned up. Its ready to lift and bolt to the stand.

[Cayoterun]

Originally Posted by abus319

NOW, get in gear, and let us hear your old 478 breath fire, thunder, and rattle the shop windows. I'm sure it will bring back many memories of hearing those old engines roaring day and night pumping water back when we were much younger. I'm sure you've changed about 40 water tubes from an open ditch, the water got ahead of you, then the ditch broke. Great fun trying to plug the hole, Huh?
Yote( I like that)
Yeup we used open ditch irrigation for two years. The worst part of it was digging the ditch. We used a 35hp DC Case which was waaaay to light, and every time the ditcher hit a big rock the front end would head for the sky. It would be a rodeo till either the rock came loose or I chickened out. If it was more than a few feet off the ground the impact would break all the bolts in the front end....

I got really good at plugging the hole/ break. I would start a bunch more tubes and let it draw down and shovel like crazy.

I did manage to get a little work done on the 478 today. Got the old pallet bolts loose, the stand flushed and the extra brackets off and cleaned up. Its ready to lift and bolt to the stand.

Bus: Hey, that's progress, looks good!, I have to remind myself often that every project is built "one bolt at a time".
Ain't it good to have some extra play time, and not be watching the clock to go start running the "check list" for work?

Rock: You can see the surge tank on Bus' stand, and that one integrates the legs of the tank so each leg is an in and out in the circulation circuit.