|
|
Posted by Sherman in Idaho [72.47.153.24] on Tuesday, July 03, 2012 at 12:15:59 :
In Reply to: OT, but important (and Chrysler) posted by Mike McClintock [69.19.14.38] on Tuesday, July 03, 2012 at 07:11:40 :
I believe all the "MEP-" air-cooled "military standard" engines were "Continental", built very much like aircraft engines and still used in ultralights. Apparently the ultralight guys really soup them up and get twice the power out of them. The only exception was the 1-cylinder version which was a Briggs, just like the lawn mower motors.
I have a number of military standard gensets and I must say I've never gotten much use out of any of them. Granted they might have been surplussed because there were things wrong with them, but I've found them all hard to start even with the electric starter and impossible to start with the pull rope. Maybe tuned up and in good shape they're better, but they are still noisy and use a lot of gas. Not as bad as a 1958 military 5kW genset I overhauled that has a little 4-cylinder water-cooled flathead Hercules motor that does an excellent job of converting gasoline into hot water, and incidentally also produces a little bit of electricity. I've got an Onan 2-cyl diesel that would be my emergency backup for the house, as it is much more efficient. Incidentally it also was adopted as a military design, the only differences being army paint, a 24 volt starter, and a better control panel.
If you can't clean up the points you have, and you have to order some, you might try Saturn Surplus first. They seem to have the best selection of MEP genset parts.
Follow Ups: