[Milsurplus] Mil generator

[Ben Dover]

At 10:21 PM 3/10/2006 -0800, you wrote:
>Have a mil surplus generator from the late 40's (Army), early 50's (Air
Force) and/or 
>mid 50's (Army Corps of Engineers) (has tags from all 3...not sure if 1 or
all are 
>correct)
>
>Has several ratings on power depending on voltage and phase...all about
10K at 
>220VAC
>
>Has a 4-cylinder motor in it that is full to the top with water....
>
>Anyone have any info on the HP that it should have so I can locate a
replacement 
>engine...not looking for a restore to original...this is for emergency
power for the 
>house....
>
>Please let me know what other info I need to get off it to get an idea
>
>Mel
>N7OKL
>



Howdy!

Not having seen the beast, I'm guessing it's based on the 4 cylinder Willys
mill; what you're describing sounds a LOT like the old standby generator at
the FM station where I was chief engineer.

This thing was military surplus, Korean war vintage. There's one identical
to it in the Humphrey Bogart film BATTLE CIRCUS (Bogie as surgeon at a MASH),
and they were using the thing to power a field hospital.

Mounted on two steel skids, radiator at one end and control panel on the
other.

Why is it full of water... cracked block from freezing? Blown head gasket?

I'd tear into it and look CLOSELY at it before doing a swap; that jeep engine
is almost impossible to destroy really, and with the number of military
vehicle
folks out there now it shouldn't be TOO much of a problem to get parts to make
it sing again.


73's,

Tom, W9LBB