RoiLine 884 Cubic Inch V8 Digging Into the Engine

In this video we dig a bit further into the engine to see if there has been any collateral damage caused by the governor failure.
Other than some scratches in the bearings I think the engine faired out alright.

[@DoRC]

If you wrap a ziplock bag around the magnet it makes cleaning it off super easy.

[@hypnolobster]

I know damn well that I'm going to forget this trick and I'm real mad about that.

[@tbasty]

If you forget this trick you can use a brush to remove the metal from the magnet secret is to brush it off fast. Use this trick for welding magnets etc

[@JustMike2791]

Soft, stainless, low rpm wire wheel on either a bench grinder or drill works superbly

[@KPearce57]

Thanks for posting, my Dad had one just like that, was used on the farm, till the Rural Electric Coop. got around to line power, it was the kept as a backup, without fail on the coldest windy day we would loose power, but it never failed us.

[@calvinhobbes7504]

Thanks for a great video, sir. I am watching with interest as you bring this generator back to life. I have never seen an 884 Cu in engine before (outside of a drag strip) ... and certainly not attached to a generator, so this is a real treat. You made resurrecting that huge Caterpillar generator look easy!! It looks like you're gonna do the same with this one. I'm looking forward to the next video on this.

[@glenmclaughlin5291]

i have a very good running 540 cu in version of this engine w/a 480 V 50KW generator. We have it on a twin axle trailer for engine shows. Set up for either Natural or pump gas,I run it on 100 % pump gas,I have roughly dated it to between 1954-57, just from the starter & 12V generator,& voltage regulator. We have a Starter and alternator shop here in Myrtle Beach, SC. This engine never fails to bring a smile on faces when it fires up !!!. It has the baddest, nasty, raspy notes coming from those 2 ft long 2-inch twin pipes. As an Army Medic in Cu Chi, Vietnam I ran generators and I immediately fell in love with this old gal in Ohio and bought her direct off E-bay. Her last job was back up power for a small hospital, Her governor works flawlessly, Her Name is 'Miss Le Roi" (which is a misnomer,)because Le Roi means "The King" in French, grins. These are not easy engines to find information or parts for......I've managed to score a Truck motors manual w/internal specs . The Army used the 844 cu version in 10 wheeler M123 & M125 trucks that towed the big Guns of the 1950s.I have seen pictures of the 884 driving a backup 100,000 Watt generator set for CBS in a western state....also an 884 driving a back-up hydraulic pump for emergency on a ski lift. It is a very easy quick starting engine and extremely torque is their big feature. Miss Le Roi will idle down to a very lazy 250 RPM,w/full 40 lbs oil pressure but will bark w/authority to operating speed when you open that tall ,Ensign -2 barrel Carberator.Glen @ 843-455-8062 [e-mail]

[@sprint48219]

Pretty sure that whole you drained it from is for putting in an engine oil heater to ease starting in cold weather and lengthen the engine life That used to be quite common on the older standby stuff

[@paulmartin8212]

robert ellison I was thinking maybe max oil level. Some of these probably ran on gasoline and maybe oil would get contaminated by sticking float? Just guessing.

[@tommywvk]

@@paulmartin8212 Wouldn't be max level, it would only hold about 2 gal as he said in the video. It is most likely a heater, or as I thought possibly a drain so you could get most the oil out the side there and be able to fit a smaller drain pan between the frame rails and get the rest without overfilling the pan....

[@kellsarah]

Maybe a low oil cutoff sensor.

[@aliensector]

It's so good to see someone working on an engine with hand tools, not a load of wheezing and whining air and electric stuff. I really enjoyed this. All the best. A.

[@davaogary7042]

Those "drain holes" up on the side of the pan are likely ports to install oil heating elements for cold weather starting. Seen many on various gensets.

[@gtb81.]

yeah, makes sense, someone probably thought it was a drain and added the pipe, not knowing what they were doing

[@laser-sj]

Or could be an unused turbo oil return when fitted.

[@gtb81.]

@@laser-sj it can probably be used for that, but i don't think that was the original intentions because it was used as a genset

[@patagualianmostly7437]

@@laser-sj Mmm, yes but they would be below the normal oil level. I think such a return would be above that, no? Cheers.

[@ecrusch]

I think you are right Gary. It would be ludicrous putting a drain hole that high up on the pan.

[@frankbiz]

Making progress, very interesting. Thanks for sharing with us. Looking forward to seeing it to completion. I can't believe how dirty the oil was, probably never changed.

[@richardeasther2569]

Nothing modern will be half as good as that beautiful thing

[@robertmailhos8159]

Can't wait to hear that classic gen set up & running young man thanks for your efforts in getting the machine back up and running 😎😎

[@davidtaylor8304]

Sir, l have to say that l do enjoy your running commentary, natural, free-flowing and informative. Just like watching a mate doing all the work while l supervise from a comfortable distance. Improved lighting inside the crankcase gets you another feather in your cap. Cheers.

[@n7565j]

Our old trucks used to run on propane, the F-350 I drove had a 460 and if I remember right they ordered it with sodium exhaust valves to keep them from receding up in the head due to heat. We used to change the oil every 10K miles and the oil always looked like we had just put it in... Very unusual to have black oil with a Nat/LPG gas engine for sure!!! We ran those trucks for at least 500K miles and the only maint. we'd due to them was a valve job @ 250K... Pretty impressive, much better service than we had out of diesels, always thought diesels would last longer than LP engines, but they proved me wrong ;-)

[@frankdeegan8974]

John Deere two cylinder propane farm tractors were the same way put new oil in every spring work the dog out of it all year next spring drain the oil and it would be clean as though it was put in yesterday. I suspect this engine did not need to work hard enough as a genset maybe not much carbon build up in the top end but the oil took a beating.

[@brandonupchurch7628]

Probably because they were only changing like half the oil anytime they changed it and they weren't using the lower plug, so all the heavier stuff settled at the bottom of the pan and never settled out, and with the spotty maintenance history and only changing half of the oil at a time the oil probably turned super acidic, especially with how bad the oil they had 50-60 years ago, that stuff wasn't any where near as well refined as modern oil and the additive packages weren't nearly as robust.

[@n7565j]

@@frankdeegan8974 Did you ever pull the head and see if the exhaust valve receded up in the head??? We had an old late 70's era chevy truck with a 350, we pulled the heads, (@420K miles) and the exhaust valves had sucked 1/8" + up into the head... Had never seen anything like that b4. Guess maybe it had been running too lean causing very hot exhaust... But I'm not 100% sure, just a guess ;-)

[@n7565j]

@@brandonupchurch7628 I bet you're right, had forgotten about that mid drain plug, maybe they had that plug so they could change the oil while running??? Even so, never seen an LP/Nat gas engine with that dirty of oil b4... As I said, we changed our oil at 10K and that truck ran all day long everyday. We had a crane on the truck so it had to be running for the crane to work. We also installed a/c (with our own money I might add) so that truck ran all day every day in the summer ;-)

[@MrHowieZ1973]

Glad you went with the conversion.

[@jlucasound]

Wow! I didn't think you were going to tear it down to that degree! Thank You for doing that! A lot of work.

[@paralyzes]

I really want to witness the 884 ci roar back to life.

[@MakinEndsMeet69]

I will tell you all in all that has to be one of the cleanest engines I've ever seen torn down and I seen and done plenty. Not a whole lot of generator engines but just engines in general, what a beauty what a Workhorse for sure. I am surely glad a person like you got a hold of that to keep her going the way that you do no slacker that's for sure you stay safe stay well and as always God bless

[@roygunter3244]

Natural gas engines are generally all pretty clean and so are propane fueled engines. It is not unusual to see a propane fueled forklift engine that is worn out with a tremendous number of hours and it be clean when you tear it down. Just the nature of the fuel. If the people would have changed the oil regularly that had it there wouldn't have been all the bearing wear. There is no telling how many hours were put on between oil changes, he said the company that owned it did their own maintenance and they didn't keep records.

[@castirondude]

What a beautiful machine! Pretty incredible that it's looking and working so well after more than 50 years.

[@ZippoVarga]

Holy Crap Mikey! That engine literally makes 3 of my little 292 c.i. in line 6 that's in my van lol. What a beast of an engine! Looking forward to hearing it come to life. Cheers my Friend! Zippy~

[@johnstrange6799]

That was pretty cool. A lot can be gathered from casual observation of exploratory surgery.

[@normansilver905]

Our fire department purchased 55 FWD cab over 4 wheel drive 40,000 GVW fire engines using this Roline V-8. Not a high revving engine but it had plenty of torque. They did their job for the expected 12 years too. Dual ignition also.

[@joerogandlchairexpansion786]

So you're working on an 884 CI V8 and your KZbin name is SmallEngineMechanic. I like it. Very fitting.

[@BobPegram]

Mike has worked his way into repairing even large diesels! I must be very slow on the uptake because it took me all three videos to figure out that both the intake and exhaust manifolds are in the valley of the Vee. No cross flow here! Yeah, this has morphed into a large project. Every place you opened up showed that it had to be cleaned, so it was necessary to go there. I assume it won't be hard to source new bearings for the crank and rods, right? The next place to look into are the heads and valves. I'm hoping that you don't find problems there.

[@BobPegram]

Oh yeah, will replacement oil filters be a problem to source?

[@moondogdieselworks3883]

Very similar to a old LeRoi v8, almost exactly. Can’t wait for the follow up.

[@highdesertworkshop]

Fun to see one of those engines again, had them in big prime movers' back in the 60s and in a runway fire truck. As I remember the fire truck did have redundant ignition systems. They were LeeRoys back then, not a smappy acceleration but lots of torque and an impressive exhaust tone, never had much trouble with them, replaced them with 904 series Cummins in the late 70s..

[@SmallEngineMechanic]

Thanks for checking it out!

[@jamesgovett2501]

I worked for an equipment rental company in the 1970’s & we had a fleet of ACCO 1810A cab over trucks ( unique to Australia International Harvester built @ the Melbourne plant) with the V392 & V345 petrol V8’s all running on LP gas (liquid petroleum) which was half the price of petrol & was a very popular fuel for decades here, only now with the advent of common rail Diesel engines the popularity is in decline but l remember when our workshop would do an engine rebuild on the inter’s l could not believe how clean the internals were after 100’s of 1000’s of miles & how much longer between oil changes we did because of cleaner combustion with less byproduct mixing with the oil.

[@Martmns]

Everything supersized and made of cast, cast iron and more cast iron! An overhead crane would be a highly useful thing to have when working on one of these monsters!

[@Random-rt5ec]

That engine looks indestructible - Made in the USA awesomeness

[@zrkn1]

Almost 100 thousand views on an old generator, I would say people are as interested as you and me. Pretty cool man.

[@MisterDoro]

Audio quality is fantastic!

[@RyeHillBaptistChurch]

Good call on the Slug to block the governor oil line passage. Think id cut a o-ring groove in the top also so it does not rub into the bottom of the valley pan.

[@TheDaf95xf]

Evening Mike. I'm no mechanic but interested in all things mechanical. You really do make things interesting to watch. Cheers Stevie 😎🇬🇧

[@screaminjimmy6V53T]

You sure like the challenge of a big project with lots of unknowns! I am surprised how nice the internals of your engine are despite all of the metal ingestion. I look forward to seeing you flush the oil galleries out, and reassemble everything. The Waukesha Engine Historical Society might have literature and a parts breakdown on your Roiline, it would not hurt to ask. I have requested and donated quite a few manuals from them over the years. Those manifold gaskets might be a challenge to find, Olsen gasket would probably be my first recommendation for having replacements made. Keep up the good work, I really enjoyed seeing the guts of this behemoth!

[@rockinrowdy13]

I love your in depth commentary of your vids young man. I don't know diddly about generators but do know motors. Happy to see the metal bits you've found aren't from the motor itself (so far at least) Waiting on the next update! ( I just subscribed too :-) ) (

[@kevinamstutz6118]

I did some Genset engine work and thank God this is in your drive way instead of a 16th floor of a building. What about using freeze plugs to block the gov housing?

[@johndonahue1935]

Freeze plugs with 30 to 45PSI pushing against them, no way!

[@claesmansson9070]

Allready studs there,so not necessary.

[@FnordOok]

@Ben T. Could be a company leasing just a floor or few from a tower. Gotta have their datacenter somewhere.

[@korvtm]

@Ben T. I do not know why but I remember about 1980/81 I was called out on a job on a genset that was on the top floor of an 11 story building. User had not been doing startups properly engine only had a five gallon day tank.User was too busy lugging five gallon fuel cans up the stairs to see why genset would no supply power to electric fuel pumps.Problem was solved when they opened the switch gear box,scraped all the corrsions off.That let the switch gear engage properly.We left the user and his supervisor were standing toe to toe,Supervisor glaring but waited for everyone else to leave before discussing the root cause of the problem with the guy who was expected to do the P.M.checks.That was the poor saps only job.

[@dennisford2000]

@@johndonahue1935 not 45 psi in crankcase

[@3cl1]

A joy to watch you diagnose the gen set, keep up the great videos.

[@JustMike2791]

Brother, you refine your editing skills and you'll blow up. Nice video and VERY cool project, thanks for sharing.

[@keithnoneya]

WOW, mighty fine engine there to take all that and still look so good. Yep I think a good cleaning, some new bearing and the mods you have in mind will put this beauty back into service. Thanks for sharing it with us Mikey. I know you'll find those gaskets and anything else you need for it. Looking fwd to seeing the whole thing up and running again. Best Wishes & Blessings. Keith Noneya

[@phooesnax]

Great work. Thank You for sharing this. Looking forward to next episode. Jim

[@AddictedtoProjects]

Hang on mate. Let me just run and get a cold beer before you tear into this engine. Then we can start! :D

[@EddiCurrent]

While your there mate!

[@blakesmith2594]

Bing me one lol

[@fredbloggs4829]

Yeah, grab a stubby for me too. My round next time.

[@beardedskadoosh8835]

Already on a third, whats one more. Cheers.

[@deathproofpony]

I brought pizza. Let's do this.

[@danw1955]

I was glad to see that accessory drive shaft actually had separate gears for the distributor(s) and the governor drive. Like you mentioned, the distributor gears look fine, so the o-ringed plug theory should work to block off the governor shaft hole and keep the oil in. The bearings are a mystery. On a big slow-turning engine like that, you could probably get away with reusing them if the clearances are still within spec. Just wash everything down good to get all the metal debris out and maybe drop the oil pickup and see what's hiding in there.😉 If you can source the intake/exhaust gaskets, and filters, you should be good to go. Everything else could be done with black RTV. Looking forward to more on this beast.😁

[@hotrodpaully1]

I won't care if I had to have the bearings specially made if your that far into it replace the bearings and oil pump not doing so is just dumb

[@Maxxarcade]

I wonder if that tiny oil line to the governor is also clogged? Seems like that whole assembly was a weak spot lubrication wise.

[@rickjohnson1632]

Thorough inspection. Your a impressive Gen tech. It will be interesting to see this progress

[@tpelton]

it'd be pretty interesting to think about using that size engine in a cool hot rod. 884 CI is a lot of displacement !

[@jkvdv4447]

These engines are designed for low speeds and has low specific output. I'm not sure it will work too well in a car.

[@TomPauls007]

NG engines like this one need the cubes because of the low BTU energy content of the gas. It is very questionable as to its ability to operate with gasoline products, not to mention that is designed for low and continuous RPM applications.

[@ecrusch]

Boy, whoever designed that oil drain set-up had holes in their head! Two more gallons of oil and a ton of sludge! And Mike, how about a portable hoist for the heavier parts like the intake. Save your back mate. Really enjoy your channel. Can't believe how fast 30 goes when you are watching something you really enjoy. Thanks again.

[@gordbaker896]

*There is a drain plug in the BOTTOM of the pan* 14:00

[@aserta]

I fully agree. An object can either be art or functional, and for an item to be functional, it cannot be art, this is a generator, not a piece of art, so upgrades, done in a respectful manner, that is to say, no butchering, should always be done so that the function nature of the machine can be maintained.

[@corywillbanks6348]

Waukesha which is who purchased roiline still uses that style of filter on their older engines today which I’ve always heard called a Winslow filter and yes it is wood fiber. Almost like what an evaporative cooler pad is made of. They were a decent filter in their day but for today’s standards not so good. We have been converting ours over to spin on filters

[@watermanone7567]

Maybe put a thick washer on top and bottom of the governor oil hole with a bolt and aircraft nut thru it to seal the oil hole. Thanks for the video.

[@Random-rt5ec]

How the heck did weird generator guy get into my home page? 884 cubic inches of non-Green power! You will be the hero when the SHTF & the lights go out.

[@ryanroberts1104]

I'd love to see that giant old engine in an old pickup truck. Complete with the stacks coming out of the hood and painted Onan metalic green!

[@regsparkes6507]

Thanks for this Mike,..as always really interesting stuff to watch ,...and learn!

[@robertreznik9330]

The 884 was use by many in the 1960's to power irrigation pumps. This area is from Elkhart KS to Sublette KS down into the Texas Panhandle. It was known to use considerable oil. Many used the 800HD Moline and twin 413 Chrysler twin GMC 478 or 702 V12 GMC The Waukesha 145gz was a 817 surplus engine also used to pump wells.

[@MartinRodriguez-yr4gf]

Okay, 1 exhaust manifold has the paint still on it and the other has no paint. I might look at a lean or rich situation from one bank to the other

[@eaglewi]

I'm amazed the manifold has zero rust

[@zaraak323i]

Or, one exhaust manifold cracked in use and was replaced.

[@cambridgemart2075]

Aren't they water cooled manifolds, judging by the water galleries next to the exhaust ports?

[@rupe53]

@@eaglewi ... no rust is common for an indoor unit. Also makes it east to spot exhaust leaks because the black spots never wash away with rain.

[@uploadJ]

@@cambridgemart2075 re: "Aren't they water cooled manifolds, " Yeah ... I saw those extra 'ports' too and was wondering ...

[@douro20]

Actually electronic governors were first used on gas turbines back in the early '60s.

[@leeharris3061]

Do you follow AGENT JAYZ? with his beautiful old turbines like the orenda or J79's maybe LM2500

[@douro20]

@@leeharris3061 yes

[@DeadKoby]

Sometimes it's cool to have things "all original style".... but if it makes it work better, any Non-Destructive repair is OK in my book. I fix guitar amps, and when I have to use a different part than originally was there, I leave things in a state where it's EASY to put it back original style if the unavailable part somehow shows up.

[@samthemultimediaman]

ooof those lifters are going to need inspecting next...

[@GIGABACHI]

Grounded cam lobes + lifters is a possibility with such crappy maintenance.

[@greendts]

Are you sure you can still call yourself SmallEngineMechanic?? That is stretching it with this mammoth beast. Keep up the good work

[@odb_roc_hound4186]

Some critical service engines ran a distributor for starting then a magneto for running as the 6volt charging and batteries were not always reliable during long running such as a pumper at a fire.

[@kens97sto171]

That is a big beautiful engine, they don't build them like that anymore. All the gear driven stuff on the front. That engine could run for another 60 years and not wear out. Long as the crankshaft still looks nice and polished, put a new set of bearings in it give her a good cleaning maybe an oil flush, maybe put the bearings you have back in at first to do the oil flush and then do the bearing swap. I'd love to hear that thing start up. You can't find that intake and exhaust gasket, there is some liquid make a gasket stuff that can tolerate the heat of exhaust. I'm sorry I don't remember what the name of it is.

[@jameswillmore8249]

I have successfully used industrial process controllers, (one of my own design) to govern both gas and diesel engines. I see you have a purpose built unit. That's very nice and assures success. They weren't available to me.

[@somerandomguy3868]

That's what I call a big block! what are your options if you can't source the intake/exhaust gaskets? seems a shame to retire this set, looking forward to more of this project

[@bobparker9511]

Thanks for all your videos. You may want to invest in a cordless ratchet. Snap-On makes a real good one.

[@GIGABACHI]

That engine needs a good flush with diesel from the lifter valley and down and one or 2 oil changes in short succession to flush out any leftover crap. Afterwards it will either blow up or keep chugging. If I were to keep it I would replace ALL Main and Rod Bearings to be on the "safer" side(not that it would totally guarantee it won't blow up or seize up later under load as some damage has already been done). Check the oil pump pick up screen for any metal shavings, oil sludge blockage and else. Good idea with the o-ringed aluminium slug. The intake/exhaust gaskets are simple enough to make it at home but those fire rings on the exhaust ports are definitively a deal breaker for the DIYers. Looking forward to Part III. 😊👍🏻

[@kerrygleeson4409]

Great video Mike thanks for sharing 👍🇦🇺👀

[@eiserntorsphantomoftheoper2154]

Channel "small engine mechanic" Project "884 cu in petrol engine" Tomorrow "General Electric 15,330 cu in V-16 diesel electric locomotive" I love this guy ! ! !

[@rupe53]

Eiserntors Phantom of the Opera ... 25 years ago I was hired at my shop because I knew a few things about diesel engines after working on Nissan in-line 4 and 6 motors plus a few 3208 Cats. They sent me to my first diesel job with a 12 ft ladder and I asked what that was for. Oh, that's to check the radiator! Turns out this was an 800 Kw unit with a 1200 HP Cummins V-12.

[@Wildstar40]

I never seen heads like this on a V8 before. It sure is weird seeing the exhaust ports on the same side as the intake ports

[@butler386]

I hope you rinse that valley out really good and clean up all those metallic bits before putting back together. Can you get new rod bearings for the machine? Hope so. Cleaning it out well may help the engine last a lot longer. Should be a great runner and generator when finished. Great video. Thanks for sharing.

[@throttlebottle5906]

so what's the reason for "McHale's Navy PT 109" written on the side for? was it on a movie set at one time? after seeing it multiple times I had to ask lol

[@douro20]

People who don't change the oil at least annually on a standby generator engine shouldn't be allowed around them. It does remind me a bit of the old Cadillac flathead V8 with its reverse-flow heads and siamesed intake ports. The reason for GM doing that was so two could fit easily side-by-side inside of a tank. I wonder why Waukesha did it to this engine?

[@taomicioli]

probably the same vintage, aka before crossflow head, as all flatties were this way

[@wtmayhew]

Normally I like to keep things as they were originally, but I am with you in this case that converting to electronic governor is better. The engineering of the governor is not up to par, especially compared to the distributor gear that looks like it just left the factory. While you’re at it, I would recommend installing a Pertronix electronic pick-up to replace the mechanical points in the distributor, if Pertronix has one the correct size.

[@mikestand714]

that a heck of a unit...nice

[@leifhietala8074]

Holy crap I just realized why you sound so familiar - aren't you Mike from 805RoadKing? You're the genius behind all those projects.

[@MIKT725]

He sure is

[@caerusdharken57]

Those oilfilters sure did a bad job at retaining all those small particles. Was that a common type of filter material arround that time? Never seen such filters arround but then again, never worked on anything build before the late 70s.

[@terrylinenberger378]

If you go into this engine farther be aware that there is an o-ring between the lower block extension and the block. I have worked on a lot of 884s and I have seen a lot of the o-ring left out. You will have low to no oil pressure if it is missing. These are great engines but are prone to head cracking and the valve guides wear more that some other engines.

[@bobw222]

Amazingly clean looking inside given the age of the unit. I'm surprised the gears show so very little wear.

[@misters2837]

What a PERFECT engine to Turbo... Intake and exhaust in the "V" it would be a monster!

[@freedom4all219]

Only if he did a quad turbo... 2 massive cylinders per turbo

[@misters2837]

@@freedom4all219 Twins would do it... Not like its a 20V149

[@michaelthompson3077]

Idk if this is the video where you put that lifter back in but at the very least you might have faced it by dragging it across some fine sandpaper in a figure eight pattern to give that came lobe enough traction to get it spinning again.

[@eaglewi]

Was the other distrubitor hole plugged so it didn't leak oil?

[@williamelliott5041]

Where did the ball bearings from the governor go?

[@MD-ob1gq]

I would just machine off the top of the governor, plug the oil holes and cap it off so you have a nice machine fit with no worries of your plug coming apart under the valley cover.

[@johnnywrench5579]

Use a set screw on each side and put a small divit in the slug so it won't slide and the two set screws will keep it evenly centered so you don't ruin the orings to plug the oil hole .I wouldn't trust just the valley plate. Just an idea

[@chrischiampo7647]

The Other Distributor Hole Might Be For a Counter Rotating Engine ?

[@typrus6377]

The fire engines and such with that engine had dual mags, dual distros, or one and one. Good ole redundancy.

[@MrWaalkman]

That's a beast. You need a engine hoist just for the intake manifold.

[@WhiskeyGulf71]

Would a dual distributor not just split the engine banks in to two ? In the event one side fails you still have 4 of the 8 cylinders still running ?

[@shawnmrfixitlee6478]

Lots of crap in there from the metal wear , But i think it can be saved , "IF" you can find parts ... That's a big word now days .. ENJOYED Mike !!

[@rupe53]

ShawnMrFixitlee ... Back in the 80s I was able to source enough parts to overhaul an engine on a 1928 GMC engine, but had to fabricate a few things myself. These days we have the internet to help us find things.... including older people who know how to do shit!

[@philipm7054]

That engine would be good for roadkings ford pickup. Its the right colour.

[@Only1Shadow]

If this engine was also designed for marine duty the high oil drain would have been used to do a "running oil change" so the engine never had to be shut down. Dual oil filters is also a good indication this is the case - it should be possible to shut one of them off at a time and change them while the engine is still running.

[@ron827]

Sure hope the journals meet specs for wear and you can get by with just new bearings. There is a reason the bearing material was designed to be softer than the crank. This has turned into a small can of worms but I am confident Magic Mike will get it restored with minimal expense and have a dynamite gen set on the market.

[@alexisdeville3605]

Are there any parts available for this big 884 displacement Rowline engine?

[@sparty94]

what would happen if say you found a cracked head or block that couldn't be repaired? does it all go to the scrap man?

[@williamvaughan1218]

Perhapse the upper drain is to allow enough oil to be drained as not to overflow the drain pan placed under the engine.

[@PatrickLeeUS]

Multi purpose block, the 2 distributor ports are for different firing orders.

[@chas1355]

As far as gaskets go, there are companies online that have parts for these engines. Wonder if Onan might have some on the shelves in storage? Those intake/exhaust gaskets are definitely not one to try to make.

[@rupe53]

chas1355 ... if Onan doesn't have the gaskets there are web sites dedicated to obsolete parts where hobby people swap stories and talk about suppliers. (search Smoke Stak web site)

[@CrazyPetez]

Cool tear down. The center two cylinders on each bank exhaust ports are siamesed? Seems like a big restriction.

[@acemobile9806]

Layed out kinda like a flathead Ford. Only turns 1800 RPM tho, not enough to be concerned about port flow. Port velocity would be perfect for 2 small turbos mounted on the manifolds. 4 digit torque number easy!

[@tiredoldmechanic1791]

If the didn't drain it from the bottom, it would leave the worst of the dirt and water in the pan. I suspect Onan or Roiline screwed the pooch if they installed that as a drain line. I doubt Waukesha set it up that way. What does the manual say about draining oil?

[@rogerd4559]

would it be an option to pressure wash that engine out? as im sure the oil galleries have that silver sludge in them too?

[@Brock_Landers]

GM: 572 cu in V8... Smallenginemechanic: Hold my drink bit@h!

[@gabewhisen3446]

110.5 ci per cylinder amazing

[@maxbray9124]

Find you a local cnc laser Shop and have them cut you a couple intake/exhaust gaskets from soft copper sheet of whatever thickness you need, they will cut straight off your cad drawing file or they will draw it for you

[@jasontucher7011]

Ha, it’s Mike! I finally found you on your own channel.

[@xsbuilder1]

How do natural gas engine gensets compare with diesel engine gensets? I would think the gas engines would be cheaper to build and maybe fuel costs would be lower (per KWH generated?). Being spark ignition engines, would the gas version be as reliable long term? There must be a good reason why gas engine gensets are not as common as diesel engine gensets.