Engine Serial Number.

[D.R.H.]

I am pooped out boys. I pulled the stuck engine out of my M-29C yesterday and boy, WHAT A TASK. I found the serial number on the boss just behind the water pump adapter. It is T24 8619. What can the engine guru's tell me about this. Thanks. Dave.

Also, it was rebuilt in Norway in 1962 with the cylinders being .040" over stock bore. Is it possible to clean up the cylinder to .050" with out running into overheating problems?

Edited June 9, 2022 by D.R.H.
Found what I was looking for.

[OZM29C]

3 hours ago, D.R.H. said:

I am pooped out boys. I pulled the stuck engine out of my M-29C yesterday and boy, WHAT A TASK. I found the serial number on the boss just behind the water pump adapter. It is T24 8619. What can the engine guru's tell me about this. Thanks. Dave.

Also, it was rebuilt in Norway in 1962 with the cylinders being .040" over stock bore. Is it possible to clean up the cylinder to .050" with out running into overheating problems?

@D.R.H.Just did a random search of Studebaker parts vendors and it appears that 0.060" OS pistons are available, however can I suggest that you should seek advice from a reputable Engine reconditioning shop on what is the best option for your motor. In my case, the engine had sleeves fitted that returned the motor back to a standard bore. One small tip I got from my engine rebuilder was to let them assemble the motor. That way they can ensure that all fits, tolerances and clearances are correct. I understand that others do prefer to do their own assembly work but in the overall scheme of things, the assembly cost is only a fraction of the total engine reconditioning cost. In my case I chose to have the engine assembled in the shop. I received a turn key engine from them with a Workmanship Warranty. Piece of mind when I had spent over $5000 in total on the engine.

[D.R.H.]

Right You are Oz. I remember seeing these two photos a little while back. I'm not entirely sure what I'm going to do right now, I do have a good take out engine that still makes on average 100 lbs. p.s.i. compression across all 6 cyls. It needs to be cleaned and painted though. What color is that that You used on Your engine? 

[Patrick Tipton]

Pulling a Weasel engine is loads of fun!  All Weasel engines should have the T24xxx numbers and they were sequential, although we don't see a lot of "matching" numbers.  That should be a late '44/early '45 M29C engine.  There are casting codes on the block too....we can dial in the casting date if you will grab a picture.

Most of the late rebuild engines didn't see that much use.....depending on your budget and your desires, you might get a little lucky.

Cheers!

[OZM29C]

21 minutes ago, D.R.H. said:

Right You are Oz. I remember seeing these two photos a little while back. I'm not entirely sure what I'm going to do right now, I do have a good take out engine that still makes on average 100 lbs. p.s.i. compression across all 6 cyls. It needs to be cleaned and painted though. What color is that that You used on Your engine? 

@D.R.H.The colour is 'Pewter'. It is a commercially available industrial paint here in Oz. The engine rebuilder paints all of his reconditioned GPW engines in that same colour. I have installed the engine as is. As you know there is not much to be see of the engine when its tucked away down in the lower hull.

[OZM29C]

3 minutes ago, Patrick Tipton said:

Most of the late rebuild engines didn't see that much use.....depending on your budget and your desires, you might get a little lucky.

Cheers!

@Patrick TiptonSo true Patrick. My engine was badly corroded in way of the cylinders and valves that necessitated a good deal of metal surgery.

[Patrick Tipton]

6 minutes ago, OZM29C said:

As you know there is not much to be see of the engine when its tucked away down in the lower hull.

Don't you hate that🤣  All of that money and beautiful work and no one else gets to enjoy it!

[OZM29C]

2 hours ago, Patrick Tipton said:

Don't you hate that🤣  All of that money and beautiful work and no one else gets to enjoy it!

@Patrick TiptonEspecially when I have driven a grand total of 28miles in the last year. Take a lot of convincing that I got value for money by spending over $5 grand having the motor rebuilt. 🤑🤑🤑

[Patrick Tipton]

@OZM29CIndeed but....given the fun of working on a Weasel motor inside of the Weasel and the general frustration of engine troubles....I think it was worth it.

[D.R.H.]

Thanks for chiming in guys. Pewter is the color then Oz, thanks. Unfortunately Patrick, my Weasel had hundreds of 1/8" dia. by 12" long pieces of wire strewn about in the passenger area and down in the bilge. I suspect it was used by some outfit or ranch near Fresno Ca. for maintaining a fence or maybe even power line maint. crew. I did find out from an engine machinist yesterday that .060" oversize pistons are the last size before having to sleeve the cylinders. I found .040" and .060" on line, but no .050". 

The engine will be put on the back burner to simmer, and I need to get the starboard side track off so I can begin gutting the cancerous metal out and patching in new. I have a hat channel kit from Rob W. that will be used. Stand fast men, more to come.

[Patrick Tipton]

36 minutes ago, D.R.H. said:

Stand fast men, more to come.

Stock up on shielding gas. Onward!

[D.R.H.]

On 6/8/2022 at 6:22 PM, Patrick Tipton said:

Pulling a Weasel engine is loads of fun!  All Weasel engines should have the T24xxx numbers and they were sequential, although we don't see a lot of "matching" numbers.  That should be a late '44/early '45 M29C engine.  There are casting codes on the block too....we can dial in the casting date if you will grab a picture.

Most of the late rebuild engines didn't see that much use.....depending on your budget and your desires, you might get a little lucky.

Cheers!

Patrick. I didn't snap a photo of the port side of the engine, but here are all of the numbers I found. 94322 3 A near the front of the engine. And X 4 17 toward the rear.

[Patrick Tipton]

All we need - X is 1944, 4/17 - so April 17, 1944 is when that block was cast. 

Cheers!

[D.R.H.]

Thank You Patrick. However I have some bad news. The engine inhaled something metallic scarring the heck out of the top of #5 piston. The plug was left out and some rodent made a nest right on top of #5. Even though there was an Arctic Cab, the cylinder still suffered and the piston rusted in place. I managed to get the engine free two days ago, but it binds up pretty badly every 180 degrees, The deck of the block between the intake/exhaust valves and the cylinder is badly pitted which means the deck will have to be fly-cut about .004" to .008". With the pistons coming up to be level with the deck means after fly-cutting, the tops of the pistons will have to turned down the same distance. Then the block will have to be line-bored, new bearings and all.

After it was rebuilt in 1962, no one really did it any favors. So, the engine will be put away and used for spare parts I guess. We'll see. At the very least I now know how to read the date code.

Edited June 15, 2022 by D.R.H.

[M29C3284]

@D.R.H.You may also want to look for the assembly date. It is stamped next to cylinder no. 1 exhaust port.

This is of my block which was cast 6 Nov. 1944.

Edited June 15, 2022 by M29C3284

[D.R.H.]

Roger that 3284. Wilco.

[OZM29C]

@D.R.H.Whatever you do DRH, don't discard or sell the Crankshaft. My engine rebuilder rejected 5 donor crankshafts for my engine rebuild before I managed to get a NOS Crankshaft from Norway. All of the rejected crankshafts had hairline cracks in them. I would recommend to any weasel owner out there who for whatever reason has their Crankshaft out, to go to the added expense of having their Crankshafts thoroughly crack tested.

[D.R.H.]

Hi Oz, Thanks for Your sound advice. I don't have any plans on discarding the engine at all, nor will I be leaving it out in the weather to deteriorate any further. I have a good friend in California a few hours away from where I used to live who saved a hoard of Weasels and parts about 35 years ago. All are gone but He still has 2 good take out engines that are missing some external components. They engines are in a Con-Ex box at his brothers house and haven't seen the light of day since the big save. They should be in my possession by the of August this year.

Also, after doing a bit research, the civvy 170 engine isn't much different than the war dept. 170. I have a good take out that I bought a 2 Octobers ago. Take a look at this video; 

 

 

[D.R.H.]

Hey 3284, I've been working on my Weasel this week and I found the date that You pictured on my engine. I was able to see 44 but I was rolling up my tools and then got hungry for supper and completely forgot about cleaning the rest of numbers off. I will take a closer look tomorrow. 

Also, the son of one of my buddy's works at a premier machine short and loves to do side work. Hopefully he will be able to save my engine. From what little I know about machine work, I think it can be saved.

[OZM29C]

@D.R.H.Saw your Video on receiving Rob's great hat channel kit. I also noted the condition of your sponsons. Not sure what repair method you are going to employ to repair your sponsons but I repaired a T24 hull by assembling the replacement sponsons off vehicle and then fitted the newly made sponsons into the hull later. Might be worth considering as it is a damn sight easier to work on the sponsons away from the hull. Just a thought😀 Photos below for reference.

[D.R.H.]

Hi Oz, Thanks for the advice. When I learned that Rob wasn't going to make any more repair kits and that He only had a few left, I jumped on one. My Weasel had been in the foothills of Kings Canyon near Fresno California for a very long time. It also had an Artic Top on it when it returned from Norway. That area of Calif. is almost as dry as the Northern Territory of Australia year round. This means that my Weasel isn't badly rusted out. 

From the bulkhead aft, my Weasel is in pretty good shape. From there forward, not so much. HOWEVER, it is still not that bad. I have been stripping the paint from the vertical sides of it and finished that a few days ago. I am in the process of welding small holes and repairing small patches as I go. I have been studying just how I will go about cutting out the rusted areas and then putting it back together. 

Your photos have given me more "mental food" to chew on when I get to the areas I mentioned. I'll get some photos today of exactly what I have to deal with and post them up for You to see. Thanks for the photos You have provided, the do help tremendously!!! Dave.

[OZM29C]

@D.R.H. Dave, thanks for the BZ 👍, my weasel hull was in a similar condition to yours so just posting a few more photos showing how I repaired the 'forward of the bulkhead' sponsons in my hull. Like you I chose to repair the sponsons in the hull. The repair sections are made form heavier gauge metal. I think that OEM was 1.2mm but I used 1.6mm. Easier to weld the thicker metal and also the thicker shett is less prone to deforming from heat.

Edited July 4, 2022 by OZM29C
Added more information.

[D.R.H.]

Well done Oz. What is that silver "paint" you're brushing on the steel. Is it a preservative or weld through primer. My Weasel has Zinc Chromate for the first layer. 

[OZM29C]

The silver paint is just a single pack aluminium epoxy paint that I used to preserve the inner surfaces that were exposed during the repairs. I only brushed it on as no one will ever see it once the hull was fully repaired. The black colour is just a phosphoric acid based rust inhibitor.

[D.R.H.]

Thanks Oz..