| Author |
Message |
captain ron (Captain_ron)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, February 27, 2006 - 10:13 pm: | |
I bought a mercruser/generac generator for ten dollars on ebay the motor is froze up. it is a 4 cylinder water cooled engine. the genset end suposedly works. don't know if I'll use any of it or not but want to put together a nice genset setup. what is a good motor to look for and also generator head? I prefer deisel but gas will work but definately want water cooled. also 5000 plus watts. are motors out of deisel cars and small trucks good to use and if they are which is the best? |
Bryce Gaston (Busted_knuckle)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, February 27, 2006 - 10:37 pm: | |
Now there's a thought Ron, I've seen diesel escorts and just a little while back a REPO buddy of mine bought a diesel chevette for a spotter car! Talk about a sleeper and fuel mileage to boot! It's not like someones gonna be suspicious of a dude crusin' up and down the street in a car that looks and clatters like that! But rally I was readin' on a post here earlier about a cool gen set up!Here it is -
"I'm using a baby diesel to spin a generator head via a very short shaft drive. the generator handles all my 110 and 220 loads (it can drive my wire feed welder if i have to) ... the shaft goes through a 3 belt pulley. the belts that run across it spin a 250 amp balmar alternator that charges my house batteries whenever the gen is running, so when my house batteries get down there, and i want to run the ac, i fire it up and it solves two problems at once. ... i'm seriously looking into spinning the ac compressor with the same shaft drive, which would solve a lot of the ac power draw issues as well." that is from Silverstone if ya wanna contact him for more detail! Sound super cool to me! And don't ge rid of that A/C compressor yet if ya hadn't this and it would be way COOL literaly! |
Buswarrior (Buswarrior)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, February 27, 2006 - 10:54 pm: | |
Hello Ron.
I've heard stories of using the motor out of the old original diesel VW Rabbit, but have no knowledge of the success of the execution.
There will be parade of us shortly warning you about Generac not being the most reliable gensets.
From the massed experience on here, best to not count on the electrical end of that thing working properly without regular infusions of ca$h.
If you can get it going, cheap, go for it, but perhaps plan for an upgrade at failure.
happy coaching!
buswarrior |
captain ron (Captain_ron)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, February 27, 2006 - 11:14 pm: | |
I know generac makes a great..... boat anchor.
but for 10 bucks and a drive over to pompano what the hell! if I can get it going cheap and it lasts 6 months or a year then that's great. or mabee some body needs parts for their same set up I can do some horse trading or make a couple bucks
or use it to learn more about generator setups for cheap. |
motorcoach1
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, February 27, 2006 - 11:23 pm: | |
Ron from what i can remember the engine might be a GM2 type parts are cheep to rebuild and from merc there expencive..the water pump is an indusrtrial short nose and throw all the mercruser parts away and a regular exhaust will fit it from a junk yard |
motorcoach1
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, February 27, 2006 - 11:24 pm: | |
see if you can post a photo i'll tell you |
captain ron (Captain_ron)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, February 27, 2006 - 11:46 pm: | |
I put a picture here
http://community.webshots.com/myphotos?action=viewAllPhotos&albumID=547596488 |
John MC9
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, February 27, 2006 - 11:57 pm: | |
Generac ... The head's OK, but the engine is human waste. |
motorcoach1
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, February 28, 2006 - 12:02 am: | |
ok it's not the GM2 ..i'm not sure about that one, call a merc dealer with the gen model and ask who made the engine if they mede it it's probably toast. let me know when you find out hope it's not BMW |
motorcoach1
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, February 28, 2006 - 12:24 am: | |
Ron i looked up the merc dealer repair cross refrence and genarators didn't show so i looked at long block cross reference and need a year to cross it . it may be a 87 or up GM with plastic valve cover |
motorcoach1
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, February 28, 2006 - 12:28 am: | |
oh by the way that is a built in altenator on the front only merc makes it. no big deal... the almunim finned thing |
R. Steve Nichol (N4rsn)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, February 28, 2006 - 10:01 am: | |
Hello Ron
I have built a few gen sets from diesel engines, and a power head. They make a good combination. The one I built for my 4106 is a mitsubishi 4 cyl. engine, on a 11 kw power head. It works great, and has enough power to power everything I can run, and power to spare.
The mercruser unit you picked up will probably be the cats meow, as it is farely small, and is probably an 1800 rpm unit. I am not sure what the engine is, but when you pick it up, get some numbers off it, and we will find out. For the price you paid, it is well worth an overhaul.
Keep us informed.
Steve |
JR
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, February 28, 2006 - 10:33 pm: | |
Before you start on the engine, separate the generator head and see if it's locked up. There are tons of marine items from hurricane salvage on the market that sunk in salt water. If your genset is such, it may be too expensive to repair. Check the wiring panel..if badly corroded, use if for a boat anchor. If the gen head is damaged, it ain't worth repairing. If the generator is free, I'd repair the existing engine. Make life soo much easier. That little "finned" thing on the engine looks like it may be the camshaft drive. The engine may be a "Mercruiser" engine. That means it's conglomerate of all sorts of parts in their proprietary block. They used Ford, GM, Renault, industrial and automotive engines. Look around at industrial engines and see if the shape of the valve cover matches anything. It will. It may be a European or Jap engine.
Pulling the valve cover and looking at the valve train may give an idea what it is too. Make friends with an MC dealer. They can tell you what it is. Take that puppy apart and post pix of the internals...someone will know what it is. You may even find that the engine is repairable.
Good Luck, JR |
motorcoach1
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, February 28, 2006 - 10:49 pm: | |
the finned thing i said altenator more the power pack for the ignition and has a battery charge connection ..it's like a cross between a mag and altenator.. how merc came up with that is beyond me. i remember them comming on the market back around the eary 80's in small sterndrives. i was working in inboards at the time and didn't mess with sterns that much |