[C38] old reliable diesels

[Don Strong]

Gang: In the 1970's I had a friend who put an old Volvo tractor engine 
in a surplus lifeboat, on the beach in Santa Barbara.
At that time I was working close to the Panamanian border in Costa Rica, 
on a banana farm. In the greatest coincidence of my life, I met the guy 
in Golfito, Costa Rica. He had motored there from California! He used 
about 1/4 gallon per hour and did about 4 knots, as I recall.
     The engine was a Volvo Penta 2 cylinder,
featured on youtube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hgV7hdypmyc
Don

On 6/17/11 6:50 AM, Chuck Finn wrote:
> I am with Tom and Paul on this.  The 5424 is an iron horse!  It kind 
> of reminds me of the old John Deere "A" and "B" tractors that would 
> run no matter what you did to them!  As far as I can tell from Max's 
> photos, the lightest, weakest metal in the whole system failed on a 
> solder joint...
> When these engines overheat, the expansion will allow for some oil 
> leaks, but they might go away after it cools down.  Best case might be 
> a new solder joint, or perhaps a valve cover gasket.  Worse might be a 
> head gasket.... or an anchor.
> What can you lose by filling the cooling system and firing it up?  You 
> don't even need to pressurize it to look for blow by, etc.
>
> Chuck Finn
> Mighty Quinn  #114
> Great Lakes
>
>
> On 6/16/2011 8:21 PM, tdtron at earthlink.net wrote:
>> Those were my thoughts also Paul.  Unless the pistons are scuffed the 
>> 5424
>> is probably salvageable. Even if the pistons are scuffed, an overhaul on
>> that engine is pretty easy once you get the #$%^ out of the boat.
>>
>> The main problem overhauling a Universal diesel is the price of 
>> parts.  If
>> you use Kobota parts it brings down the price to just incredibly
>> ridiculously expensive instead of the much higher Zimbabwe like pricing
>> Universal uses.  I once pulled my cylinder head and wanted a new head
>> gasket.  Back in 1994 the price was over $150 for just a head gasket 
>> from
>> Universal.  I reinstalled the old head gasket and it never failed in the
>> following 16 yrs of service.
>>
>> I'd hate to have to replace something expensive like a real part!
>>
>> Tom Troncalli
>>
>>
>>
>>> [Original Message]
>>> From: PAUL NOTTE<panotte at shaw.ca>
>>> To:<listserve at catalina38.org>
>>> Date: 6/16/2011 8:03:30 PM
>>> Subject: [C38] overheat
>>>
>>> Max are you sure your engine is ( TOAST ) the universal is a tough 
>>> engine
>> , I had one on a 4 wheel drive tractor that I abused for 7,400 hours 
>> befor
>> I broke it , and then only because of trying to lift something far 
>> beyond
>> the capacity of the front loader on the tractor.
>>> Paul
>>>
>>>
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-- 
Donald R. Strong
Professor
Dept. of Evolution and Ecology
University of California, Davis 95616