Been around Detroits my whole life and this is the first time I have had a blower issue. When my slasher burned a year ago I directed the fire hose on the nearly new 3-53 to try to save at least the engine. Yesterday I started to resurrect it to install in my Pettibone Super Six in which the transplanted Fiat is fading fast. I discovered that the fire hose got water into the blower intake, intake hose had a hole burned in it, and after setting over the winter and a number of freeze thaw cycles the blower turns very hard. I can not turn it by hand but while on the engine it turned when I was turning the engine over with a 42" long wrench on the clutch output. The engine spins fine with it off the engine. Anybody got one laying around they would sell or any info on how reliable it would be to rebuild this one if possible. Our local Detroit shop whom still rebuilds 2 stroke Detroits told me that the bottom vane is certainly warped or cracked if it had water in it over winter. It is a right side mount as looking from the flywheel end. The mechanic at the shop also told me that they also had two different helicol gears styles over the years. Both helicol but one has more twist in the teeth than the other. I fould one on e-bay but the pictures show the gears to be opposite from what mine has. Are these gears simply interchangeable with mine to make it work? I assume it was a left hand mount with the reversed gears but not for sure. Other than the blower and a partially melted seconary fuel filter mount, and cooked alternator, both of which I have spares, everything looks and appears to be OK. Any advice or leads is appreciated.
There was a guy in Teague, TX who used to repair water damaged blowers of this type...he had Air Force contracts and they used them in a oddball water cooled fashion. He always had a stack of these on his bench waiting for rebuild. Howard
After looking for a week at rebuilt blowers on line for $600 plus a $500 core charge, knowing full well that my $500 core deposit would be gone, I found one for $650.00 rebuilt that included shipping and no core. Deciding I had little to lose, before sending for it I disassembled my half cooked blower leaving the gears and shims intact. I took everthing but the rotors from the other end. I cleaned everthing up with hand cleaner and rags not daring to scrape or sand on the rotors with anything that might scratch them. After some hard time scrubbing I reassembled it. I could then spin it with my hand with just the least bit of friction on one spot. Looked like calcium on the rotor at that spot. I stuck it on the engine and it fired right up. So far its running like a champ so will wait and see how long it goes. The paint is burned off half the radiator shroud and amazingly enough no water leaks. Will post a short video next time I start it.
Yep. Sometimes when a guy has nothing to lose its worth trying to fix it. I have made a few "questionable" repairs over the years that are still going strong. You better get some wood cut, summers more than half over.
That's good news old -iron ! We ran in to similar trouble when the 8 V 71 scattered in the WABCO . Sent fragment's of shrapnel in the air box & some went though the blower . HeavyEquipmentForums We noticed the blower had a tight spot in it and took it back to the shop for some die grinder work on the rotor hickies so she would spin free again. Glad you got it freed up ! They are pretty tight on tolerance . More important .... Sounds like you are back in full action Bro ! Neck & back feeling ok ?
Yair I think it was defined as zero clearance and no contact . . . the same as a properly set and ground cylinder lawn mower . . . in a perfect world. Cheers.
I'm not sure how perfect the 2 lobe blowers on the 53s have to be, but I've seen plenty of 71 blowers with large scratches in the housing and big nicks in the rotors and they run just fine. Tough engines.
Maybe if one was to run one with the scored rotors on a dyno and compare it to the same engine with a prefect set of rotors running in a new housing it would be noticeable. But in the real world the "leakage" from less than perfect rotors would be hard to notice. Every blower I ever worked on had spots that were tight in one area and a bit loose in some others while setting clearances! It's like when a race car builder goes to extremes to shave a pound of weight off his car by drilling holes it things. Then what happens when the driver drinks a couple glasses of water before the race? But then when coming down to the finish line being one inch ahead of the guy to your left can make a lot of difference in the pay-out!
Neck is 99%. I only use it for an excuse if I don't back up a truck and trailer perfectly. LOL. The 3-53 is going to be a transplant into my Super 6 Pettibone. The Fiat in the bone is so warn out that after 30 minutes of running it will hardly pull itself. Parts are hard to get and spendy as hell. That old transplanted Fiat ran quite good at 0-F. Motor spun good and started with only one small 12 volt battery in it. I'll start a new thread when I get rolling on the transplant. I need to change the bellhousing on the 3-53. I'm pretty sure I need the one I traded for the one to fit my twin disc when I put this engine on my slasher a couple years ago. Hope they still got it.
That's good news old-iron ! :thumbsup Bad as I hate to say it as fast as the summer has flew past lately wont be long before we start cutting fire wood again .