Onan genset

I picked this up yesterday, a bit of an impulse buy so I don't know anything about it, any info, links etc. would be appreciated.










Never seen a Fairbanks Morse mag before

I had one for a while, very heavy and very, very, very thirsty, your best bet for a manual is to go find an 1940's army radio truck with one in and speak to the owner. I was able to wire mine up with a remote switch and get the public to start it as its generator is a Dynostart.

Maryalice

I know they're heavy I'm still working on a way to get it off the trailer, i don't have an engine crane, hoist or fork lift so it looks like a bit of "Egyptian engineering" will be required.

Thanks for the info on approx date and where to look for a manual

Manual freely available on 'tinterweb .....

https://archive.org/details/902-0008_Onan_W2C_series_Genset_Instruction_manual/mode/2up

pdf version available here:

https://usermanual.wiki/Document/9020008OnanW2CseriesGensetInstructionmanual.4182044570/html

I must say I quite like the look of that, although it does seem to be a bit of a lump. As maryalice indicated, I imagine a rather thirsty beast in operation, being a twin cylinder unit. Without being able to see a spec. plate or looking through the manuals, I wondered what the operating speed is, to provide 50 or 60 cycles output. Due to the winding configurations on the Scott generator, the engine is governed to operate at 3000 rpm, which can be quite concerning as it winds its self up to speed, before the governor takes control.

I hope you enjoy working on it and you're able get it running soon, once you've got it off the trailer!

Neil.

Robotstar5 wrote:I know they're heavy  I'm still working on a way to get it off the trailer, i don't have an engine crane, hoist or fork lift so it looks like a bit of "Egyptian engineering" will be required.

Thanks for the info on approx date and where to look for a manual

That's the reason why I usually have several engines in pieces at any one time, I had to dismantle them to get them out of my van!

Pete.

blue cat wrote:Manual freely available on 'tinterweb .....

https://archive.org/details/902-0008_Onan_W2C_series_Genset_Instruction_manual/mode/2up

pdf version available here:

https://usermanual.wiki/Document/9020008OnanW2CseriesGensetInstructionmanual.4182044570/html

Thanks for the links a bit of bedtime reading me thinks

Foden wrote:

Robotstar5 wrote:I know they're heavy  I'm still working on a way to get it off the trailer, i don't have an engine crane, hoist or fork lift so it looks like a bit of "Egyptian engineering" will be required.

Thanks for the info on approx date and where to look for a manual

That's the reason why I usually have several engines in pieces at any one time, I had to dismantle them to get them out of my van!

Pete.

I have found some nice big fasteners that look like it may allow it to be dismantled into more manageable parts, but I was a bit unsure in case I broke anything.

Thanks to @blue cat the manuals should give me some ideas.

So I had to pick the hottest weekend of the year so far to look at getting the Onan set "portable"

I've had an old shop delivery cart for a few years that has acted as a temporary trolley, but the plastic mouldings across the middle means engines won't sit flat.




A few minutes with the multitool followed by a flap wheel and it was a lot better.




I found an offcut of OSB which cut up nicely to (nearly) fit and a few sheeting bolts to hold them down




A prybar and a few rollers made of 20mm conduit had it moved to the rear of the trailer to make enough room for the trolley to go in front of it, no it hadn't sprung a leak, that was water collected by the cover I had over it.




Made a ramp out of an offcut of Rhinoboard supported by a lot of block and up she came




I ran out of winch cable before it was fully on so rolled the trolley to the rear and did another pull to get it centred



All done and ready to unload a lot easier now, but by now it was touching 27°C so I will leave the unloading to another (cooler) day

Great result! If was good enough for building the pyramids...

Robotstar5 wrote:So I had to pick the hottest weekend of the year so far to look at getting the Onan set "portable"

Had to take off my flat cap and the whippet is struggling a bit....

Nice one, phew!
There's a guy on YouTube (smallenginemechanic) who has acquired some Onan generators of various models - worth a look.

Alan

Alanengine wrote:Nice one, phew!
There's a guy on YouTube (smallenginemechanic) who has acquired some Onan generators of various models - worth a look.

Alan

I've been following Mike for a while, he has recently done a W2C which was how I identified it when it came up on Ebay, the seller had it listed as a GPO generator.

Mike also does a lot with another guy, 805ROADKING on Youtube, well worth looking at some of the modified and multi-cylinder Briggs engines they build.

Thanks, love what Mike gets up to so shall have a look at 805ROADKING.

Alan