Amazing engine

[Vandiesel]

I was picking up a piece of equipment when I spied these engines hiding behind the lift I got. I thought they were aircraft engines but turns out they are radial diesels used to power tanks. I have never seen anything quite like them. Apparently one was used to power a sawmill in southern Oregon for around 45 years. They are started by using a shotgun round to compress a starter. Really cool and looked really powerful. Just had to share these.

I hope the pictures posted. Btw $6k for both engines.

Brad

 

[O.D. Fever]

I woulid love to shoot my generator(only to get it to start) ...

 

[ODdave]

Radial engine, Ya ok. Kinna cool.

DIESEL Radial engine, VERY cool. Not every day you see that, let alone in person.

Be a sweet deuce repower !

 

[Steve Greenberg]

Guiberson Radial Engines

Brad,
Were those engines located at a storage place near Aurora?
Thanks,
Steve

 

[NDT]

Welcome to the site and thanks for posting the pics. Those engines are rare survivors. Price is not bad considering the gas radials bring the same money.

 

[wreckerman893]

I think the raidial engines were in the Shermans......I don't think they were diesel...they ran on high octane gas.....the Germans called them "Tommie Cookers" since they burned easily if hit by a round from a Panzer or Tiger tank.

 

[waayfast]

Can you read the serial numbers for me? I have a Guiberson Diesel that I'm about 90% sure is NOS, I'll have to go check my serial number as well. Yea--they are really really cool--can't wait to get mine set up on a stand to run it.

Mine is a t-1020, says "Dept of Ships" on the Data plate. Near as I can discover ,the "T-1020" was for tanks(Stuart) and some marine (boat) applications. The "A-1020" was the aircraft certified engine and a Stinson flew about a 1000hrs with one I recall reading.

In one excerpt I read in my research, the article claimed the Guiberson Diesel "was the finest American engine ever built"

Jim

 

[Steve Greenberg]

Guiberson Radial Engines

Hello,
The Guiberson diesel radial engines were used in the M3 Stuart light tanks and M3 medium tanks (Grant & Lee). Not in Shermans.
Steve

 

[Coal Cracker]

I'm not one to correct the possum connoisseur,buuuut, that is a diesel radial no mag no spark plug, but you can see the injector on the head, heres a vid.

Cold Start 9 cyl diesel radial engine - YouTube

 

[waayfast]

Wreckerman,

In learning about this engine, I found that Guiberson used that very issue as a marketing tool. " Better safe than sorry" was the motto and is even on the Data plate. They claimed the Diesel was much safer for both Tank applications and Aircraft. I googled up a bunch of info on it ---it's a facinating read!

Now if I could run a computer better I would post an advertisement I found in the 1943 Areosphere book. Scanned it to paper---now to scan the paper to the 'puter AAARRRGGGHH!

Jim

 

[wreckerman893]

I didn't mean to imply that the pictured engine was a gasser.....we had a Sherman as a gate guardian at my last unit.....the Unit Historian owned it (well....he said he owned it...long story) and told me that it had a radial gasser in it.....it had been rescued from a range and had more than one bullet hole in the thin sheet metal and road wheels.

He said that they had tried to get it running but that parts were almost impossible to get and they could not find any mechanics the had experience with them.

 

[Steve Greenberg]

Continental Radial Engine

Hello,
The early M4 and M4A1 Shermans used a Continental R975-C1 9 cyl. gas radial engine. The M4E6 Sherman used the same engine.
Steve

 

[OD_Coyote]

I'm not one to correct the possum connoisseur,buuuut, that is a diesel radial no mag no spark plug, but you can see the injector on the head, heres a vid.

Cold Start 9 cyl diesel radial engine - YouTube

Wow!!!! I would love to have one of those...Sweet music.

 

[wreckerman893]

Found this on Wiki:
In the years leading up to WWII, as the need for armored vehicles was realized, designers were faced with the problem of how to power the vehicles, and turned to using aircraft engines, among them radial types. The radial aircraft engines provided greater power-to-weight ratios and were more reliable than conventional inline vehicle engines available at the time. This reliance had a downside though: if the engines were mounted vertically as in the M3 Lee and M4 Sherman, their comparatively large diameter gave the tank a higher silhouette than designs using inline engines.
The Continental R-670, a 7-cylinder radial aero engine which first flew in 1931, became a widely used tank powerplant, being installed in the M1 Combat Car, M2 Light Tank, M3 Stuart, M3 Lee, LVT-2 Water Buffalo.
The Guiberson T-1020, a 9-cylinder radial diesel aero engine, was used in the M1A1E1, M2, and M3, while the Continental R975 saw service in the M4 Sherman, M7 Priest, M18 Hellcat tank destroyer, and the M44 self-propelled howitzer.

 

[Flyingvan911]

Nice engine.

 

[Vandiesel]

The engine is in Canby Oregon near Aurora. It is under cover at a boat and RV lot. There are two and they both turn over. Cool posts on these everyone.

 

[waayfast]

I finally got time to sit down and try scanning some things. One is an ad I bought one e-bay, the other is an ad from the 1943 Aeroshere book.
The book is an "encyclopedia of aviation".
It is hard bound and is FULL of ads for just about ALL the companies that supplied stuff for the war effort. Also is full of specs and pics of just about ALL airplanes (allied and Axis). It is kind of like a High School yearbook--just eveything to do with WWII aviation. Started in 1939 and there was a volume for each year of the war.

It was a gift from my first wife's Granddad, long before I was in the hobby. He worked as an engineer for the Marquette Corporation, Cleveland, OH. They were the team that designed the windshield wiper system on the Boeing B17. Although it's been 33 years ago I still remember him telling me that in trying to overcome some engineering problem on that project, they discovered that oil (hydrualic in this case) WILL compress, contrary to popular belief.
There is an ad in the book for the Marquette Corp. in the book as well.
I had no idea at the time how cool this book is and wish I could find the other years it was printed.

Anyway, here are the two ads and pics of my Guiberson

 

[waayfast]

Pics

 

[waayfast]

pics

HHMMM ,guess not----THWI