I thought I would start a thread featuring my efforts to restore a massive 6 cylinder Wisconsin engine which that powered a 10 ton Lombard tractor from 1925 through 1933.

First a bit of background. During production Lombard used a variety of engines - at one time they even manufactured their own 4 and 6 cylinder engines with limited sucess. Most of the engines installed by the factory were sourced from high-end manufacturers including Wisconsin Motor Manufacturing Co., Van-Blerk and Sterling.

By far the most common engine were those made by Wisconsin. The engine I have is a model PT built in 1925. (s/n 1114) It was originally installed in a Model N Lombard tractor (s/n 3139) sold to Edouard Lacroix's Madawaska Co. From 1926 through 1933 this tractor operated out of Churchill Lake depot - deep in the heart of Maine's Allagash Wilderness - when it was abandoned. Today the chassis is in a private collection. During restoration the owner replaced the original engine with a identical engine which was found in running condition. Today it's the only gasoline Lombard in operating condition using the correct engine.

To make a long story short in November of 2008 I aquired the engine and begain the long task of bringing it back to life. Here are some of the specs.

Wisconsin PT

T-Head 6 cylinder (cylinders cast in pairs)

5-3/4" bore, 7" stroke

4 main bearings

2-5/8" dia crank

110 hp @ 1200 rpm

8 gallons per hr. at full load

Like a number of high end cars of the time (Locomobile)The crankcase is is a 500 lb manganese bronze casting The total weight of the engine is 1575lbs.

When I aquired the engine it was in sad shape - all the brass and bronze pieces including the intake manifold, water fittings, lifter guides etc. had been scavanged many, many years ago. In fact all biut one of the valves had been bent to facilitate removal of the bronze lofter guides.

As found:



Amazingly the pistons were not siezed:



Here is a video of the tractor it came out of and how it will sound when complete:

The Sweet Sound of a Lombard

I will post more photos later. The engine has come a long, long ways since these photos were taken!

So, moving on... here are some more photos. Once the beast was apart and clean we fabricated new cast iron valve guides and valves.

The valves have a 2-5/8" dia head and a 1/2" dia stem. I sourced a set of stainless blanks from a firm in california that manufactured valves for large diesel engines such as those used in Locomotives. The orginal price was $39.00 each. However, when I called to place the order they couldn't find them! But... they did have a set for an EMD locomotive that might work. The only diffrence was the stems measured .557" Not a problem! With plenty of material to work with we simply bored and reamed the new guides to fit. and.... they were only $10.00 each.

New guides ready for installation.



Turning new valves



Here is a photo of the cleaned crankcase - thats not gold it paint! its a big bronze casting!



The next big project was fabricating all the patterns and core boxes for the various missing pieces. Being on a budget I had to teach myself the art of pattern making. Below is my first pattern. This is the oil pump drive housing. I created a CAD drawing for each piece I had to fabricate.



Patterns & Core boxes for the intake manifold. The intake is made-up of bronze castings joined with 1-3/4" dia. brass tubing.



Thanks to Peter Grant of the Odd Duck Foundry in Orrington, Maine we ended-up with a nice set of bronze castings ready to machine.



Here is a 3D model of what the assembled intake manifold will look like



Here is the finished oil pump drive housing - this was cast in 660 bronze.



While I aquired a set of lifters and guldes with the engine we had to fabricate two new ones to replace a couple that were well past thier goodness date.

Moving on... here is photo of a complete Lombard. Donny has installed wheels in place of the skis's to facilitate moving it.





My engine was missing the tag. Using a tag Don provided me I created the artwork and taught myself how to photoetch. While I was at it I etched a couple of patent plates for Don's Lombard's and for the Lombard in the State Museum - all with the correct serial numbers.



Next I etched a motometer plate. This is an exact copy of an original. Incidently if you are in need of a motometer face plate or builders plate contact me and I may beable to help.



Then... one thing led to another...Here is a plate I made for a Linn

Looks great! Keep us updated.

Jim

*Always think for yourself. Don't trust the government.

I love the winter front, LOL

http://kbs.justoldtrucks.com/
Eddy.Lucast@remotedata.com
203-228-1961

What a great craftsman you are! Not many could or would take on that task. Thanks for shareing.

So... on with the story....Next on the agenda was fabricating the patterns for the upper and lower water manifolds. Like the intake manifold these are bronze fittings as well.

Here are the rough castings and patterns for the upper water manifold.



And.... all finished. Thanks to Don for letting me measure and photograph his complete engine I am able to make each piece an exact copy of the original part. To give you a perspective of size the pipe is 1-1/2" o.d.



And finally mounted on the engine



In the previous photo you will notice the aluminum valve shrouds. Most T-head engines used open valves with no lubrication. Wisconsin and Sterling were two exceptions. Wisconsin enclosed the valve stems with aluminum shrouds to contain a fine oil mist that was forced through small passagways in the lifters. Many years ago Don had a pattern made and a number of shrouds cast. He included the remaining shrouds with the engine and allowed me to use his pattern and core box to cast the ones I was missing.

Here is Peter getting ready to make a pour.



Fresh castings



The shrouds were held in place by spring steel clips. Needless to say these were long gone so I had to fabricate a jig and bend-up a set.



The water pump that came with the engine was in sad shape. The thrust bearing on the bronze impeller was gone allowing it to grind away on the casting. In addition the neck had been smashed off many years ago when vandals salvage the upper water pump extension.



With Don's help I was able to secure enough parts to put together a new pump with a NOS impeller, a new shaft and bronze bearings.



As for the bronze pipe fittings that lead to the smashing of the pump... I have fabricated the patterns and core boxes and now waiting for a casting day.





If you look closely you will see each pattern is numbered - these are keyed to an original Lombard Parts manual.

That's a high standard of work, but do you have any plans for the engine when it is complete ?

Must be a chassis out there somewhere with no engine in it.

Too many Dodges and Dodge-powered things...

Someone needs to start reproducing the Lombard traction units so I can build that single track machine (primitive snowmobile)

Grew up down the street from the Linn tractor plant, where many relatives and neighbors once worked, and next door to a Linn/Frink Sno-plow/Walter truck agency. I do free look ups of serial numbers, photographic recognition and advise on any Linn related questions you might have, and generally like to locate/excavate/photograph/identify old iron for fun.

Saturday we loaded the big engine and the crates of associated parts for the ride north to "God's Country"





The crew was feeling pretty good about getting the engine loaded .....then they realized the lathe was going too.



After much sweat and toil and a long, long drive all is now safe at our new home.