1764 South River Road Autryville, North Carolina 28318
After my GEM query in February 1999, I received a
letter from Mr. Dick Mason, 33 Baldock Drive, King’s Lynn,
Norfolk, England PE30 3DQ, which read:
‘Cris, I saw your inquiry about Deutz engines in
GEM, which I get by mail but later than you because of
mailing lag.
‘Deutz are not common in UK, but there are a lot in
continental Europe which I visit for shows most years. A good
contact for information would be my friend Walter Van Gulik
(Trompweg 1, 7441 H.M. Nigverdal, The Netherlands), who organizes
shows and writes books on stationary engines and I’m sure he
would help in your project if you are still looking. Walter speaks
and writes good English so no need for a translator when you
write.’
I penned out a letter to Mr. Van Gulik with my need for help,
some photos, and enclosed a 10 dollar bill. Off the letter
went.
I soon received a reply, although it was somewhat heartbreaking
to know that what I had wasn’t what I thought. It read:
‘Dear Cris, ‘Thanks very much for your kind letter. I
have to tell you it is not a Deutz. It could well be a German-built
product. I have names of 270+ factories who build engines in
Germany. My archive consists of over 800 instruction booklets, but
this is different. I will publish the photos in the British
Stationary Engine Magazine which covers all over Europe (8000
per month) so I will not give up. When I have something I will
write to you.
‘Best Regards, Walter.
‘P.S. I’m looking for a Witte 4 HP open crank 550 RPM
booklet.’
Of course, being the always-on-the-go world traveler, my first
stationary engine project has only gotten as far as complete
disassembly. The entire engine was soaked in a mixture consisting
of three parts used (but clean) ATF, 1 part charcoal lighter fluid,
and a generous squirt of teflon lubricant. The engine soaked at an
angle so the crankcase could be filled with my concoction from
October 1998 until June 1999. All parts came out without too much
trouble except for the crankshaft, which had one of the journals
hung up in its right side copper bearing. It turns out that sand
and lots of crud had seized the two parts together. I freed it by
reinstalling the left side bearing plate and the right side
flywheel, and heating the seized bearing with two large propane
torches. Once the goo started bubbling out the oil pressure fitting
(this is where the goo got in to begin with), I was able to rock
the flywheel about 15 degrees. Then I removed the left side plate
and was able to turn and press at the same time until the
crankshaft was free. Other than some minor pitting, the crankshaft
was in fine condition. I did find a local machine shop with an
immersion welder that can totally rebuild it to new specs, all
three journals, for under 100 dollars.
Now that is late June 1999, it is off to Mozambique, South
Africa, Germany, Italy, Kuwait, Ireland, Iceland, Belgium, France,
Greece, Canada, and sometime finally in January 2000- HOME! Home to
my family (four children and one very patient wife) and my 60
Briggs and Strattons, Clintons, REO’s, Lausons, and my unknown
Diesel stationary engine. Can you help? The engine has a 4′ x
6′ (100mm x 150mm) bore and stroke, has a serial number of
103755 with ‘M1 M8 M6′ above it. It is water-cooled by a
hopper only. The flywheels are 21.75 inches diameter with a 2’
face, and weigh exactly 100 pounds (45.5 kilograms) each. One is
marked with ‘HL’ and the other with ‘DMICN-973
715.’ The protected areas of the engine are a light blue. It is
equipped with Bosch fuel injection type KB47SA344 10L and an
injector marked PF1A70BS2D. All letters will be answered!
