My local scrap yard just got in a 20K 3-phaze 1800 RPM generator that has not been run in many a year. It is connected to a realy big 2 cylinder Nordberg diesel engine (made in michigan, I think. Now out of business.), it has cast iron inspection plates all over it.

A web search finds the Nordberg company made diesel engines during WW2, mostly huge power plants and ship engines. The only referance I find to a Nordberg 20K generator indicates the engine as a 2-51, I assume this referes to 2 cylinders, 51 cubic inch displacement for each cylinder, did not say if it is a 4-cycle or a 2-cycle (like the detroit 2-cylinder 20K generator engine). I suspect finding engine parts will not be easy ?

Hi Tim,
The most widely varied group of stationary small diesel engines I have found is "www.listerengine.com" with numerous members varying from engineers to backyard mechanics.

Bob

Tim, how big is that engine? i've been looking for a large v-twin air-cooled diesel V-2! Might make a serious motorcycle engine! Lemme know!

Not exactly a motorcycle engine unless it is a BIG motorcycle. This is a water cooled engine with vertical cylinders, all cast iron, the salvage guy says it weighs 1700 pounds plus a bit with the original generator, engine is at least half that. I will finaly get this engine home some time over the next few days, found a old-engine guy locally that has experiance with these engines and a manual I can zerox.

It is 4-cycle and has a 4 inch bore and a 5 inch stroke, so it is a 125 CI engine, should easily pull a fully loaded 10k generator at 900 RPM and still have a hourse-and-a-half or so to spair. The old-engine guy says they run great at about 900 RPM, much more than that and they are being pushed, much less than that and the old-style bosh injection pump does not make as much injection pressure as it should for the injectors to atomize correctly. He says he knows of one machine shop in the area that has 3 of these used daily or at least weekly, they last about forever at the slow speeds.

I don't need the 3-phaze and I think the gen is a delta design so it won't output single phaze easilly, (still evaluating the generaor, need to pull the covers to see how it is actually wound). I will likely flat-belt drive an 1800 RPM 10k gen head and run the engine at 900 RPM.

Should make a dandy generator, pistons run up/down together so there is a power stroke every rev, crank is balanced, forced lube, it is a more modern design with one 400 pound flywheel enclosed in a bell housing with a ring gear for standard automotive style electric start. the local guy says they run with very little vibration.

'Sounds like a giant Moto-Guzzi engine. Too bad I've already committed my 1977 Moto-Guzzi Convert to Daihatsu diesel power.
Cheers,
JohnO

aah! a fellow moto guzzi afflicianado as well? i admire your tastes, rovers and guzzis, probably a swiss army knife in your pocket as well! could you describe this daihatsu engine? i've been looking for a truly unique and unique-looking engine for the motorcycle project! horsepower is not as important as looks, but reliability will steer th direction of the project significantly! dr john

Briggs Diahatsu makes a nice compact 3 cyl 1000ish cc. turbodiesel around 40HP I have seen Pix of a dutch fellows BMW K75 with this engine transplanted into it looked so slick that I could hardly believe it. You can get info on this engine from the Briggs and Stratton website. Cheers

big block chevy also? i've got a pile of those! i went through briggs and stratton's catalog once, didn't see that one! thanks! need and chevy stuff? contact me direct (630) 333-3709 cell thanks dr john

Dr John Whittner by chance? We should talk.
I bought the 3-cylinder Briggs/Daihatsu new from Tulsa Engine Warehouse after confiring with the fellow who installed one in his BMW. The turbo version won't easily fit in the 'Goose frame. I'd hoped Kawasaki were going to re-issue their trouble-prone 750cc V-twin diesel with horizontal shaft, but they appear to have permanently dropped it from their line. I'd also considered converting a spare Moto Guzzi engine to diesel by splicing on two single cylinder diesel cylinder assemblies I just happen to have. The estimated 8 hp that would produce wasn't even close to my needs, so the 26.5 hp Daihatsu was the only contender left.
I'd be happy to share what I know about it. Drop me a PM, so we don't side-track the Nordberg thread any more than necessary.

Cheers,
JohnO

Hey Tim , Did you ever get This home ? inquiring minds want to know . Dan

Did you get the info you wanted? I have one with a broken crankshaft. I just read your thread. Hope you will contact me about the engine. I have a parts book, but parts are unavailable as far as I can figure out. A guy contacted me about a couple of years ago about a couple of gensets he got on ebay a couple of years ago, said they came from an at&t towers as backup generators.

I never have gotten around to picking this engine up, will likely be next spring now.

bernie -- Welcome to the forum -- Are you referring to the Nordburg or one of the other engines mentioned here ? If the Nordburg, send me a private message with more info so I can contact you, may be interested in the remains of your engine and the manual.

As far as I can tell parts are NOT AVAILABLE directly for the Nordburg, not unusual for this old an engine. This is not a big problem as there are lots of other available parts to choose from, as long as the part you need is not specifically for this engine. A broken crankshaft would unfortunatly fall into the "specific" catagory. There is a big group of "old engine" enthusiasts out there they all have this same "not available" problem but still manage to rebuild there old engines.

I found an older fellow around here that runs a generator repair shop in Amish country, he says he knows of several 2 cylinder Nordburg generators in the area, he even did a rebuild on a single cylinder one a few years ago. He says the Nordburgs are good engines and will last a lifetime if given even normal care. He mentioned that the 3-cylinder Nordburg engine runs with almost no vibration, I saw one of these sell on ebay a few months ago for something like $600.00, it had just been totally rebuilt but the rebuild place did not put antifreeze in the coolent and it froze up during the winter and cracked the block externally.

I also saw a remote-location phone company generator sell on ebay recently for several hundred dollars. This was a pretty nice unit, the generator was 10K watts with a built-in 220 volt single phaze electric motor to drive the generator while mains power was available, apparently the power company power out that far was pretty crappy power so they used the generator to make clean power for the telephone microwave link. the 2- cylinder Nordburg could be brought on line to turn the generator during a power outage.

I only paid $100.00 for the engine on a gamble, time will tell.

i'm looking for an obnoxiously oversized 2 cylinder v-twin diesel engine for a motorcycle project. The Nordberg was simply toooo big!i'm not looking for an actual practical engine more for show with self-motivation capabilities! those Nordbergs were simply too big. a 200% scale Harley-esque V-twin, weighing in around three or four hundred pounds is what i'm looking for. i build custom cars and cycles with little respect for "conventionality". i'm a recent convert over from gasoline to diesel and want to do a pair of diesel-engined motorcycles one for actual use (can't tell you about that one yet!) and one for show and promotion of the other and my craftsmanship. i'm glad you contacted me though, my search has been simmering on one of the back burners for a while and needed to be stirred! thank you! dr john

HELLO> I have 2 nordbergs and books for 2 and 3 cylinder Nordberg engines.
Ask and I will tell.................
Thanks Dave.

Hi Tim, I'm new to the site and saw your info regarding the "Nordberg" engine, I recently found the two cylinder one, its the "Fs2", fitted with a 5kw generator, I stripped her down and found to be in great condition, runs like a top, I will be using her as a back up for my shop, what I would like to know, are there parts available for this model? good luck with yours, Mike.

I keep forgetting about this project, the engine is still setting at the salvage yard, hope to pick it up sometime this summer.

I don't think new parts are available anymore, I spoke with my local semi-retired commercial generator repair guy a while back and he says he adapts what ever parts he can find as he thinks the engine is worth the time and trouble (he is in Amish country and there are several of these motors still in use there). I did receive a stack of zerox papers from Bernie (above post) containing a parts breakdown and repair info, also a receipt for parts from "medalist industries incorporated" in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, but it is from MANY years ago, I have not tried to contact them yet myself. Doing a general web search for parts I have not found anything other than a few used parts mentioned here and there.

jmbags -- About your 5K generator -- is it 1 or 3 phaze, what speed does it turn. the one I have has a 3 phaze 12K generator on it that turns at 1800 RPM, the generator guy says the 1800 RPM is way too fast for this engine, he feels 1200 is tops but likes 900 even better. The salvage guy here wants the generator for the copper, that's fine, I will belt the motor to a 10K 1800 rpm devorced generator using a 1 to 2 flatbelt style speed increaser. At 900 RPM I calculate the engine should be capable of making around 16 HP, the generator guy says to figure 1.4 diesel HP/electrical KW so 16 diesel HP should be capable of making a bit over 11KW.

These come up on ebay occasionally with direct connected 10K generators on them, apparently there were many used as standby power for remote telephone microwave sites, they usually sell for only a couple hundred bucks. I would have bought one out of Indiana last fall (Ebay) but was short on cash at the time, there has also been a couple for sale on ebay from California.

If all else fails these could be converted to high-compression spark ignited engines and fueled with either home distilled ethanol or Mother Earth type gassified wood smoke (working on both these, 12 HP flat head lawn tractor LOVES E85, another local fellow is running a 4 cylinder air cooled flat head wisconsin engine turning a 10K generator using wood chips smoke from a gassifier. Both these engines have very low 5 to 1 compression and still run fine, with diesel compression being at least 3 times that there would be significant power available using either fuel)

This site has been helpful for me with older engines and generator sets -

http://www.smokstak.com/forum/...92df47b0411bdc0828a4

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