Or just knowledgeable folks?

I picked up this two cylinder Wisconsin this past weekend, I wanted a mechanical project that wasn't too involved, (like a car would be) this little engine happened along and I got it.

I believe it is a THD model based on what I've found online, Wisconsin apparently made this model from 1957 until the 1970's, I have no idea what year this one is.

Most of the ones I see online have a Magneto and a hand crank, this one has an electric starter and a generator, it also uses a distributor and a conventional coil for spark.
It has a Borg Warner clutch assembly on the output shaft, that seems to work fine.
Being as this area was once a big Citrus producing area I suspect it once ran some type of machinery associated with that, Irrigation or some type of Farm equipment.

I bought it at an Auction so I had no idea what was wrong with it, all I knew was it turned by hand and it had some head bolts missing, also it was rustier than the Titanic.

It's pretty much complete except when I pulled the head off I found it was missing one piston and rod assembly, from the babbit shreds I found near the lifters on that cylinder it's easy to see why, it lost a bearing on one cylinder at some point and the piston and rod were removed, after that it was probably put away in a leaky barn or field for the next couple decades.

The cylinders seem to have little wear on them, the one has some rust but should hone out okay, the crank will probably need turned but the mains are tapered rollers and feel okay.

Anyhow, if anyone has information (like how to tell what year this is!) or advice about restoring this I'd be glad to hear it!

I'm ditching the big sheet metal front shown here and just keeping the original engine shroud.

Their still here...http://www.continentalengines.com/wisconsin-motors.htmlGood luck

Try E-bay for Wisconsin THD parts. There are a crankshaft & cylinder available for not too much money. Still have several days left.

I'm not sure how experienced you are with rust removal but you might want to google search "oxalic acid".
Sandy

I've been working on small engines since I was a kid. Wisconsin engines were very good for their day. We had a surplus WW2 generator powered by one and it ran like a watch.

That said... it appears like you've got quite project on your hands. There is a LOT of rust and I suspect you're going to need to do not only quite a bit of mechanical, but also electrical restoration as well. Parts for these do no come cheap and the engine you've got isn't particularly valuable or necessarily collectible. I'm friends with one guy up in Northern California who was given a few large Briggs engines from the 50's and they had hand crank starters on them.

As long as you're ok with that and want something to do, have fun with it.

Thanks for the ideas & tips.

I realize this isn't really worth much and I don't want to spend a fortune on it so I may have to reconsider my plans, I was hoping it didn't need any major parts or machine work, maybe rings and bearings, obviously that's not the case.

As for the rust I had Reverse Electrolysis in mind, I don't want to play around with nasty acids if I can help it. The rust is confined mostly to the outside, the insides are pretty clean, even the starter that looks like heck outside is nice and new looking inside and it works, the distributor should clean up pretty easily.
I found out that a Starter and Generator were options that had to be factory ordered, most just had a Magneto.

I may just sit on it (not literally) and see what parts come available, if I wait long enough a rod and piston should show up on eBay at a reasonable price.
Gasket sets seem cheap enough, rings not too bad.

The Carburetor is a rust ball but it's Cast Iron so it should clean up OK too, it's also fairly simple and may not need any parts.

If you're not in a hurry you can always simply soak all the nuts and bolts with some sort of nut and bolt loosener spray every week or so. I usually find that heat works pretty well. If this was an industrial engine maybe you'll be lucky and a lot of the bolts will have had enough oil and grease over the years to come loose easier.

The carb full of rust might be a challenge. If its just the bowl then no biggie. If the whole thing is rusted then all the passages may very well be clogged and corroded. These have to be perfectly clean inside to work. A lot of engine makers used similar brand carbs, like Walbro and so forth. So you could find a replacement out there somewhere.

As far as words of encouragement, I've worked on engines a lot worse looking and got them running great. The good thing about a lot of American built small engines is that they're pretty robust and will take a lot of abuse and still be able to be repaired and got running again.

If I had the time I too would work on something like this.

http://www.ebay.com/sch/?_nkw=wisconsin%20thd -- here are some sources of information. A few years ago I restored a Hobart welder with the same engine you have. It is a real workhorse engine. I found some parts on eBay and there was a seller who was based in Pennsylvania who would give advice and sell parts at reasonable prices. He may be in the above list.

Bill

Edit: Further perusal of the eBay listings shows this might be the seller: quiquilumbo .

On closer inspection I think this might just be a lost cause.

Yes, it could be fixed but rust has pretty much destroyed the distributor and the fan shroud is rusted out beyond reasonable repair, not to mention the hours of work derusting everything, I wouldn't mind the work so much but the money is a deal breaker.

I could buy one of these in running, or at least non rusted condition for far less than I'll have invested in this one.
I've done that with old TV sets on occasion (well mostly really) but this isn't anything historically important or even that interesting.

I think I'd be better off to sell the parts and spend the money on an old Maytag engine instead, now those are interesting!

More good news, the other piston is scored so it needs bored, looks like the bearing on that cylinder may have spun as well.

I haven't chucked it in the scrap bin just yet, thought I'd clean things up and wait and see what turns up parts wise.

First off, the distributor, this lump of brown stuff is the distributor shaft, I did manage to get it apart but the springs have rotted away and the rest looks like it's from the 17th century.


The Crank might polish out, can't tell until I get it out.


This Piston won't polish out.


The Starter is nice, on the inside.


This bucket of gunk is an experiment in Reverse Electrolysis, the Cylinder assembly is in there, it came out pretty good for only an hour and a half of soaking but the one cylinder has quite a bit of pitting from rust.

Looking at your pictures, it would take a LOT more money to refurbish that engine that what it would end up being worth. It was run hard, run low on oil, then put away wet- like on the bottom of a pond for a few years. It would make more sense to refurbish a big old hit and miss or a little Maytag as there could be some return on the investment.

-Mark-

Hi, I have some Wisconsins, but they are V4s. I wonder if some parts would
interchange? Pistons and jugs maybe. Distributor parts? Have a good carb.
of aluminum variety. My models are VF and VG I think. The VF is parts. Blown
bottom end.
I think you are wise to re-think the project. New parts tend to be expensive.

Hello Eric,
Man to bad you did not live closer you could restore this old inboard motor of mine