cbriggs Posted January 23, 2010 Share Posted January 23, 2010 Whats the strangest thing you guys have worked on recently ? I put a head on a Zamboni yesterday. Got some pretty weird looks from people in the shop, and worse when i drove it around the shop after it was done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Warman Posted January 23, 2010 Share Posted January 23, 2010 Years ago, I worked on Zambonis in two different towns... here in Slave Lake back in the late 90s and, before that, in Fox Creek in the early 90s... One was a 'proper' Zamboni and the other was a tractot mounted unit. We can add street sweepers into the mix... worked on several of those.... Cop cars are a "ho-hum" thing but fire trucks are always fun... especially if you are working on the pump drives on a mid pumper. Of course there were always the usual side jobs for friends that owned heavy trucks or equipment.... I've done a fair bit of AC work on logging equipment - feller/bunchers, skidders, slashers.... life can be colourful. The wierdest and most memorable job I've done? During one of my brief sabbaticals from the business had me as the de facto operations manager of a cluster fuck group of businesses... the main business was as an Imperial Oil Canada bulk dealer (one year we pumped over 25,000,000 liters of diesel fuel alone)... associated businesses included a Mohawk Propane bulk dealership boasting two company owned trucks that we could rent out for annhydrous ammonia hauling, swimming pool and hot tub sales, logging supplies, holiday trailers and motorhomes, musical instruments, propane supplies (including BBQs... I guess you could call me Hank Hill), hydraulic and vapour hoses and fittings... I'm sure I'm forgetting something... Anyway.... I have been called out in the middle of the night to deliver guitar strings to a visiting musical group. But the most memorable and wierdest job? Filling the "smoke" tanks on the RCAF Snowbird aerobatic teams Canadair CT-114 Tutor aircraft. In my career, I started out with nothing... and I still have most of it left.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aaron Posted January 24, 2010 Share Posted January 24, 2010 What motor was in the zamboni? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mchan68 Posted January 24, 2010 Share Posted January 24, 2010 What motor was in the zamboni?Probably a Chevy 305. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cbriggs Posted January 24, 2010 Author Share Posted January 24, 2010 2.3l ford power products, 1997 vintage, on propane. With the sides removed and the hopper lifted its alot like a cab off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Warman Posted January 24, 2010 Share Posted January 24, 2010 Like Chris... 2.3 OHC for the custom Zamboni.... Fox Creek had an old Ford tractor... 35 horse if I recall and the Zamboni was driven off the PTO. All the Zambonis I saw were propane fired... what did you see Chris? Street sweepers usually run two motors... the one I see for the brush is usually a 2.3 OHC... or WAS back when I did them... and the motive power would be from whoever supplied the rolling chassis. Some guys might be surprised to see what "industrial" engines are out there to be had. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChristopherH Posted January 25, 2010 Share Posted January 25, 2010 1972 Morton Thiokol Sprite Snow Cat with an inline 6 cylinder Ford industrial engine--with a rod knock. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrunoWilimek Posted January 25, 2010 Share Posted January 25, 2010 What motor was in the zamboni?If is says Zamboni on the front, It's a Ford. If it says Olympia, It's a Chevy. I once worked on a wood chipper/shredder that used an old style(distributor motor)2.3 OHC from the early 1980's. I used a 1980 Mustang as a reference for parts. It was a no start and needed a tune-up. I have never worked on semi's, but once had to make a service call on one that had a faulty rad shutter system causing overheating due to staying shut all the time. I was able to use a small c-clamp from my bag of tricks to hold the shutter open and sent him on his way to the nearest dealer. I am currently working on a Land Rover Dicovery II that had been to a local indy shop for a CEL and poor fuel economy. It left there barely running, missing badly and with a large bill. I had to become a member of a Land Rover website to get diagnosis and service info. Looks to me like the apprentice tech who worked on it removed the plenum to access the ignition coils in order to change spark plug wires. One of the plenum locating dowels is missing, right next to #2 intake port. #2 intake valve does not close all the way, leading me to suspect the dowel is holding it open, or the valve is bent. I am waiting for customer to decide if he wants to spend any more on it, or just trade it in in it's present worthless condition. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
No Wiper Blades Posted January 28, 2010 Share Posted January 28, 2010 When at a Dodge dealer in the early 80s (I was the tranny guy there), a local aircraft service company brought their air craft tractor in. It was a large box made out of plate steel (about 1/2" thick). The thing was crazy heavy, maybe 10,000 lbs. Had 22" rims on the back with a huge diff, like out of a 10 ton truck. 15" wheels on the front, 360 dodge V8 a 727 transmission and a gianormus trailer hitch. They wanted a fresh motor and transmission with a little more grunt for pulling in jumbo jets. The motor guy refit the 360 with a Dodge Direct Connection drag strip set up complete with cam, intake, carb, distributor, but stock manifolds. The tranny got all the Direct Connection recommended mods to go with the motor. We road tested on the lot, If you held the brake on and launched it it would hang the front wheels. Top speed was about 20 or 30 kph at 4500 RPM. Almost cleaned a new K car off the lot trying to stop it, the driveshaft brake wasn't very effective for slowing it down. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LARRY BRUDZYNSKI Posted January 29, 2010 Share Posted January 29, 2010 So far to date the strangest thing i've worked on has been the bosses hovercraft. Rebuilt the Yamaha engine and replaced the 2 fans under it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrbudge Posted January 30, 2010 Share Posted January 30, 2010 Not too weird but kind of funny, Advisor writes up a 08 Jeep Diesel for a rough run (sign out front says Ford). Tower operator starts giving him shit for writing it up, Advisor says "but they like dealing here". Tower operator says "yeah, Air Canada likes dealing here too but they don't bring us jumbo jets to work on" Just though I'd share that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mchan68 Posted January 30, 2010 Share Posted January 30, 2010 Not too weird but kind of funny, Advisor writes up a 08 Jeep Diesel for a rough run (sign out front says Ford). Tower operator starts giving him shit for writing it up, Advisor says "but they like dealing here". Tower operator says "yeah, Air Canada likes dealing here too but they don't bring us jumbo jets to work on" Just though I'd share that.Sounds like a GOOD tower operator to me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Adema Posted January 30, 2010 Share Posted January 30, 2010 I didn't actually work on it, but when I was at the Detroit Diesel dealer we had a local construction tycoon bring in his race truck to shake down on our chassis dyno. CAT C12 pushing close to 1000hp in front of a MT series Allison in a single axle Peterbilt chassis, that was cool. We've also had something that looked like a Batmobile come in for parts, built by a local guy for Hollywood, it had a 500hp Detroit 8V92 in it. I think it's called something gay like "Iron Eagle" or such. Anyways, when finished the buyer backed out, so the builder just drives and shows it. Cool to see, I should find and post links or pics...... As for weird, I got to work on an actual restored and street worthy Ford Model "T" when I was at my dad's auto shop. That was neat, wooden battery, convection cooling, manual spark advance beside the steering wheel, a true time machine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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