Coming soon �. 1929 McDonald CC "Super Diesel"

G'day Geoff
Again, great images - and the planting of excellent future provinance with the
maker's plate, Brilliant.

I love the Read Instruction Book cast in that plate.
Here are some filtered TROVE searches.

https://trove.nla.gov.au/picture/result?q=mcdonald+cc+super+diesel
https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/...dateFrom=&dateTo=&sortby=dateAsc

Many thanks.
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Jack

G'day there Jack,
Great reading from the Trove and Newspaper advertorials there, the McDonalds certainly had there moment and I've met so many people who swear by them �

I'm in the process of getting said instruction book, if it's on the plate, it must be pretty important, right? lol

My new baby gets picked up Wednesday and if I'm a lucky lad, should be with me early next week � and we know what comes next hey ...

G'day Geoff
You are certainly breathing new life in to these old mechanical beasts and
also to these forums. Many thanks

McDonald seems to have such a long and proud history.
Look at the size of those diesel roller motors!

It would be so grand to hear this one running.

Che[i][/i]ers
-----------------------
Jack

She's home at last and more beautiful than I imagined �. couldn't wait to get the manual I've ordered from Plough Book Sales so I've tracked one down as a downloadable version (thanks interweb, you surprise me again)

Sooooo tempted to take a tin of diesel to work tomorrow � she'll at least get half a clean and I'll start working through the oilers. Still need an exhaust pipe and have no idea if the clearances to valves are correct but compression is fantastic and everything seems to work as it should.

Wo know's, may even have a runner by the weekend!?!

You can just sit and watch those motors plonking away for hours, they are very soothing. I would sooner spend an evening watching one tick away than watching tv.

Are these like a Lister for pumping water etc? What does that spring loaded mechanism on the inside of the flywheel do?

I would say the spring loaded mechanism on the inside of the flywheel is the governor.
Link here for more info
These engines are started on kerosene and then switched over to diesel.
This ad has a list of the type of work the diesel was used for, see pic.

Cheers Max.

Hey guys,
Max is definitely on it .. the spring loaded thing is the governor mechanism, there are screws on each assembly to increase or decrease spring tension but there's also a speed control up the business end.

With regard to use, these engines were more designed to be fitted to a pad, it weighs close to 300kg with that massive cast iron base and piston housing.

Would have been used in large shearing sheds, industrial applications, chaff cutters and really anything you needed reasonable amounts of power for. I doubt they will have been fitted to sprayers or single stand shearing plants as they're just not mobile like the Cooper XD's or Ronny N's but despite the size, she's rated as 4-5hp at around 600rpm I think it is.

She's had a solid going over this week, very early drives to the office and today she had all the oilers filled and a final check of linkages and operation of oil pumps etc.

A couple more photo's now she's not looking so "farm fresh" lol

Taking some diesel with me tomorrow morning and we'll see if we cant get a couple of farts out of it before the lads get in

Hi Geoff, a few years ago I went with a friend to an old coolstore, some stationary engine club, somewhere around Pakenham and there must have been a couple of hundred motors there, many restored and operating, many requiring resto, I bet there would be a few magnetos kicking around there in all those boxes of parts Sorry just realized the magneto was for the drag saw.

Hey Norm, thanks for the heads up mate � I'm thinking best result might be to send it off for some love that I just can't give it �

I have a buddy down that way form my club, I'll hit him up and see if he know's of the place

OK team .. try as I may, I just can't get the CC to kick On the plus side, we have a new exhaust pipe!! Stainless Steel no less �

I've checked the clearances of fuel needle and exhaust valve. I've "snapped" the valves shut to make sure they're seated properly and checked there's fuel getting to the vapour cup.

There's nothing really blowing out the vent hole in the fuel system flange and there's plenty of lube and compression happening.

The only thing I can really pin it on now is the gasket I made for the vapour cup since the original copper / asbestos crush ring was missing. Under expert guidance I made a flat washer about 2mm thick and annealed it well. Awesome fit, looks like it's made for the job.

My only other thought would be to hook up a jockey engine to just keep it turning so I can mess around with the fuel a bit instead of spending most of my time cranking and recovering lol

What am I doing wrong guys or is my washer, a washout??

Hi Geoff my knowledge on these is zero apart from starting the old Lister up when we lived on the dairy farm in Gippsland when I was young. Is there anywhere you can get a squirt of starter fluid into it, that often gives things a wake up call, not sure what it does, maybe the initial explosion from the fluid settles the rings, not sure but it often works. At least it might give you an indication if the problem is fuel or not.

Hi Geoff,
I would be starting the engine on kerosene and not diesel if you are using diesel.

I see a lot of information here for checks and adjustments before starting http://www.iamnota.net/_media/e:ms2...mcdonald_super-diesel_ff&cache=cache

Cheers
Max

Seeing one of these old motors brings back a memory of the one we had on the farm driving the shearing plant. One of the sheep dogs had taken a dislike to it and each time it was started he would race in and try to bite the flywheel once the motor started. One day the cranking pin which recesses back into the flywheel once the motor starts did not return back in and when the dog went to bite the flywheel it hit him on the nose creating a fair bit of damage and a vet bill. The dog survived but did learn his lesson just barking and growling from a safe distance for all future starts.

G'day ex farmer,
can you imagine a feline doing something that rash and stupid? They know better. They retreat from scary machinery.

G'day all,
A few threads about McDonald Diesels on the TOMM forums;
https://forums.tomm.com.au/index.php?topic=4689.0

https://forums.tomm.com.au/index.php?topic=1632.0

https://forums.tomm.com.au/index.php/topic=2435.0

From these, I'd say that it's apparent that ether-based starting spray/fluid [e.g. Aerostart, Start Ya Bastard] is a bad idea in these engines.
Using kerosene for starting is the go [after all, that's why it has a two-compartment fuel tank], and the hot water in the cooling hopper trick would be worth trying.

The other issue raised there, is that the Brons/Hvid fuel vapouriser can be rather temperamental to set up. Also, the fuel valve is prone to leaking, especially as the spring weakens with age.

A detailed rundown on the setup: http://www.oldengine.org/members/kennedy/mcdonald/vapouriser.htm

G'day all
Thanks to Geoff for his story and great images.

I loved the anecdote and imagery of exfarmer's recollections. Brilliant.
And with added observations by mowerfreak.

Max's and Gadge's research is just so typically good. Thank you.

A great story for members.

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Jack

G'day folks,

Just came across this interesting 1943 academic paper on oil engines - including an anecdote about running a McDonald diesel on cream, of all fuels!
https://digitised-collections.unime...1343/24900/307563_UDS2013255-19-0022.pdf