New fun project -

[Thierry Petersen]

Hi All:

New to the forum here. I have just picked up an A4 & I'd like to date it somehow. Does anyone have a list of serial numbers by year? My serial number is 68948 (I think - hard to tell if I got it right.) The original color was green. 6 volt ignition, I suspect. It was my wife's grandfather's and family lore says its 50s vintage. It spent most of its life (but not all) as a freshwater engine. It sank 20 years ago & was recovered after a week under salt water (it was never brought back to life after that). Its been stuck in the back of a garage ever since. Below is my "before" restoration picture. It seems to be what I call a "solid mess." It's seized & rusted up good, but the block appears otherwise sound.

My hope is to restore this for an open launch. This is my first inboard & I can't wait.

Thanks for any help.

[ArtJ]

There are a lot of rebuid experts on the forum ( not me )

But one thing you can do right away is to pour some mystery oil or
30 wt oil in each cylinder after removing the plugs. be careful not
to break a plug off. If they are stuck be patient and pour some
mystery oil around the base of the plugs, gently tap wait a day try
to remove again. Repeat for up to a week or longer.

You can try to turn the engine over by hand. This will be easier
with the plugs removed.

Good Luck

Art

[Kelly]

Pre-dates the A4?

I can't wait for some informed opinions to arrive here. It looks to me like your Universal engine pre-dates the A4s we're used to seeing on the forum.

Here is a link to an excellent history of the Universal Motor Company.

Regards

[Kelly]

Best guess

Universal Utility Four from the '40s or '50s??

[Thierry Petersen]

Help with Identifying my engine & year

Thank you both for the tips. Kelly the link was very interesting also. There was a 1959 A4 that sort of looked like mine. It's an intriguing idea that it's not an A4 (i.e or rather a Utility 4). I have attached a picture of the other side to shed more light on it. Does it still look like an A4? I can't guarantee that everything is original on the engine (there is a history of tinkering in the family). You can see that the exhaust manifold is bad. Hopefully the rot didn't get into the block. I'll start to pull it apart this weekend.

Thanks again for help. Any ideas & advice sought.

cheers,

Thierry

[67c&ccorv]

It is the Universal Utility 4 - a 25hp auxialliary motor identifiable by the square oil fill cover up front.

She is an oldie - I wonder about parts availability?

In 1933 another 4 cylinder engine called the Utility Four (Model BN - 6 volt generator / BNM - magneto / BNR - 6 volt generator, left hand propeller rotation / BNMR - magneto, left-hand propeller rotation) was introduced. The Utility Four was a 4 cylinder inline / 95 cu in model which developed 25 hp @ 2,500 rpm, and was designed for "cruisers, runabouts, and auxiliaries up to 45 feet". In 1939 a new "shortened" version of the Utility Four was introduced at a cost of $US333. 2,700 Utility Fours were built between 1933 and 1940. The marine reversing gear fitted to this engine was a Joes Gears, manufactured by the Snow & Petrelli Manufacturing Company in New Haven, Connecticut. The Utility Four was advertised at the 1940 New York Boat Show as having been used as the auxiliary engine in the 36 foot yawl Iris on a voyage from New York to Naples and return in the summer of 1939. 12,000 Utility Four engines were purchased by the US navy and other countries from 1943 to 1950 for use in lifeboats. The Utility Four was used extensively all over the world during World War 2 to power lifeboats for the ships, barges, and tankers of many navies and merchant marine fleets.

That will be a "fun" project!

[67c&ccorv]

Also thinking it is a "Short 4" as I see the initials "ST F" on the carb side of the block.

Is it from a surplus lifeboat?

[rigspelt]

Here's the link Kelly posted earlier, spelled out. I posted before I realized he had already pointed it out.

http://www.hessmarine.ca/universalhistory1.html

This engine looks in great shape from the outside, in spite of the week underwater. One challenge might be finding out whether new components like water and fuel pumps can fit physically and perform properly, but on reading the history of this line of engines I've been impressed with how the early design was "right", and evolution was not, I don't think, dramatic over subsequent decades. This will be a fascinating story to follow. Thanks for posting.

[Thierry Petersen]

Also thinking it is a "Short 4" as I see the initials "ST F" on the carb side of the block.

Is it from a surplus lifeboat?

Thank you all for posts. Looking at the history link, it's definitely the Utility Short Four. Thanks. So I guess that dates it sometime between 1939 - 1950. To answer the question, it could well be a surplus from an old lifeboat. The man who owned it originally (my wife's grandfather) was a doctor stationed in the pacific during WWII. As the front moved towards Japan, he travelled with the sailors/front. It seems reasonable that he had experience with these engines first hand, and after the war, either bought one new or used. I don't really know. His son (my father-in-law) was born in 1940 & can only remember the engine as always being in the family boat. There are some old family papers from the period that I can go through. Maybe I'll get lucky and find a receipt.

On a practical matter, I guess this means that I need to go slow and salvage anything I can. With only about 15,000 made, replacement parts are going to hard to come by. Too bad Moyer Marine doesn't make parts of the Utility 4 as well as the Atomic 4. Oh well...

I'll post some pictures as I progress.


thanks again for the help,

[sastanley]

It is possible that some parts may carry over/retrofit. It does not seem that the technology of these motors changed that much over the years.

Even though most of us have 'newer' motors, we are all very interested in your project...you could break new ground by retrofitting some newer parts to the older motor.

Salvage everything you can!!!!

[Concord]

Similarities

The carb, fuel pump and filter look identical to my 1960's A4. I would bet the exhaust header is the same also.

Pretty cool - good luck!

[Concord]

Similarities

The carb, fuel pump and filter look identical to my 1960's A4. I would bet the exhaust header is the same also.

Pretty cool - good luck!

[Thierry Petersen]

Making Progress

Its been a while, but I wanted to share some progress. I finally got the head off today. I've been slow but I didn't want to crack it (I think it looks good). I first built a head puller out of wood, using 18mm bolts through the wood to pull up from the spark plugs holes (I actually had to special order four 18 mm 1.5 pitch bolts to do this. I'm still amazed that the spark plug threads are metric! I would have thought not). However, that only lifted the valve side and then split my piece of wood. Then I tried the rig in the attached picture..that worked better much better, but still the head would lift only on the valve side. I ended up putting a moderate strain on the bolts and oiling the stud bolts every few days for about 1 1/2 months. I then started to saw away the gasket with a hack saw blade and then today took a broad flat chisel and worked my way in. The pistons are now soaking in ATF. I think they will need to soak for a while.

All in all, I still think she is salvageable.

Happy new year to you all...and thanks again for everyone's help earlier

[hanleyclifford]

Great tool! Now that is an item for the Wish List.