1916 Cole 8 conrods

[Malcolm 1927 65]

I have a 1916 Cole 8. The engine is a Cole-Northway creation, and it requires new connecting rods. They are 9 1/2" long(c/c) and are of a fork and blade arrangement . See photos

Any information about new manufacturing would be appreciated.  If other owners are interested in replacing them, please advise. 

Malcolm 

 

[George Cole]

I might have an extra set.  I am restoring a 1919 and 1920 Cole...see my thread under Restorations.  I have a few 1916 parts, but they are mixed in with everything else, as the 1919 was completely disassembled when I bought it.  

[paulrhd29nz]

I have to ask... do two rods share the same journal on the crank ??

Edited March 17, 2021 by paulrhd29nz
Spelling (see edit history)

[George Cole]

1 minute ago, paulrhd29nz said:

I have to ask... do two rods shred the same journal on the crank ??

Yes. The 3 rod caps are shown in the picture.  They share one 2-piece bearing.

Edited March 17, 2021 by George Cole (see edit history)

[paulrhd29nz]

Well I’ll be. Did other makes do this? I know some Radial aircraft engines did this. 
is the Cole pressure fed ? Must make for some interesting crank wear and some talented bearing scraping. 

[hidden_hunter]

Cadillac and Lincoln were the others doing it on the automotive side 

[edinmass]

PIII Rolls, Hispano, Lincoln, and a bunch of others.

[JimKB1MCV]

The GM built EMD two stroke diesel 645 and 710 series V8,12,16 and 20 cylinder locomotive and marine industrial engines use the fork and blade con rods.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EMD_645

[Restorer32]

The '16 Olds V-8 we are restoring uses a Northway engine with this con rod arrangement. 

[paulrhd29nz]

Thanks for the lesson fellas 👍

[Bud Tierney]

Not familiar with any of these V8s, but FWIW:

(1) Looks like Cole used the same engine 1916-24 per thunbnails in Std Cat V8 1906-2002, which should be named Std Cat Mainline V8s, as has pitifully little on the 1915--20s orphans... one parts catalog lists a different V8 for 1915, not mentioned in Std Cat V8s...

(2) if Cole rods above don't work out, may be worth checking the Olds 17-23 rods; piston is different but  rod bearing is very close (parets co's 1217,1217A, 1218 for these Olds and Northway engines...

[Restorer32]

What is wrong with the con rods you have?  They can usually be straightened or resized if necessary.

[George Cole]

On 3/19/2021 at 9:20 AM, Restorer32 said:

What is wrong with the con rods you have?  They can usually be straightened or resized if necessary.

 

Malcolm and I have been in touch, even though he's halfway around the world.  The engine overheated with resulting damage.  inspection revealed cracked connecting rods, among other problems.  He's having new ones machined.

[1912Staver]

Those have to end up being very expensive replacements ! So much metal to remove on the fork rod. { I am assuming they will be machined from billet rather than a forged blank like the original ones. }  No decent, used rods anywhere ?

 One of the models of British genset engines I used to work on a lot used rods of this type. But quite a bit larger . They were developed as a  dockyard switcher locomotive engine in the late 1940's . Everything on the engine was designed to be as compact as possible . Paxman RPH.

This is a later ; 1960's Turbo version. But you can get the Idea of how compact the engine was intended to be.

 

Greg