Maybe you’ve never seen this engine in a picture larger than a thumbprint?
Many a DIYer have noticed the Chang Jiang Motor Cycle, and have studied the changes made since the transfer of the tooling and knowledge to China. Looking at how little has changed in China, and how much has changed with the same design in Russia makes for an interesting study. I make the assumption that this engine design was tech transferred around the same time. According to travelers this engine can be found in everything from main propulsion for fishing boats, generators, running line shafting in machine shops, and more..
- Front view Shandong 2105A
This twin cylinder Diesel is rated at 17.7 KW at the flywheel, and was machined on Massive Government owned Equipment in Mainland China. The top end is lubricated with wicks and trays, with modern lubricants, we might get away with a squirt of oil per tray twice a day.
Under the side cover are two individual Injection pumps, with very refined and logical linkage, like we’d expect from Germany prior to WWII.
The rear deck has two identical looking filter canisters, one for lube oil, another for fuel, the lines and banjo connections look very well made, and hard to improve on. I doubt it would take much at all to convert to screw on filters like we typically use here instead of the replaceable internals, and reuseable canisters.
The cooling system is of special interest to me, the cooling water pump is below the filters, and the inlet is right on the pump, the water discharge is up through the exhaust manifold, and discharges along side the exhaust stack. I think this is very similar to how a person would plumb it if he were interested in Combined Heat And Power. No doubt you could easily use a thermostatic valve to control re-circulation or allow the transfer of hot water to a point of heat storage or other use with little effort. The high mass of the water jacket, and block, along with the clean vertical design will assure good cooling.
Another thing of Interest, There is a Manual available for this Engine that looks as if it were made in the WEST. The manual has no typos in it, and the English is perfect. This suggests to me that the Engine enjoyed popularity outside of Asia, as I have seen few Service Manuals done as well for things that were manufactured inside Mainland China.
Each Engine comes with a tool kit, auxiliary start handle, rings, head gaskets, etc. Since import is now more of a problem, I’d like to see my engine fall into the hands of a collector. China is in the process of modernizing their stuff, and we will lose another source of old engines that seem far more capable of burning a wide variety of fuels. These engines were developed when fuel quality was an everyday concern.
pump-side-2105
To my knowledge, even a decent picture is hard to find. The flywheel is a marvel, and the coupler has a large circle of rubber isolators, very well designed, and should be trouble free. The frame you see is custom made here of very heavy angle, all is welded with 6011 rod. The coupler center is fitted with a keyed hole ready to receive a drive shaft, and there is plenty of room to fit an outer bearing for PTO or similiar use. Rated RPM is 1500, but I’m sure this engine will be happy down to about 1100 RPMs. Thsi engin was test run in China, has electric start, and is equipped with their highy standardized Starter and electrics.. Including an Alternator to charge the start Battery.
If I had a Wooden Boat Project here in the Puget Sound, I’d really consider this engine, the sound it would make with a split exhaust, how easy it would be to set up fresh water cooling. The fact that it would be so easy to set up cabin heat. And this frame, it looks to me that there’s plenty of room for the reversing box, and a plasma cutter could be used to cut the angle and allow the bottom to conform to the bottom ribs of your boat, then reweld.
Think of the sound! In a day before the EPA, I can see myself setting course north via the inland passage, burning a mixture of highly filtered and dewatered WMO, and used paint thinner solvents given to me.. the auto pilot set, the BBQ off the stern, eating fresh caught fish all the way to Petersberg.
If you have more detail about the history of this Engine, I’d love to have your comment..
GB
Look to be a nice looking engine.. where do you put your hand on it??? Customer engine??
Martin, this was part of the Utterpower research into what was being built in China and how viable it might be in backup and off grid power. Since the States were foolish enough to give away their ability to set standards for Stationary Engines, the EPA made these engines illegal, so I stopped my efforts to research how well thye might fit into the DIYer’s life style.
George
you know i have lusted for that engine every since the first time i saw it, maybe 5 years ago now?
that thing in my opinion is a thing of beauty!
bob g
Bob.. this appears to be modern enough to give good service, and old enough to burn a wide variety of fuels in the hands of a thoughtful experimenter. Millions in Sevice, and likely parts available for a long time. Lee and David would have no troubles sending parts or making up KITS, but assembling this engine here would be cost prohibitive even if the legal aspects were of no concern to the DIYer.
I REALLY like the color. Very sensible of the Chinese to paint it a light color so when you drop a socket in a dimly lighted engine compartment the Indian Dark Hunter Green won’t suck it up like a black hole!
Cool engine.
Dang! Quinn, I read one of your posts.. that hammered silver. I actually thought to give you credit for the choice here. If you must paint an engine any shade of gray or silver.. I do reccomend Quinn’s choice 🙂 And yes.. I expected to get caught on this.. BUT… do give me full credit for the frame color. Quinn do see the Utterpower Lexicon here.. https://www.utterpower.com/utterpowers-lexicon/ See the word ‘Silvertone’ and how it’s used in a Sentence.
There’s a Gent in England.. he had a white Lister Clone. He may be along to take you to task Quinn, I bet he painted his a proper Green..
Now I wouldn’t go that far. Painting an engine a light reflective color makes sense, at least for engines in marine installations that live their lives hidden under a box in the dark bilge of a boat. Remember I first painted Old Silver green on your recommendation, but it seemed to me the thing just sucked all the light out of the groj; had to work on it under lights all the time. So I stripped it and repainted it silver.
But painting an engine white seems a bit extreme. Rich men’s yacht engines are often painted white, but they are maintained by professionals that get paid to wipe up oil drips. Once gaskets begin to leak it’ll look like a zebra. Moderation in all things. Silver is moderate. White’s extreme. Dark Hunter Green is fine for ag equipment that lives outside in bright light, but I prefer silver. And I see some very sensible Chinese do too.
q.
You need go after the root cause, too few lights in the garage 🙂
It’s such a shame we’re the only country I know of with such ridiculous overdone rules that the EPA has been given! The actual DIYers are such a small group you’d think they’d leave us alone. Most of the rest of the world takes for granted what we can’t even get hold of! That’s a sweet looking little engine. Looks very well made. But then so is the big Lister singles of which I’ve always wanted! Just such a shame.
You haven’t seen anything yet..
my bet is that engine would plug along happily at ~750rpm, and i don’t care if it were plated in “pink”, with little green polka dots… i really like that engine!
its times like these that make me want to dust off my copy of thoreau’s “walden” just to reread the included companion… “civil disobedience”
one does hope that maybe after the next election some of the teeth (fangs) in some of the government departments might be filed down a bit?
not to mention any specific department you know 😉
at what point does the system become so top heavy that there is insufficient funds to police the masses of diy’ers?
things that make you go… hmmmmm
bob g
bob g
Oh yes oh yes. It it wonderful and boy would I like to have one. Lucky that you have it. I could think of a place for it and run it instead of a furnace. Heat and electricity from one source. I have been interested in co-generation for a long time (40 years). If you use the exhaust to heat your house then the electricity is close to being free. With this engine I would not have to build a exhaust heat exchanger. Well I’m running on, I just love the look of the engine and I know where i would put it if I had one. Thanks for the picture and the info. Now I’ll be dreaming of getting one. So, how many different types of engines like this can i fit in my garage?
Richard, I have too many projects.. this could be yours.. I’m putting the round tank on this week, and I’ll test run it.
Hope you make a video running it. How do you find great engines like this? I realize that their not legal in the US but can’t one person sell it to another? Also I agree with you about stuff they won’t make any more I have been slowly selling my saw mill and other old equipment but making sure that it goes to someone who will use it or put it in their collection. I hate to see great old equipment get melted down. For some reason I love engines like this. Call me weird but I do enjoy myself.
Hello, I would like to know if this is an engine I can buy here in the US or is it one that no one can find? It just looks like it’s built right. The water cooled exhaust is just the thing.
Hi Richard,
When you reach 64 years of age, you normally realize you have more projects than time. I’m there!
In all honesty, I have saved this engine wanting to see it go in a wooden boat here in the Puget Sound, the exhaust note would be like a melody. I don’t know anyone in the wooden boat world.. so little chance I’ll get to see it installed in one, if I were 40, I’d do it myself.
I would talk to you or other people off line about a price, the frame is long enough to mount an in-out- reversing box for a boat, or a more simple post and output bearing, the well designed coupler is ready to receive a shaft with key way.
This project sits in front of my shop at the moment.. it’s a good time to talk about buying it. It comes with spares and a few tools, and Lee and David can easily find parts since it’s a very standard power source in the East. Parts will be available for years to come.
If anyone has a 12KW two bearing gen head, that would likely be a good match for this engine at rated 1500 RPMs, of course, smaller head required if you run it slower, and down around 1100 RPMs, it might be real happy..
I don’t plan on importing these, they are now just too expensive by the time they get here, or illegal.. and there’s a 100% chance that customs will impound your container for the optional xray and search..just because you are a small importer, and you raise suspicion, maybe you import a nuke? This adds lot of extra cost to your import, as you pay to have the container moved to their location and moved out, two extra moves, and you pay their fees for the xray. You need a stuffed 40 foot container to make it worth your while. Did I mention, there’s also a big fine if you don’t send notification that your container is being shipped to the USA? If you fail to file BEFORE it leaves, that’s a huge fine..
Meanwhile.. there’s a guy who imports japanese mini trucks. He ships to LA, and trucks all the way to Seattle to avoid the people here… as they have sat on his shipments more than once and looked for any reason to reject them. We are reaching a point where the RED tape costs more than shipping the container half way aroud the world!
Can’t somebody undertake the process to making molds of some of these soon to be rare engines and start doing hobbyist casting and machining to thrwart our foes in the EPA? Raw materials are abundant with so many scraping anything for so little.
Shawn, Look up ” The Artful Bodger” for your answer and something to get your teeth into.