Ok so long story short my local community center that I'm very active in has a generator we're gonna sell. Its got a northstar 10000 watt head driven by a Hercules flat head all on a small trailer. I don't have any pics now but I've had it running and ran a fan off of it to check that it worked. I was hoping somebody on here would have an idea of value. Its all profit for the comm center so we don't wanna go outrageous but don't wanna give it away either. We had come up with $1250, what do you guys think. I'll try n get pics this weekend.
Home made generator
- Thread starter tbrooks
- Start date
Pics would help, fuel type, fuel capacity, breaker, outlet set up, 220 capable? But $1200 sounds like a fair start, how loud? Lol
Well for some reason couldn't get that to work right. Theres 5 pics there and it lost my words. I'm pretty sure its homemade and a 2 cylinder. It as 4 spark plugs but only 2 intake and exhaust ports. The pictures are crappy until I get time this weekend to take the front of the shed its in so I can pull it out. We originally were gonna keep it in the shed permanently so it won't fit through the doors lol.
I'm rethinking the number of cylinders. I originally thought 4 then somebody looked at it and talked me into it being 2, but now I been looking around and I think it could be 4. Gotta get the numbers off it and see. What I've been reading though is the Hercules flatheads are very good reliable motors and the military used to make their generators out of em. This one is definitely pieced together tho. The motor is way older than the generator and even the panel on the front looks older. I'll find out lots more this weekend tho
That thing is beastly!!
"Shared" ports would be more common than two plugs per cyl. Ford flathead V-8 only has three ex ports per side.
Should start with slightly higher price so there is some bargining room.
10k heads are about a grand.
"Shared" ports would be more common than two plugs per cyl. Ford flathead V-8 only has three ex ports per side.
Should start with slightly higher price so there is some bargining room.
10k heads are about a grand.
Yeah I seen the heads around the internet. But I also know things are worth more parted than as a whole. Seems that most generators seem to go for about $1 per 10watts so 10000 watts=$1000, unless its a Honda lol. And it won't come with a battery cause that's mine. The spacing on the plugs is kinda strange almost like they're paired up, part of the reason we were thinking 2 cylinder. Whoever made it knew what they were doing seems like. Its pretty well built. The only thing I don't like is how the wiring was done to the extra outlets, I would have done it neater with some better wire, but otherwise its a great rig. Hopefully I'll get it up and running easily this weekend and I'll throw it on cl and ebay when we get a price decided on, but its pretty much all on me.
Yeah it still didn't load pics and words right, this time I copied what I wrote before adding pics tho:
Ok I got a few better pics (I hope) didn't have as much time as I'd hoped today. After my nephews graduation, I got it out of the shed and the shed put back together. Then over to my shop, but my 9 month old helper was ready for a nap at that point. It is definitely 4 cylinder, I saw the firing order on the exhaust manifold as soon as I pulled it out. Gonna do some digging and see what I can find out about the motor.
Ok I got a few better pics (I hope) didn't have as much time as I'd hoped today. After my nephews graduation, I got it out of the shed and the shed put back together. Then over to my shop, but my 9 month old helper was ready for a nap at that point. It is definitely 4 cylinder, I saw the firing order on the exhaust manifold as soon as I pulled it out. Gonna do some digging and see what I can find out about the motor.
Digging around and now wondering if this could be an old military genset with a new head on it. The zxb motor goes back to wwII era and earlier and had multiple uses. Also I noticed today every spark plug on it was different lol. The one plate in the pics is on the motor and the other on the "electrical panel" on the front says diesel, but I don't believe it is. If it is it runs just fine on gas lol
Hope fully I got this figured out. My first time uploading a vid anywhere.
This thing basically started right up even after sitting for 3-4 years. Only problems I could find with it was the throttle works its way in so it won't hold the rpms to keep it at operating speed and there's a small coolant leak at the connection to the water pump. The battery is mine so its not included. We were thinking of starting at $1700 so theres a little room for haggling. What do you guys think?
Also it has an hour meter on it, I tried to get it in the vid but the quality is crap. It says 11.3, actually 11.4 now, I'm guessing it was installed when this thing was put together, but know way of knowing for sure. Also its not as loud as I thought, its prob close to the same as most other portable generator
