New member/MEP003

[Killian]

Hey fellas, I have been lurking for a week or so reading everything I could find on the 003a. Talk about lots of information. Great site and I have not even explored outside of the auxiliary section yet. A few weeks back I decided it was time to pull the trigger for a generator for the house. Stumbled across the MEP stuff and thought it was the coolest thing, so I just started reading. I wanted diesel since my boat runs on diesel and the tank holds 165 gallons. Since it sits in the back yard, I always have a supply.....unless the boat disappears in a storm. So here I am about two weeks into the education of the subject matter and I have a MEP003 sitting in my yard. Looks decent, seems to run just fine and I abide by the no idle advice. It is not hooked up to the house yet so I have only run it for about 5 minutes with no load. It even came with the aux fuel bung adaptor. Based on my reading many of them don't so I felt pretty good about it. I used my F150 to transport it to the house. My buddies fork lift fell through so I borrowed a rather large front end loader to get it out of the truck. Having never used a front end loader before I was a bit cautious you could say with the hydraulics. Not sure the yardage of the bucket but it has got to be 8-10 feet wide. I took some pictures of the old gal dangling from the bucket. I felt like I was using a sledge hammer to put a nail in a wall! I also managed to find my water main........you all know how that story goes! A broken pipe is better than messing up the wifes vehicle though. I am sure I will have lots of questions but I am going to start doing searches now that I am a member. No need to duplicate information if it can be avoided. My first search will be data plates and little stuff like identifying what CARO DEC 06 stenciled in paint near data plate. No luck on that yet. Looking forward to losing power and rockin out with air conditioning and cold beer. Thanks for all the education.

 

[Jimc]

here is a link to the wiki and my 003 rebuild thread. both have good info


http://www.steelsoldiers.com/showthread.php?101932-mep-003a-teardown-and-refurb

http://www.steelsoldiers.com/showthread.php?62648-MEP-002A-and-003

of course there are alot of good topics here and great info. if your looking for data plates then click on my link below. i have a whole kit avail. on the gen does it say caro or carc? carc is the paint. short for carcinogen....like meaning it will kill you paint. lol

 

[ETN550]

CARC means it was painted in Dec '06. CARC= Chemical Agent Resistant Coating. Made to seal gaps and allow pressure washing with aggressive cleaners. I believe it is currently a polyurethane base paint from what I have read. If you google CARC and CARC specs you will get a bunch of hits. Just start reading. I don't think it is particularly dangerous or anything. There is no lead in it or anything like that. But if anyone has an MSDS sheet for it I would like to see it. It is very durable and long lasting, yet easy to chip off when fitting wrenches to the painted hardware. Personally, I like it.

 

[Jimc]

Huh, interesting etn. when i was in they told us the carc label was a carcinogen warning. Guess theybwere wrong or i remember wrong. On the other hand if your right and it is a polyurethane, since it has no catalyst to add to it then it would be moisture cure and contain isocynates which is extremely hazardous.

 

[Killian]

That make sense. Glad you explained because I could not find anything in here about that. My next question is about the data plate. It has a serial number but the manufacture date is not there not is the inspection date. There is however a sticker with a bar code on it. It contains a DTID # and a bunch of other numbers, one of them being a price of $13,635. I wish I had snagged one of the little green pouches that were strapped on some of the other generators. It may have given some history?

 

[steelandcanvas]

I wish I had snagged one of the little green pouches that were strapped on some of the other generators.

Probably not a good idea to "snag" anything that doesn't belong to the lot you won. That's a real sore subject here...a guy goes and previews a lot he wants to bid on, wins it, and then things are missing when he goes to pick it up.

 

[glcaines]

There is however a sticker with a bar code on it. It contains a DTID # and a bunch of other numbers, one of them being a price of $13,635.

Welcome to the site. The sticker you are referring to shows the original acquisition price the DOD paid for the unit.

 

[Killian]

I bought it from a guy(private) that had 17 or more of them. He brought me to his service center and let me walk around the barn and take the generator I wanted. He told me I could take a pouch off of another but I did not bother. He buys them by the truck load from auctions or bases I suppose. I have never been to an auction but can see where you may have assumed I was nefariously thinking of doing something that is frowned upon. That is not how I roll.

 

[ETN550]

Here is a great link on the CARC. It explains a lot. Even states how the green paint simulates vegetation in the near infrared spectrum and the tan is resistant to absorbing heat.

http://www.gulflink.osd.mil/carc_paint_ii/carc_paint_ii_s03.htm