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If it's 24V, yes it will work. I used the 12V version of that for years on a much more demanding application than a 30 hp generator.

Diesel fuel plus water often forms a gum (bacteria love the stuff). These Facet pumps work by having a solenoid operated slug with a check valve in the middle bounce back and forth in the fuel line. If the slug is stuck to the bore nothing pumps. Because the pumps use a Hall-effect switch to...

The whole 'pilot error' thing is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, yes we humans are fallible and make mistakes. That's arguably the most important reason why we have two-pilot cockpits in commercial airliners - cross checks. And yes, you could automate the whole process of flying from...

Everything I've heard (from people who manage(ed) them over the years) was that a two stroke Detroit Diesel 1) is loud, 2) leaks oil, 3) often has a sticky control rack, so make sure the strangler flap works, 4) is happiest worked hard, 5) wet stacks and carbons up the head easily (see 4)), and...

No argument on either count. Red Coat is what I'd use as well after lots of pinhole sealing...

That may be the most fun way to mow the grass ever...

I'm using Rotella 15w40 as well. Good, cheap, and readily available. Keep in mind these sets were designed to run on mil-spec SAE 30 oil from slightly after the dinosaurs it's made from died out. Nearly anything you can buy today of the right viscosity range is better oil than that, as long...

The rolled terne sheet/wheeled edges/soldered seams construction of that tank is typical Detroit of the era. Could be one of 20 units of one of 200,000. In those days was a lot of fab work at that scale with what we'd now call machine-assisted processes not unlike what a real bodywork guy...

Or, as I told my 10 year old son when Fifi was taking off (and remembering standing beside the runway during a 12 ship B-52 MITO when I was knee-high to a grasshopper), "That, my son, is the sound of Freedom."

You do need to remove all the iron oxide, though, or your built-in galvanic cell will still work.

Ha! The first time we had a big power outage was in the 'snowpocalypse' of 2009 Nothing without tracks or feet moved on our road for three days after that and we had a five-day outage. It was figure it out or freeze. She's motivated. She's also smarter than the average bear, which helps a...

Here you go. Note (again) that this is very customized to my environment, warts and all. My generator lives outside on the parking pad, hence the batteries in the garage on the charger, the jumper cables, etc. There's also some personal preference here - I don't like my batteries sitting on a...

I had always wondered how the bulk goods to build the DEW line stations got there. One look at a map of the line shows that essentially all of it was in the square, utter middle of northern nowhere. Presumably airdrops were adopted for smaller scale resupply as was done with the LORAN stations...

Ah the first of the great McNamara 'all purpose fighters,' the F-4. It only took five years, better engines, better missiles, the invention of Top Gun and Red Flag, and the addition of a pod-mounted machine gun to make an effective fighter out of what was actually a heavy attack airplane. I...

Good catch. I'd forgotten seeing that one by the time I got to the posting window. Yes, I'm sure this is either an arctic rescue airplane or an antarctic resupply airplane. I suspect its logbook is full of interesting stories.

I was a little surprised to see some stuff so old still intact. Like the radial-engined Navy "mail plane," among other things. The DOSAS airplane was a nice touch, too.

I did actually get the second draft finished and printed (it's in the manuals box in the kitchen, where the wife expects to find it). I forgot to post it here, of course. It's sitting on my work laptop and I'll see if I can get it posted here shortly.

I perceive that you've never made it 10 miles west to look at the Connie in Udvar-Hazy. Yes that's an EC-121, which is the airborne filler for gaps in the DEW line. My dad sent me an email with a story about him regenerating a C-54 out of AMARG back in the '60s for a special project. I...

You guys really were at the forefront of reduce/reuse/recycle. It's 1961, and you need a structure to shelter the dismantling of aircraft. It needs to be easy in, easy out, cheap, and protect from sun. Solution: use the nose docks for a recently obsolete aircraft type as your source of...

I think this is probably the only time in history when so many B-36s were in one place at one time. If we assume 10 planes/squadron(ref), then the most on a base at one time was at Carswell, with its two wings of three squadrons each. There are nearly 100 visible in the photo, which means the...