Steve Alt's
Four Cylinder
GRAY Marine / Stationary Engine
Steve Says ~At the Midwest Old Threshers Reunion in Mt. Pleasant, IA
they picked the GRAY Engine line for next years featured
engine at the show. So I’ve been looking for a small Gray engine
to buy and restore. Plus, I’ve gone to my shed and pulled out this
engine I bought over 15 years ago at a local auction. It was used in
Iowa City, IA to run people back and forth between two dams on the
Iowa River in the 20’s. Between Iowa City and Coralville. Today that’s
all one area with houses, roads, and bridges everywhere…..in the 20’s.
I’m guessing the river worked pretty good to move people and goods.
What you see is a picture of the engine I have and plan to restore to
running order. It’s a Gray Marine engine and I was only able to find
this one sales add to confirm this. If you have any information or know
of anybody else with one I’d love to know more about it.
First off…is the color correct???
If you’d like more on the Featured engine at Old Threshers in Mt. Pleasant
let me know and I can hook you up with more info on that too.
THANKS
Steve Alt
Iowa
Steve's "Rickenbacker Auto" Web Page
UPDATE January 2009
I’ve been working on the Gray 4 cylinder marine engine pretty heavythe last couple days. It’s all torn apart and about 90% sandblasted down.
I get the metal for the cart I going to build tomorrow and will start
welding together a set of wheels for it. I was surprised to see each
piston is stamped with it’s size 2.997”, then the cylinders are stamped
at 3.000”. Each valve is stamped by number, and the block is also
stamped with the same numbers. The S/N 26489 is stamped on both
sides of the flywheel. It’s come apart real easy, and I’m finding very little
wrong with this engine. I don’t believe it’s been run much, it’s in great
shape inside!!!! The oil pans were very thick with old dried oil, but are
cleaned, blasted, primed and ready for paint.
Just did a day trip from West Liberty, IA to Columbus, OH to get this engine.
Took just over 18 hours to make the trip. I plan on completely restoring this
engine and having it at shows this summer.
The engine I just purchased in Columbus; is that what you call a Marvel type
engine??? What is meant by Marvel?? The flywheels 17” and the stroke is 5”.
I was told it was a 1 ½ hp when I bought it, but believe it’s a 1 3/4hp from your data
page. Did these type engines also have the head painted silver?? Is the pin striping
silver or yellow??
THANKS
Steve Alt
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