Great stuff, guys! I was hoping for this type of commiseration with fellow diesel sufferers. It was an engine which was so rare in these parts that I just had to have one in order to play with it, and to see if (more like WHEN) it conks out.
More background:
This unit was sold new by Hardy Diesel back in 2002. It currently has 332 hours on the Hobbs meter. I've tried to both call and email Hardy Diesel regarding info on this unit but have received no response at this point. They seem to have disavowed its existence, or have gone out of business. I'd have expected better service from someone who has Paul Teutel Sr. as their celebrity representative!
What shocked me about this motor is how solid it feels. There's not much artwork used in reducing weight in the block casting, and it's so unexpectedly dense that I thought I might have missed lag bolts holding it down to the floor when I began to lift it with the boom pole on my tractor, a Mahindra 4505DI. In retrospect I should have brought the Kubota M7040SU and had the extra lift capacity on the bucket loader with pallet forks. The garage door at the seller's house was a bit low for that beastie, however. But it all worked out in the end and without incident, so that's nice.
All in all, I thought the same thing as Glort - it should be a fun little unit to play with. For the price, I have allowed it some mental wiggle room on the dependability factor.
Let's talk about rust in the cooling jacket. How have folks successfully removed it without disassembling the entire engine and hot tanking? I'm going to remove the radiator and have a pro give it a once-over. Then it'll get all new fluids, belts, and hoses. But from the look of the radiator I'm expecting some pretty significant rust in the jacket. My normal rust removal techniques of electrolysis, muriatic acid, or purple power degreaser seem out of place here.
