1054 Diesel conversion

[JUSS10 250]

So been a LONG time since I've been active on this forum but that doesn't mean I quit playing with wheelhorse tractors. I still have a handful and my favorite has always been my 1054. Its a worker and gets used the most out of all my early wheelhorse tractors. 

 

I recently got a kubota to do most of the hardwork around the house but as stated I still use the 1054 quite a bit. The Kubota really sparked the diesel bug in me and I had always wanted to get a single cylinder diesel engine to play around with. Well I recently got two. One is a smaller yanmar that I got from a wheelhorse facebook group. Sadly that one isn't running well and I'm still trying to figure out whats going on there. Hope to get it fixed and dropped in a 654 I have in the shed, but thats another thread. The next engine I picked up is a 7HP Lombardini diesel engine. Super cool engine that was made in Italy and most commonly used in construction equipment. According to the hour meter it only has 40 hrs on it so its barely broke in. I rebuilt the air cleaner and fixed up a few other things and put it on a test stand. It fired right up and runs awesome. I think it would be a cool swap for my 1054. I haven't ran the numbers but even though its less HP, I'm fairly certain it will still be a great match for the 1054 being thats its a diesel.

 

A few issues I'll need to resolve. Currently the engine has a very large oil pan on it that was not standard. This was so it could hold a larger amount of oil and likely keep the engine cooler in hot construction zones where it would have run all day. Luckily it looks like I can still get a standard oil pan  through Kohler as they now own Lombardini. 

 

Next is to resolve throttle control. This particular engine was meant to run at full throttle and stay there till you shut it off. It does have a "throttle" on the side but its intent was really just on or off so the lever to control the governor is pretty short and touchy. I'll have to work out a longer lever to get get better control. 

 

Finally, this engine doesn't appear to have a charging system built in to the engine. It was used to power a road sign which used a large automotive 12V alternator to power the sign, This also was used to charge the battery that ran the fuel pump and starter motor. I'm going to pull the flywheel and see if there happens to be a stator hiding back there or see if there is room to adapt a generic stator of sorts. Worse case I'll use a small dynamo type alternator to get enough power to keep the battery topped off. 

 

There is really nothing wrong with the Kohler 10hp engine on my 1054 but its clear that it wasn't the original engine and had been swapped at one point. As with most of my modifications to tractors, I plan to not modify anything original so as to always be able to return it to its stock, original form. initial height measurements appear that the engine will just fit with the smaller oil pan in place but if I run in to a major road block, I may have to get creative or bail on the project all together. 

 

Also, this may take a while, I'm in no hurry and as stated above, I use the 1054 often so I don't want it to be out of commission for too long. 

 

Anyway, here is the engine. I like that it looks "old" or period correct for the 1054. One of my big pet peeves is when a modern engine is dropped in to a vintage tractor. My plan is to make it look like this engine belonged. 

[Achto 27,603]

Awesome.  I really like using my 1045D that I built. It's a horse of many years and models, but it came together well. Some day I just might find some kind of job that will slow the 9.9hp Hatz engine down.

Edited June 16, 2021 by Achto

[JUSS10 250]

19 minutes ago, Achto said:

Awesome.  I really like using my 1045D that I built. It's a horse of many years and models, but it came together well. Some day I just might find some kind of job that will slow the 9.9hp Hatz engine down.

 

Thats awesome! Did you do a build thread on this? Looks like you had to raise the hood a bit to make it fit? Would love to hear what issues you ran in to on the swap. Is that just a straight stack for the exhaust? I know I'll have to make some mods to the exhaust to make it all fit. 

[Achto 27,603]

19 minutes ago, JUSS10 said:

Did you do a build thread on this?

 

I did raise the dash and the hood hinge 3" to make the engine fit. The stack does have a baffle inside, still a little load though. Stretching the wiring harness, adding a return port to the fuel tank, making a drive belt guard, and fitting the hood were the only real challenges that I can remember off hand.

 

Here is a link to the build. It's kind of in reverse order as I introduced Radpferd first and then added some build pictures later. 

 

 

[Maxwell-8 4,277]

1 hour ago, JUSS10 said:

7HP Lombardini diesel engine

bellicimo!   Great engine made in Italy, think they to moved to china a couple off years ago. Since Kohler bought Lombardini. 

 

7 hp but pulls like a 10-12 hp.

40Hours!!!  That means it is still running on the break-in oil.  They need oil every 100 hours (yanmar diesels anyway)  They last for tousands of hours.  

 

Tat is why they are used on all high-end walkbehind tractors (Goldini) here in Belgium.  New price of such an engine here is an equivalent of 2250$

Edited June 16, 2021 by Maxwell-8

[JUSS10 250]

2 minutes ago, Maxwell-8 said:

bellicimo!   Great engine made in Italy, think they to moved to china a couple off years ago.  7 hp but pulls like a 10-12 hp.

 

40Hours!!!  That means it is still running on the break-in oil.  They need oil every 100 hours (yanmar diesels anyway)  They last for tousands of hours.  

 

Tat is why they are used on all high-end walkbehind tractors here in Belgium.  New price of such an engine here is an equivalent of 2250$

 

Yeah that was my thought. In general, it seems like these older diesels, and diesels in general are "under rated" compared to gasoline engines. 

 

I was amazed at how clean the oil was when I checked the dip stick, I assumed it had been changed till I found the hour meter in the control box and saw it only said 40 hrs. The engine hasn't even been broke in yet if thats accurate. The other nice thing about this engine is it has an external larger oil filter which is a nice touch.

 

Pretty sure this is a legit Italian one. It came from a construction sign and here in the US, those got swapped out to all electric 10-15 years ago I'd guess. This one may have been at the tail end of the diesel powered ones?

[Maxwell-8 4,277]

1 minute ago, JUSS10 said:

external larger oil filter

All "older" diesel ask for a 100 hour oil interval so is my  Hatz diesel. But they all have small internal filters. 

2 minutes ago, JUSS10 said:

Pretty sure this is a legit Italian one

Yes it is. couple years ago you had Hatz, Deutz, Yanmar. All european made. B&S, Kohler USA made.  Only Yanmar still produces in Italy all the rest-> China. Not to be political or anything just find it hard things are going this way. And I have bad luck with chinees made stuff.

3 minutes ago, JUSS10 said:

"under rated" compared to gasoline engines.

They make the rated Horsepower, but the torque is  just way better.  And so is fuel economy (3x better?).   That heavy flywheel doesn't stop easily.

[Achto 27,603]

21 minutes ago, Maxwell-8 said:

And so is fuel economy (3x better?).

 

It takes about 10hrs to burn through 1.5gal of fuel with my Hatz 1B40.

[Pullstart 62,912]

 back neighbor!  I’m looking forward to your project and how it unfolds.  I have a 1054 “Joe” with an 8 hp snowblower engine that needs a heart transplant... it just couldn’t hold up to the WI soil at plow day last year...

 

 

[JUSS10 250]

This is the 1054 I plan to put it in, next to the Kubota that does the heavy heavy work. 

[ebinmaine 67,610]

On 6/16/2021 at 2:34 PM, JUSS10 said:

This is the 1054 I plan to put it in, next to the Kubota that does the heavy heavy work. 

 

 

Sounds like a good project. Looking forward to it.

 

 

On 6/16/2021 at 11:20 AM, Achto said:

 

It takes about 10hrs to burn through 1.5gal of fuel with my Hatz 1B40.

 

Are you kidding me??

 

On my Cinnamon Horse C160 I go through a gallon of gas in somewhere between 2.5 and 3.5 hours depending on what I'm doing with it.

[Achto 27,603]

26 minutes ago, ebinmaine said:

Are you kidding me??

 

10hrs just running around & pulling carts or something. Between 6 & 8 hrs pulling a moldboard plow. When we built generators with the Hatz engines they would run around 16hrs at full load on 5gal of fuel.

Edited June 18, 2021 by Achto

[ebinmaine 67,610]

10 minutes ago, Achto said:

 

10hrs just running around & pulling carts or something. Between 6 & 8 hrs pulling a moldboard plow. When we built generators with the Hatz engines they would run around 16hrs at full load on 5gal of fuel.

Seems like you're still right around twice the miles or hours or how are you want to put that

[pfrederi 17,741]

41 minutes ago, ebinmaine said:

 

Sounds like a good project. Looking forward to it.

 

 

 

Are you kidding me??

 

On my Cinnamon Horse C160 I go through a gallon of gas in somewhere between 2.5 and 3.5 hours depending on what I'm doing with it.

 

 

Run a 48" deck in heavy grass with a K-341 a gallon won't last an hour....

[JUSS10 250]

yeah, diesel engines are quite a bit more efficient. I had a diesel VW for many years and would average around 40mpg even with it tuned for performance. It was a racecar with the fuel millage of compact sedan. My kubota sips diesel. I could easily run 10hrs on 5 gallons. I use it constantly but rarely fill it up. Really amazing. 

 

So in a wonderful turn of events, I was contacted out of the blue by a local guy who I had helped with his 953 about 5 years ago. He wanted to know if I wanted to buy it. He offered it to me for a price I could not pass up so I will be picking that up this weekend. I will then decide if this goes in my existing 1054 or this 953. leaning towards the 953 as my 1054 runs and operates perfectly as is. Nice thing is regardless of which one I drop this on, I will have the other and not feel rushed to get the swap completed. 

 

[kpinnc 12,088]

5 hours ago, pfrederi said:

 

Run a 48" deck in heavy grass with a K-341 a gallon won't last an hour....

Onan is even worse.

[JUSS10 250]

Well went and picked up the 953 I was talking about. Little rougher than I was expecting from the photos, but for $100 and a 30 minute drive, it’s still a no brainer. Going to get the deck off and give it a good pressure washing and see what I’m working with. 

[JUSS10 250]

After a little bath. 
 

couple things I noticed. Do all 953s have the Saginaw steering box or just the early ones? This thing has one. Also the headlights are different than my 1054 but they seem correct. Lots of rust in the rear sheet metal. A few parts will need to be cut out abs repatched. Also, like any tractor that’s almost 60 years old, there have been some “modifications”. Always amazed at how folks could just drill holes or cut things up so easily. Anyway, most of the import things are there so this will be a Survivor for sure. 
 

guy said the engine didn’t run, and frankly I plan to use the diesel per the point of this thread, but is there a way to identify with big block Kohler it has without the tag on the fan shroud. The paint looks newer on the engine and I’m assuming it’s been replaced. 
 

 

[19richie66 17,508]

Early model 963’s had the Ross steering box and smaller headlights. Looks like a solid tractor for $100. Both of mine had holes cut in the sheetmetal below the seat. Whats the steering wheel look like. Early ones had a triangularish center cap. 

[JUSS10 250]

so is that square rough cut hole in front of the gas tank from the factory?! This one also has a cut up the inside of the left fender. 
 

this one has all the tell tale signs of the early 953 but the steering wheel matches what is on my 1054. Could this be a weird between transition model? Serial number was 63-5XX (forgot the last digits). 

[JUSS10 250]

Did a bit more work on the new 953. Actually got the existing Kohler running despite the seller saying the coil was bad. I think I'll keep this engine as a spare for my 1054. Good news is that by getting that engine running I could confirm that the hydraulics work. Needed to run an aux tank as the one on it needs to be cleaned (though its not trashed so thats good). need to get it running enough to put it in gear and make sure it moves. 

 

I also did some more measuring and it looks like the Diesel will be a perfect swap once I get a stock oil pan for it. I thought about trying to make an oil pan but looks like I can get one through my local kohler dealer for $32 plus shipping. Guessing it'll be around $45 all said and done. tough to take the time to make one at that price. 

 

looking forward to getting the new engine in place and fitted so I can then tear it down and start cleaning it up. 

[19richie66 17,508]

On 6/20/2021 at 10:47 PM, JUSS10 said:

so is that square rough cut hole in front of the gas tank from the factory?! This one also has a cut up the inside of the left fender. 
 

this one has all the tell tale signs of the early 953 but the steering wheel matches what is on my 1054. Could this be a weird between transition model? Serial number was 63-5XX (forgot the last digits). 

Its got the steering box and headlights for an early model. Should be no hole except for fuel tank if I remember correctly.

 

Edited June 24, 2021 by 19richie66

[JUSS10 250]

Just went ahead and ordered a stock oil pan from my local Kohler parts dealer in town. Likely take a week or so for it to come in as its not a standard part but cool that Kohler supports this engine still. Hoping I can get the gas engine pulled this weekend.

[ebinmaine 67,610]

45 minutes ago, JUSS10 said:

Kohler supports this engine

That's surprising and very impressive

[JUSS10 250]

Yeah this is a 6L series Lombardini engine and it seems Kohler bought the brand and kept the L series as their “own” engine. Looks like Kohler only offers one variant of the style but that means I can get some parts here in the US vs from Italy. 

Edited June 24, 2021 by JUSS10