Webster model C83 Aircompressor

[302sawdust]

Hi all,
Ill save the introduction for the proper place in the forums other than to say i'm an old dormant participant with a similar handle (but I've since abandoned the email and have no idea what my PW was so now I'm a new participant lol). Glad to see the forum is alive and well!

I ended up with this rather beefy old Webster model C83 Aircompressor a few years back when it got thrown in with an item I wanted at an auction. At the time I was a little bitter as I didn't need the hernia loading it into my truck but I really wanted the other other item so it followed me home lol. Anyways I got the bright idea when I stumbled across it in the back of a shed the other day to mate it with an old 20ish HP V-twin Kohler auger engine I had kicking around and give my farm service truck a big air upgrade!

As often happens with farm shop projects it all got put on a rolling cart for a mockup....and in the process the flaws in my master plan started to appear. I should add I believe its a two stage compressor (admittedly I know very little about 2 stage compressors). The first major flaw I see is based on the flywheel the compressor is set up to turn CW and my Kohler will Turn CCW. The obvious temptation is just to flip that flywheel around and giver.... but the engineer in me is screaming what about lubrication? Is there timing considerations cuz its two stage? etc. The other obvious solution (apposing the engine and compressor direction) would leave me with some troubling space constraints and is not desirable.

As is typically my luck I seem to have stumbled across an oddball that has little or no available information to be found.

Anyways Im just wondering what to collective (and valuable) brain trust here on the forum may have to say about my little conundrum.

[Tim KS]

...just back the engine up to it.

[milomilo]

Welcome back. If it were me, I would get an engine that turned the right way. Simpler but maybe not the best solution.

[digr]

I could be wrong but I don't think it would matter. There is no timing, no cams, and the fan on the fly wheel may blow air the opposite direction but I don't know that it would be a bad thing. I don't think the pistons care which way the crank is turning.

[302sawdust]

I can flip the flywheel around as it is not a tapered shaft. My biggest concern is splash lubrication. Without tearing apart the compressor I have no way to know if the dip tube is straight which would work the same in either direction or shaped in such a way to make it only lubricate properly in one direction. I agree direction should not matter in terms of timing/valve function.

[baldy347]

Is that a vertical shaft engine?

[302sawdust]

Originally Posted by baldy347

Is that a vertical shaft engine?

No, its Horizontal. You can catch a glimpse of it in all its greasy glory in the background of the pic in the original post. I put some fresh oil in it an fired it up to make sure it had potential so the only shiny thing on it is the weird fake chrome oil filter the parts store happened to have in stock.

[midmosandblasting]

What happens if you turn the engine 180 and offset mount it ?

[Tim KS]

Originally Posted by midmosandblasting

What happens if you turn the engine 180 and offset mount it ?

See post #2.

[midmosandblasting]

I thought that was what you was saying ,but the brain was not computing .