Relic of a welder

[shanghyd]

Hi all. I am new to the forum. I think that its fantastic to have a message board for welding! I'm not a welder by trade but took some classes at the local community college. I've always been fascinated by welding and have owned a couple of little stick welders that ran on house voltage.

The other day I rescued a welder from a scrap metal yard. It's a 3000 pound welder with a chrysler 318 V-8. From what I can read on the tag it is a 600 amp. Model number is Hobart G-600.

Does anyone have any information abouut this welder? A search on Google showed one for sale but other than that I didn't receive any substantial hits.

Any ideas?

One big problem I am having is getting a water pump for this welder. The housing is different from any setup I've seen in the junk yards around here. Does anyone know if there was something special done for these "industrial" engines?

[Pin Head]

I don't know anything about the welder except it sure is big.

Industrial engines have different accessories, so you may need to have your water pump housing rebuilt with new bearings and seals.
A good machine shop should be able to do that.

[uncrichie]

Looks like it rolled over at one time or something heavy dropped on it? Is it me or did that happen? Uncrichie.

[Sberry]

I think that is a mid 60's big block 318, they were nice because they had solid lifters and would tolerate seasonal storage. There are still some in service on farms. etc and a good old counterman or industrial guy at most auto parts stores, Napa likely for sure will list that. They made a lot of them, lots got installed on equipment over the years. There might be a time and place for this thing provided the price was right and it didn't take much to get it going, its old and operating costs would be high. Might be great, who knows. Ignition points, all available at auto parts.

[Rocky D]

Hey...I thought I was the only relic around here....:D
Looks like a great find...I hope after you fix the engine you can get an arc out of it. Those old generator welders cost more to fix than to buy new. That's a good machine for carbon arc gouging.

[Brianstick]

I think it would be great if you could get that running again.

[old fart]

Wow talk about nostalgia. Every time I hear hobart g-600 I rember the two units I worked on years ago. They both had dual exhaust and there was no sweeter sound than a 318 under load. They sure sucked down the fuel tho and we could never get rid of the carburetor icing when the weather got cool and damp. However NAPA can rebuild your pump and parts are still available for the engine. As for the rest parts could be harder to find. Good luck and I hope you get it going.
O.F.

[vicegrip]

Host pics of the pump ......and where it bolts to the engine.

and if possible the dissasembled / failed , seals / bearings.
Lots of options from there .

Phil

[MM251]

I have an old Hobart 300A (?) welder/generator. It has a flat head six, made by Chrysler. My Dad figures it to be WW2 vintage. It runs like a top. It is a DC welder with a 3KW 120V DC secondary generator. If you can live with the limitations, it welds beautifully. The 120VDC is an interesting dilemma, but Milwaukee grinders (both 4.5 and 9") are built to run on both AC and DC. Some of their other HD tools are that way as well I think. I haven't tried any lightbulbs yet, but they might work too.
Must argue with the point of the sweet sounding 318 - my Flathead with a 10", 4" dia. pipe is the BEST sound going! :D

[Critter]

That would be a newer style 318, not the old Y block. I like the way the fuel line runs so close to the exhaust! Could be exciting! If the impeller isn't broken the pump can be rebuilt reasonable enough.

[Steve Crum]

Those old Chrysler industrial 318s were quite an engine in their time. I remember them most on irrigation pumps. They would run hard for hours un-end but as stated they do like their gas, a high consideration these day at $3.25 a gallon. Back in the early 90s I set up a pump for a local farm that used an old Marlow pump with a Chrysler 318I. Seems the hired man wasn't bright enough to pull the dipstick on occasion and this was old enough it didn't have or it was removed a low oil pressure shutdown. One evening it proceeded to melt down the lower end of the engine. In desperation they dropped the pump off here and then dropped off a wadded up 89' Buick LeSabre with a 3800 MPFI engine. In less than 24 hours Dad and I had them back up and running. Dad did most of the mechanical fitting while I was setting up the fuel system, electrical system and engine computer. Rather than try setting up the cruise control system. I fabbed up the mounts and installed the old Peirce governor. Quite a system that turned out to be. Sounded good too. The farm ran this hard until 2002 when they sold out. They especially liked the fact that the pump did all they needed using only 1/3 of the fuel that the old Chrysler did. If I ever need to replace the 225I in my G-3010 this would likely be my prefered route.

[68Duece]

Hey,
I'm just a welding student and this is a whole new world to me but an V8 weldor has got to be one of the coolest things I've seen yet.
Brian

[Rocky D]

Hey,
I'm just a welding student and this is a whole new world to me but an V8 weldor has got to be one of the coolest things I've seen yet.
Brian

Welcome to the forum, Brian. Glad you're a student learning the ropes...now when someone refers to a machine that welds, it is a 'welder' and when one refers to a person that welds, he is a 'weldor' ...especially here, where we are talking about both, sometimes in the same sentence. Enjoy the site and the folks here, and don't be afraid to ask any question...we've all had them, and maybe we can save you some of the trouble we old timers had in finding the answers. :D

[Hotfoot]

Could be the tip of anew trend...First Rat Rods, then Rat Bikes, why not Rat Welders?? Rebuild them mechanically, keep them old and funky cosmetically...even adding to the funk where ever possible.
I'd like to build a little one up using an old flathead 60...could be quite cool!:)