Precision pump & Geo 3 cylinder engine ???

O

oragonads

Sr. Member
Jan 27, 2011
280
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Precision pump & Geo 3 cylinder engine ???

Hey guys, so I'm about to buy an old precision 8" dredge. No engine or sluice box. Comes with the frame, 1500 gpm pump with a vw bellhousing, pontoons, 20' of 8" hose, jet, and flare.

Im having trouble finding a dependable vw engine at a reasonable price.

I read a few things online about people using a 3 cylinder geo engine instead of a vw engine and was wondering if anyone knows any info about these conversions. Particularly the work involved in bolting a precision pump with a vw bellhousing to a geo engine.

I would like to use a geo engine because they are a heck of a lot cheaper, weigh much less, make more power, and probably gets better fuel economy. Geo metros get like 50 gallons per mile on the highway too.

A stock 1600cc vw engine make about 45 HP and weighs about 300-350 lbs. A geo 3 cylinder 1 liter engine makes 55hp, 58 ft lbs of torque, and only weighs 134.5 lbs fully dressed.
 

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Re: Precision pump & Geo 3 cylinder engine ???

That dredge is not that old. There were at least 5 made in Placerville by my bud Marty and he and Fred engineered and pioneered the designs. I have ran many times,have videos and pics up the wazoo. You will NEVER find a better engine that purrs all day long at low rpm even with with 30' of 8" hose,water heater and massive blaster nozzles too. Does it still have the radiator setup?? Does it have the scalper design built into the bottom with the side sluice concentrator?? Does it have the boat style pontoons??? I sent Wyatt(New Precision=Savannah engineering-see Mining Corral) all the info on how to engineer the engines for constant op and underwater hydrolic controls for complete control. You have a RIGHTEOUS gravel munching monster and the best engine-forget VW/subaru and please post info and send privately pm so I can send pics or your locale to show videos. Still have bookoo gold from my outings-GOOD BUY--John :laughing7: :notworthy:
 

Re: Precision pump & Geo 3 cylinder engine ???

Here's a few pictures of it. The original aluminum pontoons were replaced with plastic ones. From what the guy told, he got it from a friend who had it up in Alaska. I guess he had it sitting in a creek and it flipped over. The engine sat under water for a while and got trashed and the sluice box got washed down the creek.

I'm thinking its a pretty good deal for $500 :laughing7:

3n53kf3p75O05Z05Q6b3ue4ec3e844e531073.jpg


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3k63p33ob5Z65W05R5b3u7e62239054e916d0.jpg
 

Re: Precision pump & Geo 3 cylinder engine ???

Good deal just for the pump and jet alone. I seen that a couple months ago on craigslist just had no use for it and resell is a bad deal right now.

I can tell you why it flipped those floats won't hold the weight of a single big motor they were designed to have two small motors for the 6" and a mini type 8".
Those floats were unstable even with the original set-up. Another lost Keene wonder.

I had seen better deals on 8's over the winter, more complete.
 

Re: Precision pump & Geo 3 cylinder engine ???

I've been scanning Craigslist for a while now but havnt come across any great deals that arnt too far from me. I really like this set up because it gives me a good base to build it how I want it.

The frame is actually about 8' wide and 12'-14' long. From what he tells me, it used to have a 20' sluice hanging off of it.

I am really getting excited about the whole geo motor concept. I can't wait until the guy has time off work so I can go pick it up and get to work on it.
 

Re: Precision pump & Geo 3 cylinder engine ???

oragonads, how'd you talk that guy down to $500 anyhow. He originally was wanting $1500.

There was, earlier this year, a complete 8" for sale in Hayfork for $1000 had my eye on but changed due to forseable future.
Needed a little TLC but was all there and used back in 2009 up till the CDFG pulled the permit. Remember that one dredge Hoser??
 

Re: Precision pump & Geo 3 cylinder engine ???

I went and looked at it, asked him how low he's willing to go and he said $500. Easiest bartering I've ever done :icon_thumleft:. Later that day I called him up to see when he will be around so I could come and pick it up and he said he spoke to a friend who said he'd be crazy to sell it under $800. I told him $500 is all I can do and he already agreed on $500. He was going to discuss it with his girl and get back to me when he's off work. Most likely I will get it for $500, if not I will split the difference at $650.
 

Re: Precision pump & Geo 3 cylinder engine ???

HMMMMMMMMMMMMMM- that frame kinda looks like Larry's (RIP OL' FRIEND) 6" frame from the s.f. american death rig. Jet looks kinda like a F&M fabjob. Marty's frame is on video and will looksee today. Were the pontoon precision square or party boat round as that would id as marties 8"??? $650 for the frame,simple pump and piece a hose??? Hope ya got quite a few $1,000 to throw at it. LL here in kalif I know of 3 monsters--2-8" and a dual engine gravel munching 10"monster you'd get for pennies on the dollar right in Junction city on the trinity. 8" all over for $1,500-$2k on craigslist. What state ya gonna run in is MOST important as a cadillac is worthless for rockclimbing in a vw wide area???John
 

Re: Precision pump & Geo 3 cylinder engine ???

I will try to get some better pics once I pick it up. It had the precision square pontoons. I live up in northwest Oregon near Portland. I have a couple claims down in southwest oregon up in the mountains near the rogue. The dredge is in Sweethome.
 

Re: Precision pump & Geo 3 cylinder engine ???

Gravel Hog said:
I can tell you why it flipped those floats won't hold the weight of a single big motor they were designed to have two small motors for the 6" and a mini type 8".
Those floats were unstable even with the original set-up. Another lost Keene wonder.
Click to expand...

Yea, they even look unstable with that octagon shape. They can roll right over. Im going to be modifying the frame and plan on using the geo engine. I have a lake near my house that I can put it in at and test different set ups to find the most stable platform.
 

Re: Precision pump & Geo 3 cylinder engine ???

I would recalculate your floatation.
Those floats were from a Keene 6" triple (a long lost model) and were ok at best for that model but Keene "tried" making a 8" mini mini (very small sluice and twin motors) with that same floatation....sumbmerged.

Just a heads up, hope it all works out for you.
 

Re: Precision pump & Geo 3 cylinder engine ???

Gravel Hog said:
I would recalculate your floatation.
Those floats were from a Keene 6" triple (a long lost model) and were ok at best for that model but Keene "tried" making a 8" mini mini (very small sluice and twin motors) with that same floatation....sumbmerged.
Click to expand...

Really? These floats are 3.5'x2'x2'. Three of them set right up to each other measure out to 10.5' long. Seems kind of big to have been from a 6" :icon_scratch:
 

Re: Precision pump & Geo 3 cylinder engine ???

Actually, now that I think about, your right. There was actually a Keene triple sluice on Craigslist a while back in California and if I remember right it did have the same floats. I guess with the foot spacing in-between it makes them look bigger (in person, that picture makes them look tiny).

Oh well, through trial and error I will get it working some way or another. :headbang:
 

Re: Precision pump & Geo 3 cylinder engine ???

Thats exactly what I floated my keene 6" triple AND with extension on middle box to get that junk to catch any gold I had a 20 gallon barrel under the extension also to keep flatter for better recovery-John
 

Re: Precision pump & Geo 3 cylinder engine ???

You will have a lot of work ahead of you to make it work with out destroying your investment, i.e.; the engine and pump.

I did exactly what you are asking about except I used a Keene pump. The pump manufacturer doesn't matter, its how it is mounted and driven. The Geo engine must be from a drive train that had a manual transmission because the flywheel from a autotrans is too thin and flexible. You will also need the bell housing if you want to mount the starter. I had a friend who was a machinist who helped. I mounted a 6”plate with a 9" shaft onto the fly wheel. I milled the bell housing down and welded an aluminum plate to the housing with a 2” hole in the middle. The hard part is getting the shaft run-out very low or the pump will be destroyed. I got the run-out down to .003 inch (dial indicator) which is less than the crank shaft end play, which is about .005 inch.

I also changed the fuel injection to a carb. so I didn’t have to use the electronics. I used an old 1 barrel carb from an old Ford. Any small carb will do. I had it rebuilt and used 65mm jet. You will have to think about the exhaust also. I had a muffler shop make what I wanted with the smallest car muffler they had.

I left the front of the engine intact with the alternator and water pump. I do not use a radiator. The water pump has enough suction if it is primed. I use a small 12v pump into the water pump inlet as a backup. I control the engine temp. with a ball valve. I mounted temp and oil gauges on the engine frame. The engine, pump, gauges, and small battery are all mounted in a small square steel frame. The gas tank gets securely mounted above once it is on the dredge. It takes two/three people to move it around or onto the dredge.

Once we worked the bugs out of it, it is a real sweet setup. It runs quieter than two small engines or one large engine the traditional way. I only use about 1 to 11/2 gallons per hour when under load. If you need more info you can PM me.
 

Re: Precision pump & Geo 3 cylinder engine ???

oragonads said:
Hey guys, so I'm about to buy an old precision 8" dredge. No engine or sluice box. Comes with the frame, 1500 gpm pump with a vw bellhousing, pontoons, 20' of 8" hose, jet, and flare.

Im having trouble finding a dependable vw engine at a reasonable price.

I read a few things online about people using a 3 cylinder geo engine instead of a vw engine and was wondering if anyone knows any info about these conversions. Particularly the work involved in bolting a precision pump with a vw bellhousing to a geo engine.

I would like to use a geo engine because they are a heck of a lot cheaper, weigh much less, make more power, and probably gets better fuel economy. Geo metros get like 50 gallons per mile on the highway too.

A stock 1600cc vw engine make about 45 HP and weighs about 300-350 lbs. A geo 3 cylinder 1 liter engine makes 55hp, 58 ft lbs of torque, and only weighs 134.5 lbs fully dressed.
Click to expand...

The VW engine and Geo engine are about the same weight. The 1600 CC VW is 60 HP stock.
 

Re: Precision pump & Geo 3 cylinder engine ???

Every person I've talked to who works on vw's say they weigh about 300-350 lbs fully dressed. Everywhere I've looked on line says they make anywhere from 40-55 HP. The geo 1.0 liter 3 cylinder only weighs 134.5 lbs fully dressed.
 

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