Old Buda forklift info needed

I am looking at an old Buda (Allis Chalmers) forklift and was wondering if anyone might recognize it. Would like to know the model, the owner doesn't know this info. I just want something to use occasionally around my hobby farm.

Can I get parts for it, if so where? It has an inline 6 cyl engine. I haven't seen it physically, but was told the engine looks like an old Chevy 235 or 261.

The thing is so ugly that I really like looking at it. It runs and moves, but obviously needs work (restoration). Any idea of what an honest offer would be?

Put a photo link below. Guessing it to be from the 1950's?

thanks
Ed


http://www.putfile.com/pic.php?img=5529920

I like the small dump truck too. Jim

Extremely early 1950's. AC bought Buda
I believe in 1951 to get their diesel engine line.
Prior to that AC used Detroit Diesel (GM) 2 cycle diesels in all their products.

AC made forklifts in their own name for quite a while, sold out to FIAT, and became Fiat-Allis.

WE have Fiat Allis equipment made in the 1970's
for which parts are a hit and miss affair.--increasingly mostly miss.

when there are any, they come from a "new Holland" dealer but dn't hold your breath,
you are looking an an Orphan.

Fiat Allis withdrew from the North american heavy equipment market about 20 years ago

The good possibility is that I doubt if Buda made
small gas engines. There is some possiblity that the engine is in fact a automotive engine.

Ford and Chrysler were pretty active in marketing
industrial gas engines at the time, as was continental. Continental is gone, but Ford and chrysler are around.

The typical Chrysler engine was a flat head 6--- the same one that powered Dodge power Wagons of the WWII vintage, as well as dodge and plymouth
autos in the late 30's and '40's.

ps if it is an overhead valve engine, I would first think Ford, but it in fact could be a chevy.

The owner mentioned that the valve cover looked like the old Chevy style. It has the center bolts like the 261 Chevy, so I assume it's overhead valve. If I'm not mistaken, my 57 Chevy (car) had a 235 with screws around the base of the valve cover. The 261 (truck) bolted through the top of the valve cover into the rocker arm shaft.

I believe you are on the right track. The earlier Chevy engine was a 216 cu in as I recall. Later replaced by the 235 cu in in about 1953, or 1954. The 216's did bolt down through the top of the valve cover.

The 261 engine was a GMC PU engine, not offered in Chevy PU's as I recall, but my memory of those halecon days is dimming? That was when GMC's were actually different from Chevy PU's in many ways.

Swap meets like Hershey in the fall have parts, but it may take you awhile to collect enough to rebuild the engine. 37 Ford dump truck. tt

I seem to recall that the old chevies had
a sheet metal plate on the cam shaft side that
covered the whole side of the engine---the push rods were behind the plate instead of inside theh block. We called them 'dip rod 6's' becuase
instead of a rifle bored crankshaft, the rod bearing were splash lubricated.

They disappeared fairly quickly with the advent of the interstate highway system, because about 50 miles of pedal to the metal driving was the end of them.

www.budaengine.com

They are still in business in Louisiana.

This could very well be a gasser Buda. Sloss Furnaces has a small rail crane with a 6 cyl Buda gasser. It's dual ignition with a distributor and a mag.

The 216 had a side cover that goes all the way to the top of the cylinder head. The 235 has a cover also but it stops just short of the head. With modern oils a 216 can last considerably longer than they once did. The 216 was actually a very good engine with a reputation of wining at Indy and boniville. My Grandfather shared many memories of how well they would pull. I have one souped up that I will be installing in my '23 Ford T roadster.

Mike

Hey Mike:

Here are the winners 1911 to 2002. Which was driving a 216 Chevy?

Indy Winners

John

Chevys have won it 7 times. Best I can tell it was Chevy V8s though each time. Gaston Chevrolet did win one back in 1920 but it was a Frontenac engine.
Winning engines.

"In 1988, Rick Mears in the Penske-Chevy Indy V8 finished what Mario Andretti had started in 1987 and won the race for Chevrolet. In fact, it was a Chevy sweep, with Rick Mears, Emerson Fittipaldi and Al Unser finishing first, second and third, respectively, all with Chevy Indy V8s. It was the best year for Chevrolet at Indy since Gaston Chevrolet won back in 1920. Ironically, the No. 5 Pennzoil driven by Mears is the spitting image of Sam Hornish Jr.’s yellow No. 4 Pennzoil-sponsored Dallara-Chevy V8, except the famous Bowtie symbol was carried on the Penske’s sidepod flickup rather than on the airbox as in Hornish’s car.

In 1989, Emerson Fittipaldi won the race for Pat Patrick, driving a Penske-Chevy Indy. It should be remembered that the spectacular wheel-to-wheel duel between Fittipaldi and Al Unser Jr. in the closing laps of the race, with those two fabulous cars racing one another down the backstretch before they touched wheels on Lap 198, were both Chevy V8s, pushing both cars to one of the most exciting finishes ever at Indy.

By 1990, the Chevy Indy V8 had become the dominant engine at the Indy 500 and took the top six places in 1990. Various iterations of the Chevy Indy went on to win the Indy 500 in 1991, 1992 and 1993. But by 1994, the Chevy Indy-engined cars had disappeared and only officially reappeared in 2002, with a big splash when the Chevy V8 wound up in the back of the Penske cars and this generation’s yellow Pennzoil car which Sam Hornish, Jr. has made so famous because of his wheel-to-wheel duels for the lead in so many IRL IndyCarTM Series races."

Forklifts to Indianapolis is a long way, but just a note that while the "Chevrolet" name featured on the engines, they were designed and manufactured by Ilmor in England - Chevrolet was the badge only, the badge changed to Mercedes in recent years when they became partners in the business. Ilmor was established in 1984 by ex-Cosworth men Mario Illien and Paul Morgan, with backing from Roger Penske and General Motors (25%). Later backing came from Mercedes-Benz, hence the M-B Indy and F1 engines of recent years (e.g. McLaren Mercedes currently heading F1 with their Ilmor engines).

There have been "real" Chev engines (V6 & V8) run at Indy under the stock-block rules, in fact quite a few in the 1980's, but they never were sucessful as far as I know.

Oops! I screwed up. Chevrolet 216 engines set many records. None at indy however. I mis-remembered this info from the book Reworking The Chevrolet And GMC Engines For Maximum Performance and Efficency By: Frank McGurk. It lists his resimay inside the front cover and shows him competing in the '37 Indy 500. Most likely not a Chevy that year. McGurk Was a renoned engine builder and worked for many companies doing speed research. "Throughout his career he favored the Chevrolet engine". Sorry for such a grevous error. I do however recall that the 216 was at one time successfull in dirt track endevours. I cant find it now but i have a book reprint on how to build a Chevy dirt track car. Regardless the 216 realy was a good motor. I have not seen one yet but I imagine it would be possible to drill the crank and modify the rod bearings to provide full pressure oiling. I tried to fit a GMC 302 oil pump to mine once. It almost fit inside the motor. Son of a gun it was going to require a good bit of pan modification to make it work. I was not up for that so I put the stock pump back. Like alot of things, technology changes. What was good one year now becomes junk with the next evolutionary change. The T rod I am building is not about building the fatest. It is about building the best car with parts available in the late 40s-early 50s. A 216 would fall into that range and a good deal of speed parts were available then for this motor. Plus many roders used parts that were cast off by others because they wer cheep or free.

Mike