Little giant

[sjeff87]

hi my names jeff and i have recently acuired a little marine engine it has the name little giant cast on the front of it does any one know anything about this little motor

jeff

[Richard Durgee]

Jeff

Is the word "Detroit" also in the name casting ?

Better yet email a few photos and I will be able to I.D. It !

[bocephus_k6]

Hi Richard, I am Jeff's dad, I just took a couple pictures of the engine for him and will try and post them here for you...also notice the engine beside it if you would, it too is a marine I believe, and the only thing on it I can see for ID is some numbers beginning with the letter " K " Stover maybe.?

Thanx in advance

Brian

[Andrew Albrecht]

Here is one i just got recently Little Giant Detriot Michigan.

[Doug Kimball]

Mine is similar to Jeff's except for the bevel gears & timer including color & is brass tagged:
"United Manufacturing Co.
Little Giant
#1666 HP 1-2"
I am in the process of making a new water pump which was missing.
Andrew's appears to be a different model.

[bocephus_k6]

Hi Doug your's does look alot closer to the one we have, our's has no brass tag that we can find anywhere on it. Does yours have the carb with it..? How does your engine do the timing of not for the bevel gear timer.? Some of these finds can be a job tracking info on,...lol

We just sold a Hess Motors marine engine, never heard of one of them before either...

Regards,

Brian

[Richard Durgee]

The trade name "Little Giant" was used by four different marine engine mfgrs,
Three were in michigan and successors of one design, the other was a Duluth Minn mfgr !

Having computer difficulties and not able to get better info at the present time !

[bocephus_k6]

Thanx for the info Richard, hope the computer straightens out for you.

Brian

[Doug Kimball]

Originally Posted by bocephus_k6

Hi Doug your's does look alot closer to the one we have, our's has no brass tag that we can find anywhere on it. Does yours have the carb with it..? How does your engine do the timing of not for the bevel gear timer.? Some of these finds can be a job tracking info on,...lol

We just sold a Hess Motors marine engine, never heard of one of them before either...

Regards,

Brian

Brian,
Mine has a typical Detroit timer with a phenolic collar with a single contact point. The 'big end' of timer handle is split with clamping screws for a snug fit on a machined surface on outside of forward main bearing housing that is part of the crankcase. The handle can be rotated thru about 45 degrees of travel either side of vertical advancing or retarding timing and also has a single contact the rides on face of the insulated disk making contact once per revolution. Handle also has a spring loaded normally closed lever that can be opened to interupt spark for stopping and/or reversing. I don't have a good photo showing it in detail.
My engine did not have a mixer but did have a 3/4" NPT 2-bolt flange on the intake. I'll probably use a Schebler D. Have also seen them with Kingston 5-balls but I'm not sure what they came with originally.

[Richard Durgee]

Hello Doug

The United Mfg Co. up to 1906 had pipe threaded intake / they went to the 2 bolt flange in 1907 !

Found Watertown eng will try to send photos of timer soon!

[Ernie D]

As Doug and Richard said the 1st one is a Little Giant. I have one in my kitchen. The second set of pics is not a Little Giant as any of us have known. It is most likely actualy a Detroit, Columbia, Sandow, Middleditch and or several others that excape me right now. If it actually has a Little Giant tag or cast into it, could you post a better pic of it? I have always been interested in the history of these engines and yours may be another direction for us to look in. Part of this hobby is following (or trying to follow) things like you have brought up.
Thanks in adbance
Ernie

[Andrew Albrecht]

The tag says United Manufactuing co. Little Giant
No.2154, H.P. 2. it does have pipe threads for the intake. So from what was said. it looks like it is before 1906

[bocephus_k6]

Well I must admit I am a tad confused as to which I have now....mine seems to be the same as Doug's , but no where near what the others look like, I did do some cleaning on the one we have and did find a place where the brass tag has been removed on the top of the cylinder, the engine itself is a very dark green color from what I have seen so far, the carb is missing on mine as well, but I think I have one off an old gray marine engine we are parting out so I may use it on the Little Giant.

Brian

[Doug Kimball]

Brian,
Don't be confused as to what you have. Pretty hard to dispute the raised letters in the casting. You definitely have a Little Giant.
Timers can be changed by an owner but your engine looks to have original bevel gear drive with provisions cast into your cylinder casting to accomodate the drive ... not something that would be retrofit! Ernie's & my engines are pretty much the same & I have another friend with one that is also the same. Yours has a different timer mechanism. Probably an earlier or later design change. Or it might be a different size or model. My engine is ser.#1666 HP 1-2 with a 2 3/4" wide by 9" diameter flywheel. These are things that make this hobby so interesting.
Andrew's is the one that confuses me. Some manufacturers re-tagged other brands usually before actually producing their own, sometimes during their own production due to shortages or mnfg. problems & sometimes at the end of production when they were winding down their production.
I'm attaching a couple of ads that Richard sent me a while ago which show engines different than all so far posted. Also two of Ernie's "kitchen" engine.

[bocephus_k6]

Hi Doug, thanx again for the info, our engine is almost a dead wringer for the one in the ad with one engine on it, I would guess the flywheel has to be somewhere around 14 inch diameter without measuring it. What kind of carb is on the kitchen engine, and the one in that picture looks like a real hard item to find, ours has none on it and I think I am going to adapt the one off of our Gray we are parting out, unless of course I can find an original for it.

Again, thanx a million for the info...

[bocephus_k6]

Hey Doug, I was looking through those advertisements you put on here and the one like our engine looks to have some kind of a long intake manifold on it, does yours have this as well.?

If so what kind of carb does yours use.?

Brian

[Doug Kimball]

Brian,
Ernie's carb is a 5-ball Kingston which is probably an after market item although some companies offered Kingston Schebler or other brands as options.
My engine has just a simple 2-bolt intake flange with 3/4" npt inlet 90 degrees from the 2-bolt exhaust flange & pump mounting bosses shown in my 2nd photo. My engine also came w/o a carb.
I don't recognize the carb in the ad. If your Gray carb is a Krice you can probably trade it for what you want. Schebler or Kingstons would probably run better.

[bocephus_k6]

Ok Doug, sounds good, like I said I have a schebler off an old Gray with the 2 cycle valve in the neck I think I will use , or I also have a plain schebler I could use as well, but the plain schebler is smaller, mainly I was curious to see if that intake manifold pictured on the one in the ads is a must, I know on the Hess marine engine I sold it had a weird Intake / Exhaust manifold combo on it, I will see if I can find a picture of it and show you,if you look at the manifold on it, one half is intake and the other is exhaust, kind of a weird combo, again thanx for the info

Brian

[sjeff87]

is there anywhere to find a manual for one of these engines?

[bocephus_k6]

On these little giants, is the proper color for them a dark green.?


Regards,

Brian