Has anyone on here done or has seen a re-power of a Fairmont A-5 gang car with a more modern power plant? I know this is sacrilege in the preservation world but the group I work with has several of these cars and none are currently operational.

Parts for these older Waukesha FC engines are getting harder to find and thus expensive. All of our available engines have suffered a major mechanical failure and are just plain worn out necessitating expensive rebuild and machining.

Just looking at the NARCOA "For Sale" page, there is one A-4 that has been re-engined with an Isuzu C240 diesel... I don't know how different the A-5 is from the A-4, but the contact information for the owner is up there, so he might have some pointers for you.
http://www.narcoa.org/forsale/4sale_want.htm

I am all for repowering if it is something you need to use. Preston Cook summed it up in his article about 567 engines.

My A4 has the Ford industrial engine (same engine used in my 860 ford tractor) with a borg warner T19 4 speed behind it. Ford used the T19 in pickups for years, and this setup is factory for my A4.

I think your A5 uses a Clark 4 speed with a SAE bellhousing. This means that you should be able to adapt almost any small industrial engine with the same size bellhousing. Look for a Continental or Hercules from a forklift or other application without a pto disconnect. The pto clutches generally use a different flywheel. Old well drilling rigs usually have a 4 speed on them.

I think it would be fun to drop my 327 chevy and SM465 4 speed in fairmont Dave's A6.

These A-5s have a Borg Warner T-9 4 speeds with no reverse. Reverse is in the rear end.

Actually, an air cooled old school VW engine would work pretty well. You'd have to rig some sort of connection between the transaxle and the rear end, though.

Air cooled VW trannies have the diff built in so it would be hard to use it like that. But you could probably get an adapter.

If I was in your shoes, i'd think about just getting a matching trans and engine. If it's like the A-4 I am working on, there is a short driveshaft, so you could probably adapt about anything in there. I'd sure think a diesel would be the best.

My A4 has reverse in the Trans as well as a reversing rear end. They must have used what was available at the time for the least amount of money.

That opens many possibilities. If it has a bolt on clutch housing, it may have the same 4 bolt pattern used by BW, New Process, Muncie and Tremec. You can take the clutch housing from many of these for a wide variety of engines. Then it is just a matter of input shaft differences.

If you want to compete for noise with the two stroke guys, put a 53 series detroit in it. A 3-53 should wake the dead.

I put a Dodge slant 6 with the transmission it came with in a junked truck on an A4 car. The setup was a bit long, but I had to build new frame rails anyway. (The car was heavily damaged when I got it) I had a custom driveshaft company take the Dodge u joint and make a short shaft with the original fairmont rear. Cost $50.

It was a nice setup, ran well with plenty of power. No pics, as my hard drive died years ago and all I had were digital copies. Sold it to a fella up in the midwest, his name escapes me.

One thing I would like to do next is use a M151 engine and transmission, and two Fairmont axles. The 151 transmission has a built in transfer case, with the front and rear driveshaft outputs directly in the center. The front runs right under the transmission. Basically make a 4x4 motorcar. Would be nice to have when pulling trailers loaded with ties.

Brown RR in St Louis has a whole lineup of A-4 and A-5 cars for sale for $1250 each. Buy a whole car and get lots of spare parts as well.

Many of the newer ones had small Lister diesels in them.

You don't want to put a car transmission in one. We had one guy who put a Chevy engine with automatic transmission in an A-3 and the slowest (at engine idle) it would go was about 25 mph.....terrifying to ride in. Would not pull anything, either, just spun the wheels.

Should be an old Ford industrial engine or Pinto engine somewhere.........

I have a Detroit Diesel 2-53 that repowered my A-8 when the Ford 6 cylinder quit and that is a fabulous engine. Low speed with tremendous lugging power.........but too big for a smaller car, I would think.

I found 2 Hercules D198 engines near me at a very reasonable price. They were from 45 HP 4 cylinder military diesel generator sets. Rated speed is 3000 RPM, they have a SAE #3 bell housing(the original was a #5.)

I am going to look at them Saturday. I have a feeling they will be a little large for the engine bay but an adapter plate should not be too hard to manufacture. The specs I found said the engines were 650 lbs. but I am not sure if that was with or without the generator.

With the extra weight and HP I am guessing they would pull very well.

There is a Ford 172 engine for sale on Ebay right now in Morrice, MI. Looks like it has an SAE housing on it. That is the same engine in my A4. Very good running engines and you can buy parts for them anywhere.

Went shopping this weekend on craigs list and came up with 3 ex military Onan diesels that were take outs from MEP-003A gensests. About 20hp, 1800 RPM, air cooled, look fairly complete only one has a starter though. They are also 24V military standard so some electrical wizardry will be required. They have a standard SAE bell housing but I will have to modify or find flywheels that will work with a clutch.

Not my first choice but the price was right, even if they will not work I can part them to make enough money to buy something that will work.

Just use some golf cart innerds.

HAHA funny thing is there is a broken golf cart sitting right behind it in the barn that needs a new controller. Wonder if anyone has ever Hy-railed a golf cart

Not to get really off of topic, but it is funny that you were to say something like that. This link here http://www.golfcartcityonline.com/blog/ ... d-railway/
is a blog that is about a complete golf cart railroad. The Forgotten World is the people who run it and have the 30 year lease for the line, might just be something to look into if you have one of those high capacity golf carts.