Penguin Mkll

[rob love]

Last year Sean (Snowtractor on this board) offered me the the chance to acquire the mkll Penguin he had recovered from BC a number of years ago. Realizing he had too many projects lined up, along with a young family, he wanted to see something done with it. I also have a fairly long line-up of vehicles, and initially turned him down. But after mulling it over a few weeks I decided I had to have it. Sean only asked for right of first refusal if one day I decided it had to go.

These were converted from mk1 armoured Snowmobiles, although there is very little left armoured on it. After ex Eskimo, it was decided that while the mk1 was about as good an all terrain snowmobile as could be hoped for, it lacked in the creature comfort of a cab. So the snowmobiles ended up being modified either at the end of the war, or just afterwards, by the removal of the armour and the installation of an airplane type aluminum cab. They were renamed the Penguin Mk2. A number of photos on the internet show these as mk3s, including one at the Cdn War Museum, and a photo of one at the Bombardier museum. The true mk3s that I have seen photos of were quite a bit different. I'll post some photos from various DND pubs later today with DND photos of the mk2.

Below are some photos of it as it arrived:

[rob love]

When Sean delivered it last week, he had hoped the mother racoon had come back the night before for her litter. Turns out she had not, but rather she had come back for a trip to Shilo. After being constantly bugged for visits for the next couple of days, including by my ferocious dog, they apparently decided it was time to move on. I spotted a young ball of raccoon run over on the highway nearby, so it looks like they headed west.

Anyway, with the racoons gone, I decided to try and recover any markings that I could find. The vehicle had been painted yellow overall, but the Khaki paint could still be seen in areas where the paint had peeled, as well as the lower suspension. This was an ambulance, so had numerous red crosses on all four sides.

I spotted some brushed on paint towards the rear of the left side, and sanding brought up the DND number: 95-391. There were few enough of these vehicles made that eventually I hope to spot a photo of it in service.

On the front, the remnants of the command shield could be seen. Some careful sanding on the little bit of remaining shield came up with green, so this vehicle had likely belonged to Western Command at some point.

On the other side, I found the unit marking of "18 Coy" over a square of blue over yellow, diagonally divided.

Here are some shots of the finds:

[rob love]

So today I decided to invest 3 quarts of paint and a couple of hours to making it look more presentable in the lineup of projects waiting. Nice thing with any army vehicle......they don't have to be perfect. This is just to help preserve everything as well as to maintain peace with the neighbors until I find parts sources needed to restore it.

[rob love]

While the paint was drying, I took a foray into the belly of the beast. Raccoon turds abound, so I must use caution in there.

In a survey of racoons in North America, the vast majority of them have Raccoon ringworm. A single ounce of raccoon fecal matter can have one million eggs in it. Ingestion by other than a raccoon becomes a serious matter as the larvae attack the host body looking for a raccoon, or else escape. They attack the central nervous system, the eyes,the brain, or leave rashes where they eventually leave the host body.

For more on this important subject check out Wikopedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baylisascaris

I will decontaminate the vehicle before working any further on it. However, I held my breath and got a few interior shots.

The vehicle was reported to Sean as having a thrown rod on the cadillac 346 flathead 8. I am on the search for one of these, should anyone come across a spare in decent shape. I would prefer the military engine, although I must do more research on this before I get too hasty and buy the wrong motor.

Interesting on the vehicle is that it has most of it's DND marked 1944/45 run flat tires remaining in good shape. They are 4:50 X16 made by goodyear. A search on google showed them to be starting to get harder to find, but substitutes can include the 16" hideaspares, or motorcycle tires. I will likely get them foam filled, so I am not dealing with flats in the middle of a Manitoba Winter.

[Bob Carriere]

In the mid 70s there were 3 or 4 of them. OD colored, in a scrap yard in ST Hyacinte....... I believe that scrap yard was the precursor to Sails store now... Only the top hatch was opened but we did crawl inside...... they also had 6 or 7 1941/42 dark blue Packard CLipper staff cars with USA marking.... apparently originating from a US based closing in Labrador ..

I remember looking at the Penguin engine with very squarish flat heads not rounded like a Ford...... had always assumed that Cadillac had ONLY overhead valves
V8 engines...... all been turned into Honda bumpers by now.

Strange to see they were using CMP seats....?

The yard was huge and you had to be escorted to the various areas of interest. The old gentlemen who would escort us was crippled with polio and rode a blue motorcycle with a side car..... and we would have to run behind him....and the yard was big.... we would go by piles of engines...piles of axles...piles of radiators...... I think he rather enjoyed seeing us out of breadth..... only thing I ever bought from him was the rear suspension of a WC 61 .... he had tons of them and they were fabricating trailers with the rear suspension for construction companies.


Bob C.



Bob C.

[David Dunlop]

Rob.

Would that motor be the same block as used in the Stuarts?


David

[rob love]

Originally Posted by rob love

After being constantly bugged for visits for the next couple of days, including by my ferocious dog, they apparently decided it was time to move on. I spotted a young ball of raccoon run over on the highway nearby, so it looks like they headed west.

For those who may have been concerned, I have an update regarding the above statement. I stopped on the highway yesterday to check on the situation, and am happy to report to all those who seem to think they love raccoons, that the cadaver on the road turned out to be a very young skunk, rather than a raccoon. Good news for the raccoon family, although not so good news for the skunk family.

On other subjects, I have sent an email to the seller of the Cadillac motor and will now await a reply.

[Lynn Eades]

Are Racoons better or worse than Skunks? Obviously the Racoon can make you dead, and the Skunk can make you wish you were dead. Do either of them have pluses?

On another note,I have to wonder why a Canadian built vehicle, of the day, was named after a Ratite, who's natural range was never north of the equator.

[Grant Bowker]

Originally Posted by Lynn Eades

I have to wonder why a Canadian built vehicle, of the day, was named after a Ratite, who's natural range was never north of the equator.

See here http://www.forumsforums.com/3_9/showthread.php?t=46773 for another snow RAT. In this case, Remote Articulated Tractor, made by Canadair which has since been swallowed by Bombardier.

[rob love]

Originally Posted by Lynn Eades

Are Racoons better or worse than Skunks? Obviously the Racoon can make you dead, and the Skunk can make you wish you were dead. Do either of them have pluses?

On another note,I have to wonder why a Canadian built vehicle, of the day, was named after a Ratite, who's natural range was never north of the equator.

Actually, I'll take the raccoon over the skunk any day. Both do get rabies in this area, but more-so the skunks.

I think back to when Gordon Falk and I were in Northern Ontario recovering Bren carrier bits. The skunks would come in the evening to our campsite, and take whatever they wanted with impunity. Gordon and I had been "tree'd" in the back of the pick-up box while the skunks hunted for the baloney sandwhiches we had just made. We held the lantern over the edge of the truck to see what they were up to, and the brighter the light got on the skunks, the higher their tails went.

If you shoot a raccoon, they bleed and die. If you shoot a skunk, it's muscles relax and it lets go. The area will stink for the next two weeks.

I'll take the raccoons over the skunks any day.

[David Dunlop]

Rob.

A few other areas worth looking into for the larger Bombardier snowmobile are St. Laurent and Gimli. Large commercial fishing operations in both areas. Also, there used to be a farm implement dealer on the north of the Trans Canada at Elie who sold a number of used Bombardiers a few years back. Think he also wheeled and dealed in Argos around the same time. Any Bombardiers you find would be worth a closer inspection. I would not be at all surprised to find a few original military contract vehicles made it into the fishing industry and may still be out there. Bodies would be easy to restore and the power plant was the trusty Ford flathead V8.

Lynn.

I have always wondered why the Canadian Military never used the name 'Raccoon' for any of it's vehicles. The little buggers are extremely resourceful, can go anywhere and can get into absolutely anything they set their mind to. There was a show on the National Geographic Channel a couple of years back about the racoon population in Toronto, Ontario. Wildlife experts claimed there were half as many racoons living in greater Toronto as people. So when you think about it, the name 'Racoon' would be a great name for a Recce or Commando vehicle.

Since fate has already named Rob's new toy the 'Penguin' (indeed odd for Canada), perhaps he should come up with a name for it. "Happy Feet" perhaps. Or how about "Chilly Willy"?

David

[Grant Bowker]

Following the lead from Joe on his data plate, there are several more manuals that apply to various Marks of penguin.

One is the "Provisional Operator's Manual" P2-OM1 for the Penguin Mark II. To quote from the introduction - "This Operator's Manual has been compiled as a guide to efficient driving and routine maintenance of Penguin Mk.II Vehicles. A combination of new text and modified existing Snowmobile literature, it is made up of five sections containing information and data as follows:" The five sections are General Data, Driving Instructions, Lubrication, Period Maintenance, Wiring Diagrams and Miscellaneous Illustrations. The sections on Lubrication and Period Maintenance are mainly copied and modified from SNOW-B3 (the Maintenace Manual for the Armoured Snowmobile). The drawing of the data plate for the Penguin Mark II lists the Maintenance manual for the Mark II as being SNOW-B3/P2, a clear demonstration of the origin of the Penguin. I have never seen the SNOW-B3/P2 Manual.

Another manual is the EME instructions 010, 013, 014 and 017 for the Snowmobile, Canadian Mk 3. The contents of these seem to different than I would have expected from Joe's data plate. They are:
010 Data Summary
013 Instr 1 1st Echelon work - lubrication
013 Instr 2 1st Echelon work - engine
013 Instr 3 1st Echelon work - fluid coupling and transmission
013 Instr 4 1st Echelon work - prop shaft and U joints
013 Instr 5 1st Echelon work - driving member
013 Instr 6 1st Echelon work - suspensionn
013 Instr 7 1st Echelon work - fuel and exhaust
013 Instr 8 1st Echelon work - cooling
013 Instr 9 1st Echelon work - electrical
014 Instr 2 2nd-4th Echelon work - engine
014 Instr 3 2nd-4th Echelon work - fluid coupling and transmission
014 Instr 5 2nd-4th Echelon work - driving member
014 Instr 6 2nd-4th Echelon work - suspensionn
014 Instr 7 2nd-4th Echelon work - fuel and exhaust
014 Instr 8 2nd-4th Echelon work - cooling
017 Mod Instr 1 Instal of starter safety switch
017Mod Instr 2 Removal of wade-proofed distributor ventilation
At first glance it seems that the 014 series might be incomplete, but the sections that appear to be left out, for example Lubrication, wouldn't really have any content needing the skills of 2nd to 4th echelon technicians.

[Kirk Armitage]

Joe , next time you have your camera out, can a few pics be taken of the running gear ? Would be interesting to see the walking beam shaft size as it is not supported on the outside like the later muskeg.
Thanks Kirk Armitage

[Joe Lorenzino]

Here are a couple of pictures of the walking beam shaft, and the tensioner shaft. The walking beam shaft has a round tubing top gusset, and 2 angled side gussets bracing it to the chassis. Not sure if the tensioner runs all the way across, or is 2 stub shafts.

MK3 Brace.jpg MK3 Shaft 1.jpg MK3 Shaft 2.jpg MK3 tensioner.jpg MK3 tensioner 2.jpg

I got a surprize at work the other day, as the previous owner was in and dropped of a complete engine gasket set, and a hardbound copy of maintenance manual SNOW-B3. The book has an old label on it from "Shamrock Const. Ltd".
Today I stopped in at the yard where the "extra" engine was left in storage a few years ago. The owner has since passed away, but his son is going to let me go on a hunt for it. He doesn't remember it being brought in, but thinks that if it was, it might have been put inside of a van or bus out in the yard. They have been scrapping out a lot of the older stuff, but I am hoping it might still be out there.

[Kirk Armitage]

Excellent pics Joe, not to sure how that tensioner works, recognize the spring in a can and tire setup. Mr Bombardier definitely deviated on his later designs(muskeg), from this setup.
Thanks Kirk Armitage

[Joe Lorenzino]

I got a phone call this week from a fellow in Regina SK, who has just recently purchased another Penguin MK3. It is running & driving (with a Buick engine). It was advertised on Kijiji Regina, and was located only minutes out of the city. His interest is in snow vehicles, and he also has a refurbished SureGo. His shop in Regina is named Precision Motorsports, and his name is C M Ross.

He is looking for information/parts to start a restoration on this unit, and is interested in contacting other Penguin owners.