Being somewhat new to the 3 rail community, I didn't know that Lionel or MTH for that matter had an SD70ACe in Presidential colors. After the former HWB passed away and I saw his dedicated locomotive I simply feel in love with the engine. So I went to Lionel's website and ordered the engines body. The next day I cancelled the order due to funds being short while I was on my extended vacation with no pay (Furloughed) from my current government job. When I was finally able to order the body, the site said it was "Unavailable", Crap! Now what to do..... So, I started searching the "Bay" in the hopes of finding a body at a reasonable price. I did find one, but the person wanted twice what Lionel was originally selling them for and wouldn't negotiate. So I kept searching, so finally one of our very own site members posted one and I waited with baited breath in the hopes that no one would bid on the body. So, after 6 days of waiting, I bid on it with 6 seconds to go and won the body.
Now that I had the body, I now needed the rest of the locomotive. Once again I hit the "Bay", everything listed was new and wayyyy too much money to convert. Finally a Lionel UP Heritage Southern Pacific 1996 was posted. It had a cracked roof just behind the cab, broken hand rails along the sides, and the radiator cover no longer fit correctly. But the engine was a bit too pricey, so I contacted the seller and made an offer, and he took it. SWEET, I now had the engine! After waiting 7-10 days on the USPS to deliver my new prize, it finally arrived.
True to the posting on eBay, it did in fact have a cracked body and broken hand rails. No biggie, wasn't going to use the body anyway. As I'm writing this, I just noticed that the right sun shade over the window is missing, as is the windows. The small vent wing windows are missing on both sides as well.
At this point I couldn't get the engines body off fast enough. Then I noticed something really ODD. The screw holes in the frame were bent to accommodate the body not sitting on the frame correctly. A Red Flag! Then I noticed that the front wheel truck wasn't sitting quit right. So I continued to disassemble the engine down to a bare frame. So not to bore you with those details, click on the link if you so desire.
https://ogrforum.com/...-6-28281-help-please
After I had everything flattened out I started to re-assemble the engine. But before I did, that I stripped down both wheel sets, cleaned with brake cleaner, re-assembled, and filled the gear cavities with Labelle 106 grease. I also replaced the 4 badly worn out rubber tires. Then it was simply to put everything back where I found it. Easy to do, since I bagged and marked each item, and took photos. While I had the smoke unit out, I replaced the crappy factory wadding. Apparently the smoke unit was never fired up 'cause it looked brand new. I did enlarge the air intake hole to almost 5/16" but not quite. I didn't want to get into the traces on the PCB.
Once I got the engine back together, it was time for and ops check of the engine. I programmed my Cab 1 and WA LA, it came alive! Sweet, Now I had to test all the functions. Everything works as advertised. But there is one small problem.....The Tower Talk and Crew Talk was referring to the engine as UP 1996. This isn't going to do for an engine that's going to be rebadged as 4141. Luckily, the RailSounds 5.5 for the 1996 and the RailSounds 6.0 for the 4141 would swap just fine.
Jump to today, I received my final order for the spring from Lionel. I took delivery of the radiator cover, front and rear pilot assemblies, and the RailSounds 6 card for the 4141. Along with some other misc items I needed.
I started to put the GB41 body on the frame and the back fit fine, but the front was no way. I moved wires around, removed the cab lighting wiring, and it still wouldn't fit on the frame. Finally, I discovered that the inner rib structure of the body was hitting the Oddssey mount where it screwed to the frame. So I want and ground down the area in question. It was then that the body would fit on the frame correctly.
So to shorten up this little titrate, here's the final assembly photo. You all have seen these engines run, so I feel a video isn't necessary. Its nothing special, Its a bone stock Lionel George Bush 41 SD70ACe. But it does put out the smoke with the enlarged intake hole.....
For the amount of money I spent on this engine I could have bought a brand new one. Problem is...There's no new ones yet, and I'm sure that the new ones with be more expensive than I'd be willing to pay. I don't plan on getting rid of the engine any time soon. It may get handed would to one of the grandkids in the future. Although this was a simple build, it did have its moments of frustration.
As a side note to this project... I had a very hard time getting the PC boards off of the motherboard. They had started to corrode to the pins. Once I got them off, I cleaned the pins as best I could. I then put Anti-oxidant compound (NOALOX, Home Depot) in the socket holes of the cards.
I then worked the compound into the holes and wiped the connector clean. This helped putting the cards back on the pins and will prevent anymore corrosion/oxidation from forming again.
Until next time.....
