My (somewhat) new Thunderbolt 1000T

[bobcat418]

After searching for some time, I discovered that Will T. (ARS member TNT1001) was selling his fully restored Thunderbolt 1000T on eBay for a price that I could not turn down. On September 10th, I picked up this unit after purchasing it a few days earlier. Now that it has been almost three months, I thought that it was time to make a thread pertaining to my new Thunderbolt.

History of this unit
This 1963 Thunderbolt 1000T was originally installed in Manchester, GA, and remained on the police station until 2012 when Will T. (ARS user TNT1001) removed it. This particular Thunderbolt was a three phase unit, however it has been converted to a single phase using parts from the Springfield, IL Thunderbolt. Will fully restored this Thunderbolt, and you can check out his pictures from the restoration here. Some of the things that Will has done to this particular unit throughout the restoration process include adding a movable base to the unit, re-painting the unit, obtaining historically accurate decals for the unit, changing the oil in the blower, greasing the various moving parts, and repairing/replacing any damaged parts. Here are some of the pictures that Will took before restoration:

The whole siren on the police station:

The rusted siren head:

i-T7zknxd-M.jpg (79.06 KiB) Viewed 4456 times

The inside of the blower, note the massive three phase motor:

i-27nfq6D-M.jpg (85.55 KiB) Viewed 4456 times

Background info
This Thunderbolt is a 1963 A-2 series unit, with the only exception being the blower motor taken from the Springfield, IL C-series Thunderbolt. The blower pump is a 5M unit, noted by the size of the pump and the fact that the intake is 3 inches wide. The chopper is the more common 5/6 port variant and the motor seems to be very healthy. The RCM1 panel is a three phase panel, however it will still work with single phase power. On a small side note, I have noticed that this RCM1A, along with a few others that I have seen does not have the fuses which are usually located at the top of the panel. This Thunderbolt also came with one of the earlier horizontal AR timers that lacks a cancel button.

Photos after the restoration
Since Will has almost fully restored the Thunderbolt, my job is to wire up the RCM, AR timer, blower, and siren head so that I can run the blower with the siren head. I am currently in the process of getting a 90 amp 240V breaker installed so that I can run the whole unit. Here are the pictures that I have taken of the Thunderbolt since I got it home:

The siren shown shortly after being loaded on the trailer:


A picture of the siren in front of the Fernbank Museum, where we stopped to tighten the ratchet straps:


A picture of the siren shortly after arriving home:


The siren head:



The rotator box:


ID tag from the Springfield Thunderbolt:


The RCM1A, I might need a new auto-transformer:




The blower:






The AR timer:



Videos:

A short chopper test:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vozIHhuz5qw

A more extensive test of the siren:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGPNhtnZOAM

I am glad to finally own a full sized outdoor warning siren from my home state of Georgia. I will most likely be able to test this with the blower on New Years, granted that the electrician is able to install the outlet by then. Stay tuned to this thread for updates on the wiring restoration. Thanks .

[CDV777-1]

I have to ask.
Why did you pull out the chopper motor to run it?
It's a lot easier running it in the siren than having it spin around on the floor.

[bobcat418]

I have to ask.
Why did you pull out the chopper motor to run it?
It's a lot easier running it in the siren than having it spin around on the floor.

I wasn't planning on pulling the chopper motor out, because it was tested once I came to pick it up. The problem was that the electrical connection was somehow broken during transport (my best guess is that the commutator ring moved when we hit a bump). Because of this, the chopper motor had to be taken out to see what the issue was.

[bobcat418]

I have now equipped the Thunderbolt with a 6.5 HP gasoline engine from Harbor Freight. This will make the system a bit more portable and will allow me to run the blower while I wait for the new 240V circuit. I am using a 6 inch 5L pulley on a 5L620 belt to run the 5M blower, however your belt could be different depending on which blower you have. The engine is mounted on two 2X4's using four bolts. The 2X4's are then mounted to a piece of 1/2 inch plywood using 4 deck screws and 4 more lag bolts from the underside. The plywood is mounted to the blower frame using 4 carriage bolts. With this setup, the motor is secure, but the wood dampens most of the vibrations caused by the engine. The bottom of the engine remains cool, so the wood does not burn. Here are some pictures of the setup:


The whole setup:


A view showing the pulley arangement:


A view showing the engine from the front:


Here is a video of the setup in action on New Years:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JuTqNxNNQkc

The siren was at about 90% volume, since the engine was just shy of 7.5HP and the relief valve was propped open a bit so that the engine could be started easily. If you would like to make your Thunderbolt a bit more portable, I would recommend this project.

[coastalsyrolover]

That is so friggin cool.

[Tyler]

Wow, nicely done my friend! Kinda stinks that the gas engine is only 6.5HP, but hey, it's better than nothing. I wondered what happened to the "rustybolt", I didn't know you got it.