Somehow or other I got invited to the California made engine show/display held in Modesto. Kind of a special event as it is only for engines made in California and by invitation only.
I've had this 4 cylinder Holt engine for over 40 years and had it running once way back then. I decided to attend, RSVP'd them and said I'd bring it as a static display.  After the heat I received over the phone, I'm hastily trying to get it running. The picture shows its progress. It is now unstuck and turning over freely.
I'll post more as things progress.

Nice engine Dave!  I have no doubt you'll have it running for the California Gold show.

I got an invite this year too, but already had a commitment to be somewhere else.

It's just about ready to be started. Had to change the magneto bracket from the Splitdorf type to the KW type. Now I'm in the process of shortning the mag drive shaft by 1" to accomodate the KW mag. Sounds simple but I have to cut a taper and keyway and then thread the end to take a 1/2-12 tpi nut. All that is doable, but cutting threads on the lathe with the old keyway in the shaft is making things a bit difficult. Expect to try and fire it tomorrow, but we'll see. It isn't getting any cheaper as I had to put over $50 worth of oil in it...........

It starts and runs really well. Adjusted the govenor so it runs at maybe 250 rpm or so. Used a new old stock fiber magneto coupler but it broke after about 15 minutes of running time, so I had to time it all over again. Now after it is on the trailer I am going to jury rig the water pump with a water barrel for a supply.

That is quite the piece of art, Dave.  Congratulations.

Charlie V.

Was there any type of cover for the valves or are they exposed like on flywheel engines? Also, about your cooling tank, Did it come with a radiator or was the cooling tank supposed to be a large user supplied tank like on some "stationary" flywheel engines? Lastly does "Holt 45" designate model, HP, or both? If just model, got any idea what the HP is on it?

John,
The engine is complete. The valves and rockers were all exposed and required oiling by hand. The Manzel oiler in the picture oils the cylinders. The crankcase is compartmentalized (sp?) meaning each cylinder has it's own oil supply. The 5 tubes you see coming out of the distributor (on the left) go to each of the 4 crankcase areas below the cylinders. The tube on the right is the supply from the pump. There is an oil pump driven off the cam which pumps oil into the distributor and then fed out the 4 tubes to each crankcase compartment. Make sense? The individual crankcases have an overflow cast in the block which feeds the oil pump.
Evidently this was their idea of making sure each piston and rod was sufficiently lubricated when operating on slopes.
The front of the engine carries the clutch. The rear has the red flywheel you see with holes for starting it with a bar. The face of the flywheel has 2 different sized flat belt pullies, one for driving the water pump and the other for driving the radiator fan. This particular engine was mounted atop the harvester with the radiator mounted to the side.
I'm not sure on all the engines sizes that were made, but the designation 45 means the horsepower. I know they made a 45, 60 and 75.

Water pump mounted, belted up, engine bolted to trailer and ready for departure in the morning

Somehow I missed that this was a power unit off a harvester--makes sense about the radiator now. Did Holt ever offer these as just power units like Case and IH did? Anything Holt on the east coast has probably been brought here in the last 20 years--kind of like hand crank John Deere tractors.