Revisiting old diesel technology and applying new thinking

[Modsqwad]

I met a couple who lived in a bus and it was a 2-stroke diesel in the back. Bus was from the '60s or '70s and they said it was quite common for its time.

I also have such a bus. It's a 1967 ex "greyhound" 35 feet long with a pusher 8V71 Detroit Diesel 2 stroke. Best guess is it has 2.2 million miles on it

The engine is good for 500,000 miles before needing a rebuild which puts it in new condition.

It seems to surprise people who know this engine that I only "loose" 7 gal of oil per Mexico trip and get 10 miles per imperial gal. Not bad for a 12.5 ton motorhome.

john

If your detroit diesel is burning that much oil the blower seals are probably shot. You have to be careful with that if they get too bad the engine can actually run on on the oil after you kill the fuel. I have seen two stroke jokes suck all their oil up and burn out the bearings like that before. These engines were very common up until the eighties.
Andy Wilson

[jaggedfish]

I hafta say that Marsgal's nominations for best sounding engines get an enthusiastic second nom from me. That diesel just sounds powerful... the screamer?... insane and the Merlin... well, nothing needs to be said there.

Adding the Merlin to a 55 Chevy... holy crap! It's wild how that thing blows all the dust off the side of the road just driving at a relatively normal speed.

And... the Spitfire low pass... that is a classic! MAN, that thing was low! Love the reaction

The Manx is interesting... shifter and rear brake on the opposite side to what we're used to seeing. The starter is a little sketchy... don't know that I'd want my rear tire flat spotted by the starter guy prior to racing because my back wheel refused to turn. I assume they must've used a better system in the day. When I was involved in drag racing we used a dodge starter pinned to align with the factory starter location - a lot more positive connection and the starter was removed once the engine fired (in neutral, of course ).

[DeliTan]

I met a couple who lived in a bus and it was a 2-stroke diesel in the back. Bus was from the '60s or '70s and they said it was quite common for its time.

I also have such a bus. It's a 1967 ex "greyhound" 35 feet long with a pusher 8V71 Detroit Diesel 2 stroke. Best guess is it has 2.2 million miles on it

The engine is good for 500,000 miles before needing a rebuild which puts it in new condition.

It seems to surprise people who know this engine that I only "loose" 7 gal of oil per Mexico trip and get 10 miles per imperial gal. Not bad for a 12.5 ton motorhome.

john

If your detroit diesel is burning that much oil the blower seals are probably shot. You have to be careful with that if they get too bad the engine can actually run on on the oil after you kill the fuel. I have seen two stroke jokes suck all their oil up and burn out the bearings like that before. These engines were very common up until the eighties.
Andy Wilson

Sorry, my bad!

Thanx for catching that. I meant 7 litre/quarts per 5000 km Mexico round trip. Sometimes more, occasionally less. If I top it off to the upper dipstick mark, it will be at the lower mark in less than 4 hours. If I top off to the lower mark, it's good for 2 days/1000 miles. When the oil pressure drops; it's time to add...
Every motor has it's own personality I guess

john