Video Bonanza: Old Engines From the Gearhead PastBy Brian Lohnes Posted 02/09/10
Engines are the life force of the gearhead world. We like to think about them in hot rods, trucks, and muscle cars, but there is a much broader scope that needs to be considered. Engines powered far more than cars in the days of old. Often factories would be powered by massive stationary engines used to generate electricity or power machinery through the use of belts, shafts, and other Rube Goldberg looking methods. The monster power plants were a sight to behold.
In this video bonanza we'll show you some clippage of cool pieces like a large hit and miss engine, a huge hot bulb engine, an old airplane engine with exposed valvetrain, a 16-cylinder Cummins running on a pallet, and a couple of stationary engines that will blow you mind on their size alone. One comes in at over 13,000 cubic inches.
The thing that really fascinates us about these old monsters is that they were purely mechanical pieces. There's nothing hidden, no black boxes controlling anything, and they seem to be overbuilt and over engineered to the hilt.
To the videos!
Comments + Post your comment!
Written by 66Fury3
Feb 10 2010
Here is the fully built engine......
This is the W?rtsil? RT-flex96C, a modular engine for powering container ships. It is available in inline configurations from six to 14 cylinders, producing from 65,978 hp to 113,209, respectively, at 102 rpm. It?s pressurized by turbos the size of your living room, ranging from one on the six-cylinder to four on the 14. Engines are 25 feet wide, 44 feet 4 inches tall, and the 14-cylinder is 87 feet 3 inches long and weighs 2535 tons. The cylinder bores are 38 inches across and stroke is more than eight feet, giving each cylinder a displacement of 110,426 cubic inches. For the 14-cylinder, that?s a total displacement of 1,545,962 cubic inches, or 25,334 liters. Fuel economy is a mere 1660 gallons of oil per hour.
[img]http://blog.caranddriver.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/Truck2.bmp[/img]
[img]http://blog.caranddriver.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/Truck-piston.bmp[/img]
Here is the orinagal artical....
[url=http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://blog.caranddriver.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/Truck2.bmp&imgrefurl=http://blog.caranddriver.com/my-what-big-pistons-you-have/&usg=__huSrQxVPLc4CHcX7RJEfI7Fw6vQ=&h=326&w=525&sz=502&hl=en&start=38&sig2=Pxbr1KJt88hx--hEN4wWNg&um=1&itbs=1&tbnid=U9e1W9YH33zu9M:&tbnh=82&tbnw=132&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dbig%2Bengines%2Bships%26ndsp%3D21%26hl%3Den%26rlz%3D1G1GGLQ_ENUS280%26sa%3DN%26start%3D21%26um%3D1&ei=nfRyS6exNY3CNcO_2IYL]http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://blog.caranddriver.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/Truck2.bmp&imgrefurl=http://blog.caranddriver.com/my-what-big-pistons-you-have/&usg=__huSrQxVPLc4CHcX7RJEfI7Fw6vQ=&h=326&w=525&sz=502&hl=en&start=38&sig2=Pxbr1KJt88hx--hEN4wWNg&um=1&itbs=1&tbnid=U9e1W9YH33zu9M:&tbnh=82&tbnw=132&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dbig%2Bengines%2Bships%26ndsp%3D21%26hl%3Den%26rlz%3D1G1GGLQ_ENUS280%26sa%3DN%26start%3D21%26um%3D1&ei=nfRyS6exNY3CNcO_2IYL[/url]
Written by Whelk Feb 10 2010
[quote author=1988montecarloss link=topic=19721.msg369495#msg369495 date=1265800455]
any more info on this?
[/quote]
That's the crank of a diesel merchant ship engine. On some of them you can walk into the combustion chamber to service the valves.
http://gcaptain.com/maritime/blog/emma-maersk-engine/the-wartsila-sulzer-super-engine/
or
http://mrec.rotary.net.nz/articles/du-sulzer_12rta96c.htm
"Maximum power: 108,920 hp at 102 rpm
Maximum torque: 5,608,312 lb/ft at 102rpm"
Written by 1988montecarloss
Feb 10 2010
[quote author=Whelk link=topic=19721.msg369363#msg369363 date=1265771752]
Ships are where you find your full sized engines. :)
[img]http://gcaptain.com/maritime/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/09/wartsila-sulzer.jpg[/img]
[/quote]
any more info on this?
Written by Brian Lohnes
Feb 09 2010
The plane motor with the exposed valvetrain was pretty bitchin'.
Hell, they're all cool!
Written by TheSilverBuick
Feb 09 2010
Those are some good video's to end the day with. It cracks me up how the hot bulb engine sounds just like you'd imagine a factory of the early 1900's would sound.
Written by Whelk Feb 09 2010
Ships are where you find your full sized engines. :)
[img]http://gcaptain.com/maritime/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/09/wartsila-sulzer.jpg[/img]
Written by ford141
Feb 09 2010
Cool videos Brian!
Snow built two of those 600hp engines, and the other one is located about an hour north of me in Coolspring, PA. There is a power museum located there with hundreds of old stationary engines. Really cool place. The Snow is a long-term project to get it back in working condition, but they are making headway on it. I highly recommend a visit for any gearhead who might be in the area. Here is the website:
[url=http://coolspringpowermuseum.org/index.htm]http://coolspringpowermuseum.org/index.htm[/url]
Written by BangShift Forum Admin Feb 09 2010
http://www.bangshift.com/blog/Video-Bonanza-Old-Engines-From-the-Gearhead-Past.html
It's going to be a few minutes before I can leave my desk with out questioning looks.......
Thanks for the picture.