www.2cycle.mtu-online.com - New Detroit Diesel 2 Cycle site sponsored by MTU

[MicroKap]

Detroit Diesel Website for Old DDA Engines - 08/05/2009

Believe it or not there are still 300,000 of the old 2-cycle Detroit Diesel engines on the road and in boats all over the world – out of the 3.5 million that were built since 1940. A high percentage of those old diesels in are in boats. Just look for the sheen on the waters in any marina with large boats and you’ll be able to find them. But the Detroit Diesel brand lives on under the wing of MTU and now the company has launched a new website specifically for owners of the old 2-cycle 71, 92, and 53 series engines. This is a god-send to owners nursing these old lumps of iron along as they blow injectors, weep oil from a dozen locations, and refuse to start on a cold morning. In addition to parts service there is also a place on the site to submit your DDA “stories.” Currently there are only three posted – so we are asking for your help to generate more stories of these “legacy” engines!


The Detroit Diesel 71 Series diesel saw lots of action in the Pacific during WW II. Please send us your Detroit Diesel stories (winner gets a coveted Ducky!)

From a recent MTU Detroit Diesel press release--

MTU Detroit Diesel has announced the launch of a new Web site specifically dedicated to customers who own and continue to operate legacy 2-Cycle Detroit Diesel engines. There are hundreds of thousands of these storied engines still operating around the world in industrial, marine and defense applications. This new Web site will help supply those customers with parts and maintenance information. In addition, the site will encourage customers to share stories about their engines and applications.

To visit the site, go to www.2cycle.mtu-online.com

"The goal of the new site is to show our 2-Cycle customers that the product is fully supported by MTU and its distributor organization," says Dave Sears, director of after sales for MTU Detroit Diesel. "Further, this site enables our customers to get the specific information they need as simply and efficiently as possible.""The goal of the new site is to show our 2-Cycle customers that the product is fully supported by MTU and its distributor organization," says Dave Sears, director of after sales for MTU Detroit Diesel. "Further, this site enables our customers to get the specific information they need as simply and efficiently as possible."

MTU is in Charge Now --

While the brand name on the engine may say Detroit Diesel, the support for that 2-Cycle engine is actually provided by MTU and its global network of authorized distributors. This name difference has caused some customer confusion, leaving 2-Cycle owners to wonder about the availability of factory parts and service for these legacy engines.

"The 2-Cycle business is alive and well," says MTU 2-Cycle parts product planning manager Lisa Farrens. "Many customers have been led to believe that Detroit Diesel doesn't do 2-Cycle anymore. However, we want to spread the word that MTU does 2-Cycle and we support it with the highest standards and most progressive programs."

With the new 2-Cycle microsite, MTU hopes to both educate customers and give them a forum for sharing their stories. The Web site is organized in four sections:

The About section provides company facts, a company profile and historical information that details the relationship between Detroit Diesel and MTU and how the Detroit Diesel 2-Cycle product line is now fully supported by MTU.

Parts --

The Products section includes information about 2-Cycle parts, engines, maintenance products and service tips. It also showcases current promotions.

The Stories section features real-world articles about Detroit Diesel 2-Cycle customers and their varied applications. Customers are encouraged to submit their own recollections and story ideas about their engines.

Distributors --

Finally, the Contact section provides the contact information for MTU's distributor organization and gives customers the opportunity to sign up for future email updates and promotions.


Highly-trained techs look at the 71 Series in utter amazement.

A Bit of History from the Detroit Diesel site---

Back to the future

MTU inherited a legendary series of engines that have stood an extraordinary test of time. The granddaddy of them all is the Series 71 engine, so named because it had a displacement of 71 cubic inches per cylinder. It was developed by GM® in 1938 for stationary power equipment, landing craft and tanks.

By 1965, a million Series 71s had been manufactured. Today the original design lives on in new, powerful eight-cylinder versions produced for the military, while remanufactured reliabilt® models are sold by MTU for military and non-military applications alike.

The same is true of the 6V53, a six-cylinder version of the Series 53 that was introduced over fifty years ago. New 6V53s are still being manufactured by MTU for military applications and reliabilt® models are sold for all uses around the world.

The two newest 2-Cycle designs are younger by comparison but still approaching a comfortable middle-age: Series 149 engines were introduced in 1967 and are still being sold as remanufactured reliabilt® models to the mining, marine, industrial and power generation customers who have sworn by their performance and dependability ever since.

If there is a greater among equals, it’s the Series 92®. First produced in 1973, the Series 92® has been sold new in 6, 8, 12 and 16-cylinder configurations to military, marine, construction, industrial, on-highway and energy industry customers. Today it’s manufactured for military applications and in reliabilt® versions for all applications.

Submit Your Own Detroit Diesel Story –

Anyone who has ever owned one of the old these old “storied” Detroits has at least one good story. We’d love to hear about them and we’ll send them all on to the folks running the new DDA website for inclusion. In addition, we will award one of the coveted Duckys to the story that our panel of former Detroit Diesel 2-cycle engine owners deems the best. If you can write your story in 300 words or less, then please use the “comments” box below. If it is longer, you must submit it in an e-mail or attachment to: Editorial@BoatTEST.com. The winning and runner-up articles will appear in a future issue of Offshore Motoryacht.

 

[REBrueckner]

300,000 sounds awfully low....but just a guess...

 

[Nonchalant1]

It's a nice advertisement for MTU/DD and Reliabuilt, but I'm not sure what value it will be other than the distributor locator, which the Detroit Diesel website has always had. Nice to see them advertise their commitment though.

Doug

 

[SLIDELLBIGAL]

I was always told and read that the 71 was developed by the Gray Marine Corporation and had to license then sell to General Motors to be able meet wartime production demands. Would be a shame if they didn't know the history of their own product line. I still run two Gray Marines, when we took 1 down 20 years ago, it had a chain driven oil pump and round air ports in the liners. Anyone recall those?

Allen

 

[Will]

Yes. The Old Gray Marine model 64-HN9 was used in landing craft. In the late fifties-early sixties you could buy them brand new from government surplus, still in the crates for $50 each.

I was in Sea Scouts as a teenager. Our 45' boat had a pair of them. When our batteries were low, we pulled the valve covers and put a penny under one exhaust valve on each cylinder (they had two valve heads) to function as a compression release. We'd hit the starter and literally start the engine one cylinder at a time by pulling out the pennies one by one.

I read somewhere a long time ago, that 6-71's were originally designed by GM to run buses.
Will

 

[jim rosenthal]

I always thought that two-cycle diesels using a Roots blower to pressurize the airbox were originally designed by Winton in the thirties. If you look at the Baltimore Railway Museum, there are vintage Winton and EMD diesels there which are mechanically similar to DDs, but much larger, much heavier, and MUCH slower. They powered ships, boats, and railway locomotives for decades.
If anyone knows any more history on these old designs, or a source, I'd like to know of it. It would make interesting reading.

One of our Classic Yacht Club members needed to rebuild a DD a year or two ago; he restores vintage boats for a living and is quite handy. He had a great deal of trouble finding parts. I'm not so sure their availability is all it's cracked up to be, especially in these hard times. As I recall, cam drive gears were a particular problem. These were either 8v-53s or 8v-71s, I can't recall which. I think he ended up buying cores to get the pieces he needed.

 

[Brian Degulis]

I was always told and read that the 71 was developed by the Gray Marine Corporation and had to license then sell to General Motors to be able meet wartime production demands. Would be a shame if they didn't know the history of their own product line. I still run two Gray Marines, when we took 1 down 20 years ago, it had a chain driven oil pump and round air ports in the liners. Anyone recall those?

Allen

Sure ther's still quite a few around they were the original DD. The engines were built by GM the name was changed to DD later on. The very first model was the 671 it was a low block with a 2 valve head and a one piece head gasket. The injectors were the flat valve design with the valve located in the injector tip. The transmissions were mechanical Twin Disc They had dry clutches and were engaged by hand power no hydraulics. These engines started out in marine and stationary aplications only.

Later on DD started putting the original engine in trucks and ran into a big problem. Because the original flat valve injector had the valve in the tip it could not withstand the heat generated by engine compression when fuel was not being injected. So what would happen is the truck driver would have a good running engine until he went down a steep long grade with the truck pushing the engine and no fuel being injected. Then the heat would cause the spring in the valve to collapse and cause the injector to stop spraying and start dripping and dribbling. So the driver would get to the bottom of the grade and step on the pedal to find an engine that would barely run and spews out smoke like crazy.

That led to the first modification on the DD 71 serious the HV (high valve) injector. Next came the high block which did away with one piece head gasket and changed to what we have today. The next step was the N engine which stands for needle valve injector along with the 4 valve head that we have today. BTW the original engine ran a hell of alot dirtier and smokier than our engines do. The original 671 Gray marine produced 160 HP. The engine was GM, the transmission Twin disc, and the marine conversion mounts and cast iron oil pan were built by Gray Marine. A little known fact DD built a 1 71 a single cylinder 71 series engine not many were produced.

EMD stands for GM Electromotive Division. This is a large slow turning version of a 71 series detroit built for RR Ships and tugs. I think the original was the 8 567. which is 8 cylinders @ 567 CI per cylinder It produced around 700 HP @ 750 RPM. They built them in 8 12 16 and 20 cylinders. Later they raised the CI to 645 which I think was the highest. They look like big 71 series engines same 2 cycle design same rack and unit injectors. The blocks are diffrent with individual cylinder heads.

Brian

 

[smoothmove]

I was in Sea Scouts as a teenager. Our 45' boat had a pair of them. When our batteries were low, we pulled the valve covers and put a penny under one exhaust valve on each cylinder (they had two valve heads) to function as a compression release. We'd hit the starter and literally start the engine one cylinder at a time by pulling out the pennies one by one.

Will

Sounds like the kind of stories the website was soliciting for their DD Folklore section.

On the other hand, I doubt they would like to see this tragic video there
Warning - not for the faint of heart

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqQVk3WV2PU

Eric

 

[captddis]

Sounds like the kind of stories the website was soliciting for their DD Folklore section.

On the other hand, I doubt they would like to see this tragic video there
Warning - not for the faint of heart

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqQVk3WV2PU

Eric

I can't believe that all those people were standing around that potential grenade!

Sorry if I am skepticle of MTU's commitment when they have turned their back on the 2 cycle and made many parts obselete as well as raising parts prices by 400+ percent in some cases. Not to mention cutting dealer discounts to next to nothing. They thought that when parts dried up people would be forced to buy their new engines, now that engine sales are down, they see a lifeline in the DD parts.

 

[SLIDELLBIGAL]

I think when high block came out, they enlarged the air ports for better flow and added the high compression ring on the top of the piston. My dad had a boat with two gray 6-71s and Twin Disc X8708 crash box transmissions. We talking some old stuff now.

 

[Brian Degulis]

I had 3 head boats in NY in the late 70s all of them had the old Grays in them. There were tons of them still around in head boats lots of converted WW2 Pts and ASRs also. There was a company in Statn Island that had all the surplus parts for them. They used to modify the injectors and fit them with needle valves that cleaned them up an awfull lot.


Brian