Found these old general motors diesels in a back up power shed, in excellent condition, anyone no roughly how old these would be? Would have loved to here them run, but was only there fir a short time
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Beautiful find GM6-71s a very versatile engine if they are backup engines they should be in good condition the sound of those old lady's gives you goose bumps Been around for over 70 odd years they are classics would love to hear them as well. Cheers GMG
Thankyou, wondering how rare they are, they are being replaced shortly so thinking of picking one up, even if it's to wrap up and keep covered, I know a lot of younger people don't believe you when you tell them about supercharged two-stroke diesels! Fan if the old 149 series, can still remember the soundeven if haven't seen one for years! These look like had done very little work, only a tiny amount of oil around the exhaust flex.
Trying to get another picture up
Loved working on them. Hated being around them when they were running. Probably the reason for the hearing aid on one ear. That is a really nice looking and dry one. In my experience they were all that clean until you started them. Thanks for the photo.
Thanks John, I will try to get another picture up tonight, from my understanding they were massed produced fir the army/navy?? I am 24 so missed the era of the screaming gemmis being everywhere. What machines were they used that you worked in John?
I'm sure the general made millions of them, but its a rare site to see one earning a living anymore.
Picture from other side, cant believe how clean they are!
Yair . . . fsmech. It would be easier to list machines they were not used in. In that era, before the bull@#*# started, a company could have its whole spread of machinery powered by the Jimmys. We had dredges scrapers, loaders, dozers, pumps and so on all powered by 71 series from two cylinder to sixteen cylinder . . . they were available in twenty four cylinder but I never saw one. Trouble shooting, repair, and parts inventory were simplified. there were blokes around who could and did rebuild engines overnight. In addition they were available in endless variations. That 6-71 in your picture could be configured to run counter clockwise, laid over flat on the airbox side and I think the same on the blower side as well as being mounted with the crankshaft vertical and so doing away with the right angle gearbox on downhole pumps. In their day they were a truly remarkable engine and even though they used a bit of fuel they were cheap and easy to rebuild and the "whole of life" numbers were pretty good . . . they made some folks a lot of money. Cheers.
Spent many days rebuilding those. Only ever worked on 53 series and 71's. Have seen a 149 but never heard one run. We still have a few kicking around the company. A 6-53 in a Grove crane and a 3-53 running a genset, that one I was lucky to be able to work on and bring back to life after it being poorly stored and getting water in the cylinders. I was not able to give it a decent paint job but it ran nice when it left. Just worry that the same people who let it get ruined the first time will do it again At least this one was not a bad as the Perkins I got from them at the same time. That one took a little more in parts and labor but it ran good when it let also.
fsmech Scrub Puller I did a piston in my rear engine 4-71 on my TS14 it took 1/2 hour to get the motor out loaded it on the old Rodeo ute was at the workshop doors when they opened the next morning. I said I'll pick it up tomorrow hoping I'd get a day off, the workshop manager said you'll pick it up at lunch time! New pistons and liners a valve grind and I was on my way after lunch. Started working again the next morning, so Yeah they were quick to repair and responsible for me having Aids in my ears I suppose the only thing that they weren't in was an aircraft? Cheers GMG
Yair . . . GMG I tell folks stories like that mate and they think I'm having a lend of them . . . I see little fart arse engines these days that can be down for weeks waiting for some widget thing . . . too much complexity and not enough standardisation. Cheers.
By the looks of that engine, it doesn't have any oil in it.
The mighty 6-71 was IMHO one of the toughest engines ever made, properly cared for, will be very dry, yes blower box drains will weep a little, but if it will turn over it will most likely run, unlike a good share of the crap made today, LOL. Lee
Thanks everyone foe your input, could change the thread to old Detroit's and gm's, send in your pictures!
Looks like a older 2 valve engine. I worked for a Detroit shop on weekend to pick-up extra money. We would go to a local mine and pull Unit Rig Electro Haul in the shop on a Sat. morning and do a in frame overhaul on 16V71's have it back to work on Monday morning just 2 of us. My full time job we had trucks by 12V149's and Cat D348's on the 149's we could replace liner,piston, rod, and head in 2 hours
Yair . . . I hear you stinkycat On a remote power- station I ran we had v8,v12 and v16 149's. They were easy to work on and bloody marvellous engines . . . apart from the fuel consumption. I remember I had just the v16 running at about 85% one morning and a new refrigeration operator dropped a 400hp ammonia compressor online with out due warning. Well she let out a bellow and a fart, grabbed the load and before I could get another engine paralleled up she had settled down on overload with all the manifolds, turbos and twelve inch pipe up through the ceiling glowing cherry red . . . man that was a sight to see and hear. Cheers.
Dont tell anybody... But about 12 years ago I put a 6-71 truck engine together with all used parts excepting rings and bearings, just to get the thing sold and out of my yard. Goofy old beast is still running strong today. I love the old 71s.
Thanks everyone, does anyone have more pics of the old two strokes, especially 149s in any state of repair usage?
I rebuilt a 4-53 for a friend who had fallen on hard times with everything free parts, even the rings and bearings. he needed it to run a week or two, it ran everyday for 2 years and then he sold it. I picked through the takeouts from every shop around here and installed only the finest scrap
I drove an old Autocar dump with the 6/71 in it and I used to beat the snot out of that truck hoping it would break so I'd get some relief from the noise. It never did....:Banghead
Yeah Steve the 71's The harder ya beat em the better they be, an old boss used to say. the 53's and 92's could not take the same treatment as a 71 The company I worked for had a few 92TT powered KW's they had the power I used to spare drive some on weekends and winter when earthworks were quiet, all of them had a spare blower shaft and hub in the tool box had a habit of stripping them. probably our very hilly and windy back country roads, Cheers GMG
Our old 1969 Ward Lafrance fire engines. One had a 6-71 and the other was a 8V71. They were mid-engine mounts and the bucket guys sat right next to the engine with just a hinged diamond plate box around them. There was something special about the 8V71's exhaust odor. Pleasant, a little sweet, I have never smelled another diesel like it.
Yair . . . OldandWorn Do you think that only applied to the 8v71? I have always thought the two-strokes smelt different due to incomplete combustion. This included the Fodens and Nissan six we had on a dredge. That Nissan was interesting. I have only ever seen the one but it had a conventional in line pump and injectors . . . sounded and smelt like a Jimmy though. (grins) Cheers.
That's a pretty old 6-71, oldest one I've seen. the company I work for still has a bunch of them. We've got a 4-71 and about six 4-53's in rail maintenance equipment. 6V53 and 6V71 in fire trucks, a stationary inline 6-71 on a pump, a 16V92TA on a gen set, and three 8V92TA's on pumps. There used to be a whole lot more of them around. My best Detroit story? We used to have a 3-53 on a pump at the base of a huge cooling pond. This 3-53 would run balls out for weeks at a time moving water. Straight pipe about 20ft long up in the air. You could hear it for miles. One time it broke the oil line to the pressure gauge, spewed all it's oil out, which caused it to overheated and blow all it's coolant out. When it stopped pumping they called me in. It was still steaming, snapping, and crackling when I got there. Seized tight. I pronounced it dead and signed the death certificate. Went back the next day to start yanking it out, hit starter button and it cranked! Fixed the oil line, filled it full of fluids and it fired right up. Might have lost a little oil pressure but the stupid thing was put back to work and ran for years after that. Was still in use when that section of the plant was decommissioned.
Yair . . . Gotcha td25c . This is probably gonna sound trite and corny but when I hear and smell a Jimmy I get all nostalgic and remember my days on the oilfield trucks. Those Pete's had the look and quintessential sound and smell of all that was good about America which, to me, in those days was the Promised Land. Cheers.
I don't know....I remember it always stood out to me. Maybe I spent the most time around it.
You would fit in fine in my operation Scrub Puller as I seem to be stuck in some kind of time warp in the past In my area its not uncommon to see contractors still using older equipment & trucks. I have my shop teacher to blame for indoctrinating me into the Detroit Diesel club . He served in the Navy during WW II on a small gun boat that had six 6-71 engines powering it . He new all about them & shared all kinds of stories . They normally ran 3 on & 3 off most of the time allowing him to service a down engine while still on the move. I sure miss talking to him. Still got a little work to do to it but this was my latest Detroit powered project www.heavytruckforums.com/showthread.php?51-Fwd-Trucks
Another tough Detroit story I remembered was having the oil pump fall off a 12v71 in a Wabco 333F at full power while loading. It stuck 9 pistons in their liners. I pulled the heads then the liners and pistons. The crank suffered no damage whatsoever, New pistons, liners , and rods she was running 2 days later. And still is as far as I know.
My grandpa had a love affair for the old Detroits. Seems everything we had had one of one series or another. I know he had some old Letourneau(sp) diesel electric scrapers with 6-71's, a 2 HD-19's with them, a wabco diesel electric and who knows what else. He also had a 222 Wabco that had a 8v-71 in it that has a interesting story behind it, a Dynahoe that had a Detroit of some flavor, a Diamond Reo day cab tractor with, if I remember right, 8v-71, and if that wasn't enough, he had 2 bus/motor home conversions that were Detroit powered.... So we got to listen to them on vacation to. O well I guess that explains my love for the sound of them. I've seen some videos of guys putting them in pick up trucks.....would love to do that myself. My dad had a old single axle GMC dump truck that had a 6v-53 in it. I was turning wrenches for a guy that lived approximately 3 miles from dads house. It was Friday afternoon, we were all caught up, shop cleaned, just waiting on quitting time. I hear that distinctive sound out in the distance and I looked at the boss man and said " dad will be by in a minute". He gives me a crazy look like how do you know.... $50 says he will be. He agrees, couple minutes later, here comes dad cruising right along that ole 53 screaming.....took my $50 and went home!!!!
Had a similar episode with our Wabco RZucker . Rebuilt the engine at the jobsite . HeavyEquipmentForums
Good lookin C-pull there. Youre fix still holding? I did a similar fix on an old D8H years ago and its still going.
Thanks RZucker. Yeah , the block patch is holding fine . I was lucky it didn't do more damage as my engine locked up all the sudden when the sleeve came apart locking the piston and breaking the connecting rod . Really wasn't much warning , engine started to miss , I stopped & throttled back then a noticed a pecking sound for a short bit then the big bang ending with silence
Throttling back is probably what saved it from something far more serious, don't you think..?
td25c years ago while still in the US Navy we had some landing craft that had 2 6packs of 6-71's for power we also had what we called 6121t's (6-71 with a turbo) and talk about exhaust smell always thought the Perkins smelled like it was burning fish oil. Scrub ran some 16 cylinder Alco 251C's under full load and then some we would get a red glow out of the stack (30ft) above the engines. and yes the old engines brings tears to my old eyes and deaf ears thinks it can still hear them.
I'am in this club too. When I was a boy in the 60 &70 s I remember seeing trucks in the plains of Texas with flames three ft out the stacks. I would love to see that today.
I agree Nige . The engine was at 750 rpm. Just wish I Had shut it completely down before it came apart . My fault . From a mechanics standpoint I was trying to figure out why it was missing then buy the time the pecking noise started it was to late. All happened pretty quick. I think a wrist pin retainer came loose then got in the intake ports of the sleeve is what happened . This 8-V-71 uses the thin stamped steel wrist pin retainers where you just drive them in . No snap ring or groove . They also seal the oil in the wrist pin boss. Yeah stinkeycat , Its amazing all the different combinations the Military had for the Detroit's on land and at sea.
Last summer directly in front of me in our local 4th of July parade there was a newer, sand camoed, six wheel drive, National Guard truck that through out the parade sounded like it had a 2 stroke Detroit in it. I asked the driver about it and he told me it was a "modernized" high HP version of a 6-71 that would run on near any crap kind of fuel. He alluded to 500 HP. I'm not sure how much he was BS'n me on HP but it was a Screamming Jimmy. Anyone got any knowledge of these?
Funny thing with this Detroit thread. I got a call this morning to thaw the air on a dumptruck. Turned out to be an early 70s ford Louisville with a 6-71 engine. And... a 16 spd spicer trans. Thing was UUgly but ran like a watch. And I bet it would pass a DOT check, no problem. I took the compressor discharge line off, dumped in some airbrake anti-freeze and had her criusing in 20 minutes.
While the rest of us can't have 2 stroke Detroit's, the US military is still getting brand new engines! I know 4-71's are still being built, maybe 6-71's as well. I suspect some other configurations as well. The DDC people don't like to discuss the subject.........:Banghead Seems easy to fix and tolerant of assorted fuel quality is important to the military......
I believe that the big 5 axle Oshkosh? military rigs are running 450 HP 8V92s in them. The military must be EPA exempt. Lol.
Don't forget simpler parts inventory as many components are interchangeable for the different model engines.
Some great Old stories been put up, seems those were the day's! Maybe an administrator would like to change the thread title to something more closer to what it has become? Another question to those with experience, I have heard a lot of saying that these engines needed to be flogged hard to get the best out of them, how did engines set up to run a constant speed cope? Eg generators were it will live its life at 1500 or 1800 rpm depending what hertz. Still remember the sound of 16v149 in wabco 630s screaming around, seemed to all disappear around 2009/2010 from sites
Yair . . . fsmech . I believe it mainly a function of load. If they were working hard on a gen set application in my experience they went pretty well. They were fairly common as auxiliary's in prawn trawlers. One boat I worked on had a 12v71 main and two 6-71 gen sets . . . when they were all at full cry snapping down a big hit of bananas down there in that engine room was pretty noisy place. On the other hand one of the companies put in a 6-71 to run their shore base. It was way oversized and while I don't recall it gave much "trouble" it slobbered something shameful and the leanto it ran in was a dripping oily mess. Cheers.
I have a 4-53 in my Hein Werner Excavator and it runs perfect! It doesn't even leak very much oil, and starts without any starting fluid when it gets above about 10 degrees C outside... The 4-53 I had in my old Bantam ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ioe8Zle-WOk ) leaked a bit more and smoked a tad when it ran and needed starting fluid even when it was hot, but it ran and ran and ran until the day I sold it... I always planned on doing a rebuild on it but never got around to it... I just love these engines, sure wish we could still buy them new...
My father worked on these during wwII in landing craft and as generators on larger ships. He said that Grey Marine originally designed the engine and then GM (Detroit) bought them. I worked as a truck mechanic for a few years after I got out of school and had quite a few apart. The 8v71's were the hot set up then.
Grey Marine bought engines from General Motors and marinized them. I don't know who came up with the original design, it could have been like the Cummins B, Case designed it and made a deal with Cummins to make it and sell it.
They're fantastic, versatile old engines! Several of our cranes ran them in uppers & lowers. Just remember to wipe the oil up from under your keyboard after you finish reading this thread...
Scrud Puller they recond gimmeys where loud never herd one of the Nissan was a block in Brisbane in the ut then in the old wobbly cranes hear them for days befor torn up