Wednesday 6th April 2011

World's Scariest Engine: 24-cyl, 3000+hp Diesel

Watch in awe as 27.9 litres of Detroit Diesel madness dyno tests at 3424hp

---

Diesel engines are often a somewhat controversial subject on PH. while some love the easy torque the more powerful turbocharged examples offer, many PHers would rather walk than take the DERV option.

This is not your average diesel, however. In fact, it's about as far from a Ford focus 1.6TDCi 115 DPF Titanium as it is possible to get. It is, in fact, a 27.9-litre Detroit Diesel V24 and, as the slightly scary man in the beard and sunglasses points out, is the "largest motor ever built for a semi truck".

But it's not even your average 27.9-litre Detroit Diesel V24, because this one has the addition of 12 (yes, 12) 8-71 superchargers and nitrous injection. The result? 3424hp. And a lot of noise. Who said diesels were dull?

 

[mat205125]

Wonderful creation, and exercise in applied madness, however it is not a V24 engine. It's 3 V8 engines feeding the next engine's cranks, all bolted together ..... How else would the belts for the superchargers operate for the chargers not connected to the pulleys on the end of the "engine".

[Stuey145]

would be nice in a powerboat!!!!

[Asterix]

The intakes are going to pull his beard off!

[Riggers]

mat205125 said:

Wonderful creation, and exercise in applied madness, however it is not a V24 engine. It's 3 V8 engines feeding the next engine's cranks, all bolted together ..... How else would the belts for the superchargers operate for the chargers not connected to the pulleys on the end of the "engine".

I know it's not good to weigh in with Wikipedia as your defence, but this is how it describes the Detroit Diesel engines:

Wikipedia said:

The Detroit Diesel Series 71 is a two-stroke cycle Diesel engine series, available in both inline and V configurations, with the inline models including one, two, three, four and six cylinders, and the V-types including six, eight, 12, 16 and 24 cylinders.

The three largest V units used multiple cylinder heads per bank to keep the head size and weight to manageable proportions, the V-12 and V-24 using two and four heads from the inline six cylinder model and the V-16 using four heads from the four cylinder inline model. This feature also assisted in keeping down the overall cost of these large engines by maintaining parts commonality with the smaller models.

But I see what you're saying...

[HellDiver]

Two-stroke diesels are NEVER dull. Got to love the Detroits.

[Auson]

Soon to be put to work hauling burgers around the US. Now thats what I call fast food

[Acheron]

Should get at least 40 to the gallon. I expect to see it in the new 3-series.

[Digga]

Sounds great.

Now go Google "Deltic diesel" for another fix of 2-stroke, oil-burning racket.

[Oddball RS]

Bit off topic, but hey, So this is 2011......

A paper i've just found promoting Rolls Royce products in 1947 lists the following,

RR Griffon 57 (V12), power with water injection 2450Hp
RR Eagle (H24), power (Max take off effort) 3500Hp

I know not the same etc etc, but it makes you realise how good engineering 60 odd years ago was.

[tonym911]

Where's the saddle?

[RB Will]

Oddball RS said:

Bit off topic, but hey, So this is 2011......

A paper i've just found promoting Rolls Royce products in 1947 lists the following,

RR Griffon 57 (V12), power with water injection 2450Hp
RR Eagle (H24), power (Max take off effort) 3500Hp

I know not the same etc etc, but it makes you realise how good engineering 60 odd years ago was.

Were they diesel engines?

[mat205125]

Acheron said:

Should get at least 40 to the gallon. I expect to see it in the new 3-series.

Oh god! What have you started?

[E21_Ross]

hahaha could you get more "stereotypical yank" if you tried?

impressive power output though!

[aeropilot]

Oddball RS said:

Bit off topic, but hey, So this is 2011......

A paper i've just found promoting Rolls Royce products in 1947 lists the following,

RR Griffon 57 (V12), power with water injection 2450Hp
RR Eagle (H24), power (Max take off effort) 3500Hp

I know not the same etc etc, but it makes you realise how good engineering 60 odd years ago was.

Or 3300hp from the 2 x Napier Deltic diesels in a Class 55 loco..... now the Deltic is a real piece of class diesel engineering

[Schmeeky]

I wonder how much torque it makes, and at what revs?

Bloody impressive bit of kit!

[Oddball RS]

RB Will said:

Were they diesel engines?

Nope but quite a few German aero engines where, at this size and power level fuel type counts for less thank you might think, thanks

[Oddball RS]

aeropilot said:

Or 3300hp from the 2 x Napier Deltic diesels in a Class 55 loco..... now the Deltic is a real piece of class diesel engineering

Yes it was i'm with you there, and what a noise!! needed two Delta's for the 3300hp though although i think there was a 4500hp variant, in the Falcon???? don't quote that though.

[Big Rod]

They used to use V12 twin turbocharged and supercharged versions of this as starter motors for gas turbines built at John Brown Engineering in Clydebank about 15 years ago.

Frightening and awesome things they were.

[dvance]

Can we see this in some type of racing vehicle please

[Beyond Rational]

aeropilot said:

Oddball RS said:

Bit off topic, but hey, So this is 2011......

A paper i've just found promoting Rolls Royce products in 1947 lists the following,

RR Griffon 57 (V12), power with water injection 2450Hp
RR Eagle (H24), power (Max take off effort) 3500Hp

I know not the same etc etc, but it makes you realise how good engineering 60 odd years ago was.

Or 3300hp from the 2 x Napier Deltic diesels in a Class 55 loco..... now the Deltic is a real piece of class diesel engineering

I think a single Deltic would do somewhere around 3,000hp, they were down rated for rail work.