What is your favorite type of diesel? I did a little research and read that a 2 stroke diesel can make up to twice the power of a 4 stroke diesel of the same displacement at www.howstuffworks.com .

 

I prefer 4 stroke myself. No screaming Detroits for me, unless they are in a Oliver tractor. Then I may take one.

 

I have to say, I'm thinking about my past working on and owning a fishing boat that had a 671 Detroit. I loved that engine and no matter how I accidentally abused it, you just couldn't kill it. Brought me home safe every time. I took care of that thing like it was a real person, somebody real special. Nothing but loads of raw power. OK, it blew oil all over the place and compared to modern 4-strokes it seems pretty crude, but that engine to me was my favorite. Saying that, don't get me wrong, I'm going to order a 6.0 PSD! I had a 7.3 PSD and I loved that, too. Also had a 4BT Cummins on another commercial boat that we had a lot of kick-around fun in. So what am I saying? I like 'em all, but my Detroit - my first - was my favorite. Ah, thinking about the past....but with an eye to that new 6.0!

 

Detroit 2 stroke diesels can make twice the horsepower of a 4 stroke, but it definitely will NOT double its torque. The reason for this is the porting. The ports are halfway down the liner. They effectively cut the power stroke in half.

Also, to double the horsepower is cost prohibitive. It would be easier to bolt a second block to the back. (And you can do that with Detroit 2 strokes.)

That said, I prefer 4 stroke diesels. Give me a C 16 any day of the week.

 

4 strokes for me too.

The Detroit 92 series are nice engines, I never really cared for the old 71's. Too loud, too high revving, not enough grunt.

I used to really like the two Detroits we had at work, one was naturally aspirated believe it or not, and it still put out about 325HP if I remember correctly. It sounded SWEET through dual open stacks. The 8V92TA's are nice engines too, but like all 2 strokes, a little high strung, and compared to newer 4 stroke technology, REALLY dirty.

Give me a 3406 (425) Cat, or the newer 3406E (550hp) CAT any day. I like the Detroit Series 60 as well. I never did care for the older Cummins engines, the 400 and 444, way too much turbo lag, and the power they had was all turbo, kinda hard to describe. I never drove the newer N14s.

Kannata

 

When you get up into the larger engines, four strokes win hands down. Both EMD (GM) and the American Locomotive Company had 2,400hp v16 diesels, but EMD's were 517cid per cylinder two strokes, while ALCO's were 251cid per cylinder four strokes.

 

2 stroke engines gas or diesel dont nessesarily turn more rpms, they just sound like they are because they are firing twice as fast.We use Detroits on most of our big crewboats here offshore and they amaze me how they run wide open for hrs, day in and day out without a glitch.They usually run 3 V16's or # v12's.Now they are noisy,i believe one advantage the 2 strks have over a 4 strk is they produce power twice as fast.Tough call, they both have advantages.

 

It's too bad ALCO isn't around today, they made great locomotives, the RS-series were pretty good locomotives.

EMD (GM Electro-Motive Division) locomotives are pretty good, but I've heard they don't last as long as the GE's do.

 

detroits rule they sound cool and they take alot of punishment

 

yup and a heckuva lot of those 2 stoke EMD's are still riding the rails

 

I miss hearing the sound the 2 strokes made. I thought they were a cool idea on how they worked. I do not miss the oil leakes or the smoke they made.

 

Don't forget MW. Those Alco's put out a lot of smoke. I heard a joke that some railfans named them Honorary steam engines.

I think the FA's were cool too. To bad they weren't as good as the RS series.

Alvie.

 

I LOVE the RSD-15's, gotta love an RS-11 body sitting on six axles. Of course, PA's, DL-109's, and C415's all have a place in my book.
The reason why GE's last so long is that they use the ALCO engine design.

 

What happened to Alco anyway?

The longnose PA-series were cool, I think if they had the single beam headlight instead of the dual lights would have make it look better. The EMD F-series were also pretty good, as far as new ones go, nothing beats GE. If I remember correctly, GE surpassed GM in locomotive sales a couple of years ago.

 

WM95F250; Alco was bought up by the Worthington Corp in the 1960s and its last locomotives were the Century Series.

The last paragraph on this page lists it in betterdetail.

http://tardis.union.edu/community/pr...O/history.html

Alvie.