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I Forge Iron

a Detroit diesel , Frosty favorite?


ianinsa

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This genset followed me home, it has a Detroit diesel engine that turns over? It supposedly is virtually unused but was stripped by the employees where it was stored, I got it at a good price and vaguely remember Frosty singing songs of praise for those motors so I thought ' must just get it' B)

I hope its a good bet?

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I remeber two seniors descusing driving a detroit two stroke. One said to slam your hand in the door when you got in, just to get in the right frame of mind.

the other one suggested driving it like you just called your wife by her sisters name...

in the commen venacular thats "drive it like you stole it. 

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Uh HUH, over your WWI flying ace Snoopy helmet you'll want the extra thick Marvin the Martian helmet with extra ear protection.

If that's a 2 stroke then rig it as a gen set and put it in it's own ridiculously over sound insulated building far FAR away from anything with ears.

They are serious power houses but make more HP than torque so you're going to get good at shifting gears and keeping it on the pipe. If you're familiar with 2 stroke motorcycles and how loud they are when they're rapped out, visualize that with half a dozen litres displacement.

Powerful but really REALLY loud. Our drill was powered by a Detroit and my ears rang all night even wearing plugs and muffs.

Frosty The Lucky.

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I wonder if you can hear the horns? They need to be MUCH bigger and marine bronze. Steampunk that baby up for sure. Run the exhaust up in steamboat stacks, bronze plate the wheels and frame. Patent leather seats, polished mahogany and large analogue gauges. 

And that's just the start. You get an honorable mention for bringing up the Steampunk idea Charles even if Ian survives the ride.

Frosty The Lucky.

 

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Agreed and Ian should wear a zebra skin duster. So we spiff the post apocalyptic Mad Max gear in a Victorian manner. Bronze or chrome the ejection seat and use signal cannon for the ejection charge. What isn't steampunk about that? How Victorian is a Detroit Diesel? Sure it needs a little Victorian high science mod but . . . Okay how about replacing control cables with intricate gear trains, chains and shaft drives?

Frosty The Lucky.

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The Time Machine is pretty darned archetypal steampunk almost on the same level as "20,000 Leagues Under The Sea".

Thinking about it though Diesel power was coming about in the late Victorian and is well within the steampunk genre. 

Maybe a walker, a roaring walker would get everybody's attention at Burning Man eh?

Frosty The Lucky.

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The last few years I worked for DOT they were using the new quiet 4 stroke Detroits. Nice engines, plenty of beans but not the screaming hot rod engines the 2 strokes were. I was overjoyed they switched to quiet engines and automatic trannies, not as much as the heavy duty shop was but I was darned happy with the change. New guys just HAD to speed shift and were always tearing up trannies.

Frosty The Lucky.

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Ok, so what have I got?

I don't know, I never worked on the rigs. I even got in trouble for bleeding the injectors once when it ran out of fuel. (No comment on who left it idling for 3 days)

There are Info plates on it, a web search or a call should tell you all it's particulars, even it's personal history.

Frosty The Lucky.

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My dad used to own a diesel repair shop and used to rebuild those things by the dozen for the Navy which used them in small boats as well as all of the trucks that used them.  I used to rebuild the heads for them all the time when I worked there in the summers.  They were a dead simple robust design.  The long distance truckers liked them but the guys who pulled the heavier loads went for the Cummins or Cats.

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