9 Of The Greatest 2-Stroke Detroit Diesel Engines Ever

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'lifecouldbeadream' by future james

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This video is fair use under U.S. copyright law because it is transformative in nature, uses no more of the original than necessary and has no negative effect on the market for the original work.

- Credits -

“Detroit Diesel 2-71 engine overhaul and start” by ekpregsk

“Detroit Diesel 2-71 Dyno” by Joe Straughan

“Detroit Diesel 3-71” by fordnguy

“Oliver Tractor w/3-71 Detroit Diesel” by nomad1187

“Massey Ferguson 98 Detroit Diesel 3-71 Pull” by Rainhill1829

“GM Diesel Detroit Engine 4-53” by Johnny G

“detroit diesel 4-53 t with jake brakes.” by trkklr77

“Detroit Diesel 453T” by josh216882000

“Detroit Diesel 6v92 rebuild - Initial startup” by davidlewismd

“1973 cabover Detroit Diesel 6V92t 6" straights” by Matthew Jones

“6v92 Detroit diesel fire engine leaving” by 6v92 white

“Mack R700 With 8V71 Detroit Diesel, Cold Start” by holyford86

“69 Kenworth 8v71 Detroit Diesel part 2” by amtyler871

“8V71 Detroit Diesel Brockway pulling Windham Mountain” by wayout wille

“Detroit Diesel 12v71 Start At OTC” by Nec1228

“12V71 Detroit Diesel Brockway” by DailyDieselDose

“12V71 Detroit KW Road Train. Hear this baby sing” by Phil Dixon

“16V71 2nd start up. Trueman shows no mercy!” by 89enkei240

“Hot Rod 16V-71 Detroit Diesel (part 2, deel 2)” by Arjan Kolkman

“First ride Hot Rod 16V-71 Detroit Diesel (part 6, deel 6)” by Arjan Kolkman

“20V149 #2 Load Test” by depcopower

“20V149 Initial Startup” by depcopower

“24V71 Detroit” by Steve Huff

“24 cylinders... 12 superchargers” by Racing Dimensions

[williamcharles]

I was trained to rebuild, repair and operate the Detroit Diesel 6-71 marine units for use in Coast Guard patrol boats in particular the steel hulled 40 foot boats which used two. In the engine's early days the marine units were branded as "Grey Marine Diesel" In the inline 6-71 there was a two exhaust valve engine that was normally aspirated and a 4 exhaust valve engine that was turbo-charged. For those that don't know, the suffex on the engine's designation, 71 or 53 ect. designates the cubic inches per cylinder. The prefix designates the number of cylinders and if the number has a "V" after it, it means that it is a V type block. A 6-71 is an inline six with 71cu. in. multiplied by 6 or 426 cu. in., a 6V-71 is a V6. The only big issue that we had was to have a "runaway" engine. This happens when the air box drains get clogged and the engines lube oil starts entering the intake ports, (two stroke Detroits don't have intake valves, only exhaust valves). It starts using the lube oil as fuel along with the injected diesel fuel. When this happens the RPMs start increasing at an uncontrollable rate. The only way to stop these engines from destroying themselves is to stop the engine's incoming air. The early engines didn't have a cable operated block off plate that was situated at the intake of the blower to stop the incoming air and to stop the engine. The alternative that we had was to use a Co2 fire extinguisher that would be discharged at the intake. This would stop a runaway pretty effectively. As a boat engineer I always made sure that there was a fully charged extinguisher on the boat when I had duty.
General Motors also had a two stroke Diesel that was in sorts a bigger brother to the Detroit series branded "Cleveland Diesel", these were inline units which had separate cylinder heads for each cylinder. My experience with them was inline eights connected to generator sets on WW II era cutters. Thanks for the video, you brought back some memories of a great engine series.

[mrflamewars]

A Detroit is on of those engines that makes you just not give a shit about what mileage you get because the sound is good

[speedskiff]

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil, for I ride atop a screaming Detroit Diesel

[SCmaro]

Two stroke diesels often sound like they're screaming when they're really not reving all that much.

[vapno]

It's interesting, how 2 stroke diesel sound like it's revving like 5000-6000 RPM but it's running only on 2000-2500....

[davidj]

Use to drive off highway log haul trucks with buzzin dozen V -12s. Ear plugs and ear muffs required. But the sound pulling grade with a full load of Doug Fir. Oh my.

[GregsWorkshopOregon]

One of the great things about the inline 2-stroke Detroits for marine use is the ability to customize the layout of the intake and exhaust. Boats tend to have smallish engine rooms, so the ability to move the blower and exhaust manifold from one side of the engine to the other for clearance issues was very useful. Pretty cool old engines, the design is from WWII and a great many are still running strong!

[southernwaytransport]

Gotta love the 6-71. It's one of the most common and best sounding. We had them in all our trucks. When they'd get side by side on the highway with both engines revved there was a reverb like a "waaa, waaa, waah" that seemed to distort reality. it was awesome.

[MrTheHillfolk]

I was at the factory in 98 and 99 for training.
The assembly line tour in August of 99 was very the 2 stroke production was consolidated to 1 line.
I was a young buck in my mid 20s, but I still cried.
I cried for the memories of the older guys who worked on them daily.
I cried for the younger generation who wouldnt get to experience what little ive experienced with them.
Every time I hear one, I hear history and something awesome that helped build this country.

[davidrapalyea]

Back in the 1960s I travelled a lot by bus. This video had me all nostalgic for the hypnotic mellow purring, the faint whistle and a whiff of diesel.

A buddy had an ancient wooden boat with twin turbo charged 6-110s. Talk about burbling!

[bitmarketanarchist]

And now people besides aging semi truck drivers will know of the glory of the old 2 stroke Detroit. Love these beasts and hope to own one some day

[tanglerd]

12v71 was always my favorite. We had a pair of them in a 44' Offshore Raceboat making 1100 hp each with 40 psi boost at 2700 rpm. Quite a sound for sure. Thanks for the video it brought back memories. I worked on all but the 149 series.

[prevost]

DD built this country. There’s never going to be another diesel that sounds like they do. Absolute music to my ears.

[papasteve]

I started working on Detroit Diesels as a young man in the mid seventies and I love them. My favorite is the in-line 6-71. But the largest I worked on was a 12-v-149 used in 100 ton rear dump Euclid off road trucks.
I would love to have a 6-71 in an old B model Mack to play with .
Detroit Diesels Rule!!!

[applesucks]

This is one of the Finest Music Videos EVER!
👍

[charlesnash]

I put a 4-53n in a 1972 Ford F-250 4x4 pick up. It was very cool truck.

[kiwidiesel]

I'm a heavy diesel tech and most of my work is on site. recently had the pleasure of fixing some external oil leaks on a 12V92 spinning a generator. Complete with original Detroit cast radiator. Sounded great in a shipping container with twin exhausts through the roof. My only complaint with these engines was the lack of torque figures. All up and therefore gotta keep them revs up.

[DTD]

Thank you for adding that Australian Kenworth with the 12v71 hauling those antiques!

[camrongoodall]

That v16 red truck brought a tear to my for how beautiful it sounded

[kimmer]

I worked on General Electric gas turbine generator sets all over the world. Many of these had 600 HP Detroit 12-71 twin turbo engines as a STARTER MOTOR. It was a common starting means on MS5001 turbines that were rated 24 Megawatts or over 30, 000 HP at 5100 rpm. The 12-71 would start, idle for about 20 seconds, then go wide open governor to spin the turbine up to 20% speed where the combustion system lit off. The Detroit would be screaming the whole time while the turbine accelerated and finally over ran the jaw clutch driven by the diesel. The Detroit would go to idle and cool down for a few minutes then shut off. The whole process took about 5 minutes of wide open diesel power.