Thereare big engines and then there are BIG engines and this one qualifies as the latter. Behold the awesome Fairbanks Morse 38TD D8 1/8 which is 40,000lbs, 4,244hp, and likely 20,000 lb-ft of torque making diesel monster. The engine is an opposed piston design and it has had an incredibly long shelf life. Using two pistons per cylinder and no traditional cylinder head. This style of engine has been around in one form or another since the 1880s and this engine in particular was designed in the 1930s and while it has been refined over the years, many elements of it are very close to the same as they were nearly 80 years ago. An inline layout, the bore is 8 1/8th inches and the stroke is 10-inches. That’s man-sized stuff right there. Used as primary engines on diesel electric submarines, backup power plants on nuclear submarines, in a couple of locomotives, other ships, and many like this one have been used as stationary power generation units. Yes, this thing spins a massive generator.
The engine is for sale on GovDeals and we got tipped off to it by Brady Basner at XS Power Batteries who clearly has the magic touch in finding cool stuff. The engine was a backup power supply for a water treatment plant and it has less than 2,000 hours on it. We’re not sure how long it has been at its current location but we can say that it comes with a 16,000 gallon fuel tank. You read that right.
The most bad ass part of the whole ad is the line that mentions the fact that there will be demolition of the building required to get the engine out or partial disassembly of the engine if the buyer doesn’t want to knock down the damned building.
So what was that about your 900ci nitrous engine again?
Check out the photos of this massive Fairbanks Morse Diesel and then GovDeals ad!
The rumour is that its being replaced by a shit load of LS’s!
I’d get it but my cherry picker ram is leaking.
WANT IT! Sure. But the custom S-10 to hold it is out of my price range.
Dan