green blocks , no good?

[busshawg]

I was going through some achives and noticed in one post that one wants to avoid the detroit green engine blocks. Rather go for a silver or purple. The silver is a aluminium block? the purple a NJT rebuild, but why avoid a green block??

Grant

[luvrbus]

Grant, the green block 92 series was from the 70's they had a cooling problem ,used a lot of oil and didn't have enough support between the main bearings but you could upgrade the engine to sliver specs.There are still many of those green engines in use today painted sliver and the sliver is a cast iron block not aluminium and the purple is a New Jersey thing.   good luck

[JohnEd]

Luvr,

A DD mech told me to avoid any 2 stroke block that was made before 83.  Is that because of the block design upgrades?  When did they stop making the greens?

John

[JackConrad]

I think they are referring to the 92 series engines only, not the 71 series.  I heard the early 92 series (DD green) had a lot of bearing failures. When they upgraded the blocks they changed to a silver paint. But, anyone can change the color with a couple cans of spray paint.  Best to check the serial number.  DD can tell you what the first umber was in the "silver" series 92.  Jack

[busshawg]

 mines green and is a 71 in a 1984, So it may be an early model engine?

[luvrbus]

No Grant the 71 series were always green but they had upgrades in the 80's also with blocks to accept the after cooler for the turbo and different cooling around the dry liners if your engine doesn't have the oval air box covers it is a late model 71 series       good luck

[Ncbob]

Once again, Jack, you're correct. The 51 Series (no exhaust valves...loop scavenging on exhaust and went over like a lead balloon) the 53, and the 71 Series,the 110 Series (which I'm sure no one on this board ever heard of) we all painted from the factory with Alpine Green. The 92 series, which is a wet liner engine was among the last gasping breaths of the old Detroit Engine Company. About that time they got spun off from the GM family although the 149 Series had been under development in hopes they could pull 100 HP per cylinder from that monster. It proved to be a great engine in the Marine field until MTU came along.

It wasn't long before Roger Penske decided to buy the company and pretty much did away with the 92 Series because of it's inherent problems and they developed the Series 60 4 stroke.

They enjoyed a few good years with the new engine while eating more than enough warranty, and other problems with the 92 Series.

Now there going for the basic Mercedes engine for the backbone of their line and from the news also attempting to add Saturn to their stable.

Me? I'm just a casual observer and a School Trained GM mechanic but I wouldn't touch a 92 with a 10 foot pole!

That's my $0.02 cents.

NCbob

[luvrbus]

NcBob, I know about the 110 series every Allis Chambers HD-20 dozer I ever ran had one in it with a Allison torque,tell me the difference between a 53 series and 92 series beside smaller in cubic inches .Fwiw  the series 60 was here before Roger came along and the 8v92 is still being produced for Arms Services and will till 2020      good luck

[PP]

My 92 has never left me on the side of the road and it will climb a 6% grade without slowing if I push her hard. Nuff said, Will

[Singing Land Cruiser]

OK Guys, now I don't know whether to Love my 8v92 or loathe it. We have a 1987 102a3 with a re-built 8v92 with 36k on it. The bus has 450,000 miles total. I am not a mechanic but it starts on a touch with no smoke and sounds / runs real good. Whats the truth? I can handle it!  M&C

[NJT 5573]

Mike,

The truth is, you are most likely good for the next 300,000 miles without doing much besides normal maintence to it. Keep it full of oil and water and don't forget to slam your hand in the door when you get into it.

I have heard not to get the 92 hot, it will kill it, but I've had mine hot a couple times and its just fine. I drove it 30 miles with the impeller off the water pump once, (not recommended). I have heard 40 weight oil only, but you can't buy it anymore in the truck stops, so I cheat with a little Lucas when I have to.

The 92's are so detuned now that they are real hard to hurt. I hauled freight with one years ago that we put 115 injectors in and it ran 300,000 miles at about 3 mpg.

My coach is right in there with yours, 435,000 total and 35,000 on a rebuild and I'm not going to do much more than just drive it.

They are a basic engine thats easy to work on if needed. I read the other day that the 92's were first built during Vietnam. The military needed an engine that any P,F.C could tear down and put back togather in a day and return to service. Its just a bigger bore 71 series and alot of the parts interchange.

You hear about the wet liners, but the wet liner is a piece of cake to fit compared to a dry liner so that really helped keep the engine and the unit up in military service.

It may not be solid as a rock, none are, but it ain't rocket science either.

[TomC]

The 71 is the only series made with dry cylinder liners.  The 53 (51 doesn't count-was only a marine or generator engine in both 2 and 4 cylinder versions), 92, 110 (if I remember right), 149 were all wet cylinder liner engines.  2, 3, 4 cylinder 53 series engines were good little power plants.  The 6V, 8V, 12V-53 suffered from weak valve train gears that either broke or stripped out.  The 71 series in 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, V6, V8, V12, V16, V24 is the mama back bone that military, bus and truck history was made.  The 92 series in V6, V8, V12, V16 were basically enlarged bore 71's with modified valve arrangement in the heads that had great power to weight ratio, but not the longevity of 71 series.  The 6-110 was only used for generator and off road equipment-it was created as a more powerful version of the 6-71, but was rather weighty.  Hence when the 8V-71 came out that was several hundred pounds lighter and the same power, the 6-110 was cancelled.  The 149 series was a monster in V6, V8, V12, V16, V20 (V8 in the middle with a V6 on either end-3 blocks bolted together) that was used in marine and off road equipment with great success.  Now all are superseded by either Mercedes-Benz, Detroit 4 stroke, or MTU based engines.  I'll really miss the versatility of the 2 stroke engine.  Could be run either way, laid down, stood straight up and ran as happy as could be.  Good Luck, TomC

[Dreamscape]

I really like the sound of our lowly 8v71N! It pushes the ole Eagle just fine, a little slower on the hills, but I ain't trying to win a race either. I smile as the big boys whiz by. Not sure how many miles she has on it, no records, but she purrs like a kitten when idling, then growls like a Tiger when she hits the governor!

Paul

[JackConrad]

Paul,
   I am with you on this. I love our 8V71N and if it takes me a little longer to get to the top of the hill, Oh Well, we just have more time to enjoy the scenery along the way.  Besides we are both now retired, so we don't have to be in a hurry (that's why we usually take non-interstate highways)  Jack