KTRON

Thanks Guys I really like this set: http://www.hadley-products.com/catalog/Catalog.aspx?cmd=prd&div=3&cat=52&prd=14 It sounds good, and has everything needed for the installation all in one complete package Now its just a matter of finding them at a truck shop. The kit is ~$450 online Chris

Fellow Truckers, My brothers and I, are looking to purchase a set of Air Horns for our Dad (for Christmas) He has a 2004 crew-cab Ford F250. The stock horn is so whimpy for the size of vehicle that it is. We have purchased an electric air compressor which will be mounted between the frame rails. I believe it is rated for 100psi, it was originally an electric pancake compressor for a nail gun. We are looking for a big truck sound from the air horns. What is a good place to buy these horns, and what do you guys recommend? Thanks, Chris

Any progress? I know how you feel. I was told that my 6V53T was a fresh rebuild. The seller was a complete liar. The oil pan had a big gash in it, the crankcase gears were all chewed up, it had mismatching camshafts, one cracked head, and one head pitted beyond use, natural aspirated liners - with turbo pistons, 5 of the six injectors were stuck, and a metal contamination which required me to dismantle the entire engine to thoroughly clean. When I got the engine home, and unloaded I literally spent hours cleaning it up, getting ready to use it. Since the pan was unusable, I ordered a new pan. When it arrived, I removed the old one to find loads of loose metal. At that moment, I felt completely suckered out of the $750 I paid for the thing, let alone the near $150 in fuel and tolls to pick it up. I now have over $4K into it, and now it is fresh everything. Silver series heads, V7L cams, new pistons/liners/rings, polished crank, new oil coolers, rebuilt turbo, new filters, bearings, rebuilt injectors, etc. I learned a lot working on my Detroit Diesel. When school lets out in December, I am going to go pay the seller a visit, and knock some sense into him with one of the melted pistons/connecting rod assemblies I have some ideas on how to get some serious power out of the engines. I got a turbochargers book coming in the mail. When it arrives, I will study up how to setup and size a compound turbo setup on my detroit diesel. I plan to put mine into a truck one day, but that will be after I finish college... There are loads of people driving around the country in Detroit repowers. Dan Renovetz is one of the most well known, he goes to all of the shows, and has been running detroit power for many years. This is his truck: (It has a 170hp 4-53T in it, upgraded with silver blower/turbo. It has a 5 speed and a 3 speed behind it. Dan just turned 77 in September, and he still drives it everywhere. He is on his second engine. He originally had a 4-53N in it. I hear he has well over 300K on his current engine. He said mileage was around 14mpg in tow, and 19 or so cruising) http://rides.webshots.com/photo/2994069360080251109IXYITr http://rides.webshots.com/photo/2052590400080251109AMKPof That chevy posted just above belongs to a fellow named Jason in California, or New Mexico. If you need any help with your Detroit let me know Chris

It pumped air just fine before I removed the head for inspection. I have been completely restoring all of the parts on my engine, and this pump was just next on the list. The pump shares the same oil as the engine. After doing a full rebuild, I cant take any chances running a pump which could have loose metal in it. Thankfully there was none, crankshaft and everything looked good nice and clean. The pump will only be used to shift the transmission I will be attaching to it, and possibly air horns It will not be running brakes of any kind, I dont have a CDL I see a field maintenance kit for one of these on ebay for real cheap. It has all of the parts I need other than new piston rings. If I cant find them, I am sure new rings can be cross-matched from small gasoline engines...but thats a last resort Chris

Thank You Rob, I will try contacting them for parts Chris

I bought an air compressor for my Detroit Diesel 6V53T. (Bendix Westinghouse TU-Flow Model 501) It is a power take off model which bolts to the accessory cover on the flywheel housing. While cleaning up the pump I noticed that the air cleaner was shot. It looked like ground up carbon. I cleaned the inside of the housing, and now I need a new air filter. When I removed the head from the pump, I noticed that the pistons were stamped "0.10 OS" The cylinders are scorn, so maybe I need to have the cylinders honed, and new rings installed. I would like to buy a gasket kit/filter replacement parts for the pump I have, but I do not know where to find them. Here is the information I have: Model: 501 Serial: K2494 Part: 286538 The air filter housing has number: 236594F The head has a casting number of: 294146 The block has a casting number of: 249960 Pictures: Any ideas??? Chris

My engine is not a silver engine. It does not have a bypass blower. My engine has a turbocharged block and a naturally aspirated blower. I have seen dyno charts for both turbocharged 6V53T engines running natural and turbo blowers, and the natural blower fed turbo engines make significantly more low end torque (~50-75 lb/ft more between 800-1400rpm) because of the excess air flow. (Natural blowers have ~2" longer rotors) I am not planning to run a "factory" Bypass Blower on my engine. I have literature on it, and because of its 7/8" - 1" diameter bore through the blower end plate, it will only yield a 7 horsepower boost. (purely makes power because of pressure equalization) A $1500 end plate for 7hp gains is not a very wise use of money. Because I am young (21yrs old), and I love to experiment, I thought up a way to build my own bypass blower. I am going to get my hands on 4 reed valves, (mainly used for carbureation in large 2 stroke gasoline engines), and mount them onto each of the 4 air box covers. Reed valves are essentially one way valves, so air flow wont be disturbed when the engine is in operation. At low rpm, there will be low turbo boost, so the reed valves would be closed. The blower fixed atop the engine is a positive displacement roots blower. (Detroit Diesel 2 cycles require air pressure in the air box to run - air needs to be forced into the liner openings for efficient combustion) When turbo boost builds, the blower is still positive displacement, however the reed valves will open, allowing undisturbed air from the turbocharger directly into the airbox. Now the key point is this: The homemade bypass will be more efficient than the stock detroit diesel bypass as long as the tubing going into the reed valve is more than the 1" diameter that the bypass blower from detroit is. The more flow you can run the better. The goal is to equalize pressure on both side of the blower, ultimately unloading the blower. In order to do this, I propose building custom turbocharger(s) to blower intake, where 50% of the turbo boost is allowed to enter into the dedicated roots blown supercharger, and the other 50% will be diverted (into probably a 2.5" or 3" diameter tube), and then split equally into 4 zones, where it will be fed into reed valves and into the engine. The 50-50 goal is to maintain pressure on both sides of the blower. So once 8PSI is made, the engine can operate essentially without the blower. Normally, compound turbocharging is ineffective on a 2 cycle because of the dedicated blower, but because I am routing air around the blower, it "should" make more boost at a lower rpm, thus increasing lower end torque. That is a big concern on a two cycle detroit. They are really weak in the 500rpm-1200rpm range. They really only come alive at higher rpms >1600. The actual horsepower and torque required to run the blower (I have heard that the blower takes 40-70horsepower on the 6V53T engine) would essentially be brought back into the usable horsepower range of the engine, increasing overall efficiency Fabrication will be a challenge, but reed valves and tubing aren't all that expensive. A second turbocharger will be expensive, but as long as its sized properly, the engine should make significantly more power between 600-1200rpm My next big concern is finding the best small turbocharger (which works with the bigger turbo, makes 8psi boost at low engine rpm (800-1200), and something that doesn't restrict exhaust flow too much) I have heard bad things about too much back-pressure on the old two strokes Thanks for hearing me out, I do not know how to read compressor maps just yet. I heard the "Turbochargers" book by Hugh MacInnes, is great. I have to see about getting a copy to learn. Chris

I just finished rebuilding my Detroit Diesel 6V53T military engine. In the process of rebuilding, I changed some parts to turn the engine into a truck engine. Unfortunately that process made mounting my turbocharger impossible with stock parts. (unless I bought a different blower/turbo - not going to happen) Because of this I need to design custom intake/exhaust manifolds to even mount the turbo Since I have to go through all of that trouble, I was thinking of running a compound turbocharger setup to increase low end torque, and create more boost at lower rpm's. The stock turbocharger I have is an AiResearch TV8104 (Detroit Diesel Part Number: 5101431) Because the turbocharger wheels are so big, I would expect that it doesnt make any boost until the engine is revved up considerably. This engine will be used in a truck one day, so it will be optimal to have some boost at lower rpm's How do I figure out what turbocharger I need to buy in order to get maximum efficiency out of the engine? The engine is governed to 2800rpm loaded, 3025rpm unloaded. Displacement wise, its 318 cubic inches, 335-350 horsepower Peak rpm is met at 1600rpm, which is 770lb/ft Below is a horsepower/torque curve for my engine series (Mine doesnt have an aftercooler, otherwise, its the same engine. Both are rated with N70 injectors) These are the only compressor maps I was able to find for the turbocharger series I have(TV81XX): 364TV81: 408TV81: I am not sure what the difference between 364TV81 and 408TV81 is... Here are some specifics in terms of 53 Series Turbochargers: (Published December 1984) I think that my best choice for now is to still find a smaller turbo to work with the bigger TV8104 that I have. At a later time, I could sell my TV8104, and buy a more modern turbocharger. There must be something better, its been 26years since that publication. In terms of the smaller turbocharger, I have heard that "too small" of a turbocharger can restrict the exhaust flow of the engine, so whatever it is, it should probably be bigger than a T04B98, and smaller than a TV6000 series I would like to stick with Garrett/Ai Research I am not necessarily looking to make horsepower, only boost to keep the dedicated supercharger from sucking power from the engine. (I need about 8PSI boost at lower rpm's to equalize pressure on both sides of the blower) Here are some pictures of my engine during my rebuild process: Any turbocharger guru's out there... Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated, Thanks, Chris