The battle of engines

My first truck had a 318. Im sure you both heard the story about the guy telling his new driver "before you get in that truck, smash your finger in the door 'cause I need you to hate that truck if you're gonna drive it". When I think back to how I had to drive that '69 Pete... Never let it get under 1800 RPM on a hill, i had a makeshift cruise control, I jammed my foot between the throttle and the doghouse. Wide open all day, 2250 RPM for 15 hours straight, had to stop to add oil before it needed fuel (no joke). I put 200K on it before someone asked "when was the last time you ran the rack on that thing, it sounds terrible"?...My answer; "Whats the rack" LOL. Never unscrewed the drain plug on the oil pan, spin the filter off and put a new one on every few months, oil was never in it long enough to break down. I made a fortune with that $6500 truck.

 

I have an 07 big red boat anchor isx and it's the biggest pos turd I've ever owned/drove, it was in the shop more in the first year I owned it than my 6nz cat has been in the past 10 years, since I've had some "work" done to it it's not as bad, but it still won't touch the cat in pulling power or fuel mileage...

 

Maintain a CAT and drive it right you'll get mpg's as good or better than anything else. Reliable, they don't break.

 

Ahhh, Homeade cruise control. I started in a 1978 International Transtar Cabover, cut me off a broom handle to jam under the dash to hold the accelerator wide open. Often wondered where I would wind up if I left the road and couldn't kick it out of there...

 

This is some good reading and a walk down memory lane, especially the two cycle running backwards. I went with someone years ago to free up a truck that was spinning in it's tracks. We had a small truck with a pto winch on the front. We tied off to a pretty good size tree. We hooked up and started pulling the old cabover forward to good ground as the driver was steering it with it in running in gear, somewhere during that point as we got to solid ground, it sputtered about twice and choked out and re-fired. The next thing we seen was our bumper and pto winch with part of the pto shaft headed in the opposite direction with the old cabover. Yep, as we figured out, they'll have many reverses and a couple of forwards occassionally. Wasn't really funny until we got everything fixed later and then it was a good laugh. As far as the OP's choice of engines, someone once told me there is no substitute for cubic inches and when you try and get a lot out of a little, it doesn't last as long.

 

I agree anything pre emmisions is good. I ran a lot of old 350 econodyne mack R models grossing out well over 100k years ago. They were like the small block Chevys of there time. I have always been partial to Cats myself. Had a 3406b 425 in my Marmon. Very reliable old engine. Never failed me in the winter even without a block heater here in the northeast. Had her running backwards for a few seconds once, picked up on it right away thank God. A clean truck with a 6nz or C16 would be my pick today. I know a guy with one whos maintaning 7mpg all around, running 70 mph average. But like the rest of them, you take care of them and theyll take care of you.

 

My brother drove a 73 COE Pete with a 6v72. When cold the engine seemed to pause at idle! It would run, pause, run, pause,

 

Ah yes, the ol' Detroit fuel converters. Converts diesel fuel into noise. When I was a kid, we'd go to the carnival, everybody would go off to the rides, I'd go over by the generator trailer, and watch that Detroit screaming away turning the generator. Was that a trucker to be, or what? Once I picked up a load of Spring water from Waukesha, Wis. in a tri-axle milk truck. IH 4200 with a 318. Boss said before I left to check the oil(duh) and take a couple gallons with me. Nothing on the stick, so put in 3 gallons and took 3 with me. Got to Waukesha, about 80 miles from yard, before I left Waukesha , checked the oil on the stick again, nothing. Put in the 3 gallons, and it was still a gallon low. Kept my eye on the oil pressure gauge all the way back, in case I ran out of oil!

 

Hey old-timers, does anybody remember "Big Al" truck motors? '70's ? Allis-Chalmers, if I remember, they didn't do too well, and A-C recalled them and offered to replace them with a Cummins. http://www.hankstruckpictures.com/pix/trucks/dan_espinosa/ac/ac_brochure_06.jpg

 

I may be wrong, and I hope I am, ....... but, ...........
I think I read that CAT announced that the company
would no longer be makin' road engines for the U.S. market.
They got fed-up with the E.P.A., C.A.R.B., heavy fines, penalties, taxes and all the bureaucratic
bovine excrement.
I wonder if C.A.R.B. would consider that to be a victory for the cause?
Another maker of pollution producin' products waves the white flag.
One down, two to go.