2 strokers

i really like the sound of old detroit 2 strokes. really loud and not much torque i hear. because they are 2 strokes

 

I think they are pretty gutless, esp hard to take off loaded because their power is only up high. You definitey have to keep the coals to them because they have a real narrow powerband. They are fun to drive, I like an old fast shifting truck. Forget about fuel economy.

 

We used say you had to slam your foot in the door when you got in so you could drive the thing.

 

One thing about the old 238 inline 6 and the 318 V-8, you would turn into one of the best gear changers in the world, as you had to change on the slightest hill, even empty.

I got more tickets in my truck with the 318 than anything I ever drove. Not because of its great power and speed, but because I always had it to the floor trying to build up enough momentum to top the next hill with out having to go to the low side of the transmission.

This was in the 55 MPH days.

A 318 with 4" pipes and gutted mufflers sounds like no other engine. The whole exhaust tone changes around 2100 RPM on up to 2500. Sweet music.

Wind them loaded to around 2450, and grab another gear. When pulling a hill don't let them drop under 1900 or you're sunk as far as pulling goes.

Every 700 miles drop a gallon of oil in. There is no need to check before adding, because it will definitely need it. If you would happen to overfill the extra will sling out shortly anyway.

 

And, the two stroke engine is one of the most efficient fuel pumps ever designed. Sucks it in one side of the engine, and sends it out unburned through the exhausts.....

 

When you drive under a viaduct, the 318 sounds like an Offy at Indy.

Cummins drivers occasionally had to change fuel filters due to water in the fuel. Apparently, the fuel filters on a 318 will pass some water and send it up the stack. However, I remember the day a fuel jockey offered me a five-gallon pail of free fuel because he needed the pail to carry coolant to a breakdown who had blown a water hose. We added the pail of fuel to my tanks. The 318 stalled as I pulled away from the indoor fuel island. The pail had contained the storage tank settlements that the fuel stop used in their salamanders. For the first time, I realized that 318 fuel filters actually do something. They cleaned my tanks, changed my filter and I was on my way an hour later. This incident happened at Key Line's New Buffalo check-point.

 

is it true they did not have much torqe?

 

On a 2 stroke, the power and torque appared over only a small part of the rpm range, uually right at the top. The multi speed transmissions like the 13 speed were created almost exclusively for use with 2 stroke engines. Having the ability to split gears allowed you to keep the engine perking along within that tight rpm band. You typically ran at 1800-2300 rpm, and the engines didnt last near;y as long as one does now. A current engine will lope along at 1400 rpm or so, and the more cycles the piston goes up and down, the more wear the engine accumulates. Two strokes were often rebuilt around the 300-400,000 mile mark. Typically now, we don't think about that until 750, 1,000,000 comes along.

They were good engines in their day, but in their day fuel cost .25 per gallon, you could pump out smoke and emissions, and an inframe rebuild didn't cost 10,000 dollars. Their time is past.

 

I do not know the torque rating. I do know that the 8V71 produced 318 hp at sea level and 60 F ambient temperature.

Engine manufacturers other than Detroit Diesel measured horse power at 600 ft. altitude and 70 F temperature. At those settings, an 8V71 produced only 304 hp, not 318.

 

Detroit 2 strokes used to be the exclusive engine for the US bus market.