I have been reading gcaptain for several years, decided to join the forum, hope to become an active participant here.
I work as a tech rep for EMD Marine and Power Generation here on the West Coast of the US, and have been with GM/DD/MTU/EMD Distributors for the past 25 years.
Admittedly I am not a merchant mariner, but I work with you all on a daily basis.
Cheers,
Brian
Welcome aboard Brian.
Hi Brian,
Welcome
Was it the eloquent thread on collision avoidance that put you over the top? Whatever it was, welcome.
Welcome Brian, EMD guys have a wealth of knowledge to share. Most of my rigs were 16s and 20s
Thanks for joining. You’ll fit in great. If I still worked with EMD I’d be bugging you all the time for knowledge.
I posted this before but for those who missed it. The grandfather of the EMD engine, the creator of the Winton engine was a mariner, son of a mariner & ship engineer.
Agreed. I have learned much from the EMD techs in my day. A true wealth of knowledge. I have not shied away from stating my love for the fuel guzzling lube oil burners. . . .
Thanks for the warm welcome guys - and yes I am happy to help with any EMD info you may need.
If I don’t have an answer I am sure I have a friend or two that can help!
I loved them too. Never was exposed to the 710s and often wondered if they burned less oil. All the 645s I worked with were turbo charged as well as being pretty bullet and stupid proof. Great engines.
For what its’ worth anything with Tier II or later packs (sometimes called UL Packs in the non-regulated engines) are seeing 50%-90% reduction in LO consumption from the previous Stainless Steel Ring design.
We have had many of our customers switch to the UL/Tier Packs and state that they will never go back.
Most of the EMDs I operated were 20s, a few turbo 16s and one or two boats with roots blown 16s. The roots blown engines were really bulletproof. Didn’t have those pesky clutch failures (which I understand were rare after the mid 80s, or at least less common). . . And I know they are stupid proof. . hell, I never destroyed one, in spite of my best efforts. . . . .
I can verify that. Air boxes solids much reduced too. We had the “emission” packs of the particulate reducing type. Also no more partial packs to change, compression, ring wear and leads all normal for longer actually extended to life of pack. No more thrust washer wear either. Big improvements. You do have to fit the 17:1 turbo but far superior operation to the old standard or even “premium” packs.
Good to have you contributing!
One of these days I’ll post pics of me next to one…but that would be TMI at the moment.
I think it was an outfit called “Marine Systems” that did most of our rebuilds. I believe they were out of Louisiana and/or Texas. Those guys were fast as hell and did good work, about 24-36 hrs per engine if I remember correctly . May be called something else now, it’s been almost 20 years since I retired. A team of about 6 or so guys would show up and it was a blur how fast they worked. Very reliable outfit.
SeaEagle - they called those “Miracle Overhauls” - one crew worked 12-hrs tearing down and cleaning. The next crew worked the following 12-hrs building the engine back up…agree its pretty impressive.
It warms my heart to know there are still highly skilled craftsmen in the USA going about their day.
They were zombies when they were done, but I could sail with confidence when they were done. I hope they were paid well. Must have been, because they did most of our work.
They did many rebuilds during my career. And left us with a good product, A cook once said “They are so dirty”. Well no shit, they are working their balls off. Told him if you can’t overlook what they are doing then I need a new cook. We fed them very well after that conversation. The engines purred and the cook stepped up and quit bitching. Those guys were worth their weight in gold.
Although your statement is correct, this thread is about EMD engines. This gentleman is an asset to this site and am sure he has many callouses on his hands, Don’t fuck this up.
Thanks SeaEagle - if I can deal with ER antics over the past 25 years I am sure I can deal with political banter here.
As it goes, I spend more time writing reports and on paperwork than turning wrenches (hence why I have time to join the forum as a side “benefit”) sadly the callouses tend to fade, but the good experiences in memories have remained.
As well, appreciate the benefit of the doubt in your calling me a gentleman…made me laugh!