Fine in theory but will it work

[Bruce Tuncks]

A 2 stroke diesel makes sense . The petrol 2 strokes with their transfer ports had to compromise between fuel going straight out the exhaust or not scavenging all the burnt stuff. A diesel avoids this completely.

 

And the 2 stroke has a better power to weight than a 4 stroke.

 

I agree with you space. Those old Commer engines were good.

 

 

[turboplanner]

A 2 stroke diesel makes sense . The petrol 2 strokes with their transfer ports had to compromise between fuel going straight out the exhaust or not scavenging all the burnt stuff. A diesel avoids this completely. And the 2 stroke has a better power to weight than a 4 stroke.I agree with you space. Those old Commer engines were good.

The GM (Detroit Diesels) were two strokes with a supercharger. This was an ideal combination for trucks, buses, fire engines and boats. Like the TS3 it was lighter than four strokes, and had an excellent durability record. They gave best performance with an Allison Automatic transmission to keep the engines revving hard, producing horsepower, which made them the leader in metropolitan buses, able to accelerate away from bus stops, and fire trucks, where the driver just stood on the accelerator to outrun traffic. While nothing has come remotely close to the howl of a Rolls Royce truck engine the Detroit Diesel variants were a close second. Unfortunately, like the Commer knocker, you could hear them for miles. Drive-by noise limits caused difficulties. Also unfortunately this design required a lot of fuel to produce the goods, which didn’t matter, when fuel was 30 cents a gallon, but then came the fuel crisis, followed by an increase in net excise duty on diesel and they took a massive hit in the market place. On top of that they leaked oil all over the road, and finally were not able to comply with increasingly tight emission standards. You could easily design a 2 or 3 cylinder engine based on the Detroit design, but you would have to address the issues which killed it.

[Marty_d]

There are some people who think Star Wars is a peep into the future.

Star TREK is a possible future. Star Wars is set in the past. Every movie began with "A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away..."(and to link back to this thread, I never understood why Star Wars ships sounded like they had radial engines... in space.)

 

 

[onetrack]

I never understood why Star Wars ships sounded like they had radial engines... in space.

Because radial engines sound like they mean business - and people watching Star Wars aren't going to stand up and say - "Hey, that's BS!! No-one can hear anything in Space, there's no air to carry the sound!!" He or she could get told to "shush!", and sit down, very quickly ...

 

[bexrbetter]

The other thing they have is a law-abiding society, apparently there was only one murder for the whole country in 2015, the latest year for records to be available.

You couldn't have taken that seriously when you wrote it Bruce?

Only 1 Murder?

 

Try about 1000 per year, which is still very low relative to per head to other countries.

 

Even though still low, there is a cultural embarrassment about murder in Japan that has led to experts believing that many suicides, which is one of the highest in the world to offset the low murder rate, and other accidents, are actually murders but a refusal to report them as such.

 

 

[Bruce Tuncks]

You are probably right Bex. I read the 1 murder thing on the net, so it may not be true after all.

 

For many years, I believed that Japan ceased to spend taxpayer's money on medical bills for over 70's. This explained their low taxes, thought I. Well one day I checked this out, and it turned out to be untrue... not that I mind, having turned 70 myself.

 

SO... be careful believing what you read on the net huh.

 

 

[danny_galaga]

The GM (Detroit Diesels) were two strokes with a supercharger.

Detroit diesel supercharged two strokes you say?

 

 

 

[bexrbetter]

Detroit diesel supercharged two strokes you say?

I used to start Jimmy 6-71s on the floor, a few V8s and had a 4 and a 3 through the place once.

Smooth as silk, although you got to hold them when you blip the throttle, but the noise is quite the thing!

 

There was a local rubbish truck (large skips) that had a Jimmy 6 with an Allison auto, man it screamed along! Apparently it's route was being changed often due to complaints!

 

 

[turboplanner]

Here's the old TS3 itself, in a nice suburban setting:

 

 

 

[Bruce Tuncks]

On homicide rates, the highest on a credible list was Lesotho at 38 per 100,000 per year. US was 5 and Japan .31.

 

So you were right Bex. Mind you, the rate in Japan is less than 1% of the Lesotho rate.

 

High figures also from Polynesian countries. I wonder why.

 

 

[Deskpilot]

Whilst on a trip to Vanuatu some years ago, I learnt about their high suicide rate. Reason.....boredom.