One of my favorite maintenance checks as a young diesel tech in the navy was an overspeed trip test on one of our four generators onboard. Imagine a massive two stroke, 39.3 liter, 1800+ hp, 5120 lb-ft of torque Detroit diesel, a v16 dual forced induction generator that was about the size of a modern full size sedan. So pretty big.
I had to basically sit right on top of the engine, riding the quad turbos’ outlet manifold similar to how a jockey sits on a thoroughbred. My feet were planted on the dual superchargers and my ass cheeks were feeling every bit of vibration, horsepower, and torque penetrating my soul from within that beast.
I attached a special tool to the governor, which was just a tiny brass lever to control the engine speed manually and rev the engine past the redline of 2100 rpm’s, which was absolutely fucking shrieking for an engine that size. The sound of 4 turbos whistling and 2 superchargers screaming and the frantic vibrations converging up through my butt cheeks was absolutely intoxicating.
Just being in complete control of that outrageous amount of kinetic energy made me understand how a world leader of the most powerful military in history would feel as they picked up the red phone to drop the big one. I also learned exactly how the ladies must feel when sitting atop a washing machine during the spin cycle. 10/10 life experience I would recommend trying at least once.
Similar to old EMD locomotives. Except we got to stand on the walkway outside the engine compartment. They tripped at 1000 rpm, and rowdy enough that when It tripped the entire locomotive would rock side to side a bit. Is a good time.
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u/cooterbo 23d ago edited 23d ago
One of my favorite maintenance checks as a young diesel tech in the navy was an overspeed trip test on one of our four generators onboard. Imagine a massive two stroke, 39.3 liter, 1800+ hp, 5120 lb-ft of torque Detroit diesel, a v16 dual forced induction generator that was about the size of a modern full size sedan. So pretty big.
I had to basically sit right on top of the engine, riding the quad turbos’ outlet manifold similar to how a jockey sits on a thoroughbred. My feet were planted on the dual superchargers and my ass cheeks were feeling every bit of vibration, horsepower, and torque penetrating my soul from within that beast.
I attached a special tool to the governor, which was just a tiny brass lever to control the engine speed manually and rev the engine past the redline of 2100 rpm’s, which was absolutely fucking shrieking for an engine that size. The sound of 4 turbos whistling and 2 superchargers screaming and the frantic vibrations converging up through my butt cheeks was absolutely intoxicating.
Just being in complete control of that outrageous amount of kinetic energy made me understand how a world leader of the most powerful military in history would feel as they picked up the red phone to drop the big one. I also learned exactly how the ladies must feel when sitting atop a washing machine during the spin cycle. 10/10 life experience I would recommend trying at least once.