New Diesel engine: Buck Marine Diesel

[timbillyosu]

Just wanted to get the word out on a new type of Diesel Engine. This engine is called Buck Marine Diesel.

I work at Buck Marine Diesel. We are currently developing a prototype diesel engine specifically designed for inboard marine use, with some possible OTR applications in the future. We're still working on things right now. We're getting VERY close to getting the first prototype fully up and running. We had it running the other day for about an hour at around 2000 rpm without any problems. We need to do a little more work to get our dyno fully-functional but things are going good.

We are currently working on a 6-cylinder model with 3- and 4-cylinder models to follow. The engines have a unique two injector per cylinder design that will increase the fuel mapping potential exponentially and result in lower emissions capability. The family of engines will range from 150 to 700 HP and have been designed from the bottom up with a totally different approach. These engines are capable of exceptional cooling, allowing for substantial improvements in power output while increasing longevity.

The cooling path for this engine is a fraction of most engines. In the classic designs, coolant flows into the front of the engine, all the way back to the rear cylinder, then back out the front. This means that the rear cylinder is always receiving water that has already been heated by the previous cylinders.

In the Buck Marine system, the coolant flows individually into and out of each cylinder. This means that the all of the cylinders will be operating at the same temperature at all times. Using individual and shorter cooling paths, will also help eliminate hot spots and temperature stacking.

The engine also has a dual cooling system that uses both an internal coolant as well as circulating raw water from whatever body of water the boat is in. This cooling system will keep the engine running cool, allowing us to generate more power. If a problem should arise, the engine is also very serviceable.

The modular cylinder design allows for easy maintenance. With our design, you can change an individual cylinder, head, piston, and connecting rod without having to remove the crank case. We are estimating that the entire upper half of the engine (cylinders, heads, pistons, and connecting rods ) could be entirely replaced in about 2 hours time. Each of the aforementioned parts is also interchangeable with each of the other cylinders. In addition, nearly every seal is made with an o-ring of some form, meaning that the gasket set for the entire engine can fit in a gallon-sized plastic bag. These two factors will significantly reduce part inventory. A video of the connecting rod replacement procedure is available on the website.

Since we didn't have the dyno working properly, we're not positive on the actual power numbers. However, while running under a moderate load at about 2500 rpm, the exhaust temperatures were around 1200 degrees F. We ran under those conditions for about 15 minutes. The hottest that the coolant pump got was about 110 degrees F. None of the 6 heads were over 135 degrees and all of them were within about 3 degrees of one another. You could lay your hands on top of the valve covers.

We will hopefully be back up and running by the end of next week with a fully-functioning dyno. When we have some solid power numbers, I will be sure to let everyone know.

Check out our website for further pictures and videos.

Feel free to ask any questions that you have.

Buck Marine Diesel

This is a video of our cylinder replacement procedure:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hsgCHbptRRc

This is a video of our engine actually up and running:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5PkOV6gxZA

[rwthomas1]

Very interesting, nice machine work but I have a few questions:
I would have expected deeply skirted block, for rigidity, 4 bolt main caps, and more than 4 head bolts per head. That said, if you can get it all to stay together over time..... Marine diesels live a hellish life. Pushing through water is like pulling a steep grade, all day, every day. Nice to see an American company doing work like this even in todays economic environment. RT

[SwampYankee]

Originally Posted by rwthomas1

Very interesting, nice machine work but I have a few questions:
I would have expected deeply skirted block, for rigidity, 4 bolt main caps, and more than 4 head bolts per head. That said, if you can get it all to stay together over time..... Marine diesels live a hellish life. Pushing through water is like pulling a steep grade, all day, every day. Nice to see an American company doing work like this even in todays economic environment. RT

Ditto!

Are you targetting yourselves for the re-power market or are you hoping to team up with manufacturers? High-end or mid-range? There are loads of older hulls out there in the upper 20'-upper 30' range just begging for affordable diesel repower options.

[TX76513]

WoW very impressive. It's good to see some USA can do!.

[KarTek]

Nice engine! I've often thought of using two injectors but the cost of re-designing the head was prohibitive. I can't imagine the effort and cost that goes into a scratch built engine! The modular design is very smart too.

[diametricalbenz]

I was just reading your article writeup in DieselPower magazine. Did any of the 3-4 cylinder prototypes make it into a light/medium duty truck?

[timbillyosu]

Originally Posted by rwthomas1

Very interesting, nice machine work but I have a few questions:
I would have expected deeply skirted block, for rigidity, 4 bolt main caps, and more than 4 head bolts per head. That said, if you can get it all to stay together over time..... Marine diesels live a hellish life. Pushing through water is like pulling a steep grade, all day, every day. Nice to see an American company doing work like this even in todays economic environment. RT

Glad to see you all like this thing as much as everyone else does

As for the above questions:

The pan rail is aluminum, but it is bolted on with 3/8"-16 Grade 9 SHCS that run through it into the carrier. The design of the rail makes it very rigid as well.

When I first came to work here, I asked the same question about the 2-bolt instead of 4-bolt mains. After looking at our caps, I think we're fine. The main bearings that we use are the same part used in a 20L Cat D342 engine. The main caps are held on by 5/8" Grade 9 SHCS. We haven't seen any reason yet to worry about them.

The reason for only 4 bolts on the heads is also part of the design. The bolts on our engine pass completely through the head and jug and into the main carrier. These bolts are again 5/8" Grade 9 SHCS. The position of the jug in relation to the carrier is held by 2 dowel pins as is the position of the head on top of the jug. The reason other companies use more bolts is because their heads are one large chunk of cast iron. As soon as it heats up, any stresses in the material will try to warp and bend it. They need enough bolts to keep it held down without getting deformed. As for the pressure, we have used a pressure sensitive paper (cool thing to use to messure surface pressure ) placed between the head gasket and the jug and between the gasket and the head. When all 4 bolts were tightened to 140 ft-lbs of torque, the pressure applied on the gasket was thirteen thousand (13,000) psi. We've not seen any reason to worry about that seal either.

Originally Posted by diametricalbenz

I was just reading your article writeup in DieselPower magazine. Did any of the 3-4 cylinder prototypes make it into a light/medium duty truck?

Not yet. We still need a little more testing and some more tweaking.

Originally Posted by Mister Byrnzoil

Looks to me like the little camshafts run perpendicular to the crankshaft, not sure I've ever seen an engine design where the camshaft didn't parallel the crank.

I think you are getting a little confused. You are seeing our rocker shafts and rockers. The cam is mounted inside of the main carrier, parallel to the crank.




Keep the questions coming! I'll be glad to clear up any confusion

[Chas H]

What happens to the connecting rod cap when changing out a cylinder? It's gonna fall into the oil pan from what I see.
As others have posted the bottom end looks a bit puny and 4 fasteners to hold down a jug is too few.
Also, many if not most, modern diesels have 4 valves/cylinder; buck appears to have only 2.

[rwthomas1]

Seems like a decent design and you answered all the questions pretty well. Time will tell, as always, if it will hold up. If it is a two valve design, I see no issue given its directly injected and a low speed design (marine). Everything is gear driven which is a huge plus. Less maintenance and in a boat, thats a good thing. The fact that the oil pan is structural and the head bolts pass through the head and cylinder will do wonders for clamping force without distorting the head and cylinder themselves. Best of luck with it, as said above, given the cost of gas the market is ripe for affordable diesels to covert gas boats over. People are just about giving 30+ft gas inboard boats in my area. RT

[rwthomas1]

Originally Posted by Chas H

What happens to the connecting rod cap when changing out a cylinder? It's gonna fall into the oil pan from what I see.

Seems like it would be a simple matter to have someone hold onto it and fish it out after you remove the rod...

RT

[timbillyosu]

Originally Posted by Chas H

What happens to the connecting rod cap when changing out a cylinder? It's gonna fall into the oil pan from what I see.
As others have posted the bottom end looks a bit puny and 4 fasteners to hold down a jug is too few.
Also, many if not most, modern diesels have 4 valves/cylinder; buck appears to have only 2.

There is a stainless steel windage tray on top of the oil pan just below the main caps. It helps keep the oil from sloshing around as bad on the water. When you pull off the rod, the cap falls onto this tray. There is enough clearance around the crank that you can reach your hand around it to grab the rod cap.

As I stated before, the mains are the same used in a 20L Caterpillar D342 engine. That engine has 5-3/4" cylinder diameter. Our cylinders are 4-1/2" in diameter.

As for the jug bolts, we have yet to see any issues or reasons as to why 4 bolts is not enough. (see the above post about the clamping pressure)

[Chris W.]

I'm curious about the output per cylinder - one part of the web site indicates 50 - 600 HP from 3 - 6 cylinders, and what max BMEP your design point is. Whose injection equipment are you using and whose turbo?

Does the engine have glow plugs or use starting aids or other forms of preheating?

A number of the design features on the Buck are similar to medium speed engines, which is good. I hope that you are able to sell it for a reasonable price and still make money. Best of luck with your venture.

Rgds,
Chris W.

[Chas H]

Thanks for the answers.
Does Buck have plans for a 4 valve head? What is the BSFC?

[SwampYankee]

Originally Posted by rwthomas1

People are just about giving 30+ft gas inboard boats in my area. RT

My father has had his '79 33' Pacemaker (80's Egg Harbor design) for over a year at $39,900 with little more than a few calls.

http://www2.yachtworld.com/core/listing/pl_boat_full_detail.jsp?slim=broker&boat_id=1797211&ybw=&hosturl=fishyachts&&ywo=fishyachts&&units=Feet&access=Public&listing_id=5344&url=&hosturl=fishyachts&&ywo=fishyachts&

Which is fine by him, he's in no hurry. There are a lot of bargains to be found out there. I picked the wrong time to be financially responsible.

The market is flooded with sub-$20K (and some sub-$10K) 28-32' Sea Rays and Chris Crafts with SBC just begging for some reasonably priced diesels. Most people can't swing $50K for a Yanmar conversion on a $20-40K boat.

[timbillyosu]

Originally Posted by Chris W.

I'm curious about the output per cylinder - one part of the web site indicates 50 - 600 HP from 3 - 6 cylinders, and what max BMEP your design point is. Whose injection equipment are you using and whose turbo?

Does the engine have glow plugs or use starting aids or other forms of preheating?

A number of the design features on the Buck are similar to medium speed engines, which is good. I hope that you are able to sell it for a reasonable price and still make money. Best of luck with your venture.

Rgds,
Chris W.

Th injection pump we are using is a Bosch. We are currently using Delphi injectors, but we have plans for the productions engines to use our own engines (if we can get the capital to make it that far).

There is a heater mounted in the oil pan.

Our anticipated pricing is competitive with the current market for the engine size.

Originally Posted by Chas H

Thanks for the answers.
Does Buck have plans for a 4 valve head? What is the BSFC?

As of now, no. As I've said, we still need to do a little tweaking and testing to see if additional valves are necessary.

We do not have any fuel consumption data as of yet. So far, the engine has only run for a few hours. Our dyno has no been fully functional for any of it. We will hopefully have EVERYTHING going for the next test. I will let you all know about power numbers and fuel consumption. However, the fuel numbers will be a little different than the production model will be because our current setup is only running 1 injector per cylinder. We ran into a problem with injector suppliers (not surprisingly, no one wants to make 24 injectors with 2 different nozzle sizes for anything that even remotely resembles a reasonable price )