Have you seen the worlds largest diesel?

[BSMcCauley]

I wanna see the starter

Engines like this usually have no starter. They are started by injecting compressed air into cylinders sitting on their power stroke to get the engine rolling, and then the fuel is turned on. Extra lobe on the camshaft per cyl to operate the air valve for starting. Wrenched on a number of 1500 - 5500 hp engines at work both diesel & natural gas fired that started this way. Need a healthy air compressor(s) and a very large air receiver. The alternative is to generate a small explosion in one or more cylinders similar to what sets off your airbag -- but the problem with these is that when your stock of charges is gone, your're out of luck, where the air compressor can keep chugging away for additional start attempts.

 

[CyberRanger]

The Most Powerful Diesel Engine in the World



Why is this thing so efficient?

Its so efficient b/c of the momentum the crank & drivetrain carries. I had a diesel instructor who worked for the Army Corps of Engineers & he helped assemble & run a similar V-8 in Alaska many years ago. Obviously it wasn't as efficient as this engine nor quite as fast. It ran at about 16rpm. He said it would turn for about 2 hours after is was shut off, just due to momentum. The main bearing were poured like concrete & it could be rebuilt while it ran. It started on #2 diesel & would run on filtered crude (this was long before the EPA). The starter was a huge V-12 supercharged Detroit pony motor that would get the flywheel turning before the #2 was injected. The mechanical injectors were over 6ft long. It was rated at around 75,000 hp or something like that. It was connected to a genset.