An Engine

If you just happen to be talking to an old trucker and you happen to mention a Screaming Jimmy, or a Great Green Leaker, or a Rocky Mountain Humming Bird he will know what you are talking about and he will probably tell you a story about a truck that he once drove with one of those engines. Drivers had a love hate relationship with them.

They will probably tell you that they were noisy, didn’t have enough power and that to make them work you had to keep them wound up tight, right on the governor. They will swear at them and tell you that it was the last engine on earth that they would want to drive.

The reason that these engines made so much noise was the fact that they were a 2- stroke engine just like, a power saw or lawn mower engine; this means that every time a piston hit the top it fired.

An 8-V-71 at 2000 RPM, fired 16000 times per minute and that my friends, is a lot of bangs in one minute. The Jake brakes were almost none existent and were mainly used to attract attention or to shift gears. They had a habit of slobbering oil; on bush roads they were considered a good aid for dust control.

Now all this being said you are probably thinking to your self, why would anybody in their right mind ever buy a lawn mower engine that was plagued by such seemingly insurmountable faults for a truck? Well I will tell you why.

This engine was the most dependable, bullet proof, idiot proof engine that was ever built. You could abuse it , run it out of oil, over rev it for prolonged periods of time or just about anything a rookie driver might do to and the next day, just like a faithful old dog that you had kicked in the butt the night before, it would be there for you.

These engines had been designed in the 30’s by Detroit Diesel, the engine design was simplicity at its best, the fuel system was brilliant in it operation. You had a primary fuel pump that delivered the fuel to the injectors, the injector pressurized and metered the fuel according to the throttle position and the way you went. Almost with out exception you drove them with the throttle on the floor. Most modern engines have an electronic version of this fuel system.

It wasn’t uncommon that if you stalled one of these engines out it would start itself up and run backwards, pumping the oil out of your oil bath air cleaner, if you didn’t shut it down in time.

But alas with their thirst for fuel and the demand for ever increasing power, they are going the way of the dinosaurs. Gone are the days when these dragons roamed the highways, belching black smoke and fire. Gone but not forgotten in the minds of Old Truck Drivers that still remember the romance of the road when you never pass anyone broken down on the road without stopping to see if you could help.

This old truck driver will tell you that on a cold winter’s night, on some lonely bush road, it was always a comfort to have the screaming of a Rocky Mountain Humming Bird in your ear. It meant that you were probably going to get home.