Description
Scania DSC14 V8 turbo torpedo boat – this is a Scania DSC14 with a reverse gear unit fitted and a large Holset turbocharger mounted at the rear of the engine. The complete assembly weighed in at 1500 kilograms. Two of these units were installed in a motor torpedo boat. This is not a diesel passenger car engine. This is something else entirely.
The Engine
The Scania DSC14 is a 14 litre inline six diesel engine from Scania's heavy duty truck and industrial range. It is a massive, robust and enormously torquey unit that has found application far beyond the trucks it was originally designed for. In marine and industrial environments the DSC14 is respected for its reliability, its power density and its ability to produce sustained output under conditions that would destroy lighter duty engines.
F-tune Performance regularly holds Scania V8 engines in stock – available for customers in the marine industry and for tractor pulling enthusiasts who need serious displacement and serious torque in a proven package. The V8 configuration produces power characteristics particularly well suited to both applications – smooth, broad torque delivery for marine use and the sheer output required for competitive tractor pulling.
The Reverse Gear
Marine installations require a reverse gear unit between the engine and the propeller shaft – the engine itself rotates in one direction only and the reverse gear provides both forward and reverse propulsion as well as a neutral position. The reverse gear unit visible in this photo is a substantial piece of engineering in its own right, contributing significantly to the 1500 kilogram total weight of the complete assembly.
Two complete units at 1500 kilograms each were built and installed into a motor torpedo boat. A combined drivetrain weight of three tonnes before the hull, fuel, crew and equipment are considered. Marine engineering at this scale operates in a different world from automotive performance builds but the engineering principles – reliability, thermal management, power delivery and mechanical integrity – are identical.
F-tune Performance Does Everything
OM606 diesel engines, monster truck study visits, stunt bike wheelie machines and now twin Scania V8 marine installations. F-tune Performance does not have a narrow definition of what interesting engineering looks like. If the project has technical challenges, if it requires genuine engineering knowledge and if it demands that the work is done correctly – we are interested.
The scale changes. The standards do not.
