So, instead of going for an office engineering job during the summer I decided to go for something else... landed a job at a ship repair company doing mechanical assembly. After 2 days in the shop, I went out on my first on-site job. Our crew spent 10 days rebuilding one of the four 6-cyl SKL auxiliary diesel engines on a cargo ship after the crew had determined a month previously that it spun several main bearings.
Reconditioned crankcase & crank:
Bonus on Day 4? Lunch in the St-Lawrence Seaway.
Got any pics of the bearings or the damage done to crank shaft?
Unfortunately, I did not get any pics as the crank was placed back in the crankcase and ready to be shipped off for refurbishing. I did find a box of the old main bearings in the engine room on the last day. It was not pretty to say the least - locating tabs were snapped off, massive discoloration and scoring. Usually these engines are designed with several 0.050" 'oversizes' on the bearings to allow for several rebuilds.
Cool facts:
- connecting rod weight is approx 36kg
- the turbo itself is larger than a fully assembled AAZ
- runs at 1000 rpm all day long, producing upwards of 300kW of electricity (limited by company protocol due to age, was 600kW when new)
- nowhere near as big as the 5-cyl main engine which is about 3-stories tall (direct drive to propeller)
Big engines are way cool........