GB42 Detroit Diesels?

[UALcaptain]

Anyone else have a Detroit Diesel powered Grand Banks? Looking to close a deal on a 1982 GB 42 powered by DD "fuel pincher" 8.2 liter four-stroke V8 diesels with about 3K hours on each. Normally aspirated @ 165 HP. New injectors and appear to be on a regular mx schedule, but otherwise unknown history. Doing a sea trial soon, and will observe cold start and WOT. I am concerned about the terrible reputation that these four-stroke diesels have - weak head bolts, blown head gaskets, short-skirt pistons, narrow main bearings, etc. I also wonder why this boat would have been fitted from new with these engines - I don't see many (any!) '70's or '80's Grand Banks with them. Thanks!

 

[Giggitoni]

Never heard of DD in GB. My first thoughts were repowered at some point. But 3,000 hours has me wondering, unless the current owner is on the move a lot.

 

[Blissboat]

That's an interesting combination of boat and engines. Detroits are rare in GB's, though not unheard of.

The GM 71 series engines are actually two strokes, which are less drama-prone than the reputation you describe. Is it possible that you are referring to a different GM / Detroit product?

If these are indeed 8V-71s, they will certainly be noisy, which you may or may not mind. Some folks like the sound of a two-stroke Detroit, me included. Smoke and oil are often present where a Detroit is or has recently been, and those vices are harder to tolerate.

My biggest beef about running not one but two 8V-71s in a GB42 would be a crowded engine compartment. If someone ordered that boat new while insisting on Detroits, I'm surprised they didn't opt for the less bulky 6-71.

 

[Comodave]

Are you sure they are 8V71s? The specs I see for naturals show 318HP. 8V71 would be very tight in a 42. We had 6V53s in a previous boat. But that boat had a 16’ beam so there was plenty of room to get around and maintain them. If I remember correctly they were 210HP???

 

[UALcaptain]

I'm sorry! They are DD 8.2 liter "Fuel Pincher" four-stroke V8 diesels. Corrected, above.

 

[Ken E.]

I've had 8v71's, originally installed in my present Hatteras. I've never heard of them in GB's. Ditto the above comments....These are big, heavy engines and don't leave a lot of room in the engine room for maintenance. They are very noisy and many leak oil profusely. Parts are available. If they've had reasonable care, they will literally run forever. As Dave said above, there's a disconnect though with the horsepower you mention. All the naturally aspirated 871's that I've heard of are around 300 hp. Maybe you have some other DD model?

 

[IRENE]

UALcaptain,

You may want to run a few searches about theses engines on trawler forum and boatdiesel.com. Lots of information and opinions are out there on this motor. I have not owned or run them. I have never met a GB with them.

If you are seriously considering owning them, you may want to spend an afternoon on the phone sourcing parts and technical support. The results of your efforts should inform your decision. The supply and technician issue probably won’t get better in the future, which may impact the resale value of the boat.

Good Luck

 

[Comodave]

I am not an expert on those Detroits by any means, but if I remember they don’t have the best reputation. And parts may be very difficult to obtain. I would join boatdiesel.com and do some research on that engine before buying the boat. I think it costs about $25 a year to join but it would be money well spent.

 

[Lepke]

Those engines had head and head bolt problems, probably addressed by now. New internal parts are available for a rebuild. Usually you can find used parts on ebay. I love Detroits, but not this engine. However they should be good for several thousand hours with reasonable care and maintenance.

 

[Blissboat]

I'm sorry! They are DD 8.2 liter "Fuel Pincher" four-stroke V8 diesels. Corrected, above.

That clears things up a bit. The 8.2 liter Detroit is indeed a four-stroke, and an entirely different engine from any of GM's nearly bulletproof two-stroke diesels. Unless the asking price is unbearably low, I would move on and keep looking. Enough GB42s are out there that you shouldn't have to choose one with engines that have you scratching your head.

 

[Comodave]

Personally I wouldn’t buy those engines. Like said above there are lots of GB42s out there.

 

[Rufus]

I own a boat with turbo 250s. Absolute gems in my (actual) experience. I run them mostly at hull speed...occasional 12knots to make a bridge opening or in heavy chop. The negative "dock talk" "marina legend" invariably comes from non-owners with no actual experience. Check old related posts...actual owners have nothing bad to say about them. I have 15 years of experience with them and have had zero issues. New belts and hoses, changed the antifreeze and raw water pump impellers, and switched to Rotella synthetic T6 oil. That's it. They start the instant the button is pushed...even after seven month winter storage. Check the archives for Lehman, CAT, Volvo, Cummins issues. Then look for problems with the Detroit 8.2s. Everyone who as them...likes them. The last thing I'd do is bypass them for Lehman, Cat, Volvo. Even Cummins show up regularly in the "problems" arena. Assuming the head bolts are upsized, you can run the Detroits at hull speed forever. The Detroit 8.2 rep in boats is a bleed over from trucks, and 300 HP turbo version that regularly expired in small sport fishers.

I believed the dock talk and have a shelf full of new engine spares plus a block and heads in my garage gathering dust. Parts are available with a little effort. I found a fire pump engine with a couple hundred hours a couple years ago.

PM me if you'd like to discuss in more detail. I'm tired of engaging in the urban legend, dock talk debate.

 

[Cigatoo]

Regardless of what engine's are in this boat (not that there is anything wrong with the DD's) I would decide how you plan to use the boat. If you are going to cruise at hull speed and don't feel the need for a sudden burst of power why get involved with big relatively high horse power engines? These engines along with the more common 3208 TA Cats are expensive to maintain and overkill for hull speed cruising. If you are satisfied with a 8-10 knot cruise look for a boat with a pair of well maintained Lehmans. Or maybe something that has been repowered with a pair of naturally aspirated Cummins. Maintenance will be easier and cheaper. I bet to get this boat on plane those DD's will cost you 30 gallons per hour or more.

 

[koliver]

I bet to get this boat on plane those DD's will cost you 30 gallons per hour or more.

Those DDs are only 165hp (see the Original Post), so will never get close to a plane.
Pulling that low hp out of any big block engine is going to be easy on the engine. These have already gone ~3000 hrs, so clearly have worked well. Just not at planing speeds.

 

[twistedtree]

Here's how I would look at it.


- If for your own use, you are happy with the DDs, then you will enjoy use of the boat.


- When it comes time to sell, buyers will be asking the same questions your are, and having the same reservations, if they have even stayed around long enough to think about it. So I would assume you will end up with a difficult to sell boat.


- A re-power makes all the issues go away, but I expect the cost of a re-power would exceed the value of the boat. So if you are thinking of re-powering, I think the purchase price should be around zero. In other words, you are just taking the current owner's problem off his hands.


- So if I bought the boat with the intention of using the DDs and felt I would be happy with that, I would just assume a zero $$ resale value when I'm done. Then, anything you can get for the boat will be gravy.

 

[Rufus]

These engines along with the more common 3208 TA Cats are expensive to maintain and overkill for hull speed cruising..... I bet to get this boat on plane those DD's will cost you 30 gallons per hour or more.

As already clarified, the subject boat has naturally asperated engines. So it's pretty much a hull speed boat. That said, the 250 HP turbo V8s in our 44 OA burn about 6 GPH (each) on solid semi-plane at 12.5 knots. That's about 100HP per engine. Now, I know the GB hulls are pigs in the big scheme of things, but 30 GPH???? The twin 165 HP NA's in a 42' OA semi-planing hull would be enough to get it onto a slow semi-plane, although I wouldn't recommend it for longevity reasons.

I'd choose the fuel efficient big block Detroit V8s over the antiquated, problem prone Lehman in a New York minute. That's from someone who owns them. By the way, the 8.2 equipped boats (primarily on the West Coat market) do quite well on resale. Suggesting that your boat would be worth zero on resale is just plain nonsense dock/internet talk.

 

[cks]

I know the boat w/DD and the past owners of the boat you just purchased. You purchased a gem of a boat from two VERY knowledgeable boaters. They pampered that boat. It is an extremely well loved, well cared for boat. I know for a fact the the owner was obsessively meticulous about all maintenance.

I love the decks!!! Was there when that was done.

Aside from the usual issues aboard a boat, I seriously believe you too will love the boat . Those DD have not been “pushed”, cruised at low rpms ( hull speed) and if taken care of, will give you years of excellent service.

Congrats to you on the purchase and welcome to the family.

 

[Pete Meisinger]

I never heard of a four stroke Detroit. I could be wrong, I have been wrong before..

They are often referred to as "Screaming Green Leakers" but they have a devoted following. Some people actually love the sound of them.

pete

 

[mickand]

Run away fast!!!
That 4-stroke Detroit is a very poor design with no support between the V cylinder banks, leading to torque twist, failed head gaskets etc.

 

[Snug Harbor]

We bump into those engines fairly often, I believe they are known as "Bus" engines? Because they were very commonly used in buses with good success. I've found engine parts are available but you may find cooling system parts are much less available, so do some investigation. As a broker, I can tell you that re-sale will be a big issue so be sure you get a very good price and are planning to keep them for awhile.

 

[Alaska JD]

We bought an OA 42 with DD 8.2 L diesels last fall with about 3600 hrs on them. I experienced the same negative information when I did my research on them. Someone on this forum made the statement that “if we liked the boat, we shouldn’t let those engines be a deal killer”. With that in mind we moved forward. Since then, we’ve moved the boat from Anacortes to it’s new home in Wrangell AK and put about 170 hr. on her. I run them at about half power (1800 +- 50 rpm). Initially they burned a bit of oil but that stopped after about 30 hours. They are physically big engines but generally accessible in the OA engine room. If operated with caution and high power runs avoided, I expect they will last as long as I want to own a boat. At the rpm indicated above, we’ve burned 4.2 gph (fuel burn/Hobbs)

 

[Portage_Bay]

I never heard of a four stroke Detroit. I could be wrong, I have been wrong before..

They are often referred to as "Screaming Green Leakers" but they have a devoted following. Some people actually love the sound of them.

pete

You're probably thinking of the 71 series engines. The workhorse of workboats for decades. The 8.2 is a different beast entirely.

"The 8.2-liter "Fuel Pincher" was the first four-cycle engine that Detroit Diesel introduced on the market."

https://itstillruns.com/82-detroit-diesel-engine-specifications-7557890.html

 

[ranger58sb]

Anyone else have a Detroit Diesel powered Grand Banks? Looking to close a deal on a 1982 GB 42 powered by DD "fuel pincher" 8.2 liter four-stroke V8 diesels with about 3K hours on each. Normally aspirated @ 165 HP. New injectors and appear to be on a regular mx schedule, but otherwise unknown history. Doing a sea trial soon, and will observe cold start and WOT. I am concerned about the terrible reputation that these four-stroke diesels have - weak head bolts, blown head gaskets, short-skirt pistons, narrow main bearings, etc. I also wonder why this boat would have been fitted from new with these engines - I don't see many (any!) '70's or '80's Grand Banks with them. Thanks!

Our first bigger boat, an '87 Mainship 34 Mk III, had a single four-stroke DD 8.2T rated at about 210/220-hp (IIRC). Worked like a champ. Sometimes we could even get that boat up toward 14 kts or so.

Yes, we had to do the recall for larger headbolts, otherwise no issues.

I'd imagine a natural version at 165-hp would likely work forever, assuming not flogged in the past by previous owners. I dunno about parts availability, but places like Johnson & Towers could likely speak to that.

That engine's reputation isn't great, as you've seen, but we didn't have any issues with ours.

-Chris

 

[bll99a]

Dd 8.2

I purchased a 1972 50' Whitcraft about 7 years ago. It had been repowered with DD 8.2 turbo V8's in 1986. Most comments here are ones of no knowledge about these engines. They did have two problems: small head bolts which created problems in the truck and bus service early on. The later marinized engines did crack some exhaust manifolds which was quickly corrected by DD adding vent line to void the manifolds of trapped air which caused hot spots therefore cracking. These engines are very fuel efficient thus their nickname "fuel pinchers". They do not smoke or leak oil like their 2 cycle relatives. I never had any issues and to this day they are performing well. I have become good friends with the boat's current owner and all he does is routine service. Grand Banks 42 DD8.2 I would not hesitate.