Main Engine Work

As we look toward the future and continue to plan for cruises, the Main Engines are crucial to all of our plans.  We have done our research and we need to refurbish and maintain the engines we have.  To replace these 2 - 12 cylinder EMD engines would be over a million dollars.  We started the process of replacing the worn cylinder heads during the Fall Work Week in 2015.

Above is the Port Side Main Engine with the covers off.

This is a close up of the Starboard Main Engine, you can see the cylinder head and connections to the rocker arms.

This is the cylinder after the cylinder head, piston, and piston liner are removed.

This is the old piston liner that is being replaced.

The rust has really set in.  The rust is caused by the coolant water leaking down over it.  This causes other problems like clogging the air box.

  

Here we're showing the old cylinder head with the connecting wires.

The piston head shown here had to be removed to access the piston liner.

A handful of piston liners were also refurbished by DJ Painter.

Here is a refurbished cylinder head.  Our own DJ Painter took this home to clean it up.

The air box is where the air for ignition is kept under pressure to feed the engine.  You can see the years of oil buildup.  Both the Starboard and Port Side air boxes were cleaned during the Engineering week.