WE ARE CRAZY!-mission to save two of the world's biggest V8 engines from scrap man welding torch!

Part one of a mega mission to save two
Of the world's biggest v8 engines !
These generators units were built and supplied by Harland and Wolff Belfast the birthplace of the Titanic. They provided lifesaving backup power to the country's biggest hospital.
The generator alternator unit was manufactured by Harland and Wolff.
The engines are Ruston 8rk3c GEC English electric v8 producing 1400 HP at 750 rpm full load
And 1600 HP at 1000 rpm intermittent load
They are approximately 130litres displacement or 7930 cubic inch.
The engines on its own is about 14 tons.
If anyone is interested to buy one of these units please contact me.
If anyone knows Australian mining tycoon Clive Palmer please tell him I have a nice genuine Harland and wolff generator set for his Titanic replica lol.
This engine is still used in ships , tugboats trains and locomotives around the world.
It also is used as generator sets in remote Pacific islands as main power station power generation.
We have them stored in our engineering workshops under gantry crane. They are approximately 25 tons each.
They are complete with large stainless steel exhausts and huge copper core radiators.
They are fantastic piece of northern Ireland engineering heritage being from the shipyard.
And great provenance of royal Victoria hospital Belfast.

[@theoldbigmoose]

The internals of that engine are beautiful! Almost as if it was never run. No varnish, no soot, no crud.

[@allistairc123]

The our meters were 300 something hours just!

[@Iaintwoke]

They normally see very little running. Just in power cuts and during maintenance and checking.

[@woodwelder]

Crazy big engines for the job ….. !!

[@KentuckyReef]

The entire world is fortunate to have people like you who have the money, resources and heart to save pieces of history (works of art) like these! Thank you!!!

[@markrobinson1458]

When things were built to serve a purpose and not to a budget, you're a good man tackling such beasts, fortunately, they're made to last,so they should scrub up nicely. 👏👏👏👍

[@jerrypinnick8309]

Those engines need to go into museums. They look like they just came out of the factory absolutely stunning.

[@matthewgoodchild6763]

My thoughts too.

[@Pistol0291]

Fascinating. I knew you were keen restorers, I didn't think you would be so interested in these motors. I work at the Royal hospital in Liverpool , which is currently in mid demolish. The 2 generator engines are still in use, but 3 Cummins stand by, and the old engines will need to be removed. Perhaps you could show an interest there too. Enjoy all the content Peter from Liverpool England

[@kevinmartin9432]

Thank heavens for men like you, or it would all be lost. When they built those rigs, they knew what they were doing!

[@mauricecotton7885]

I can't believe it I never expected to see them generator's ever again much less on video 😮 Over 30 years ago my father was an electrical contractor who had a contract to test emergency lighting that involves timing how long the lights would stay on for when on their batteries. My dad would need someone to stand in each building and take note of when the lights went out. I was about 14-15 year's old and cheaper than him paying one of his electricians to do it😂 I got to look at the generator's for about 30 minutes while waiting for the lights to go out 😂. I didn't take over my dad's electric contracting business when he retired I became a mechanic instead. I'm not sure if I hadn't seen them monster engines if I may have been an electrician instead.😮

[@ruger8412]

Awesome bit of story! Thanks for sharing! Memories like this are priceless

[@mauricecotton7885]

@ruger8412 thanks the only downside is that the memory makes me feel old AF😕 lol

[@chrisj2848]

Awesome job working to save these bits of engineering history. Preservation work like this is so underrated. Much respect! Love the video 👍

[@davidcoates4852]

As a hospital maintenance electrician for 25 years I have started and run more than a few standby generators including a couple of industrial Rolls Royce engines from the 1970's and 5 sets all in one hall, but I have never seen one as big as those two beauties 🔧🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿👍

[@scowell]

I owned a cute 12kW Onan/Kubota 3cyl... what a gem... these guys are 100x that. Very cool content... glad you saved them from the scrappy. Now... we want to see one *run*!

[@paulcooper9135]

Absolutely incredible!!! A labor of love, but well worth saving these beauties! Looking forward to part two. Thanks for sharing 🇨🇦

[@petegraham1458]

Beautiful engines glad they are not going to scrap!

[@jerrypinnick8309]

What a massive undertaking. Job well done. Those engines are massive works of art. They just don't make engines like that anymore. Be proud of what you've done. You have saved a piece of history. Cheers!

[@matthewhicks5589]

Great video, some work involved in saving them and good on you all 👏 biggest engine I’ve ever seen was a back up generator for RAF Coltishall in Norfolk UK, English electric 16 cylinder 4 turbos what I can remember, beautiful sight. Well done to you all

[@wjf0ne]

I can't wait for part two. I hope you get a sale so your company isn't too much out of pocket on this. If you could would you make overtures to the management and get us a look at what has replaced these monsters.

[@quadrapoint]

Hats of to the guys that installed them

[@dr.deborahkatharinestevens318]

How wonderful to see the "can do" outlook is alive and well with you boys in N.I; so many machines have been sent overseas for scrap, but it's our craftsmen engineer's heritage we've consigned so readily aside. Well done for your amazing efforts.✊👍

[@matthewfoster6620]

Back in the late 2000's i was involved with maintenance at landfill site's up and down the UK. The company i subbed within burnt off the methane with huge gas engines. Some of the sites only generated 1.1MW but others were 10.5MW. Although those were gas engines instead of your diesel one's, they were still colossal and shoehorned into shipping containers with the cooling systems on top. I've had the pleasure of repairing a few of the exhaust baffle boxes, before work could start on those the engine would have to be shut down for a full 32 hours before the lagging was removed to enable inspection, even after 32 hours they're still HOT to touch. Each box weighed around 3T and were notorious for stress cracking. I can appreciate what you've done saving those engines with the history that's come with them, a LOT of hard work with the decommissioning, stress, lifts and transportation. I would love to have seen the electrical panel for those two sets with the changeover, it must have been colossal! Looking forward to the following video..

[@johnerdis5094]

Fantastic!. Whomever installed that knew what they were at.

[@seroxide]

Thanks!

[@allistairc123]

Gentleman thanks for support

[@31144]

They are Ruston 8RKC's, air start by the looks of them, almost identical to the English Electric 8SVT ( British Rail Class 20 engine) rods, liners and pistons look identical to SVT, should have a 10 inch bore with a 12 inch stroke, they are mint ❤, worth about 8 to 10K ( just the engine) get them fired up 😂😂😂😂 European Diesels over here in Wigan still sell spares for these, the engines on there own weigh about 12 tons

[@allistairc123]

Thanks for the info bud

[@TechOne7671]

That’s what I was thinking when I seen the GEC logo. An English Electric loco engine. EE became GEC. Thanks

[@Iaintwoke]

I'm surprised at that. I would have thought they would be worth even more.

[@31144]

@TechOne7671 The 8RK is basically a Mk2 version of the 8SVT, they moved the high pressure injection lines outside of the rocker covers to stop fuel dilution should a pipe leak and the pumps have seperate drains, They did a similar thing to the 12CSVT ( became the 12 RK in the BR Class 58) and the 16CSVT ( became the 16RK in the BR class 56)

[@31144]

No market for them after MTU and EMD have monopolised the market by buying up all the other big diesel engine manufacturers and shutting them down then pulling the plug on spares backup, MAN did it to Paxman, should never have been allowed in my eyes

[@stewartross1233]

Would love to see them saved and running!

[@welderfabber]

This is epic! Proper adventure, hope mums doing well.

[@allistairc123]

Thanks Baz yes got her home after 5 days thankfully 👍👍

[@Iaintwoke]

When it said V8 I thought surely they would be V12s. I used to maintain an old hospital standby generator at a place I worked and that was a similar sized Cummins V12. It had a warm water pump system so if it had to start it was pre warmed. These are awesome V8s. 👍

[@jackking5567]

Just can't beat the old engineering.

[@RalfyCustoms]

Happy days Alistair, hope mam is doing ok mate, absolutely mental project 😂 thanks for sharing and best wishes to you and yours Ralfy

[@christopherjones7459]

I worked in UK power stations. We had similar but bigger Ruston's. 3.5 MW so over 5000HP. IIRC they were V12. Amazing job rescuing those!

[@scotthenry3401]

I was thinking myself that i had worked on a similar type of engine, but it was a 12 cylinder one aswell, if my memory os correct it was in a boat.

[@MrAllstar]

These engines are essentially just run in, if they were in a ship they would have only sailed for 21 days and then parked. The insides look brand spanking new.😊

[@brandonlavan2825]

Watching from Pennsylvania USA, you will push through it!! Proud to watch another welder on the other side of the world! Keep it up!

[@jamesriordan3494]

Would love to hear those run !

[@elcochero1172]

What bothers me the most is the scale of government funded waste !!! Those gensets are effectively " Brand New " and could easily be incorporated into any " New Build " requiring stand by power !! Whatever new hospital we build will have to have some form of back up as our recent storms have shown .. I expect that there will be some totally insane requirement for exhaust emissions to comply to the latest specs on new build projects, regardless of the fact that if these " STANDBY" gensets are ever needed to run 24/7 we will have more things on our mind than IMMISIONS !!!

[@TheAruruu]

the thing is, those engines could likely be augmented to meet the emission requirements by using the exhaust instead of just silencing and venting it. for an engine of that size, i'm sure you could extract heat energy from both the engines themselves (instead of just dumping that out of radiators), and from the exhaust. the one thing i don't think could really be managed is efficiency requirements. that said, since they're backup gensets instead of mains gensets, the efficiency requirements could likely be waived. either way, it's still a shame that they're regarded as "scrap" by the agencies involved.

[@VelEire_]

We had a 1980’s hino engine in college running less emissions than a basically new 2012 tdci fiesta just by tweaks no after treatment systems. Always possible to improve emissions they just won’t class it as euro 4 from factory so paperwork won’t cover it and they’ll be caught up in a disposable system of new unreliable muck instead of thinking

[@stefankaufmann8257]

🤦‍♂️ I worked on backup generators, they always have low hours. Indirect injection systems produce less or let's say other emissions. But they consume far more diesel than modern engines and this is an important factor, if you need a self sufficiency for 48 hours or even a week. There are no requirements to replace old generators for modern ones due to emission codes. Used gensets usually sell pretty good, if there is a reliable spare part supply. Self built by Harland & Wolf - they filed for bancruptsy years ago - makes it unsellable. That's why they are sold for scrap.

[@Eavis_excavations]

Great video Alistar very interesting but can see how much work was involved in removal look forward to the next chapter would love to hear it running 😎👌🏻👍🏻

[@crazymtbrider]

I did ask for more massive jobs like the broken cast and i think you hit the nail with this one! Looking forward to the second video 👍

[@jankotze1959]

Fantastic, to save any engine is an achievement for me, well done friends

[@GarethBrennan-n4f]

Amazing work so far. Them engines are worth a small fortune. Forget scrap value their not scrap their nearly new.

[@allistairc123]

Would you have any market leads? Thanks

[@robbiewright4414]

Well done @ allistairc123 Two big beautiful analogue engines, no farting around with a computer to tell you it's feeling depressed and doesn't want to start unless you upload another programme. Looking forward to seeing part two mate 👍

[@peterhall6656]

Soon as I saw them I thought they were out of a ship and low and behold the caption comes up about Harland and Woolf.

[@rayfalcon777]

I have seen way bigger v8 and 12 cylinder engines myself but this is the first year down I’ve seen so far thanks for the awesome videos and great details

[@Zodliness]

Incredible engineering... I'd be interested in one for a Fiesta engine swap, but I may have to upgrade the suspension just a little bit first. 😉😂

[@SpruceSculptures]

That is one clean cool engine . It looks new inside.

[@RalfyCustoms]

40:33 😂😂😂 the luxury of clouds 😂😂

[@logana1010]

Another awesome video Alistair! monster project, but well worth it in terms of saving some pieces of N.I history, aswell as gaining a hugely usefull piece of gear which could power your whole workshop, aswell as half of County Down. Eagerly awaiting part two, Cheers From New Zealand!

[@dannycrooks8462]

Brilliant video 📹 👏 👌 👍

[@raymondrobertson3869]

Hi Allistair. Just spoke to my old boss he will have a look at your video an see if he would be interested in the V8. If so he will get in touch with you. He is an easy guy to talk to and is very knowledgeable. Good luck Raymond 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

[@allistairc123]

Gentleman thanks 👍

[@memyselfandeye1234]

Stunning ... Thank You Kindy For Sharing ... peace

[@paddymcnally2177]

Good man Allistair, always great videos to watch.

[@stephenhoran7597]

Should definitely be saved!!

[@paddlerpaul2577]

Amazing work. I don't know how you managed to pull all this off. Amazing.

[@JonesMetalCraft]

Can't wait to see those come out. Great stuff!

[@LloydJamieson63]

Good on you dude - much love from Scotland 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

[@BurnAndHackett_RC]

Well done that team ! Those are an impressive looking pair of gensets and well worth saving from the scrap, they may never be run in anger, but are a fantastic tribute to those who designed and built them. Back in 1998 I went to visit family in Sydney, Australia and got a backstage tour of an insurance company, mutli storey building which had 3 x V12 Cummins powered gensets as back up for their computer systems, along with a massive capacitor bank, and Ford diesel powered water pumps for the fire sprinkler system . That was a sight to behold, and I almost keeled over when I was told that they had an identical layout several floors up !!! Looking forward to part 2 (and 3?).

[@floridanick]

Incredible, thank you for wanting to save them

[@GebNorris]

Great work , unbelievable amount of work in 2.5 days . Looking forward to part 2

[@stefankaufmann8257]

Seen a bigger one with a V16 engine in a swiss telecom transmitter station. The mechanic fired it up for me, sounds great, when the turbochargers speed up 😁

[@JohnChrysostom101]

Monster engines wow save em!

[@Savagetechie]

Absolute monsters, it would have been such a shame if they'd gone to the scrap.

[@7333-e3k]

Thanks for the video as always, can't wait for part 2!

[@dwest320]

Looking forward to part 2.

[@steamfan7147]

Beautiful engines!

[@dannycrooks8462]

Hopefully someone who worked on those engines will see the videos

[@kenwood8665]

Absolutely Outstanding video

[@mikeslayer5926]

neat project ,...a new double engine pullin tractor , EH Mike

[@sinsloth12]

Great content ... Thanks so much !!

[@martyn450f3]

Fantastic video again Allistair. Do you know what the hospital is going to do for back up power now ?

[@allistairc123]

They have a large modern containerized generator that will probably just be changed every few years regardless of usage

[@robertsternlieb5532]

amazing. thank you!

[@roseironworks1393]

amazing gotta hear one running !

[@philmulrooney7020]

No replacement for displacement. Outstanding

[@TechOne7671]

That’s a topper of a project. The setup, the way it’s laid out, it’s an old school proper job machine room. Looks like a HV alternator, 11KV ? The colour coding of the pipework is a British Standard, used to see posters in plantrooms telling you what the colours mean. I have been in the “ it needs to be gone by next week situation”, then having to drop a bollock trying to achieve the impossible. All good fun. All the best.

[@PelicanIslandLabs]

Wow............ what a massive undertaking! What will you do with these? Seems like the owner should be paying you go remove them. ???

[@jimallen9442]

Funny you posted this today, I'm looking for a new engine for my kids go cart.

[@ivoryjohnson4662]

Glad you saved them

[@andrewleigh3065]

amazing . well done

[@usernamesreprise4068]

I think these sets would have only been kit constructed by Harland and Wolff, being that the Engines themselves were (are) Diesel electric Locomotive power units built by English Electric/ Ruston at the Vulcan foundary train works in Vulcan village, Newton le Willows near Warrington after its aquisition by E.E, if I saw the plate correctly the alternators appear to be made in Colchester by G.E.C. Obviously superb workmanship by Harlands to mount them as cohesive generating units. cant wait for the next episode, have been hooked on this channel since the dumper steering bush rebuild vid a while back.

[@jimtom8273]

Its really cool i can actually understand yall, i struggle with brits somtimes...from a yank

[@notsofresh8563]

Build a GIANT welder that uses 6" thick rods. It would speed up some of your smaller jobs.....

[@hamptonequipment5853]

I think you will find they were built in Newton-Le-Willows, as on the name plate. Ruston, Paxman and Dorman were all owned by GEC diesels and were most probely built between 1970-1975 in the Vulcan works.

[@billsmith5166]

Holy Mary. I wonder if there are any ships that might need a retrofit?

[@dannycrooks8462]

Even better 3 parts

[@steveanderson4768]

Height wise, those are massive one ship I was on in 1986 in the US Navy the USS Petrol ASR -14 we had 4 Cat D399 16V engines 1000 hp 1225 RPM hooked to four generators that turned the main propulsion DC electric motors that drove the propeller shaft commissioned in 1943

[@chekymonkey4452]

great video. I love it

[@johngibson3837]

Hey up allistairc just a breathtaking video so glad to see you saving these, think you should put one in the new holland (prob make more sense to power your workshop though) second one could go on back of my unimog to make it an electric hybrid and keep the greenies happy. You talking about missing the Ozzy weather spoke to my sister living just south of cairns and they had a soft day, half a metre rainfall

[@Iaintwoke]

Surprised you didn't think about putting them down on solid bar rollers. Don't even think about scaffold tube. Dont ask how i know...😂

[@voltairegoethe]

and I thought at first they were going to be rescued from the scrapyard... man was I wrong.... monumental 10,000 mile journey ahead! one step at a time - this'll be a task... start with mufflers... it's only straight uphill from there

[@killdozerd11R]

That is one big project ...Will be waiting for more

[@stephenhoran7597]

Good luck

[@hamiltonsullivan6563]

I think my EMD 8-645's are slightly bigger but idk... Very rad save though man! Good on you ( :

[@litz13]

Had 16-567s on the locomotives I played with on a tourist line. Local museum has a SD45 with a *20*-645! And it runs!

[@hamiltonsullivan6563]

@litz13 rad! My two sw8's have 8-645's

[@litz13]

@@hamiltonsullivan6563 nice! Those will run forever, too

[@hamiltonsullivan6563]

@@litz13 agreed!!! And thanks ( :

[@Martin-t9s4y]

Loved the video you need, Mammoet with the remote trailer with 100s of wheels for help

[@Planeiron]

huge diesels how many turbos do they have...Great vid 👍👍🚛🚛🚛🚛

[@matthewgoodchild6763]

Please dont sell them! I know you want your cash back and a healthy profit(fair play to you) how about a “Go fund me” to set up a purpose buit museum to house them. Youd be surprised how many people would want to come see them run,short demo to see the noise and power then shut them down. Otherwise they are going to a mine or quarry etc to finish thier days(quickly) Being used on a tight budget and they are lost all youve done is delay thier destruction. Please consider this option if they arent already sold. Love your channel and what u do. 🙏

[@millarcontracts]

Brilliant saw the photos but didn't see this video coming Looking forward till number 2 What has replaced these? Gas?

[@localcrew]

These would be perfect for someone who needs long-term power in a remote location. There must be a brokerage of some kind that deals with these power plants. They are beautiful.

[@garfield1415]

Sending best wishes to your Mum!

[@cornovii3012]

If Allen Millyard finds out about these he will have 2 wheels and a pair of handlebars bolted to one by the end of the year 🤣

[@jimlondon1]

Very interesting stuff. I hope you find a buyer for one of those monsters. Surely they'd Go for export no problem if they can be used for industrial and marine use.

[@jimallen9442]

Awesome!

[@cenccenc946]

Drift car project!!! 😆

[@RS.8184]

So, today we don’t have diesel engines as backup we have electronic generators? Like those huge boxes? Amazing though to think in the past it was diesel engines with huge turbos etc. I am glad there are passionate people who understand why these need to be saved from scrapping.

[@davetaylor4741]

Amazing engines. I have been looking them up since watching your video. Have been doing AI searches. Could find bigger diesels, obviously, but not V8. Did find that Ruston has a fantastic archive. And there is even a lot online all about the variety of engines they built. Very interesting in itself. Look forward to part two. Weather in Oz. Bloody hot. But we have had a lot of rain. And the tropical north has been hammered.

[@Stopsstalkingbro]

Interesting stuff.

[@grahame101]

Brilliant video Live in West Lothian Scotland Know exactly what you mean about Rain and Drizzle most of the time