On 2015-09-13, Lloyd E. Sponenburgh lloydspinsidemindspring.com wrote:
Ignoramus32337 fired this volley in
:

Lloyd, it has a green roots blower on the side, you can see it. It
ALSO has a turbo on top (you can also see it). You can press the
magnification icons near the photo to magnify it.

Ok... I see it now. It just looked like "background" until I magnified
the picture.

The picture sucks. That may have something to do with the fact that I
got it for $300 plus BP.

Yes, with both a blower and the turbo, it should be a good motor, and
relatively efficient -- but still check out those bearings in the turbo
(unless you find a customer who already knows and doesn't care).

I do not know how I can check those bearings, as they are inside the
turbo.

We ran them in boats with only the blowers, and they were still dynamite
motors with lots of long-term reliability.

They are very lovely and very MANLY motors with a bad ass sound. They
have that general BAD ASS attitude and that's why people love
them. Plus a lot of power for weight and generally reliable if not
pushed too hard.

No wonder custom-builders still seek them out and refurbish them to
"like new" condition.

I think that at this point in time, the market for them is entirely
driven by nostalgia, not by money making or convenience
considerations. Whoever specifies one for their boat do it for
nostalgic reasons.

I love those motors too.

Here's the 3-53 that I sold four years ago (or so). All pictures were
taken with the motor running.

http://yabe.chudov.com/Detroit-Diesel-3-53/

I bought that one for $200, forgot what I sold it for.

i