Cummins 855 questions

[Mike L]

I’ve got a customer with a NH-220-IF (industrial fire pump) which is a backup sprinkler system engine for a wood mill. Was leaking coolant from the head gaskets and bubbling compression while running. Removed heads and found pistons pretty beat up. Customer wanted to rebuild engine. Lo and behold, it’s pretty damn hard to find parts for a 1973 engine. Took heads to machine shop to be checked. They called to and said the injector tubes were leaking and they didn’t have the parts or tooling to do the job because the tubes were larger than normal?
I called around and found a running big cam 350 out of a fire truck. Customer says no that they need to stay with the fire pump engine. The current engine is just a back and basically runs at 1000 rpm’s. I have limited experience with these so I’m wondering why the big cam wouldn’t work and why would the current engine have larger injector tubes? CPL028 serial number 10264739

 

[Truck Shop]

The 220-743cu.in. really was a different engine although externally the same. Parts can be had, Interstate McBee.
But that engine ran some bad fuel through it, Because it was a backup it sat with a lot of old fuel contaminated
with water. That's why the pistons look like that. Problem is you need to pull the liners check the upper and
lower liner bores in the block plus clean the deck and check the water ports for erosion. You need to find a
full diesel machine shop for the heads, injector coppers are available and those engines are still around.
you might Try Diesel Cast West-they are owned by Middle Distributors in Texas. I believe they have cylinder
heads available, they also have a machine facility on the east coast IIRC.

 

[Mike L]

My local interstate mcbee dealer says it’s obsolete. Tried going direct through Cummins without much luck. No surprise there. If we could find a complete kit I’d completely inframe it. I didn’t realize they were different engines. That’s what you get for assuming I guess.

 

[Truck Shop]

Barrington Diesel.com will have the specs and torque limits.

 

[Truck Shop]

Try Agkits.com.

 

[Truck Shop]

Cummins is worthless on their older engines, the people who own that dinosaur couldn't afford Cummins
prices even if Cummins had the parts.

 

[Truck Shop]

FP Diesel lists 220 parts Federal Mogul.

 

[Truck Shop]

https://www.agkits.com/cummins-743-oe-18440wsbm98224-sleeve.aspx?msclkid=c83006b16a481f0565ae67675dfbece1&utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=KC Shopping - Long Tail&utm_term=4583657831098815&utm_content=All Products#.YdY5UGjMKUk

https://www.mddistributorsstore.com/fp-diesel/184400/cylinder-liner

 

[Tyler d4c]

I Going to be that guy that engine was as old as I and now the day I was born.......Tis just a pup I am.......

 

[JLarson]

Fire pump engines have to be listed for fire pump service.

Maybe find a pump company in your area that could point you to a machine shop that can do it.

 

[DMiller]

Most fire or general pump engines I worked around were third rate blocks, too weak for road service engines but great to sit and rot on a standby pump. Was a grind away code on the side of Cummins blocks for years, 1 2 3 4, ground away the grade level of casting with 4 being the lowest usable for anything. Pump and standby engines were nearly all 3s or 4s.

 

[terex herder]

I've got an old Cummins in the shed that is still attached to a fire pump. Stationary engine, was installed with a marine heat exchanger. Any interest?

 

[funwithfuel]

I remember going out to service an inline 8 cylinder Chrysler for a water pump. The block was so badly corroded that the cylinders weeped water . I told them it was beyond saving. Their response was, We can't replace the engine, you HAVE to fix what's there. The reason being, the fire marshal signed off on that configuration was acceptable at time it was put in service. To replace it would mean an 11 liter DD series 60 engine and a larger pump. To support that , the entire plant would have to be re-piped. They would have been happy paying whatever we asked, as long as they didn't have to stop producing

 

[Mike L]

So I found a kit from from highway and heavy parts for in “I F” engine. $1200 shipped. I think I found a machine shop with tooling to do the injector cups about 100 miles from me. Even Cummins northeast didn’t think they still had the tooling. Terex herder, if you weren’t so far away I would be interested. Fun with fuel, the reason they are pushing so hard to fix this engine is the same reasons you stated. Apparently the Insurance company will only accept a fire pump engine.

 

[Truck Shop]

highway and heavy parts

Highway and Heavy Parts is a clearing house for vendors.

 

[DMiller]

Insurers are Stupid, What ever was on the Specs sheets when they underwrote that policy has to remain the functional system, ran into that similar issue at the Nuke.

 

[terex herder]

Terex herder, if you weren’t so far away I would be interested.

Yeah, I know. Freight would be twice purchase price.

 

[Spud_Monkey]

I've got an old Cummins in the shed that is still attached to a fire pump. Stationary engine, was installed with a marine heat exchanger. Any interest?
View attachment 251467

Looks around mischievously... You know there was this nice size Boy Scout campfire that got close to here last year and this would been handy to have

 

[DMiller]

Gonna need a BIGGER lake now Spud, to draw off of with that New To You pump!!!!

At the Nuke the Fire pumps were aligned for Auto Start should there be a fire Deluge system release. A standby Keep full and pressurized pump had the Main Header at 148#, the first Pump to start was Electric Driven, at ~140#, Next up first Diesel at 130# then Second Diesel at 120#, I and two others had the Auspicious Notation managed to start ALL THREE pumps at One time doing firewater Header Flushes by cycling a Hydrant open Fast Enough!!!
Had Two 100,000gal tanks, was Enga Figured to last 4 hours to eight hours fire fighting Multiple fires at Full Flow of multiple Deluge systems with Hand Fire Fighting with hose lines. After that had a Cooling lake would draw directly off. Engines had Antifreeze Marine style Cooling systems where as pump started a solenoid would open and the discharge water would duct a copious quantity to keep that Marine Radiator Cooled off. Do NOT know why radiators in general were not applied to that. Pumps were rated at volume enough to feed multiple events at same time, pressure would suffer. To test run these we had a bypass line directly back to tanks where could deliver 150-200gpm back at design pressure. Microbial destruction of the pumps was biggest concern on a stagnant fresh water system.

 

[RenoHuskerDu]

I remember going out to service an inline 8 cylinder Chrysler for a water pump. The block was so badly corroded that the cylinders weeped water . I told them it was beyond saving. Their response was, We can't replace the engine, you HAVE to fix what's there. The reason being, the fire marshal signed off on that configuration was acceptable at time it was put in service. To replace it would mean an 11 liter DD series 60 engine and a larger pump. To support that , the entire plant would have to be re-piped. They would have been happy paying whatever we asked, as long as they didn't have to stop producing

It's not just the Fire Marshall. I've been VFD for years. The feds are regulating us heavily now. We have trouble retaining VFs anymore because they need 10hrs a week of training to keep up with stupid federal lowest-common-denominator laws from Homeland such as NIMS, TIMS, hours of mind-numbing fed videos to watch yearly with no fast forward. It's killing VFDs nationwide, forcing us to hire pros instead. IMHO.

This requirement for a designated FD pump motor may or may not be a fed issue that you cite. I'd swap in a Big Cam 3 and not tell anyone. That's what my Chief would do, but we're old school here.