Any Pancake engines made?

[FAST FRED]

Some time ago the "pancake" engines were common in some industrial & marine applications.

Usually just a std engine laid on its side with the necessary mods to lube properly , and be serviced from only one side.

Am contemplating the use of such an engine due to its lower hight.
Are there any still being made? 100 to 200hp class.

FAST FRED

[Frosty]

Never heard of em bieng called a pancake engine but yanmar industrial make small ones up to about 20HP. Noisy little devils but made to go on and on in some field some where connected to a 50 gallon drum of fuel and a 50 gallon drum of water. But as you say they are accessable from the rear and side. I used to have one on a generator, you could remove the big end bearings with out removing the oil. The cylinder liner was pushed home with the head bolts, and the crank came out of one side with ball bearings on both ends.

A complete overhaul( exept a crank grind) could be done in the field in say,Oh 3 hours max

[Redsky]

well i dont exactly recall the make cummins maby but a pancake desil was used on all the old stainless side greyhound buss's..along with a HD automatic trans...some older ones were manuel also as i recall.

[george allard]

The only "pancake" engines, that I have seen latley, Are Continentals, 12 cylinder, in USA tanks.

[Swimpy]

Just saw a Detroit 6-71 Pancake on EBay.

Swimpy

[ron17571]

Fred u ever find that pancake motor?i read abot them being used in asia,i heard emissions problems keep them outa the usa.

[moTthediesel]

To revive this thread:
Was just reading that Subaru will be introducing a boxer 4 diesel into the Euro market next year, than (maybe) US soon after.
Direct injection, common rail type, not sure of the output, but surely over 100 hp I would think.
A marinized version would be sweet fer shur
moT

[FAST FRED]

Subaru has good reputation , a load of small aircraft fly with them , and flying , like boating requires constant power.

The only, not too hard to find pancake , or laid on its side engine, I have found ,so far is the DD 4-53 in its marine version, about 1960 era.


There still about 1000 lbs for 120hp , and only produce 16 hp from a gal of fuel as the design is 1930's.

A light weight diesel without a belt cam drive and with mechanical injection still is on the shopping list.

FF

[moTthediesel]

Originally Posted by FAST FRED

A light weight diesel without a belt cam drive and with mechanical injection still is on the shopping list.

FF

This engine will be light, I'm sure, and as I understand it, it will have chain driven cams. Alas, I'm afraid the mechanical injection diesel car engine has gone the way of the Dodo.

moT

[FAST FRED]

"Alas, I'm afraid the mechanical injection diesel car engine has gone the way of the Dodo."

Probably , but there is always the industrial and truck stuff as a source.

By finding a good engine and using the LAST configuration before the electric version , much of the modern engineering should be avilable.

Need about 150hp as a max with 50 to 120 for the cruise regime, hopefully not at 1200lbs.

FF