New Member

[cobra95blk]

Hey! Everybody! I am a diesel truck mechanic with 40 years + experience. My first 25 years was spent working on Mack Trucks---specializing on Mack engines---6 cyl. and especially Mack V8's--- 864's , 865's , 866's and early 1005 series (998 cu.in. ), known later as E9's. I left as a heavy line mechanic for dealership's ( Bruckner's in Amarillo , TX--1985-- and factory branch ( San jose , CA in 1983) since then most of my work shifted to PM and repair work for fleets. I began my diesel mechanic's apprenticeship at Dallas Mack Trucks in March of 1968. Moved back to Amarillo , TX in Nov. 1968 and finished my apprenticeship at Bruckner's Mack Trucks there. I moved to San Jose , CA and started work for Motor Truck Distributors ( A Mack factory branch ) in Aug. 1974. It seemed I had an above average apptitude for working on engines--- I started working on naturally aspirated 864's in early 1970---nobody else liked to work on the V8's---but, I did. Then , Mack came out with the Maxidyne 865 V8 at 325 hp and a little later the Thermodyne 866 V8 at 375 hp. The two engines are virtually identical inside and out. There were some production problems on the early 865's and 866's that required extensive modification in the field and these were mostly carried out when these engines came in for a rebuild. Well! WHEWW! that was a quick synopsis for now. One more thing ---I really liked these engines and when properly set up ( advance timing 6 degrees--- a couple of turns on the fuel rack in the injection pump---raise injector pop pressure 10%----set exh. valves loose--- .028 not .024; set int. valve tight----.012 not .016 , shim the puff limiter valve with 2 .100 shims--- bring the RPM's up to 2400 RPM. These engines would come alive like you wouldn't believe. I set an 866 up for a produce hauler that was putting 425 hp to the wheels!!!!! And as long as he kept the RPM's on the engine under 1800 on the flat stretches of highway ( approx. 63 MPH ) with Mack 3.17 rearends, he was getting almost 8 MPG!!! And there were other similar V8's I set up this way for Owner/operators. Of course these modifications were highly illegal by the CA. and FED EPA, but I didn't care at the time--------I just knew these engines could run if you set them up right. See Ya! Have any qestions --just ask. mackV8mechanic

[Lmackattack]

welcome to the site. looks like you will fit right in here. We have alot of V8 fans here and im shure you will be helping them out with questions soon. Its still a sought after engine but parts are scarse today.

Again welcome to the site

Trent

[Rob]

Always great to have "talent" participate in the forum(s). I've always been one that liked the V8's myself, (I currently have three) and will be sure to post a few questions myself. There is no replacement for experience, and a person willing to share their experience is an invaluable asset.

We look forward to your participation and welcome to the site!

Rob

[Barry]

Welcome to BMT! Glad to have you aboard!

[theakerstwo]

Welcome to the site and i know you will like this forum, I hang here my self and dont get in the way much but dont have to much to say but enjoy reading. I started working on macks in 1965 and the 864 was in production as well as the B model truck. I wish i had taken some photos of that time frame but did not.The 865 was a big inprovement over the 864 and better power also But enjoy the site . glenn

[other dog]

There's nothing like a V8 Mack! straight pipes a must!

[Rob]

There's nothing like a V8 Mack! straight pipes a must!

I don't know about a straight piped, natural aspirated 864 V8 there Tom. Probably wouldn't be able to hear a thing after a few miles with one of those!

My 865 engine has no mufflers and sounds quite nice without objections from others.

Definately have a sound of their own.

Rob

[ducky698]

Hello, welcome, its the place to be for Mack stuff, i have an 866 that i am intercooling, so that should be interesting??

[ducky698]

Hello, welcome, its the place to be for Mack stuff, i have an 866 that i am intercooling, so that should be interesting??

regards Grant

[other dog]

I don't know about a straight piped, natural aspirated 864 V8 there Tom. Probably wouldn't be able to hear a thing after a few miles with one of those!

My 865 engine has no mufflers and sounds quite nice without objections from others.

Definately have a sound of their own.

Rob

yeah,I love that sound! A guy that lived down the road from me in Appomattox had a Ford pickup with a diesel in it,and I don't know what he did to the exhaust system but he changed something,maybe put the turbo kit on it,but the first time he drove by the house I was in the back yard and ran around to the front because it sounded like a V8 Mack was coming up the road.

As i've said here before,Eddie Moore,who worked in the shop at H.H.Moore's but was not kin,had 2 F-models with V8 325s and nothing H.H. had would stay in the same county with them,not even a 400 cummins...especially the one his son Al drove,which was turned up to the max-he's the one that used to pull off on the ramp at the bottom of North Mountain on I-64 and wait for the rest of us to go by, then catch and pass every one of us before we got to the top,when we were hauling wood chips to Covington. He had a straight pipe on that truck,turned straight out,that wasn't much higher than the top of the cab. Of course we had the window down because AC hadn't been invented then. I've been a V8 Mack fan ever since.

[Rob]

There's nothing like a V8 Mack! straight pipes a must!

Alright Tom, now ya done did it!! That comment about "straight stacks are a must" caused me to go into the shop, start six of my seven Macks, and the one Cat, and all was fine until I started the 57 B-61T, with an END-673 natural, straight pipe, and no muffler. This one hadn't been started since the water pump was rebuilt and cooling system not refilled in July of 05. Well after getting batteries installed, she fired right up and promptly ran out of fuel before stabilizing. I then got on the hand primer, gave it about 50 pumps, (or so) and fired her up running quite nicely. Then with 50 plus pounds of oil pressure, I decided to give her a little juice and man, what a sound that is, (something like playing tug-o-war with a bulldog).

NOW IF I'M TALKING LOUD; IT'S BECAUSE I CAN'T EVEN HEAR MYSELF THINK!!!

Gotta put a muffler on it.

Gotta go for now as momma just finished up a lemon pie for me so time to eat! Can't let my leotard loosen up now could I?

Rob

[theakerstwo]

I don't know about a straight piped, natural aspirated 864 V8 there Tom. Probably wouldn't be able to hear a thing after a few miles with one of those!

My 865 engine has no mufflers and sounds quite nice without objections from others.

Definately have a sound of their own.

Rob

Rob years ago when i worked at the mack dealer here a customer that who come in at night and let me work on his truck, God bless him, but he wanted straight 4" stacks on his F model with a 864 non torbo. we put two ricker mulfflers on bottom because i told him the lttle short mufflers would sound better and sraight pipe up to 13ft. At 1800 rpm it had a purr i liked but you slowly run it on up to 2000 rpm and it would break glass. You could run the rpm up and down 200 rpm and it would i mean bark at a certain point. The hotter it got the more it would bark. I have to say that for noise from a stack i want two little glass pac muffler as close to the engine and as much pipe afterwards as i can get. A 220 or 250 sounds good like that and i had a 673 non turbo in my camper years ago like that i i could get going on that . I miss those old engine sounds but for me driving one i want one i cant hear. I am dealf now but i want the exhaust quiet were i can use the jake brake with out getting in trouble.

[Rob]

Rob years ago when i worked at the mack dealer here a customer that who come in at night and let me work on his truck, God bless him, but he wanted straight 4" stacks on his F model with a 864 non torbo. we put two ricker mulfflers on bottom because i told him the lttle short mufflers would sound better and sraight pipe up to 13ft. At 1800 rpm it had a purr i liked but you slowly run it on up to 2000 rpm and it would break glass. You could run the rpm up and down 200 rpm and it would i mean bark at a certain point. The hotter it got the more it would bark. I have to say that for noise from a stack i want two little glass pac muffler as close to the engine and as much pipe afterwards as i can get. A 220 or 250 sounds good like that and i had a 673 non turbo in my camper years ago like that i i could get going on that . I miss those old engine sounds but for me driving one i want one i cant hear. I am dealf now but i want the exhaust quiet were i can use the jake brake with out getting in trouble.

I sure agree Glenn. I've got 70X100 ft of floor space in my shop, no ceiling, a 27' peak, and the noise is LOUD with that truck at high idle. I do plan to put a "shorty" type of muffler under the cab also to tone it down a little bit. As you say at about 1800 steady rpm it would not be bad but above that, or asking for power it really gets loud. This is my daughters' truck and she has a heavy foot so to speak, (must be from her mothers side) so I need to have it comfortable to drive. Believe it or not she actually appreciates the sound of a well tuned diesel engine at work.

Rob

[other dog]

Alright Tom, now ya done did it!! That comment about "straight stacks are a must" caused me to go into the shop, start six of my seven Macks, and the one Cat, and all was fine until I started the 57 B-61T, with an END-673 natural, straight pipe, and no muffler. This one hadn't been started since the water pump was rebuilt and cooling system not refilled in July of 05. Well after getting batteries installed, she fired right up and promptly ran out of fuel before stabilizing. I then got on the hand primer, gave it about 50 pumps, (or so) and fired her up running quite nicely. Then with 50 plus pounds of oil pressure, I decided to give her a little juice and man, what a sound that is, (something like playing tug-o-war with a bulldog).

NOW IF I'M TALKING LOUD; IT'S BECAUSE I CAN'T EVEN HEAR MYSELF THINK!!!

Gotta put a muffler on it.

Gotta go for now as momma just finished up a lemon pie for me so time to eat! Can't let my leotard loosen up now could I?

Rob

huh? I put a straight pipe on the mixer too,mainly because I couldn't find a 4" muffler in the state!

[bulldoggin']

[mackdaddy1911a1]

Welcome aboard v8 hopefully one day I'll have the awsome E9 to talk to you about.

[skip]

Hey! Everybody! I am a diesel truck mechanic with 40 years + experience. My first 25 years was spent working on Mack Trucks---specializing on Mack engines---6 cyl. and especially Mack V8's--- 864's , 865's , 866's and early 1005 series (998 cu.in. ), known later as E9's. I left as a heavy line mechanic for dealership's ( Bruckner's in Amarillo , TX--1985-- and factory branch ( San jose , CA in 1983) since then most of my work shifted to PM and repair work for fleets. I began my diesel mechanic's apprenticeship at Dallas Mack Trucks in March of 1968. Moved back to Amarillo , TX in Nov. 1968 and finished my apprenticeship at Bruckner's Mack Trucks there. I moved to San Jose , CA and started work for Motor Truck Distributors ( A Mack factory branch ) in Aug. 1974. It seemed I had an above average apptitude for working on engines--- I started working on naturally aspirated 864's in early 1970---nobody else liked to work on the V8's---but, I did. Then , Mack came out with the Maxidyne 865 V8 at 325 hp and a little later the Thermodyne 866 V8 at 375 hp. The two engines are virtually identical inside and out. There were some production problems on the early 865's and 866's that required extensive modification in the field and these were mostly carried out when these engines came in for a rebuild. Well! WHEWW! that was a quick synopsis for now. One more thing ---I really liked these engines and when properly set up ( advance timing 6 degrees--- a couple of turns on the fuel rack in the injection pump---raise injector pop pressure 10%----set exh. valves loose--- .028 not .024; set int. valve tight----.012 not .016 , shim the puff limiter valve with 2 .100 shims--- bring the RPM's up to 2400 RPM. These engines would come alive like you wouldn't believe. I set an 866 up for a produce hauler that was putting 425 hp to the wheels!!!!! And as long as he kept the RPM's on the engine under 1800 on the flat stretches of highway ( approx. 63 MPH ) with Mack 3.17 rearends, he was getting almost 8 MPG!!! And there were other similar V8's I set up this way for Owner/operators. Of course these modifications were highly illegal by the CA. and FED EPA, but I didn't care at the time--------I just knew these engines could run if you set them up right. See Ya! Have any qestions --just ask. mackV8mechanic

Gday mate how are ya? Great to have you on board and thanks for sharing the V8 knowledge. I might have a question for you from time to time with a couple of 864s in need of repair. Im also after an 865 to go back into an F model. Would you know if you can still buy liners for those engines? Thanks mate, Skip.

[fullfuel01]

if V8 are in the topic, everybody have something to say!! never enough of an old V8 Mack

[kotflb]

Hey! Everybody! I am a diesel truck mechanic with 40 years + experience

Are you still working for Bruckners? I bought my '99 ch613 from them at their OKC store in 2001.

Can you do anything with these e7 e-tech engines, like advance the timing or even "fine tune" them for power and fuel economy?

If so, I would gladly bring my tractor to Amarillo. Thanks