Chapter 243

Qin Miao turned his head, looking toward the person who spoke.

The other person wore a faded work uniform washed until it was whitish, one sleeve still empty, with a thin face and eyes full of excitement.

"Zhu Lao?"

"Hmm, I never expected they'd also invite you to join the meeting. Come, San Shui, let's go together!"

"What?"

"I'm coming to a meeting? No way!"

Qin Miao wanted to deny it, but Zhu Lao had already grabbed his arm with his left hand; Qin Miao dared not move, fearing he'd shake Zhu Lao off balance, so he could only follow Zhu Lao while speaking up.

"Zhu Lao, what kind of meeting is this?"

"Of course it's the engine design meeting for the third-generation tank. Besides, you should attend—after all, you promised to boost the power of Mercedes-Benz's 14.6‑liter engine to five hundred horsepower, so raising our 38.8‑liter diesel engine to over a thousand horsepower shouldn't be that hard, right?"

"Tank engine R&D meeting!"

For a long time, Eastern tank engines have been based solely on the Soviet B2 diesel engine, with a V12 layout, displacement of 38.8 liters, power output over five hundred horsepower, and a five‑hundred‑hour service life.

And that last figure is the worst—it means the engine needs a major overhaul after five hundred hours!

Many later heavy‑truck engines achieve a B10 life of tens of thousands of hours, so the engine hardly ever needs a major overhaul in its lifetime.

As they spoke, Zhu Lao had already pulled Qin Miao to the meeting room door at the end of the corridor, where a dark crowd of people sat inside.

Qin Miao didn't know a single person there, feeling a bit embarrassed, and the attendees didn't know him either; as they stared at each other, Zhu Lao spoke up: "Comrades, let's give a warm round of applause to welcome Comrade Qin Miao!"

"Zhu Lao, I… I'm not sure I'm suited to attend this confidential meeting."

"How could you not be suitable? You're a big shot in the automobile engine field! You boosted Steyr's engine all the way to 370 horsepower—everyone was impressed, and many military vehicles can use that engine! Then you proposed raising the Mercedes‑Benz engine's output to five hundred horsepower, which shocked us even more!"

After Zhu Lao finished speaking, he pulled Qin Miao inside, saying, "Besides, you weren't invited to come, were you…"

Qin Miao had just wanted to explain when someone below spoke up.

"Comrade Qin Miao, can Ha Gong Da boost the power of our L‑series diesel engine? Oh, let me introduce myself—I'm from Shanchai, you can call me Old Ni."

Ni Zhaozheng, Factory Director of the Shanxi Diesel Engine Plant! And this plant has been producing the L‑series tank diesel engine, which is a copy of the Soviet B2 engine.

Currently, to develop a brand‑new tank we need an advanced diesel engine; domestic experts have split into two factions. One believes we should start from scratch by importing advanced foreign engines—we've examined British and German diesel engines and obtained some data, but these engines clearly have flaws.

The other faction holds that we can improve and upgrade our existing diesel engine to increase power; Factory Director Ni of Shanchai represents this view, and historically they developed a new X150 diesel engine based on the old engine.

However, due to certain inherent defects, the X150 engine was abandoned midway; Factory Director Ni then backed the 150HB technical route proposed by Chief Engineer Zhang Baozhong of the Engine Research Institute, for which he was denounced by factory workers as selling out the plant for personal glory.

Nevertheless, Factory Director Ni persisted, and that gave the Type 99 tank its mature heart!

Qin Miao admires such a person.

"Factory Director Ni, Ha Gong Da doesn't have a diesel‑engine specialty, and I'm not very familiar with it either..."

"Comrade Qin Miao, don't be modest—Austrians praise your improved WD615 engine without end. Ha Gong Da possesses this technology, so don't hide your light under a bushel; we've also heard you're planning to jointly develop a heavy‑truck engine with Mercedes‑Benz!" Another person spoke up: "I'll introduce myself too—I'm from the Engine Institute; you can call me Old Zhang."

"This must be Chief Engineer Zhang Baozhong? Today we've run into quite a few big shots."

"Ahem..."

"San Shui, don't be modest—excessive modesty is pride. Share your opinion."

"Okay, Zhu Lao, everyone, I think upgrading from the previous diesel‑engine technology is feasible; raising power to seven or eight hundred horsepower is no problem."

The old L‑series diesel engine was naturally aspirated; later, domestic engineers added a turbocharger, boosting its power to 730 horsepower—the engine used in the 80‑ton tank with six pairs of road wheels.

"Comrade Qin Miao, are you saying that further increasing power will cause problems?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"The cylinder spacing is too small."

Qin Miao hasn't actually been involved in tank‑engine R&D, but he knows some of the stories here; laying out the technical route would help everyone avoid detours.

"Back when the Soviets built the B2 diesel engine for the T‑34 tank, the engine compartment was already small; to reduce engine size they used not only a 60‑degree cylinder bank angle but also a small cylinder spacing. That design was fine, but when we try to squeeze more power out of the engine, cooling becomes an issue."

The problem with the X150 diesel engine lies exactly there—although Shanchai managed to raise its power to a thousand horsepower, the cooling issue remained unsolved; the engine would seize after a few hours of operation, forcing its abandonment.

The 150HB diesel engine, however, was a modification of the B2 engine, chiefly by increasing the cylinder spacing.

Cylinder spacing is simply the distance between two cylinders—easy to grasp. In a V12 engine, each bank has six cylinders; they can't be packed tightly, there must be a gap between them for coolant to flow through to carry away heat.

The greater the distance between cylinders, the better the cooling capacity, but the engine also becomes larger.

Not only can we Easterners not solve it, the Soviets couldn't either—their T‑72 engine, also based on the B2 with a turbocharger, reached only 780 horsepower and couldn't be increased further. Later, the Soviets even devised an odd X‑layout for their new engine, essentially mating two V‑engines together.

"Just a moment ago you said you didn't understand, but now you do!" Zhang Baozhong laughed; Qin Miao's view coincided perfectly with his own.

Factory Director Ni's expression was complex: "Well, since Comrade Qin Miao also agrees with enlarging the cylinder spacing, it seems our direct improvement isn't appropriate… Shanchai will abandon its original plan."

"This… this is putting too much trust in oneself, isn't it?" Qin Miao felt conflicted.

"San Shui, keep going!"

"To increase power, we still need a high‑performance turbocharger, a higher‑pressure oil pump, and better‑atomizing fuel injectors—these are also under development at Ha Gong Da, and if the tank engine requires them, we can transplant them over..."

In everyone's eyes there was vigor and enthusiasm. With Ha Gong Da's help, the tank engine R&D will go much more smoothly!