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Engine City Technical Institute
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HISTORY

Engine City Technical Institute was founded in Union City, New Jersey , in 1969 as a training center to accommodate the need for diesel mechanics in industrial New Jersey.


CURRICULUM

Engine City uses a nine-week "phase system", where a student will attend the same class, five hours a day, five days a week, for nine weeks before moving onto the next class. The classes are as follows (not all students take the same classes in the same order):

  • Drive-Train: The student trains on various Transmissions and Rear-end Carriers for light- through heavy-duty applications. Typically worked on are Eaton-Fuller Road-Ranger transmissions, the most common in the heavy-duty truck industry today.


  • Basic Engine: The student learns about the basic components of a diesel engine, such as the cylinder block, cylinder head, pistons, and crankshaft. In the shop, the student will completely disassemble, measure, reassemble, and run a Four-cylinder Isuzu Thermo-King generator engine, as well as do minor tasks on standard Straight-6 heavy-duty engines.


  • Chassis: A heavily shop-intensive course, the student will learn the miscellanea that is not covered in the other classes, such as tire removal and replacement, brake service, clutch replacement, air-system maintenance, and preventive maintenance checks for fleet trucks.


  • Electrical: A more classroom course than the other phases, the electrical class reviews basic electric theory, teaches use of Multimeter , starter removal and replacement, and non-engine related electronic troubleshooting, such as diagnosing dim headlights


  • Fuel Systems: A continuation of the Basic Engine course, this class requires both Basic Engine and Electrical as prerequisites. The student will learn in-depth information on fuel system troubleshooting on both all-mechanical and electronically-governed diesel engines, performing both basic maintenance and advanced troubleshooting tasks on Detroit Diesel , Caterpillar , and Cummins straight-sixes, both on separate engine stands and in actual trucks.


  • Advanced Shop: An almost entirely shop-oriented course and typically the student's last stop before graduation, Advanced Shop sets the student on live trucks and extremely-advanced tasks, such as removing, overhauling, and reinstalling the engine successfully into a truck. Students are also given some degree of freedom in learning how to cut and weld.



AFFILIATIONS

Engine City currently employs as instructors two former Cummins Techs of the Year, and as such have an extremely strong relationship with Cummins. Engine City also has a strong relationship with Binder as a result of Binder's head trainer being a graduate of the school. Several of Engine City's instructors also teach at Foley CAT, a major Caterpillar dealership. Unfortunately, Engine City has not been able to secure any relationship with Volvo Trucks or Mack Trucks beyond Mack sending several second-hand transmissions and rears to the Drive-Train shop.


THE FUTURE

There are two major potential directions that Engine City's administration is considering taking. The first direction would be to convert their current facility in South Plainfield into an automotive Motorcycle training facility, while purchasing a larger building to house the heavy-duty facility, as space is quite scarce in the current facility's bays.

The second direction would be to become a CAT affiliate and a major training center for Caterpillar technicians, which would render most of the current curriculum to be moot as it deals with non-Caterpillar technology, but at the same time provide CAT with a golden source of trained and refined techs.


CONTROVERSY?

Many students who attend Engine City are unhappy with the curriculum and the unreliability of the school's instructors (the Basic Engine class has gone through six instructors in three phases). Many also accuse the Fuel Systems course of being heavily Cummins-biased, as Cummins engines take up most of the classroom lecture time and outnumber Detroit and CAT combined almost two-to-one in actual iron, as well as being the only mechanical engines available to work on.


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