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Have BMC engines "had their day"


Alan de Enfield

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57 minutes ago, Tony Brooks said:

As Leyland was just a truck maker when the 1.5 came into service they never marnised the engine. It came in under Austin-Morris that was  essentially the Nuffield group. Then it was branded  BMC. As far as I know Newage were the BMC approved marinisers at that time. Then I think Newage went pop and Tempest took over. There was no difference between the Newage and Tempest marinisations. Essentially there were only two volume makes of diesels in this size, Perkins and BMC with BMC being highly successful so more and more individuals and companies started to marinise these engines. That's where Thorneycrof and JG Meaks come in and I know a lot of others. Meaks had their own flywheel housings cast and their own exhaust manifold. Others bought them in from Polar or Bowman and Tempest. We can add AMC to the list of marinisers I know about but there are more with one casting their own timing cover and other mounting the raw water pump on the timing cover so no secondary drive belt was required. I am  sure there was an operation marinisisng them, on the Broads. Add to that the Freds in sheds marinising their open ex vehicle engines.

 

In the 70s I  went for a job in a company making all sorts of agricultural/industrial equipment powered by 1.5s and they had racks of them direct form the factory that hey added the equipment needed for their specific applications. BMC have produced agricultural and industrial base engines with subtle differences hence the variety of engine water pumps, the availability of a mechanical rev counter  take off and I think the rear main design. When I was on the tools you could come across all types in boats

 

I am sure the reason we get more and more 1.5s causing problems is a combination of sheer numbers in use and the age of them plus the inability of so many people now a days to look after them adequately.

 

 The success of the 1.5 was such that  Ford dieselfied one of their 1500 OHV engines but it was never as widely used as the BMC. I suspect the development of the CAV DPA pump had as lot to do with the ability to convert petrol engines to diesel. BMC even dieslefied the 998 cc A series engine and I believe a hire fleet in Wales used them. It was intended for a Nuffield horticultural tractor. Until around 1960 if you wanted a small diesel you had to accept a single, two or three cylinder like Listers and the Perkins P3.

 

 

Edited to add: I understand that PRM stands for Percy Riley Motors so that would indicate that the makers of PRM boxes had their roots in the Nuffield Group so it would be sensible to use the Newage/PRM company to marinise the base engines because they already had a suitable marine gearbox.

 

The BMC 1.5 in my former boat came from JG Meakes, presumably from the boatyard by Marlow bridge, this was coupled with a Thamesway (I think) gearbox, is was a dreadful unit. always wearing the small splines on the input shaft, I changed this to a Hurth box with a new bell housing and sold the old housing and box to Tewkesbury marine as spares for their hire fleet.

 

Agree with comments about users nowadays not understanding the 1.5 units, the blanks stares you get when you mention 'heater plugs' etc say's it all

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My friend has a Thornycroft 90 with the Thamesway Marine Products gearbox on it. Troublesome gearbox. I was a bit surprised to find they still make them but hell's teeth they are expensive !! 

 

http://www.thameswaymarineproducts.co.uk/

 

I definitely prefer my PRM deltas and having also had many hours boating on PRM 160 and 260 have never had any trouble at all..

Excellent units. 

 

Edited by magnetman
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Many years ago,I had a BMC 1.5 (ex J2 van) coupled to a Morris Vedette gearbox.in a 30ft boat .Bit of a nightmare,as the gearbox could not take the power of the engine. I got very quick at taking the gearbox out and re building it. At the time,parts for this old Newage gearbox were stil about. Just checked on Google. The orrigional Morris Vedette unit used the old sidevalve engine as fitted to the Morris 8.

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17 minutes ago, nebulae said:

Many years ago,I had a BMC 1.5 (ex J2 van) coupled to a Morris Vedette gearbox.in a 30ft boat .Bit of a nightmare,as the gearbox could not take the power of the engine. I got very quick at taking the gearbox out and re building it. At the time,parts for this old Newage gearbox were stil about. Just checked on Google. The orrigional Morris Vedette unit used the old sidevalve engine as fitted to the Morris 8.

That old S/V engine also was used in Post war Morris 8's and the MM Morris Minor up until 1955 when it was replaced by the 803cc O/H/V engine.

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On 29/07/2020 at 09:55, bizzard said:

That old S/V engine also was used in Post war Morris 8's and the MM Morris Minor up until 1955 when it was replaced by the 803cc O/H/V engine.

The Lucas magneto on our Kelvin was salvaged from a  scrapper Vedette s/v engine. The mag is unusual, the coil is encased in epoxy resin instead of  varnish  impregnation. It never seems to suffer from damp problems.(not saying anything about other difficulties!)

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25 minutes ago, billh said:

The Lucas magneto on our Kelvin was salvaged from a  scrapper Vedette s/v engine. The mag is unusual, the coil is encased in epoxy resin instead of  varnish  impregnation. It never seems to suffer from damp problems.(not saying anything about other difficulties!)

?

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On 29/07/2020 at 09:35, nebulae said:

Many years ago,I had a BMC 1.5 (ex J2 van) coupled to a Morris Vedette gearbox.in a 30ft boat .Bit of a nightmare,as the gearbox could not take the power of the engine. I got very quick at taking the gearbox out and re building it. At the time,parts for this old Newage gearbox were stil about. Just checked on Google. The orrigional Morris Vedette unit used the old sidevalve engine as fitted to the Morris 8.

 

On 29/07/2020 at 09:55, bizzard said:

That old S/V engine also was used in Post war Morris 8's and the MM Morris Minor up until 1955 when it was replaced by the 803cc O/H/V engine.

Much loved for running on paraffin when it was cheaper than petrol - with or without much modification

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