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Godiva Engine (Coventry Climax)


mark99

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Not sure if this belongs in here but poss more footfall/mousefall in this General forum.

 

Is anyone running a Godiva Engine in their boat?  (Coventry Climax marine diesel I vaguely think?).

 

Gentleman on the cut has a lovely example and not sure if it's a rare example or not. Any info welcome.

 

Ta.

 

 

 

 

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5 hours ago, mark99 said:

Not sure if this belongs in here but poss more footfall/mousefall in this General forum.

 

Is anyone running a Godiva Engine in their boat?  (Coventry Climax marine diesel I vaguely think?).

 

Gentleman on the cut has a lovely example and not sure if it's a rare example or not. Any info welcome.

 

Ta.

Our very first narrowboat had a single-thumper diesel which I was told was the predecessor to the Climax - a Coventry Victor.

 

Raw water cooled and when stopping it if you let go of the little bit of string while it still had one revolution left stored in the flywheel then it'd start straight back up again... bang.... wait.... bang... wait... bang... bang... bang... bangbangbang...

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Some stuff on the company and the engines here. It reckons they did make marine engines, but they were also used in fire pumps, Hillman Imps and Lotus road and Formula 1 cars at one point. An industrial museum my family were/are involved with had a fire fighting pump made by they. Very small and light.

Jen

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11 minutes ago, Jen-in-Wellies said:

Some stuff on the company and the engines here. It reckons they did make marine engines, but they were also used in fire pumps, Hillman Imps and Lotus road and Formula 1 cars at one point. An industrial museum my family were/are involved with had a fire fighting pump made by they. Very small and light.

Jen

 

All this time I've read your name as Jen in Wales!  Thanks brill.

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The fire pump engines were also in what they called the light weight pump. The Nottinghamshire service dragged one down the bank one night to pump out our NB which was taking on water. It soon sucked out the water in the back of the hold but when the moved it to the front it sucked up a lump of coal and went bang, they had forgotten to put the strainer on.

Coventry climax were big manufacturers of fork lifts trucks and I’m sure they had their own engines in them.

Edited by Dav and Pen
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1 hour ago, Jen-in-Wellies said:

Some stuff on the company and the engines here. It reckons they did make marine engines, but they were also used in fire pumps, Hillman Imps and Lotus road and Formula 1 cars at one point. An industrial museum my family were/are involved with had a fire fighting pump made by they. Very small and light.

Jen

The core of the kit which Foxton Boat Services used to use for raising sunken boats was two Godiva fire pumps, they used the 4 cyl. 875cc petrol engines as fitted in the Hillman Imp. Hand start, which I never mastered properly, and to prime the pump there was a spring loaded diverter lever which somehow bypassed the silencer (?) and governor which revved the living daylights out of the engine to create suction. But I never understood that fully either, was just glad when it started pumping. They took some stick and always needed some sort of repairs after each sinking.

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1 hour ago, WotEver said:

Our very first narrowboat had a single-thumper diesel which I was told was the predecessor to the Climax - a Coventry Victor.

The Coventry Victor company (1911-1971) was a different company to Coventry Climax (1919-1985). To confuse matters, Coventry Climax had originally been known as Coventry Simplex !

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Had experience of the climax 875 water pumps as firefighting pumps.

A Devon bungalow next to my hotel was hit by lightning, roof ablaze. The brigade turned up with two of these lightweight cradle pumps, they had 4 folding handles for carrying.

As the water supply was poor they dumped these into our swimming pool.  From cold electric start to maximum revs, 8000+ rpm on the tachos in a second, exhaust manifold glowing red in the next 10 seconds, 900ltrs a minute through the hose.

We could see the pool emptying rapidly and it was a big pool.

Fireman Pugh reckoned that they were far superior to the new Nissan pumps, they had one on a sea wall for a fire on the coast which fell into the surf, lying on its side still wacking out the salt water an hour later.

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40 minutes ago, mark99 said:

I did a search on here and someone listed they made 950 or so. I need to check it was this model.  They also used the Godiva in Navy Ships? (as auxiliary pumps!).

I think he may be referring to the boat he rn boat he had. The godiva Ltd is a subsidiary of climax that make pumps and they are still in operation but there existence post dates the engine and have no knowledge of it

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When I was an AB in the Merchant navy we used to have a thing called "Board of Trade sports" which involved practicing manning your lifeboat and running the fire pumps which were Coventry Climax I believe. This was 45 years ago and, if memory serves, they were a bugger to start.

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26 minutes ago, colmac said:

When I was an AB in the Merchant navy we used to have a thing called "Board of Trade sports" which involved practicing manning your lifeboat and running the fire pumps which were Coventry Climax I believe. This was 45 years ago and, if memory serves, they were a bugger to start.

I remember this sport well, on tankers we had the added sport of putting on a smoke helmet and then you had to hope that whoever was on the bellows kept pumping. Our fire hoses operated from the engine room or pump room and you really had to hang on to them. They were very effective at keeping the bum boats off in Suez though. Now almost 60 years ago.

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2 hours ago, John Hayden said:

Thanks for posting for me Mark. This is the engine in question. A Coventry diesel godiva (CBD Type), also heard it called a KF4? 

IMG_20201005_140251.jpg

Here's a photo of a KF4 presently for sale on ebay - looks similar:207895768_s-l16003.jpg.aa32329b750b088f0741f68d2a2f662f.jpg

Whatever it is, I would venture to say that it's a rare survivor in marine form.

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45 minutes ago, John Brightley said:

Here's an old post which has a photo of a 'Coventry Diesel Godiva'. This looks the same as the photo that John Hayden posted. Subtly different to the KF4.

 

Can't see the picture buy I agree the kf4 does look different

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18 minutes ago, John Brightley said:

Here's the picture

846880142_s-l1600(11).jpg.83a2dd4234b36e5b7f990dd876313d2d.jpg

Ahhh. That's the only other real picture I've seen of another one. Was listed on ebay, I also want the crank handle... Its the only thing mine missing apart from the original exhaust outlet 

Edited by John Hayden
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