Mystery engine ID?

[Ewan123]

 

The engine on this advertised boat is referred to as a 'Beta Marine DB3', but after some googling, I can't find any other such engine... the closest I found was a Gleniffer DB3, but didn't see any images.

 

Does anyone recognise it?

Edited November 12, 2020 by Ewan123
Added pic

[Alan de Enfield]

Here is another one, I couldn't be doing with that racket all the time.

 

 

Edited November 12, 2020 by Alan de Enfield

[mrsmelly]

11 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

Here is another one, I couldn't be doing with that racket all the time.

 

 

Isnt that MTBs old engine? Predecessor of the Beta JD3 iirc which is a John Deere tractor engine. 

[Guest]

17 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

Here is another one, I couldn't be doing with that racket all the time.

 

 

Mike those big ends have gone!!

I have to say that I am really glad that I have an electric motor so quiet

[Alan de Enfield]

11 minutes ago, mrsmelly said:

Isnt that MTBs old engine? Predecessor of the Beta JD3 iirc which is a John Deere tractor engine. 

It is.

 

Look at the owners picture top LH corner of the video.

[LadyG]

Bring back @miketheboilerman

[mrsmelly]

4 minutes ago, LadyG said:

Bring back @miketheboilerman

He will be back. He needs to pick his teddies up first ?

[Guest]

2 minutes ago, mrsmelly said:

He will be back. He needs to pick his teddies up first ?

I dont know he doesnt respond to whatsapp jokes anymore ?

[mrsmelly]

Just now, peterboat said:

I dont know he doesnt respond to whatsapp jokes anymore ?

I dont know why he went? someone suggested he was miffed over somett or other but I think its a case of teddies out of the cot? Threw mine out for exactly a year once.

[LadyG]

8 minutes ago, mrsmelly said:

He will be back. He needs to pick his shreddies up up first ?

Really ?

Edited November 12, 2020 by LadyG

[mrsmelly]

2 minutes ago, LadyG said:

Really ?

? Norty........

[Ewan123]

1 hour ago, Alan de Enfield said:

Here is another one, I couldn't be doing with that racket all the time.

 

 

Ahh, BD3 not DB3. Easy as that. Thanks for satisfying that curiosity itch!

 

Do we know much about these engines in general?

[Alan de Enfield]

Just now, Ewan123 said:

 

 

Do we know much about these engines in general?

PARDON ?

 

[Jen-in-Wellies]

4 minutes ago, Ewan123 said:

Ahh, BD3 not DB3. Easy as that. Thanks for satisfying that curiosity itch!

 

Do we know much about these engines in general?

Beta Marines way of providing a brand new engine that looked and behaved in a similar way to old fashioned slow reving thump thump thump diesel engines, beloved of men with a can of brasso in one hand and a polishing cloth in the other.

[Tonka]

If you buy it you cam PM me and i have quite a few manuals for the Beta BD3 Tug Engine. It is a basically a Ford 3 cylinder tractor engine. Lister also marinised the same engine and was the Lister CRK3 although theirs was never as good as the Beta's apparently. The BD3 was superseded by the JD3 because the BD3 didn't meet the eu requirements. I have owned mine for 21 years and has never not started or misses a beat. I have often been asked if it is a Gardner.

[Ewan123]

15 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

PARDON ?

 

I think I missed the joke there ?
Please?

 

12 minutes ago, Jen-in-Wellies said:

Beta Marines way of providing a brand new engine that looked and behaved in a similar way to old fashioned slow reving thump thump thump diesel engines, beloved of men with a can of brasso in one hand and a polishing cloth in the other.

Does it fulfill the same need for fiddling and tinkering?

 

I did just find a topic from a few years ago that suggests they're reliable, unless it was owners with a romantic bias to their own engine...

[Ewan123]

6 minutes ago, Tonka said:

If you buy it you cam PM me and i have quite a few manuals for the Beta BD3 Tug Engine. It is a basically a Ford 3 cylinder tractor engine. Lister also marinised the same engine and was the Lister CRK3 although theirs was never as good as the Beta's apparently. The BD3 was superseded by the JD3 because the BD3 didn't meet the eu requirements. I have owned mine for 21 years and has never not started or misses a beat. I have often been asked if it is a Gardner.

Exhaust emissions requirements?

 

Thanks for the info and offer .

Edited November 12, 2020 by Ewan123

[Tonka]

20 minutes ago, Ewan123 said:

Exhaust emissions requirements?

 

Thanks for the info and offer .

Yes

[ditchcrawler]

13 minutes ago, Tonka said:

If you buy it you cam PM me and i have quite a few manuals for the Beta BD3 Tug Engine. It is a basically a Ford 3 cylinder tractor engine. Lister also marinised the same engine and was the Lister CRK3 although theirs was never as good as the Beta's apparently. The BD3 was superseded by the JD3 because the BD3 didn't meet the eu requirements. I have owned mine for 21 years and has never not started or misses a beat. I have often been asked if it is a Gardner.

Had mine for about the same length of time and I bought it secondhand. Its been round the clock since

[dmr]

37 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:

Had mine for about the same length of time and I bought it secondhand. Its been round the clock since

Whats that in hours?, I assume 20,000 rather than 200,000 ?

I suspect the BD3 was a bit nicer than the JD3 in some ways, though I have read of vibration issues at higher speeds (which I find surprising). Its interesting that Beta went from Ford to John Deere for emissions reasons. I suspect the JD is very similar, or possibly even a bit worse than the BD3 but had the paper approval that Ford decided not to bother to get with an old engine?????

 

I think the JD3 is maybe the nicer looking engine but the BD3 scores with its lower tickover speed.

 

...............Dave

[ditchcrawler]

Just now, dmr said:

Whats that in hours?, I assume 20,000 rather than 200,000 ?

I suspect the BD3 was a bit nicer than the JD3 in some ways, though I have read of vibration issues at higher speeds (which I find surprising). Its interesting that Beta went from Ford to John Deere for emissions reasons. I suspect the JD is very similar, or possibly even a bit worse than the BD3 but had the paper approval that Ford decided not to bother to get with an old engine?????

 

I think the JD3 is maybe the nicer looking engine but the BD3 scores with its lower tickover speed.

 

...............Dave

Cant remember what the clock goes up to, its the Beta panel but I am not on the boat

[magnetman]

Smokey units if I remember right but this could be to do with the artificially low tickover speed for marketing reasons. 

 

Probably ok if you give them some work to do. 

[OldGoat]

21 hours ago, dmr said:

Whats that in hours?, I assume 20,000 rather than 200,000 ?

I suspect the BD3 was a bit nicer than the JD3 in some ways, though I have read of vibration issues at higher speeds (which I find surprising). Its interesting that Beta went from Ford to John Deere for emissions reasons. I suspect the JD is very similar, or possibly even a bit worse than the BD3 but had the paper approval that Ford decided not to bother to get with an old engine?????

 

I think the JD3 is maybe the nicer looking engine but the BD3 scores with its lower tickover speed.

 

...............Dave

Jogged my memory -

I bought  a Ford Dexta from our local ag: college (wh were glad to get rid of it 'cos they'd bust the steering box - but didn't tell me...). Worked for me mowing our common and a couple of local bridleways.

It was quite gutless and smoked like ***** if you over loaded it.

Three litres and maximum revs (with lorra black smoke) of 1500 rpm.

As suggested that's probably why Ted Spash  moved to the JD engine (which looked nicer anyway - even though it was more expesnive to buy in.

Ah, happy days when everything was a lot less complicated....

 

 

[dmr]

7 minutes ago, OldGoat said:

Jogged my memory -

I bought  a Ford Dexta from our local ag: college (wh were glad to get rid of it 'cos they'd bust the steering box - but didn't tell me...). Worked for me mowing our common and a couple of local bridleways.

It was quite gutless and smoked like ***** if you over loaded it.

Three litres and maximum revs (with lorra black smoke) of 1500 rpm.

As suggested that's probably why Ted Spash  moved to the JD engine (which looked nicer anyway - even though it was more expesnive to buy in.

Ah, happy days when everything was a lot less complicated....

 

 

I reckon you forgot to take the handbrake off ??.

 

A big JD  tractor went past us recently so out of curiosity I looked up what engine it had, and it was the 4 cylinder version of the engine that Beta use in the JD3, I assume with a turbo, but the John Deere is a powerful engine.

 

................Dave

[Mike Adams]

10 minutes ago, dmr said:

A big JD  tractor went past us recently so out of curiosity I looked up what engine it had, and it was the 4 cylinder version of the engine that Beta use in the JD3, I assume with a turbo, but the John Deere is a powerful engine.

 

I fitted 2 Deere 4cylinder engines in boat some years ago, brilliant engines but a bit overpowered for narrowboats.