Welcome BMC owners

[David Schweizer]

the lower temp stat was decided upon to reduce the ocurrence of scaling on the "domestic" side of the calorifier coil,it also helped prevent "hot soak" problems when the engine was turned off in a lock after a long run,as the residual heat in the engine block/head could cause "localised boiling around the combustion chambers,which often led to premature head gasket failure(especially with the 1.8)!

I presume the engine stopping in locks is on the Thames. If this is likely to cause a problem with your engine, I have found that the Lock Keepers are usually quite understanading, and will normally allow you to keep the engine running. They learnt the hard way a few years ago when making some old working boats switch off their Bolinder Engines, only to have to wait five minutes whilst they were pre heated to restart when the lock was ready

 

I have never switched my engine off in Thames locks, and apart from one beligerant Summer Assistant, I have never had to argue the case. The Summer Assistant told me that running the diesel engine was a fire hazard, and was not pleased when informed him that he was confusing Diesel with Petrol. Apparemntly the real reason for engines being switched off is in order that the Lock Keeper can be heard giving safety instructions, something which did not apply to me, as I was single handing and always got off the boat and held the boat with ropes on the bollards.

[canaldrifter]

I presume the engine stopping in locks is on the Thames. If this is likely to cause a problem with your engine, I have found that the Lock Keepers are usually quite understanading, and will normally allow you to keep the engine running. They learnt the hard way a few years ago when making some old working boats switch off their Bolinder Engines, only to have to wait five minutes whilst they were pre heated to restart when the lock was ready

 

I have never switched my engine off in Thames locks, and apart from one beligerant Summer Assistant, I have never had to argue the case. The Summer Assistant told me that running the diesel engine was a fire hazard, and was not pleased when informed him that he was confusing Diesel with Petrol. Apparemntly the real reason for engines being switched off is in order that the Lock Keeper can be heard giving safety instructions, something which did not apply to me, as I was single handing and always got off the boat and held the boat with ropes on the bollards.

 

The only time you are officially allowed to keep an engine running in a Thames lock is if you occupy the chamber alone.

 

It is not up to the lock-keepers. It's not about fire risk. It's not about noise. It's about air pollution and it is a Byelaw:

 

Precautions while waiting to enter and when in a lock

50

 

While any vessel is waiting to enter any lock on a river, the master of such

vessel shall take all reasonable care to prevent annoyance of other persons on

the river from the escape of fumes from the exhaust.

 

©When a power-driven vessel enters any lock on the river, the master of any

such vessel after complying with the requirements of Byelaw 48 (use of mooring lines) shall then

immediately stop the vessel’s engines.

 

The master shall ensure that the vessel’s engines are not restarted until the lock-gates are opened for the egress of the vessels then in the lock.

 

Provided that the provisions of this paragraph of this Byelaw shall not apply to a vessel when no other vessel is passing through the lock at the same time.

 

Tone

Edited May 29, 2011 by NB Alnwick

[KevTheWelder]

My BMC is a 2.2 litre Commander, built in 1960, with the original factory installed Newage gearbox. I've all the build details, even know what day it was built1 Some boaters take the mick out of BMC's but when I built my boat I built a 10ft engine room with side hatches to show her off a bit. To still be running so well after 51 years is no mean feat. Who needs shiny brass covered old engines?

[cereal tiller]

they are simply jealous kev,you are the posessor of a fine,lightweight.and robust example of british engineering.just ensure that smugness does not envelope you entirely,like it has done to me!

[Madmark62]

WE have a 1500 in the little boat(Yardarm) and now I understand its little idiocincrasies(!) I love it, it smokes like I dont know what when first starting, but clears after a minute or so. It sometimes drips a bit of oil out, but I used to have a Triumph motorbike , so I am used to that. It even seems quiet after the Lister SR2 when had in our previous boat

[RLWP]

 

<snip>

 

the residual heat in the engine block/head could cause "localised boiling around the combustion chambers,which often led to premature head gasket failure(especially with the 1.8)!

 

Unpressurised cooling system?

 

Richard

[cereal tiller]

pressurised systems enable an engine to reach a higher temp. before boiling occurs,however,it can still occur in a "hot soak"situation.

usually happens if a boat is overpropped,propeller fouled,or the cooling system is impaired i.e. scaling in a skin tank,partially blocked water intake , furred up heat exchanger or "sticky" thermostat,to name but a few.

[n.b.Goldie]

pressurised systems enable an engine to reach a higher temp. before boiling occurs,however,it can still occur in a "hot soak"situation.

usually happens if a boat is overpropped,propeller fouled,or the cooling system is impaired i.e. scaling in a skin tank,partially blocked water intake , furred up heat exchanger or "sticky" thermostat,to name but a few.

 

"Furring up" can be avoided if de-ionised water is used instead of tap water. Not too expensive at our local motor parts dealer at about £3.50 per 5 litres. (I think there have been previous threads on this topic)

 

Regards

Ditchdabbler

[RLWP]

"Furring up" can be avoided if de-ionised water is used instead of tap water. Not too expensive at our local motor parts dealer at about £3.50 per 5 litres. (I think there have been previous threads on this topic)

 

Regards

Ditchdabbler

 

Keeping your anti-freeze concentrations right helps too

 

Richard

[Proper Job]

I have to say that, even with me pushing it hard to keep the old girl moving along, Tawny Owls BMC ran faultlessy for the entire 24 hours of the BCN challenge (exept when stopped by weed, clothing, matresses etc )

 

Long may it continue to do so

[FadeToScarlet]

But I suspect it wouldn't have run at all with a blown head gasket like the AS2 on Yeoford....

[Thewatchmaker]

Anyone know for certain if 1.5 and 1.8 heads are interchangeable?

Presently rebuilding a 1.8 and have a new bare head

but not sure if 1.5 or 1.8.

Looks the same but need to be sure before I start changing bits over and grinding in valves etc.

[alan_fincher]

But I suspect it wouldn't have run at all with a blown head gasket like the AS2 on Yeoford....

Not sure about that!

 

When we finally had the head off our 1.8 its gasket was blowing in a large number of places, there were cracks in the head, and when the engineer just put his finger on a core plug in the head, it fell into the void behind.

 

But before dismantling it was starting fine, and we were boating with it extensively. It was sounding a bit rough, particularly when idling, but was in no way obviously down on power.

 

It takes a great deal to stop a BMC, it seems!

[Thewatchmaker]

Anyone know for certain if 1.5 and 1.8 heads are interchangeable?

Presently rebuilding a 1.8 and have a new bare head

but not sure if 1.5 or 1.8.

Looks the same but need to be sure before I start changing bits over and grinding in valves etc.

 

Number cast into head is WFM 1078 with the following stamped on the manifold side F1716

Edited June 8, 2011 by Thewatchmaker

[Theo]

Theodora has a BMC 1.5 with raw water cooling. Very happy with it, I am. The water cooled exhaust means that I get virtually no sound from the exhaust.

 

Nick

Edited July 10, 2011 by Theo

[Evo]

Heres my baby...!!! Its been all cleaned up and painted since photos, as has the engine hole...Eat your dinner down there now..!!

 

Its originally a 1981 Thorneycroft 1.8 marinisation and has a big flywheel, double pulleys, and various other little tweaks. Gearbox is PRM 160VR2 (superceded by 260D). It was originally raw water and mud box, but is now on a skintank. Raw water pump is used just to cool and silence exhaust - and it sounds lovely.

 

Trouble is I've gone bloody mad....there is nothing at all wrong with this engine...it purrs, doesnt leak, doesn't overheat, and has never broken down. Never the less I have been collecting parts to build my self a new engine with no recon bits (using NOS parts) and on top of that I have just been literally given a 3 week old fully reconditioned baby out of a written off van.

 

I have BMC 1.8's comming out my earholes (love em).

 

[Thewatchmaker]

Does that 'Pancake' filter give enough airflow?

Nice clean engine by the way.

[RLWP]

 

The left side of your engine is remarkably tidy compared to ours. Where does the exhaust go?

 

Richard

[Evo]

The pancake filter has gone..!! I hated that. Its been replaced by an Old Landrover Oil bath filter sat on the counter with a std Landrover rubber hose.

 

The exhaust goes to a Vetus water lock sitting on the bottom of the engine bay , and then out the side via a rubber hose. I posted some poor pics off my phone on here once but cant find them.

 

 

edit:

Found um

 

 

The whole exhaust system can be seen here. into the waterlock via the stainless pipe and out via the long rubber hose. The waterlock is just a plastic bottle like think.

 

Edited August 14, 2011 by Evo

[dccruiser]

i have a 38' n/b with a bmc 1.5 coupled to a tmp (thames marine propulsion hydraulic gearbox) and it has been fantastic! moved the boat from skipton to shardlow last year with no dramas whatsoever, even did the tidal trent passing a lot of newer n/b's with far more modern engines.

Mine is raw water cooled and reasonably quiet even on full throttle on the river ... have had the intake block a couple of times and on one occasion the temp was off the guage so ended up throwing buckets of water over it to cool it down!as there was nowhere to stop to allow it to cool

personally couldnt be happier after a succession of other engines, just in the throws of refitting to go permanent cc'ing and have absolutely no doubts with regular servicing it will last for many years to come.

Rick

 

Just to add, apart from a leak from my fuel pump i have long since sorted, i just have the odd drip of water from the jabsco that i havent had time to investigate, but i have no oil leaks whatsoever and apart from when started from cold , no smoke at all at any rev range.

Edited August 24, 2011 by dccruiser

[davehull]

We put a recon 2.5 in our new build.

 

Lovely old engine, but takes 30 seconds on the heater plugs to start it even in summer.

 

Had a few problems getting the injection timing right at first, but now runs as sweet as a nut with very little smoking just a few seconds after start up.

 

Had to fabricate a new inlet manifold from scratch as the engine didnt have one when I bought it.

 

Not happy with the present air filter set up ( pan type ) any suggestions for this size engine ?

 

Dave and Louise

[Neil2]

We put a recon 2.5 in our new build.

 

Lovely old engine, but takes 30 seconds on the heater plugs to start it even in summer.

 

Had a few problems getting the injection timing right at first, but now runs as sweet as a nut with very little smoking just a few seconds after start up.

 

Had to fabricate a new inlet manifold from scratch as the engine didnt have one when I bought it.

 

Not happy with the present air filter set up ( pan type ) any suggestions for this size engine ?

 

Dave and Louise

 

 

AMC Thorneycroft at Preston definately sell a "frying pan" filter for the 1.5 and 1.8, I presume the 2.5 will be similar fitting?? They are about 40 quid I think but he's on holiday at the moment.

[cereal tiller]

We put a recon 2.5 in our new build.

 

Lovely old engine, but takes 30 seconds on the heater plugs to start it even in summer.

 

Had a few problems getting the injection timing right at first, but now runs as sweet as a nut with very little smoking just a few seconds after start up.

 

Had to fabricate a new inlet manifold from scratch as the engine didnt have one when I bought it.

 

Not happy with the present air filter set up ( pan type ) any suggestions for this size engine ?

 

Dave and Louise

30 seconds preheat does seem a lot in summer,my 2.5 only reqires 3-5 seconds unless the ambient temp.is below 10 c.

 

how many hours has the engine been run?it may be that the piston rings are not yet fully run-in.

 

do you have a good engine master switch and suitably big starter cables?

[Evo]

My heater plugs used to take a long time...unfortunately it was my fault. I didn't use a big enough wire to feed them with. I used a relay etc but that was in a neat relay block up at the control panel. A beefyish wire then went down to the heater plugs, but it wasn't beefy enough and there was too much voltage drop.

 

As a stop gap I fitted another heavy duty relay down on the engine and used the old beefy wire to trigger it (i ended up with a relay triggering a relay). I Added a new thick heater plug feed from the battery lead on the back of the starter motor and all was then fine.

[Darren72]

 

 

This our recon 1.5 in our first boat, which we've had now since October 1st. Anything I need to look out for? I have found a little fuel leak and some oil dripping from underneath. I have cleaned out both the drip trays, I will be gunking the bottom half of the engine to clean it ready for oil leak tracing. Pig mats to be laid underneath. Can anyone tell me the history behind the BMC 1.5. Our boat is only 4 year old, so why was it chosen for a new boat.