Thinking of buying an old engine

[magnetman]

(ignore the diving helmet, just don't go on ebay when you're drunk)

 

Comments and criticisms welcome.

 

Gibbo

 

Is it a Siebe Gorman?

 

That 2L2 pictured earlier (don't know how to 'quote' the picture) is a bit of a babe.

 

 

Criticism (as they were asked for):

 

How come someone craned this engine (the 4LW) in such a way as to damage the expensive injector pipes, is it not fitted with lifting points?

[magnetman]

Am I right that 'LW' stands for Light Weight? Any one know, if this is correct, I think it is from an issue of 'Marine Engine' magazine I have got which implies this. Don't the L2 and L3 engines have a cast iron crankcase, is that right? I'm not having a go I'm just interested to know if what I have assumed is actually correct. I can't find any reference to it googling.

 

 

 

 

I know this isn't necessarily the place to discuss marine engines but this discussion is already on that subject (a subject I like a lot).

[Ditch Crawler]

Am I right that 'LW' stands for Light Weight? Any one know, if this is correct, I think it is from an issue of 'Marine Engine' magazine I have got which implies this. Don't the L2 and L3 engines have a cast iron crankcase, is that right? I'm not having a go I'm just interested to know if what I have assumed is actually correct. I can't find any reference to it googling.

I know this isn't necessarily the place to discuss marine engines but this discussion is already on that subject (a subject I like a lot).

(

 

Yes LW stands for light weight and you don't want one landing on your foot, there is a lifting eye that screws in through the rocker covers (that's why it has a 2p size alloy washer on one of the studs)but not many people have the lifting eyes, they just use straps around the engine, hence i reckon the pipes got squashed.

 

Some of the LW engines built around the second world war time had cast crank cases as well, because of the shortage of materials, so i am to believe, and also if the engine was built for direct water cooling in a sea going vessel(salt corrosion and all that) the cast ones didn't have alloy water pipes either they were cast as well

 

as for the L2 and the gorgeous L3 (this has got my memory working over time) yes i think they were all cast crank cases.

[magnetman]

Gardner 8L3B

 

I heard of a 4L3 but this was probably someone winding me up.

 

Anyone ever seen a Glennifer DB2 in a narrowboat, are there any anywhere, what a beautiful marine engine.

[Ditch Crawler]

Gardner 8L3B

 

I heard of a 4L3 but this was probably someone winding me up.

 

Anyone ever seen a Glennifer DB2 in a narrowboat, are there any anywhere, what a beautiful marine engine.

 

 

Beautiful marine engine yes i know of one in a narrow boat, don't know to much about it but it does run very sloooooooow.

 

8L3 and 8L3B, have you ever stood next to one when its running, immense felling of power and torque, they did produce a 3L3, as well, now that is a rare beast, I've never seen one in the flesh.

 

Sorry meant to say that they did 3L3, 4L3,5L3,6L3 and the 8

 

And dont forget the the 8LW and the 8LX and 8LXB, or the 6LYCT with its turbo

Edited February 12, 2007 by Ditch Crawler

[gary4lw]

probably teaching you to suck eggs here!http://www.gardner-enthusiast.com/ ( suck away)

[magnetman]

probably teaching you to suck eggs here!http://www.gardner-enthusiast.com/ ( suck away)

They want my phone number!! Will they call me or can I make an error in it deliberately cos I don't like giving away contact details just to find information. What does it say?

[gary4lw]

They want my phone number!! Will they call me or can I make an error in it deliberately cos I don't like giving away contact details just to find information. What does it say?

its always handy to give your phone no David one of the men that runs the site will often give you a ring about something,but you dont have to but the problem there is if you want to buy anything,if you take my advice you will stay out of the shop i spent 500 quid in there !!!!!!!!!

 

its always handy to give your phone no David one of the men that runs the site will often give you a ring about something,but you dont have to but the problem there is if you want to buy anything,if you take my advice you will stay out of the shop i spent 500 quid in there !!!!!!!!!

ps its a really friendly site not a big buiseness (spelt that wrong but you know what i mean)

[scrumpylurcher]

Would agree with gary4LW re gardner enthuisiasts site - very helpful and can often point you in the right direction to obtain info and spares - been a member for some months now, dont think you will have any problem with giving them personal contact details.

 

Scrumpy Lurcher

[riiggs]

Hello again Im still tempted to buy the ford 4d but now ive found another engine that is 35 hp so a bit of a compromise.

Its a VOLVO PENTA MD 17C does anyone know anything about this engine? when it was made, how reliable and if you would recomend that buy one.

[magnetman]

Hello again Im still tempted to buy the ford 4d but now ive found another engine that is 35 hp so a bit of a compromise.

Its a VOLVO PENTA MD 17C does anyone know anything about this engine? when it was made, how reliable and if you would recomend that buy one.

 

Personally I'd take the Volvo marine engine of those choices. The only problem might be if it has been used in salt water it may have corroded badly inside particularly the exhaust elbow which may well have been replaced (this would prove it had a corrosion problem) but other than that these are excellent engines. Good solid well built stuff.

The MD3 which is a similar engine was fitted in the Fisher 30 motorsailer (the best motorsailer around for the size and money I think) which is a heavy duty boat not that unlike a lifeboat in shape but certainly much heavier, so this engine would be powerful enough for a 30ft lifeboat easily.

[riiggs]

Thats excellent news.The engine im looking at is out of a narrowboat so it has been fresh water cooled and hopefuly corrosion will not be a problem.

This is my first boat so im new to all this so sorry if this next question sounds a bit silly.

On the addvert is says that it comes with "an MS 2:1 reduction gearbox and engine wiring harness and panel" Do you think that mean it has morse cables for remote accelerator and gears?......Or is it easy enough to buy remotes and cables for this engine and gearbox.

Thanks.

[magnetman]

Thats excellent news.The engine im looking at is out of a narrowboat so it has been fresh water cooled and hopefuly corrosion will not be a problem.

This is my first boat so im new to all this so sorry if this next question sounds a bit silly.

On the addvert is says that it comes with "an MS 2:1 reduction gearbox and engine wiring harness and panel" Do you think that mean it has morse cables for remote accelerator and gears?......Or is it easy enough to buy remotes and cables for this engine and gearbox.

Thanks.

Probably doesn't have the controls with it I'd think they were left in the boat for the new engine (if it was a replacement), its easy enough to get a nice single lever morse control on ebay (no good ones on there at the moment, sods law) or a boat jumble and the cables are available at the average chandlery in different lengths as are the saddle clips which are often missing. Do make sure the engine has been used on morse controls previously because it might not have been, could have been in a forward engine room with traditional control linkages instead. I'd think morse would be more likely but worth checking if it has the attachments ready to take the cables.

[NB Alnwick]

If I may be allowed my 'two penneth' - beware of using those high revving high power diesels that were designed for tractors and trucks. They are very very thirsty!

 

On the other hand a purpose designed marine engine (especially one built in Scotland) will prove to be extraordinarily thrifty - especially at canal speeds.

 

Our twelve and a half litre, three cylinder, Kelvin is happy to push us along at canal speeds and only uses a litre of fuel an hour - when idling to charge the batteries it uses less than that and we only used half a gallon on the 22 mile trip from Sharpness to Portishead - and we weren't hanging about - the journey took a fraction over two hours - with the price of diesel going up I would recommend steering well clear of anything from Ford, Volvo, Perkins et all . . .

[magnetman]

If I may be allowed my 'two penneth' - beware of using those high revving high power diesels that were designed for tractors and trucks. They are very very thirsty!

 

On the other hand a purpose designed marine engine (especially one built in Scotland) will prove to be extraordinarily thrifty - especially at canal speeds.

 

Our twelve and a half litre, three cylinder, Kelvin is happy to push us along at canal speeds and only uses a litre of fuel an hour - when idling to charge the batteries it uses less than that and we only used half a gallon on the 22 mile trip from Sharpness to Portishead - and we weren't hanging about - the journey took a fraction over two hours - with the price of diesel going up I would recommend steering well clear of anything from Ford, Volvo, Perkins et all . . .

 

 

On the contrary, Volvo MARINE ENGINES such as the MD1, MD2, MD3, MD17c and several others are one of the most highly respected and reliable of all MARINE ENGINES and are fitted in many high quality small motorcruisers such as Westerley, Fisher, Myraplast, Colvic and lots of other boats which are designed to be taken offshore many many miles in fact the Myraplast 21 is a small canoe stern fibreglass cruiser just 21 feet long and was specifically designed to go 50 miles off the Norwegian coast, powered usually by a SABB 2HG or a Volvo MD2, both of which are eceptionally reliable (they'd need to be 50 miles off the coast) and slow running economical well built diesel engines. The larger TAMD volvo turbo/supercharged units may well be the same as those in artics but the MD series is a true marine engine.

 

And personally I couldn't think of a much more suitable engine for a 30ft lifeboat conversion unless you have the reddies to buy anything you could want even then I think a Volvo MD17C would be hard to beat in terms of practicality.

Edited February 16, 2007 by magnetman

[riiggs]

Thank you all very much for all your input and advise it was very helpful.i have just won the bid on the volvo penta md17c.I will pick it up next weekend,hopefully it will work well for me.

Cheers,Riiggs

[Chertsey]

Here's a wicked link for technical power output of almost any boat engine allowed in fishing boats:

 

http://www.mcga.gov.uk/c4mca/mcga-seafarer...hing_engine.htm

 

 

Not that the content means a great deal to me, but very interesting to note that the only National they show is the DM2. I know our DM3 is unusual (well, I'm told, unique, unless of course you know different ...) on the inland waterways system, but we understood that it came out of a fisheries protection vessel and assumed that they would not be uncommon in fishing boats. The MCA site lists the RN DM3 so it's clearly not excluded by size/type. Veering wildly off topic, anyone got any ideas about how we might go about tracing the history of our engine given what we know of its provenance?

[magnetman]

The National engine was an RN built under license, some on them were fitted to GUCCCo boats but I confess ( ) I didn't realise there was a national DM3 (would love to see it!!!). Obviously you know about the RN website and Alistair Denyer etc, some knowledge there but I don't know other than that how to trace these things. Pictures?

[Chertsey]

The National engine was an RN built under license, some on them were fitted to GUCCCo boats but I confess ( ) I didn't realise there was a national DM3 (would love to see it!!!). Obviously you know about the RN website and Alistair Denyer etc, some knowledge there but I don't know other than that how to trace these things. Pictures?

 

Know about them??? Our engine has been at their works since last Easter! But is coming along nicely now thankyou...

Pics here

 

And it has a Bruntons 1:1 gearbox, its original box as far as we know and no one at RN has ever seen one before or thinks anyone else has.

[NB Alnwick]

Know about them??? Our engine has been at their works since last Easter! But is coming along nicely now thankyou...

Pics here

 

And it has a Bruntons 1:1 gearbox, its original box as far as we know and no one at RN has ever seen one before or thinks anyone else has.

 

Smart looking engine - you must send us a link to a sound recording when you get it going . . .

[magnetman]

Know about them??? Our engine has been at their works since last Easter! But is coming along nicely now thankyou...

Pics here

 

And it has a Bruntons 1:1 gearbox, its original box as far as we know and no one at RN has ever seen one before or thinks anyone else has.

 

Thanks for that. What a lovely engine.

That's a superb engine for a narrowboat (I am biased but its also true).

[Chertsey]

Smart looking engine - you must send us a link to a sound recording when you get it going . . .

 

Why thank you - I will do my best!

 

Meanwhile here is a pic of it before we started taking it to bits ...