Thread: Series 1 Diesels?

Yes, as far as I remember they were sold here, but were quite uncommon. The 2.0l diesel continued in the Series 2 and these were more common, but still rare. There are few of these engines about today in either Series 1 or 2, as they have, if the vehicle is still going, usually been replaced with a 2.25l engine, a drop in replacement superior in all respects. (or some other engine) Parts for the 2.0l diesel can be hard to find.

In the late 1950s in Australia diesel engines in this type of vehicle were not something most buyers would even think of. By the early sixties, they were very much more popular. I owned a 2a diesel in the mid sixties, and even then it was quite difficult to find fuel away from the main highways.

John

Hello,

John is right.

My family sold Land Rovers and IH tractors and trucks in the 50s through to the 70s and the garage sold fuel and lubricants.

Basically, in the 50s petrol was cheap, diesel was scarce, small tractors and many trucks generally ran on standard petrol while the larger tractors used power kerosene. We sold very little diesel because no one used it and the garage wasn't on a major highway.

Beyond that, the road performance of the original diesels was not fantastic and they weren't necessarily much better than the petrol engines.

Cheers,

Originally Posted by S3ute

Hello,

John is right.

My family sold Land Rovers and IH tractors and trucks in the 50s through to the 70s and the garage sold fuel and lubricants.

Basically, in the 50s petrol was cheap, diesel was scarce, small tractors and many trucks generally ran on standard petrol while the larger tractors used power kerosene. We sold very little diesel because no one used it and the garage wasn't on a major highway.

Beyond that, the road performance of the original diesels was not fantastic and they weren't necessarily much better than the petrol engines.

Cheers,

The main buyers for the first Landrover diesel were operators who were using diesel fuel already, typically for heavy trucks or tractors - although as you point out, most small trucks and tractors were petrol. The company I worked for in the 1960s ran a fleet of medium trucks plus fairly heavy trucks with drilling rigs on them (some tandem drive or 6x6). All were petrol into the seventies; the only diesel we had was for the camp generator.

The longer range for the same fuel tank led to some diesel sales in places where the distances were long such as central Australia, and in this case the immunity to vapour lock was another selling point, although this was never really a problem with any Landrover.

When Rover introduced that first diesel, it needs to be borne in mind that there were virtually no comparable engines in existence. There were small Perkins, with an inferior power/weight ratio, and there was the somewhat smaller Mercedes - and that was about it! The first diesel Landcruiser was almost fifteen years into the future. (There were a few exotic engines fitted aftermarket to Landrovers, but they were expensive, heavy, gutless, and found the gearing unsuitable)

This engine was really pioneering new ground, especially in coming up with an engine that could use the same drive train as the petrol engine - other small diesels of the time had much lower maximum rpm, and would have needed different gearing. It was one of the first applications of the distributor type injection pump, and probably, in terms of numbers, the largest.

John

i thought i heard that there were 12 diesels that came here i know of one of them nearby

Spotted

post 21.

Originally Posted by JDNSW

This engine was really pioneering new ground, especially in coming up with an engine that could use the same drive train as the petrol engine - other small diesels of the time had much lower maximum rpm, and would have needed different gearing. It was one of the first applications of the distributor type injection pump, and probably, in terms of numbers, the largest.

John

in essence it was amongst the first of the "high speed diesels" in the day a diesel engine that could crack it past 3K Rpm.. it'll never hold together.

Originally Posted by Blknight.aus

in essence it was amongst the first of the "high speed diesels" in the day a diesel engine that could crack it past 3K Rpm.. it'll never hold together.

Yes. Of course, the term 'high speed' can mean anything! I have in front of me "The Modern Diesel. A review of High Speed Compression Ignition Oil engines". Published in 1935, the book reviews engines from 108 manufacturers. Perhaps a typical 'high speed' engine of the day is the Mercedes engine that produced 77BHP at 1650rpm from 7.0l and weighed in at about 580kg.

OK, the Rover engine was designed twenty years later, but considering little advance was made in small diesels from 1939 - 1945, it is still a pretty impressive performance, largely based on the work of Ricardo in the 1930s and CAV in the 1950s - the key to high speed diesel operation is getting the fuel and air mixed. Especially when you consider that Rover had never designed or built a diesel before.

John

I have 1, Photos posted here under "2013 project"
Dennis