BL S-series engine

Last updated

The S series is a straight-4 SOHC internal combustion engine developed by the Austin Rover Group (subsidiary of British Leyland), and produced from 1984 until 1993. The engine was used in the Austin Montego, [1] Mark 1 Rover 200-series and the MG Maestro. The engine was used in the Austin Maestro from 1985 onwards.

Contents

Description

The engine comes from the same lineage as the BMC-developed E-series family introduced in the 1969 Austin Maxi, but with important modifications in order to facilitate compatibility with a conventional "end-on" transmission unit, in place of BMC/BL's traditional "gearbox-in-sump" configuration for its front wheel drive vehicles. The gearbox flange was redesigned to accept either a Volkswagen manual gearbox (for the Maestro/Montego), [1] or the PG-1 transmission (for the Rover 200). [2] The S-Series was produced in a single capacity of 1.6 litres (1,598cc) [1] [3] as the smaller and larger capacity requirements were already served by the 1.3-litre A-series/Honda EV engines and the 2.0-litre O-series engines respectively. Fuelling was by means of a single carburettor in most applications, and electronic fuel injection for the higher-specification variants of the Rover 216 producing peak power of 103 brake horsepower (77 kW). [3]

BL had also developed the earlier R-series engine from the E-series family, but largely as a stopgap at the Maestro's launch since the S series was not yet ready for production. Because the E series had to be turned through 180 degrees in order to facilitate an end-on transmission, the resultant R-series unit had the inlet manifold on the front-facing side of the cylinder head, something which proved fatal for the engine's reliabilitysince it opened the door for carburettor icing. The S series solved this problem, as the inlet manifold was now on the rear face of the engine. Another important change vis-à-vis the E/R series, one with potentially negative consequences for the engine's durability, was driving the camshaft by a toothed belt in place of the previous timing chain system. Austin Rover claimed a 75% weight saving over the chain drive setup. The engine is non interference, thereby catastrophic engine failure will not occur, if the belt does snap.

History

Production of the S-series engine continued until the end of Montego / Maestro series production in 1993, the remaining cars which were built by Rover until 1994 used only the Rover MDi/Perkins Prima diesel engine, which was based on the O-series.

A 4-valve version of the S series was under development alongside the 1100 cc and 1400 cc K-series engines. However, the project was abandoned when a redesign of the K series allowed its capacity to be stretched to 1600 cc and 1800 cc. The engine was given the name L16 [2] but should not be confused with the L Series diesel engines or Datsun/Nissan L16 engine.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Morris Motors</span> British automotive company

Morris Motors Limited was a British privately owned motor vehicle manufacturing company formed in 1919 to take over the assets of William Morris's WRM Motors Limited and continue production of the same vehicles. By 1926 its production represented 42 per cent of British car manufacture—a remarkable expansion rate attributed to William Morris's practice of buying in major as well as minor components and assembling them in his own factory.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Morris Marina</span> Motor vehicle

The Morris Marina is a front-engined, rear-wheel-drive small family car that was manufactured by the Austin-Morris division of British Leyland from 1971 until 1980. It served to replace the Morris Minor in the Morris product line, which had first been built in 1948. The Marina was also sold in some markets as the Austin Marina, the Leyland Marina and the Morris 1700.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Austin Allegro</span> Car manufactured 1973-1982

The Austin Allegro is a small family car that was manufactured by the Austin-Morris division of British Leyland (BL) from 1973 until 1982. The same vehicle was built in Italy by Innocenti between 1974 and 1975 and sold as the Innocenti Regent. The Allegro was designed as a replacement for the Austin 1100 and 1300 models. In total, 642,350 Austin Allegros were produced during its 10-year production life, most of which were sold on the home market, less than a third of 2.1 million 1100s and 1300s sold in the previous 11 years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">British Leyland</span> 1968–1986 automotive manufacturing conglomerate

British Leyland was a British automotive engineering and manufacturing conglomerate formed in 1968 as British Leyland Motor Corporation Ltd (BLMC), following the merger of Leyland Motors and British Motor Holdings. It was partly nationalised in 1975, when the UK government created a holding company called British Leyland, later renamed BL in 1978. It incorporated much of the British-owned motor vehicle industry, which in 1968 had a 40% share of the UK car market, with its history going back to 1895. Despite containing profitable marques such as Jaguar, Rover, and Land Rover, as well as the best-selling Mini, BLMC had a troubled history, leading to its eventual collapse in 1975 and subsequent part-nationalisation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Austin Metro</span> Supermini British economy car

The Metro is a supermini car, later a city car that was produced from 1980 to 1998, first by British Leyland (BL) and later by the Rover Group. It was launched in 1980 as the Austin Mini Metro.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Austin Maestro</span> Car model

The Austin Maestro is a five-door hatchback small family car that was produced from November 1982 to 1986 by British Leyland, and from 1986 until December 1994 by Rover Group, as a replacement for the Austin Maxi and Austin Allegro, with the van version replacing the corresponding van derivative of the Morris Ital. The car was produced at Morris' former Oxford plant, also known as Cowley, with 605,000 units sold. Today, the redeveloped factory builds the BMW Mini. An MG-branded performance version was sold as the MG Maestro from 1983 until 1991.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Austin Ambassador</span> Motor vehicle

The Austin Ambassador is a large family car that was introduced by the Austin Rover Group subsidiary of British Leyland in March 1982. The vehicle was a heavily updated version of the Princess, a saloon car that had lacked a hatchback. Only the doors and inner structure were carried over, but the wedge-shaped side profile betrayed the car's Princess origins, and it was not considered a truly new model. The Princess had been out of production for four months by the time that the Ambassador went on sale.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rover 800 series</span> Motor vehicle

The Rover 800 series is an executive car range manufactured by the Austin Rover Group subsidiary of British Leyland, and its successor the Rover Group from 1986 to 1999. It was also marketed as the Sterling in the United States. Co-developed with Honda, it was a close relative to the Honda/Acura Legend and the successor to the decade-old Rover SD1.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Austin Montego</span> Motor vehicle

The Austin Montego is a British family car that was produced by British Leyland from 1984 until 1988, and then by Rover Group from 1988 until 1995. The Montego was the replacement for both the rear-wheel drive Morris Ital and the front-wheel drive Austin Ambassador ranges to give British Leyland an all-new competitor for the Ford Sierra and Vauxhall Cavalier.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rover 200 / 25</span> Rover 214 si

The Rover 200 Series, and later the Rover 25, are a series of small family cars that were produced by British manufacturer Rover from 1984 until 2005.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Austin Maxi</span> Motor vehicle

The Austin Maxi is a medium-sized, 5-door hatchback family car that was produced by Austin and later British Leyland between 1969 and 1981. It was the first British car to feature a hatchback body style.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">BMC A-series engine</span> Reciprocating internal combustion engine

The Austin Motor Company A-series is a British small straight-4 automobile engine. Launched in 1951 with the Austin A30, production lasted until 2000 in the Mini. It used a cast-iron block and cylinder head, and a steel crankshaft with three main bearings. The camshaft ran in the cylinder block, driven by a single-row chain for most applications, and with tappets sliding in the block, accessible through pressed steel side covers for most applications, and with overhead valves operated through rockers. The cylinder blocks are not interchangeable between versions intended for conventional end-on mounted gearboxes and the 'in-sump' transaxle used on British Motor Corporation/British Leyland front wheel drive models such as the Mini. The cylinder head for the overhead-valve version of the A-series engine was designed by Harry Weslake – a cylinder head specialist famed for his involvement in SS (Jaguar) engines and several Formula One-title winning engines. Although a "clean sheet" design, the A-series owed much to established Austin engine design practise, resembling in general design and overall appearance a scaled-down version of the 1200cc overhead-valve engine first seen in the Austin A40 Devon which would form the basis of the later B-series engine.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">BMC B-series engine</span> Reciprocating internal combustion engine

The BMC B series was a line of straight-4 & straight-6 internal combustion engine mostly used in motor cars, created by British automotive manufacturer Austin Motor Company.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">MG MGB</span> Motor vehicle

The MGB is a two-door sports car manufactured and marketed from 1962 until 1980 by the British Motor Corporation (BMC), later the Austin-Morris division of British Leyland, as a four-cylinder, soft-top sports car. It was announced and its details first published on 19 September 1962. Variants include the MGB GT three-door 2+2 coupé (1965–1980), the six-cylinder sports car and coupé MGC (1967–1969), and the eight-cylinder 2+2 coupé, the MGB GT V8 (1973–1976).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">BMC E-series engine</span> Reciprocating internal combustion engine

The BMC E-series engine is a line of straight-4 and straight-6 overhead camshaft automobile petrol engines from the British Motor Corporation (BMC). It displaced 1.5 L or 1.8 L in four-cylinder form, and 2.2 L or 2.6 L as a six-cylinder. The company's native United Kingdom market did not use the 2.6 L version, which was used in vehicles of Australian and South African manufacture. Although designed when the parent company was BMC, by the time the engine was launched the company had become British Leyland (BL), and so the engine is commonly referred to as the British Leyland E-series engine.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">LDV Pilot</span> Motor vehicle

The LDV Pilot was the last of a series of a panel vans that was produced by from 1974 until 2005, originally as the 1974 Leyland Sherpa developed by the Austin-Morris division of British Leyland, which was in turn derived from earlier light commercials produced by the British Motor Corporation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">BL O-series engine</span> Reciprocating internal combustion engine

The BL O-series engine is an automobile straight-four engine family that was produced by the Austin-Morris division of British Leyland (BL) as a development of the BMC B-series engine family.

The R series is a line of petrol engines introduced by British Leyland in 1983 for the then-new Austin Maestro. It was only produced in one capacity—1.6 litres.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rover R8 platform</span> Motor vehicle

The Rover R8 platform was an automobile platform used for the Mark I Rover 200 Series and the Mark II 200 and 400 Series, compact family cars produced by the Austin Rover Group, and later the Rover Group.

The Austin Drawing Office was the design and engineering department of the British Motor Corporation. From the early 1950s, the resulting projects of the office were known by the initials ADO. The numbers were assigned to vehicle and engineering projects, some resulting in production models. The ADO numbering system continued well beyond BMC's absorption into British Leyland, who continued to use the convention until the late 1970s.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Culmer, Kris (26 January 2017). "Austin Montego 1.6L road test - Throwback Thursday". Autocar.co.uk. Haymarket Media Group. Retrieved 9 July 2020.
  2. 1 2 Taylor, James (26 March 2018). British Leyland: The Cars, 1968-1986. The Crowood Press. ISBN   9781785003929 . Retrieved 9 July 2020.
  3. 1 2 Boddy, Bill (May 1986). "Rover 216 Vitesse". Motor Sport Magazine. Retrieved 9 July 2020.