Austin D-Series engine

Last updated

Austin D-series
Austin K-series
Overview
Manufacturer Austin Motor Company
Designer Leonard Lord
Production1939–1968 United Kingdom
Layout
Configuration straight-6
Displacement
  • 211.09 cu in (3,459 cc)
  • 243.54 cu in (3,991 cc)
Cylinder bore
  • 3+1132 in (84.9 mm)
  • 3+716 in (87.3 mm)
Piston stroke
  • 4 in (101.6 mm)
  • 4+38 in (111.1 mm)
Block materialCast iron
Head materialCast iron
Valvetrain OHV, two valves per cylinder
Combustion
Fuel systemCarburettor
Fuel type petrol
Oil system Pressurized
Cooling system water-cooled
Output
Power output
  • 60 to 68 bhp (45 to 51 kW; 61 to 69 PS) 3,460cc
  • 87 to 150 bhp (65 to 112 kW; 88 to 152 PS) 3,991cc
Chronology
Predecessor Austin 28 side-valve I6
Successor BMC C-Series engine

The Austin D and K series engines are a straight-six engine made by the British Austin Motor Company between 1939 and 1968. It was developed initially for the lorry market; but was used in a number of automobiles in its later life. It was an overhead valve non-crossflow cylinder head design. Both block and head were made out of cast iron. All engines had a forged four main bearing crankshaft. [1]

Contents

The engine was developed under the close watch of Austin chief Leonard Lord. The design was inspired by the Chevrolet Stovebolt engine which was an inline six cylinder engine that was used by General Motors British subsidiary Bedford Vehicles. In the late 1930s, when rival Austin decided to get into the 2-3 ton payload lorry market and in a crash development programme based the design on the basic architecture of this "Stove Bolt" engine. Austin however made detail improvements to the Chevrolet design. Austin's engineers added detachable shell main and connecting rod bearings and pressurized lubrication. The initial design had a engine displacement of 3460cc. During the Second World War, Austin increased the bore and stroke to enlarge it into a 3991cc engine which produced 87 bhp. The larger engine was put in military trucks beginning in1940. Both engine sizes were in production after the war. When the carburettor was changed from Zenith to Stromberg, it produced 100 bhp.

Truck engines had K designations and car engines had D designations [2]

Applications

The engine was first used in the Austin K30 light truck and Austin K2/Y military ambulance 1939. After the war, it continued to power the later Austin Loadstar 1-ton truck and the 4x4 variant K9.

Post war, it went on to power a number of cars such as the Austin Sheerline and Princess luxury vehicles, Jensen Interceptor and Jensen 541. The last car to have it was the 1968 DM4 Vanden Plas Princess Limousine.

There were four cylinder engines based on the D-Series six cylinder engine in various capacities using common parts from 2199-2660cc petrol to 2178-2520cc diesel known initially as the 2.2-litre Austin BS1 OHV. They powered cars such as the Austin 16 hp, A70 Hampshire and Hereford, A90 Atlantic, the Austin-Healey 100-4 and the Austin Gipsy, a generation of commercial vans beginning with the Austin K8, as well as some models of the iconic London black taxi such as the Austin FX3 and Austin FX4.

At some point during Michael Edwardes reconstruction of British Leyland, the plant producing the engine was sold off to Standard Motor Products of India where it was used to power a locally-built Standard Atlas based commercial van known as the Standard Twenty and planned for use in the Standard 2000 (a rebadged Rover SD1), [3] later being re-imported from India to be used in the refurbished Carbodies version of the Austin FX4 known as the FX4Q during the 1980s.

See also

Related Research Articles

DAF Trucks Dutch truck manufacturing company

DAF Trucks is a Dutch truck manufacturing company and a division of Paccar. Its headquarters and main plant are in Eindhoven. Cabs and axle assemblies are produced at its Westerlo plant in Belgium. Some of the truck models sold with the DAF brand are designed and built by Leyland Trucks at its Leyland plant in England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Straight-six engine</span> Internal combustion engine

The straight-six engine is an internal combustion engine, with six cylinders mounted in a straight line along the crankcase with all the pistons driving a common crankshaft.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Austin Motor Company</span> Defunct English manufacturer of motor vehicles

The Austin Motor Company Limited was a British manufacturer of motor vehicles, founded in 1905 by Herbert Austin. In 1952 it was merged with Morris Motors Limited in the new holding company British Motor Corporation (BMC) Limited, keeping its separate identity. The marque Austin was used until 1987. The trademark is currently owned by the Chinese firm SAIC Motor, after being transferred from bankrupt subsidiary Nanjing Automotive which had acquired it with MG Rover Group in July 2005.

Austin Princess Motor vehicle

The Austin Princess is a series of large luxury cars that were made by Austin and its subsidiary Vanden Plas from 1947 to 1968. The cars were also marketed under the Princess and Vanden Plas marque names.

Austin Metro Supermini British economy car

The Metro is a supermini car, later a city car that was produced by British Leyland (BL) and, later, the Rover Group from 1980 to 1998. It was launched in 1980 as the Austin mini Metro. It was intended to complement and eventually replace the Mini, and was developed under the codename LC8. The Metro was named by What Car? magazine as 'Car of The Year' in 1983 as an MG, and again as the Rover Metro in 1991.

Rover 800 series 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 Legend and the successor to the decade-old Rover SD1.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Coventry Climax</span> British forklift truck, fire pump, and speciality engine manufacturer

Coventry Climax was a British forklift truck, fire pump, racing, and other specialty engine manufacturer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">General Motors LS-based small-block engine</span> V8 automobile engine made by General Motors

"LS engine" is the colloquial name given to the 3rd and 4th generation small-block V8 gasoline engine used in General Motors' vehicles. The name evolved from the need to differentiate the Gen 3/Gen 4 small blocks from the original Gen 1/Gen 2 small blocks released in 1954, which are commonly referred to as "Small Block Chevrolets". The "LS" name originates from the engine RPO code of the first Gen 3 small block, the LS1, introduced in the 1997 Corvette. The term "LS engine" is used to describe any Gen 3 or Gen 4 Small Block Chevrolet, including those that do not specifically include "LS" as part of their RPO code. Sometimes referred to as an "LSx", with the lower case "x" standing in for one of the many RPO code variations of the motor, the term can cause confusion since GM now sells an aftermarket LS cylinder block named "LSX" with a capital "X". The original RPO code "LS1" is still sometimes used, if not confusingly, to describe the entire Gen 3/Gen 4 engine family.

The Chevrolet Stovebolt engine is a straight-six engine made in two versions between 1929 and 1962 by the Chevrolet Division of General Motors. It replaced the company's 171-cubic-inch (2.8 L) inline-four as their sole engine offering from 1929 through 1954, and was the company's base engine starting in 1955 when it added the small block V8 to the lineup. It was completely phased out in North America by 1962, but GM continued to build it in Brazil until 1979. It was replaced by the Chevrolet Turbo-Thrift engine.

Rover SD1 Motor vehicle

The Rover SD1 is both the code name and eventual production name given to a series of executive cars built by the Specialist Division of British Leyland (BL), under the Rover marque. It was produced through its Specialist, Rover Triumph and Austin Rover divisions from 1976 until 1986, when it was replaced by the Rover 800. The SD1 was marketed under various names. In 1977 it won the European Car of the Year title.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Multi-valve</span> Type of car engine

In automotive engineering a multi-valve or multivalve engine is one where each cylinder has more than two valves. A multi-valve engine has better breathing and may be able to operate at higher revolutions per minute (RPM) than a two-valve engine, delivering more power.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">BMC A-series engine</span> Motor vehicle engine

Austin Motor Company's small straight-4 automobile engine, the A series, is one of the most common in the world. 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 3 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 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 F1-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.

BMC B-series engine Motor vehicle 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 (1967–69), and the eight-cylinder 2+2 coupé, the MGB GT V8 (1973–76).

BMC C-Series engine Motor vehicle engine

The BMC C-Series is a straight-6 automobile engine produced from 1954 to 1971. Unlike the Austin-designed A-Series and B-Series engines, it came from the Morris Engines drawing office in Coventry and therefore differed significantly in its layout and design from the two other designs which were closely related. This was due to the C-Series being in essence an enlarged overhead valve development of the earlier 2.2 L Straight-6 overhead camshaft engine used in the post-war Morris Six MS and Wolseley 6/80 from 1948 until 1954, which itself also formed the basis of a related 1.5 L 4-cylinder engine for the Morris Oxford MO in side-valve form and the Wolseley 4/50 in overhead camshaft form. Displacement was 2.6 to 2.9 L with an undersquare stroke of 88.9 mm (3.50 in), bored out to increase capacity.

The Austin Cambridge is a motor car range produced by the Austin Motor Company, in several generations, from September 1954 through to 1971 as cars and to 1973 as light commercials. It replaced the A40 Somerset and was entirely new, with modern unibody construction. The range had two basic body styles with the A40, A50, and early A55 using a traditional rounded shape and later A55 Mark IIs and A60s using Pininfarina styling.

Henry Meadows, usually known simply as Meadows, of Wolverhampton, England were major suppliers of engines and transmissions to the smaller companies in the British motor industry. Founded in 1920 in Park Lane, Wolverhampton, as a car gearbox maker, they expanded into petrol engines in 1922 and in the 1930s built a large factory in Fallings Park, Wolverhampton.

BMC E-series engine Motor vehicle engine

The BMC E-series engine was 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.

Weslake & Co also known as Weslake Research and Development was founded by Harry Weslake, described as England's greatest expert on cylinder head design, with premises in Rye, East Sussex, England. Weslake is most famous for its work with Bentley, Austin, Jaguar and the Gulf-Wyer Ford GT40 Mk.I.

Standard SC engine Motor vehicle engine

The Standard SC engine is a cast-iron overhead valve straight-four engine designed and initially produced by Standard Triumph. Over its production life displacement grew from an initial size of just over 800 cc to nearly 1500 cc. Introduced in the Standard Eight in 1953, it would eventually be used in a wide range of vehicles from Standard, Triumph, and MG.

References

  1. Porter (1985) p64
  2. Porter (1985) p67
  3. Adams, Keith (20 March 2022). "The cars : Standard 2000 (née Rover SD1)". AROnline.