|
Post by Albion on Feb 24, 2018 11:09:42 GMT
Some years ago I had all the issues of "Marine engine" magazine which was a short run of small magazines - an offshoot from stationary engine. Sadly I no longer have them but I remember a write up about Gardner stating that a LW did indeed mean Lightweight. Apparently some 4LWs and 6LWs as well as the 4LKs were used in motorcars - Lagonda and Bentley and were very highly regarded. Light Weight is a handy attribute for a motorcar engine. Obviously not light weight by today's standards but reading about it they were able to travel considerably further on a gallon of diesel than modern turbodiesel powered rubbish. There is a claim that a Jag XK 150 with 4LK in it did 90mpg !! Technology does not improve things in reality all it does is drive more money towards the grabbing hands !That XK 150 did do 90.85 mpg on a Mobil Economy Run (remember those?). I have a picture of it in one of my Gardner books. Apparently William Lyons (of Jaguar) wasn't too impressed with the performance compared to the petrol version. Roger
|
|
|
Post by TonyDunkley on Feb 25, 2018 0:27:22 GMT
To be honest, and never having actually seen one, I'm only assuming that such an engine exists, but the assumption is based on having seen some 6-cylinder jobs with cast iron crankcases mated with 2 x 3-cylinder blocks that were labelled up as LK's. With Gardner's practice of extending model ranges with combinations of 2 and 3-cylinder blocks and heads on different crankcases, I would bet that they've very probably have produced a 3-cylinder LK, and maybe a 5-cylinder version too, at some time or another to compliment the more common 4LK's. I don't know how true it was, or if it was just a good story, but a Gardner's fitter once told me that the LW designation stood for ' Light Weight' and that the whole LW range was basically the same engine as the LK's but with a lighter weight crankcase made from ally instead of cast iron. As far as I know, some early LW's were built with cast iron crankcases but all the later production were ally, . . so the story might have been true, or it could be a load of bollocks, . . who knows ? ! Tony, I think you're getting mixed up with the L2 range of earlier engines (introduced in 1929). The LW (Light Weight) range followed on from those (introduced in 1931). The LK was only ever mass produced in 4 cylinder form (4LK, introduced in 1935) although I have seen a photo of a 6LK prototype engine that never went into production. The LK was a more compact and lighter engine than the LW and produced for the smaller commercial vehicles and also, in some special editions, for some cars (never really successful in that field though). Roger No, Roger, the two 6-cylinder engines I saw were definitely not L2's. They were in a corner of a store building at Manchester Drydocks in the early 1960's, and the configuration/layout was along typical LW/LX lines with 2 x 3-cylinder heads on a 6-cylinder block (I mistakenly typed 2 x 3-cylinder blocks in the post you responded to). Being so long ago I can't be absolutely sure, but I think the block and crankcase could well have been a one piece casting rather than the usual two separate castings. The two 3-element injector pumps were mated with the typical Gardner style cambox and governor housing and somewhere on that assembly, on both the pump bodies, to the best of my recollection, was a small brass identification plate with Bhp, rpm and the letters 'LK'. One of them was just standing on the floor, but the other one was on a towable 4 x wheeled chassis. Both were equipped with radiator cooling, fans and under-slung fuel tanks, and both had stonking great water pumps, 6'' to 8'' at a guess, direct coupled to the flywheel. Neither looked as if they'd seen any use for a long time, and I have a feeling that they did look to be a bit smaller in size than an LW or LX, . . so maybe their origins were in some way linked back to the 6LK prototype you mentioned ? Ps. Can you confirm that the early LW production did have cast iron crankcases prior to them changing to ally for the later stuff, . . or is my memory playing tricks ?
|
|
|
Post by Albion on Mar 3, 2018 14:59:47 GMT
Tony, I think you're getting mixed up with the L2 range of earlier engines (introduced in 1929). The LW (Light Weight) range followed on from those (introduced in 1931). The LK was only ever mass produced in 4 cylinder form (4LK, introduced in 1935) although I have seen a photo of a 6LK prototype engine that never went into production. The LK was a more compact and lighter engine than the LW and produced for the smaller commercial vehicles and also, in some special editions, for some cars (never really successful in that field though). Roger No, Roger, the two 6-cylinder engines I saw were definitely not L2's. They were in a corner of a store building at Manchester Drydocks in the early 1960's, and the configuration/layout was along typical LW/LX lines with 2 x 3-cylinder heads on a 6-cylinder block (I mistakenly typed 2 x 3-cylinder blocks in the post you responded to). Being so long ago I can't be absolutely sure, but I think the block and crankcase could well have been a one piece casting rather than the usual two separate castings. The two 3-element injector pumps were mated with the typical Gardner style cambox and governor housing and somewhere on that assembly, on both the pump bodies, to the best of my recollection, was a small brass identification plate with Bhp, rpm and the letters 'LK'. One of them was just standing on the floor, but the other one was on a towable 4 x wheeled chassis. Both were equipped with radiator cooling, fans and under-slung fuel tanks, and both had stonking great water pumps, 6'' to 8'' at a guess, direct coupled to the flywheel. Neither looked as if they'd seen any use for a long time, and I have a feeling that they did look to be a bit smaller in size than an LW or LX, . . so maybe their origins were in some way linked back to the 6LK prototype you mentioned ? Ps. Can you confirm that the early LW production did have cast iron crankcases prior to them changing to ally for the later stuff, . . or is my memory playing tricks ? Apologies I have only just spotted this. As you say that the engines were spotted in the 60s then they could not have been LX or LY versions as they were introduced afterwards. I cannot believe that they were 6LKs as they never hit mainstream production. If they were as you describe then surely, at that time, they had to be 6LWs? I have consulted a friend of mine who is very expert in Gardners and he tells me that it depended on the destined application as to whether LWs had cast iron or alloy crankcases and sumps so it isn't easy to say that it was only earlier ones that had cast iron etc. Roger
|
|