The Standard wet liner inline-four engine was a 2,088 cc
inline four cylinder petrol engine
A petrol engine (gasoline engine in American English) is an internal combustion engine designed to run on petrol (gasoline). Petrol engines can often be adapted to also run on fuels such as liquefied petroleum gas and ethanol blends (such as ' ...
produced by the
Standard Motor Company
The Standard Motor Company Limited was a motor vehicle manufacturer, founded in Coventry, England, in 1903 by Reginald Walter Maudslay. For many years, it manufactured Ferguson TE20 tractors powered by its Vanguard engine. All Standard's tract ...
. Originally developed concurrently for passenger car use and for the
Ferguson TE20
The Ferguson TE20 is an agricultural tractor designed by Harry Ferguson. By far his most successful design, it was manufactured from 1946 until 1956, and was commonly known as the ''Little Grey Fergie''. It marked a major advance in tractor de ...
tractor, it was widely used for Standard passenger cars of the 1950s, most notably the
Vanguard
The vanguard (also called the advance guard) is the leading part of an advancing military formation. It has a number of functions, including seeking out the enemy and securing ground in advance of the main force.
History
The vanguard derives fr ...
. Later it was successfully used in Standard's popular early generation
Triumph TR series sports cars.
The water-cooled
overhead valve
An overhead valve (OHV) engine, sometimes called a ''pushrod engine'', is a piston engine whose valves are located in the cylinder head above the combustion chamber. This contrasts with earlier flathead engines, where the valves were located b ...
engine featured novel advances for an immediate
post-war design, which included
thin-wall bearings with replaceable
shells and loose-fitted
wet liners.
Origins
The engine's origins lay in the wartime production of
Bristol
Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...
aero engines at the new
Banner Lane
Banner Lane was the site of a wartime shadow factory in Coventry, England, run by Standard Motor Company and dedicated to making Bristol Hercules aero engines. The war-surplus plant was taken over by Standard in 1946 to make Ferguson tractors ...
shadow factory
A shadow is a dark area where light from a light source is blocked by an opaque object. It occupies all of the three-dimensional volume behind an object with light in front of it. The cross section of a shadow is a two- dimensional silhouette, ...
, operated by Standard in
Coventry
Coventry ( or ) is a city in the West Midlands, England. It is on the River Sherbourne. Coventry has been a large settlement for centuries, although it was not founded and given its city status until the Middle Ages. The city is governed b ...
.
From 1939 this factory produced
Bristol Hercules engines, an air-cooled radial engine, with Bristol's typical
sleeve valve
The sleeve valve is a type of valve mechanism for piston engines, distinct from the usual poppet valve. Sleeve valve engines saw use in a number of pre-World War II luxury cars and in the United States in the Willys-Knight car and light truck. ...
s. With peace in 1945, this huge factory then stood empty.
During the war, Ford had built tractors for
Ferguson in Detroit. Afterwards, Ferguson wished to continue this arrangement with an improved TO20 tractor (for "Tractor Overseas") and also a TE20 (for "Tractor England") to be built by Ford's plant at Dagenham. Ford however was unwilling and it was Standard which was to build the tractors at Banner Lane.
The first TE20 model used a
Continental
Continental may refer to:
Places
* Continent, the major landmasses of Earth
* Continental, Arizona, a small community in Pima County, Arizona, US
* Continental, Ohio, a small town in Putnam County, US
Arts and entertainment
* ''Continental'' ( ...
Z-120 petrol engine,
but the TE-A20 and later models used a new engine developed by Standard.
Ferguson TE20 tractor
![Gralle Traktor 12 juli 2005](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2d/Gralle_Traktor_12_juli_2005.jpg)
The new tractor engine appeared in 1947.
It was a petrol powered four-cylinder engine with a bore of 80 mm and stroke of 92 mm, for a total capacity of 1,850 cc.
The engine was
undersquare
In a reciprocating piston engine, the stroke ratio, defined by either bore/stroke ratio or stroke/bore ratio, is a term to describe the ratio between cylinder bore diameter and piston stroke length. This can be used for either an internal co ...
(long stroke), favouring the tractor's need for
torque
In physics and mechanics, torque is the rotational equivalent of linear force. It is also referred to as the moment of force (also abbreviated to moment). It represents the capability of a force to produce change in the rotational motion of th ...
over
horsepower
Horsepower (hp) is a unit of measurement of power, or the rate at which work is done, usually in reference to the output of engines or motors. There are many different standards and types of horsepower. Two common definitions used today are t ...
. A
compression ratio of 5.77:1 reflected the era's low octane fuel. Conventional
overhead valve
An overhead valve (OHV) engine, sometimes called a ''pushrod engine'', is a piston engine whose valves are located in the cylinder head above the combustion chamber. This contrasts with earlier flathead engines, where the valves were located b ...
s were driven from a camshaft mounted in the side of the cylinder block via vertical pushrods and adjustable rockers. Cylinder block and crankcase were
one piece
''One Piece'' (stylized in all caps) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Eiichiro Oda. It has been serialized in Shueisha's ''shōnen'' manga magazine '' Weekly Shōnen Jump'' since July 1997, with its individual cha ...
cast iron
Cast iron is a class of iron– carbon alloys with a carbon content more than 2%. Its usefulness derives from its relatively low melting temperature. The alloy constituents affect its color when fractured: white cast iron has carbide impur ...
, as was the
cylinder head
In an internal combustion engine, the cylinder head (often abbreviated to simply "head") sits above the cylinders and forms the roof of the combustion chamber.
In sidevalve engines, the head is a simple sheet of metal; whereas in more modern ...
.
Construction of the engine would be regarded as typical for the 1950s, although this engine was developed in the late 1940s and its lineal derivatives, the Triumph straight-four and
straight-six engines, would remain in production into the 1970s. In some aspects it was advanced for its day, particularly in its use of components such as
pistons being pre-graded into standardised sizes and marked as such. This avoided the need for costly hand-fitting during assembly and also simplified replacement in service. It was one of the first mass-production engines to use
thin-wall bearings: a steel shell faced with whitemetal bearing material. Rather than re-metalling the bearing journals and hand-scraping a new bearing surface to fit the crankshaft, these bearings were disposable after use. Several replacement bearing shells were expected to be fitted before the crankshaft required re-grinding. Had the tractor been built at Ford, Dagenham as originally intended, it is likely that the engine would still have been designed around the
whitemetal bearings that Ford continued with on small car engines throughout the 1950s.
The distinctive, and unusual, feature of the engine was its use of
wet liners to form the cylinders. Rather than the cylinders being bored into the cast-iron block, separate thin-walled steel tubes were inserted into a hollow block. The space between liner and block formed a large uninterrupted water jacket, which improved cylinder heat dispersal into the cooling system, as did the thin tubes of the liners. The liners were only loosely installed into the block with hand pressure. The sealing of the liners into the engine block was at the bottom by a pair of soft metal "spectacle washers"
that each sealed a pair of liners. Each liner stood slightly proud of the cylinder block face.
[0.003 in to 0.0055 in, '' Automobile Repair IV''] so that it formed a good seal against the
head gasket
In an internal combustion engine, a head gasket provides the seal between the engine block and cylinder head(s).
Its purpose is to seal the combustion gases within the cylinders and to avoid coolant or engine oil leaking into the cylinders. Leak ...
when assembled. Such wet liners had been used in high performance engines for many years, but this was an early example of them for a low-cost, mass-production engine. Particularly with the advanced grinding techniques necessary to make such a thin-walled tube with good concentricity and surface finish, other manufacturers saw them as over-complex. However Banner Lane's building of sleeve-valve Bristol engines during the war had given them the necessary experience and equipment. Throughout the engine's service it was seen as a dependable and reliable engine, if slightly staid and tractor-like. The liners never gave the trouble experienced by other engines such as the much later
Rover K-series.
![Standard engine, plug side of head, Ferguson TE20 tractor](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7d/Standard_engine%2C_plug_side_of_head%2C_Ferguson_TE20_tractor.jpg)
Another distinctive, although less revolutionary, feature of the engine was the location of the tubes carrying the valve pushrods. Rather than being cast inside the cylinder head, thus requiring more cores and complexity, they were outside the main casting of the cylinder head. The top and bottom faces of the cylinder head were extended to form a flange on the camshaft side of the engine with individual steel tubes placed through the flanges to enclose each pushrod (a similar system was used for the
Volkswagen Beetle
The Volkswagen Beetle—officially the Volkswagen Type 1, informally in German (meaning "beetle"), in parts of the English-speaking world the Bug, and known by many other nicknames in other languages—is a two-door, rear-engine economy car, ...
engine, albeit with longer tubes the entire length of the cylinder). These tubes were expanded at top and bottom to seal them and thus became a permanent part of the cylinder head. The separate tubes were reliable, less expensive to manufacture than casting them into the head, and gave that side of the engine its distinctive "hollow" appearance with the rocker box appearing to be supported by columns.
Farms up until then had little machinery, electricity was still uncommon, and the tractor was also expected to be able to power
farm machinery
Agricultural machinery relates to the mechanical structures and devices used in farming or other agriculture. There are many types of such equipment, from hand tools and power tools to tractors and the countless kinds of farm implements that they ...
. For this purpose, the tractor was equipped with a
power take-off shaft at the rear. This could drive either a
hitched
implement such as a
rotovator, or static machinery such as a
thresher. The engine was fitted with a
governor
A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...
to allow the engine speed to be set somewhere between idling speed of 400 rpm and full power speed of 2,200 rpm, maintaining this speed against varying loads. The "belt hp" rating of the tractor was 23.9 hp although the
tax rating of 20 hp gave the tractor its model number of TE20.
Alternative fuels
The first tractor models of 1947 were built for petrol fuel. In 1949 versions of the engine using
TVO
TVO (stylized as tvo), formerly known as TVOntario, is a publicly funded English-language educational television network and media organization serving the Canadian province of Ontario. It operates flagship station CICA-DT (channel 19) in To ...
, and in 1950
lamp oil
Kerosene, paraffin, or lamp oil is a combustible hydrocarbon liquid which is derived from petroleum. It is widely used as a fuel in aviation as well as households. Its name derives from el, κηρός (''keros'') meaning "wax", and was regi ...
were introduced.
TVO has a low
octane rating of around 60 and so the engine had the usual changes to
compression ratio and ignition timing. A heat shield around the manifolds increased the inlet temperature, encouraging vapourisation of the fuel. To avoid problems with fuel condensation in the inlet ports, diameter of the valves (in some engine versions) was also reduced, thus increasing flow velocity.
The lamp oil engine used a zero octane paraffin (kerosene) fuel, but was only suitable for use in warm climates, or else the fuel did not vapourise adequately.
Diesel
In 1951 Standard produced their first
diesel engine
The diesel engine, named after Rudolf Diesel, is an internal combustion engine in which ignition of the fuel is caused by the elevated temperature of the air in the cylinder due to mechanical compression; thus, the diesel engine is a so-ca ...
for the TE-F20 tractor.
This was a new engine design, different from the petrol engine. Bore of 3 3/16" and stroke of 4" gave a capacity of 2,092 cc. In 1954 this engine also found its way into the
Phase II Vanguard, making this Britain's first production diesel car.
85 and 87 mm engines
A larger capacity of 2,088 cc was achieved by changing the pistons and liners for a bore of 85 mm, retaining the stroke of 92 mm.
These are generally known as "85 mm engines", in contrast to the original "80 mm". After 1955, the engines in Ferguson tractors had a bore of 87 mm, giving a capacity of 2,188 cc engines.
Standard cars
![Standard Vanguard Phase 2 blue at Castle Hedingham photo 2008](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4f/Standard_Vanguard_Phase_2_blue_at_Castle_Hedingham_photo_2008.JPG)
The Standard Vanguard used the same 2,088 cc "85 mm" engine that had been developed for the tractor. Compression ratio remained the same at 6:1 but the valve and ignition timing were changed to suit road driving conditions and a more predictable quality of petrol.
The governor was removed and the power output rose to 68 bhp.
The Phase III version of the Vanguard, introduced in 1955, had a compression ratio of 7.5:1 but the power output remained at .
The engine was also used in two variants of the Vanguard. The Sportsman was a high-performance version made in 1956 and 1957 with two
SU carburettor
SU carburettors were a British manufacturer of constant-depression carburettors. Their designs were in mass production during most of the twentieth century.
The S.U. Carburetter Company Limited also manufactured dual-choke updraught carburetto ...
s and a compression ratio of 8:1, yielding at 4500 rpm. The Ensign was an economy version introduced in 1957. The engine in the original Ensign had its cylinders sleeved to 76 mm, giving a capacity of 1670 cc and a power output of at 4000 rpm. In 1962 this was replaced by an uprated Ensign with an 86 mm bore, giving a capacity of 2138 cc and a power output of at 4100 rpm.
The last car to use this engine was the
Standard 2000 in India. When it was introduced in 1986, the engine was modified with
Heron combustion chamber, twin
SU carburetors and a redesigned inlet manifold. The bore was around 84.45mm and original stroke of 92mm made it into a 2061cc engine. It made a claimed 83bhp@4250rpm and production ended when
Standard India shut down in 1988.
Triumph cars
![EM Triumph 5706](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/38/EM_Triumph_5706.jpg)
Standard bought the assets of the
Triumph Motor Company
The Triumph Motor Company was a British car and motor manufacturing company in the 19th and 20th centuries. The marque had its origins in 1885 when Siegfried Bettmann of Nuremberg formed S. Bettmann & Co. and started importing bicycles from E ...
in 1944 and, after the Second World War, began manufacture of the
Triumph Town and Country saloon and the
Triumph Roadster
The Triumph Roadster is a roadster produced by Britain's Standard Motor Company from 1946 until 1949. It was first available as the Triumph 1800 Roadster (18TR) from 1946 to 1948 and then as the Triumph 2000 Roadster (TRA) from 1948 to 1949.
Tr ...
based on pre-war Standard components. The
drivetrain
A drivetrain (also frequently spelled as drive train or sometimes drive-train) is the group of components that deliver mechanical power from the prime mover to the driven components. In automotive engineering, the drivetrain is the components o ...
of the Roadster was replaced by the Vanguard drivetrain, including the 85 mm wet liner engine, in October 1948; the saloon's drivetrain was similarly transplanted in February 1949.
The wet liner engine was also used in the
Triumph TR
The Triumph TR range of cars was built between 1953 and 1981 by the Triumph Motor Company in the United Kingdom. Changes from the TR2 to the TR6 were mostly evolutionary, with a change from a live axle to independent rear suspension in 1965 and a ...
series of
sports car
A sports car is a car designed with an emphasis on dynamic performance, such as handling, acceleration, top speed, the thrill of driving and racing capability. Sports cars originated in Europe in the early 1900s and are currently produced by ...
s from the TR-X and
20TS prototypes to the
TR4A. All the TRs using this engine used two SU carburettors except the TR4A, which used two
Strombergs.
Other applications
The wet liner engine was sold to specialist manufacturers without the resources to build their own engines. Most notable among these was
Morgan, which used the engine in their
Plus 4. Others included sports car maker
Peerless
Peerless may refer to:
Companies and organizations
* Peerless Motor Company, an American automobile manufacturer.
* Peerless Brewing Company, in Birkenhead, UK
* Peerless Group, an insurance and financial services company in India
* Peerless R ...
, which was later reorganized as Warwick, and
Swallow Coachbuilding, who used the engine in their
Doretti.
Notes
References
*
*
*
*
*{{cite book, last = Robson, first = Graham, title = The Book of the Standard Motor Company, url = {{Google books, LbCIGEFLi_kC, The Book of the Standard Motor Company, plainurl=yes , access-date = 19 October 2014, date = May 2011, publisher = Veloce Publishing, location = Poundbury, Dorchester, UK, isbn = 978-1-845843-43-4, quote =
Standard Motor Company engines
Triumph Motor Company engines
Straight-four engines
Gasoline engines by model