The Triumph Six Cylinder or Triumph I6 engine is a
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 impuriti ...
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 be ...
straight-six engine
The straight-six engine (also referred to as an inline-six engine; abbreviated I6 or L6) is a piston engine with six cylinders arranged in a straight line along the crankshaft. A straight-six engine has perfect primary and secondary engine bala ...
produced by
Standard Triumph
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 tracto ...
. It is an evolution of 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 tracto ...
's
inline-4
A straight-four engine (also called an inline-four) is a four-cylinder piston engine where cylinders are arranged in a line along a common crankshaft.
The vast majority of automotive four-cylinder engines use a straight-four layout (with the ...
Standard Eight
The Standard Eight is a small car produced by the British Standard Motor Company from 1938 to 1959.
The car was originally launched in 1938 as the Flying Eight. After the Second World War the Flying range of Standards was dropped but an updat ...
, with the addition of two cylinders and a larger displacement.
Introduced in their
Standard Vanguard Six in 1960, it was used in a wide range of Triumph vehicles, including the
Triumph TR5,
TR250, and
TR6.
Origin
Standard Six engine
The six cylinder engine was developed from the
Standard SC four first used in 1960 in the
Standard Vanguard Six, in which it had a bore and a stroke, giving a capacity of 1998 cc. It was also used in the Eight and the Ten.
The engine was next used in the
Triumph Vitesse
The Triumph Vitesse is a compact six-cylinder car built by Standard-Triumph from May 1962 - July 1971. The car was styled by Giovanni Michelotti, and was available in saloon and convertible variants.
The Vitesse name was first used by Austin ...
, a sports saloon based on the Herald, in 1962. In this application, the engine had a bore, reducing displacement to 1596 cc. The Vitesse was given the two-litre engine with the 74.6 mm bore in 1966.
The
Triumph 2000
The Triumph 2000 is a mid-sized, rear wheel drive automobile which was produced in Coventry by the Triumph Motor Company between 1963 and 1977. It was introduced on 15 October 1963. It was styled by Giovanni Michelotti.
It competed with the c ...
replaced the Vanguard Six in 1963 when Leyland discontinued the Standard marque. The two-litre six was later used in the
Spitfire
The Supermarine Spitfire is a British single-seat fighter aircraft used by the Royal Air Force and other Allied countries before, during, and after World War II. Many variants of the Spitfire were built, from the Mk 1 to the Rolls-Royce Griff ...
-based
GT6 coupé from 1966 to 1974.
Beginning in 1967, the engine was used in the
Triumph TR5 and
TR250 sports cars, replacing the
Standard inline-four engine
The Standard wet liner inline-four engine was a 2,088 cc inline four cylinder petrol engine produced by the Standard Motor Company. Originally developed concurrently for passenger car use and for the Ferguson TE20 tractor, it was widely us ...
used in
TRs from the
TR2 to the
TR4A. For this application, the stroke was increased to , giving 2498 cc. When equipped with the Lucas mechanical fuel injection system in the TR5, this new 2.5-litre version gave a claimed at 5500 rpm. When tested on dynamometers, 110 to 130bhp at the crankshaft is more usual, and may explain Triumph's decision to fit the TR7 with a 2-litre slant-four engine, whose power output and hence performance were in fact similar to those of the earlier and ostensibly more powerful engine. The TR250 was sold in the US with Stromberg carburettors to avoid the need for additional emissions control systems; this reduced the power to at 4500 rpm. The
TR6, made from 1969 to 1975, used the TR5's engine, detuned to in 1973. with a 106 hp version of the TR250's engine in the United States.
The fuel-injected 2.5 litre engine became available in the 2000 unit body as the 2.5 PI in 1968; this was supplanted by the twin-carburettor 2500 TC in 1974. The 2000 and 2500 TC were discontinued in 1977.
Technical
A partial chart of Triumph engine numbers is posted on the "Spitfire & GT6 magazine" site. However the capacity appears not to match the bore/stroke, or that published on other sites including the GT6 Ezine,
hence the corrections in the tables below.
Engine Applications Chart
Factory Quoted Power Chart
Racing
Triumph raced Spitfires, and some early GT6 prototypes at Le Mans, with some good success, and later at Sebring but due to rule changes and the takeover by Leyland, this was not continued.
Replacement
After Triumph, and later
Rover
Rover may refer to:
People
* Constance Rover (1910–2005), English historian
* Jolanda de Rover (born 1963), Dutch swimmer
* Rover Thomas (c. 1920–1998), Indigenous Australian artist
Places
* Rover, Arkansas, US
* Rover, Missouri, US
* ...
, were absorbed into Leyland Motors in 1960, and 1967 respectively, work began on a successor to both the
Triumph 2000
The Triumph 2000 is a mid-sized, rear wheel drive automobile which was produced in Coventry by the Triumph Motor Company between 1963 and 1977. It was introduced on 15 October 1963. It was styled by Giovanni Michelotti.
It competed with the c ...
and the
Rover P6
The Rover P6 series (named as the 2000, 2200, or 3500, depending on engine displacement) was a saloon car produced by Rover and subsequently British Leyland from 1963 to 1977 in Solihull, Warwickshire, England, UK.
The P6 was the first winner o ...
which would also use a new straight six engine design. The engine, known internally as the
Leyland PE166 was originally intended to be a development of the Triumph I6, but ended up becoming an entirely new design, with almost no interchangeable parts with the original. The
Rover SD1
The Rover SD1 is both the code name and eventual production name given to a series of executive cars built by the Specialist Division (later the ''Jaguar-Rover-Triumph'' division) of British Leyland (BL), under the Rover marque. It was produced ...
was the only recipient of this engine in both 2.3L and 2.6L capacities.
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
I6
Standard Motor Company engines
Straight-six engines
Gasoline engines by model