PLEASE NOTE PHOTOS ARE NOW HERE: https://historicengineco.blogspot.com/search/label/daimler
Just thought that I would share the photos of a Daimler Sleeve Valve Engine rebuild.
I have not carried out a full mechanical restoration as there have been some cost limitations.
The engine is about 1925, it has two sleeves per cylinder as opposed to the more common single sleeve found in many aero engines.
Each cylinder is topped by a single head. This provides a sealed top "cap" and locates the sliding sleeves.
The head has a large piston ring known as a "Junk" ring, this name being carried to the head also.
Each sleeve is operated by a small con rod connected to a small crank in place of the more familiar camshaft.
As the exhaust and inlet sleeves operate, they uncover their respective ports.
Lubrication is given by a finger pump delivering oil into dip trays which accept the scoop at the bottom of each con rod. The oil also throws up into galleries for the main bearings, There is no oil pressure feed.
Sleeve valves are particularly prone to heavy oil burning, giving significant smoke trails. The dip tray on this engine neatly connects to the throttle to allow it to cleverly rise and fall to regulate oil delivery ie. the full throttle, "up" position allows the con rod scoop to collect more oil than when the tray is in the "down"..idle position.
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Daimler Sleeve Valve Crank         |
Just wandering round the internet and came across your photos of the sleeve-valve engine. As the owner of a 1927 Daimler 20/70, it is nice to see details of the internals of a related engine. We have not seen inside our block other than down the oil filler.
ReplyDeleteThe car shown in the photos looks to me a 16/55 from about 1930. Earlier 16/55 engines followed the arrangement used in mine, with the cylinder block cast as two banks of three cylinders each, with individual heads for each cylinder. The single bank, with common hot water header, was continued when Daimler converted to poppet-valves in 1931, the sleeve-valve arrangement having quite a short production run. When I first saw the photo, I thought the car was the one sold at Bonhams in November. That car had a Bedford engine fitted, but the original engine was said to be available from a different seller. Examination shows the bodywork is different.
When our car was built, coil ignition was still a new concept, and Daimler fitted a magneto as well, with a change-over switch on the dashboard. We run on the coil and have yet to reinstate the mag. The manual says that there ought to be 2A left for battery charging with all lights on, but we have 36W bulbs rather than 24W in the headlamps, and we have two extra tail lamps, which leaves us in deficit. With the headlamps dipped, we break about even, since the passenger side then gets switched off! Your engine appears never to have had provision for a mag, so must be later than ours.
The engine’s relatively crude splash lubrication, however, surprised me. The 1927 16/55 model certainly had forced lubrication. It’s possible that Daimler decided to use an earlier method for the cheapest model in the range.
I suspect that your part in the project mostly involved a big cleanup of the engine (good job, by the way) and sorting out the bearings at the main crankshaft. The sleeves look in decent condition, which is just as well because making new ones is a very difficult task.
I see that the engine now has a modern carburettor. Ours still uses the original Daimler one.
Your comment about oil consumption is very true. We manage about 250 miles to the gallon of SAE30. Fuel consumption is frightening - the best we have managed so far on a run is 18 mpg.
Is the car back on the road yet? Does it run well? Which part of the country is it likely to be seen in?
I keep a website with details of our car, including manuals. You are welcome to browse and grab copies. In a business like yours, every bit of documentation will come in useful eventually. I personally grab information where and when as I can. Some of the stuff on there was acquired from a book I found in a museum in New Zealand. It told me the official way to set the timing, which was never mentioned in the manuals I already had!
Please have a look at:
www.andrewalston.co.uk
Andrew Alston
Chorley
Lancashire
Just wandering round the internet and came across your photos of the sleeve-valve engine. As the owner of a 1927 Daimler 20/70, it is nice to see details of the internals of a related engine. We have not seen inside our block other than down the oil filler.
ReplyDeleteThe car shown in the photos looks to me a 16/55 from about 1930. Earlier 16/55 engines followed the arrangement used in mine, with the cylinder block cast as two banks of three cylinders each, with individual heads for each cylinder. The single bank, with common hot water header, was continued when Daimler converted to poppet-valves in 1931, the sleeve-valve arrangement having quite a short production run. When I first saw the photo, I thought the car was the one sold at Bonhams in November. That car had a Bedford engine fitted, but the original engine was said to be available from a different seller. Examination shows the bodywork is different.
When our car was built, coil ignition was still a new concept, and Daimler fitted a magneto as well, with a change-over switch on the dashboard. We run on the coil and have yet to reinstate the mag. The manual says that there ought to be 2A left for battery charging with all lights on, but we have 36W bulbs rather than 24W in the headlamps, and we have two extra tail lamps, which leaves us in deficit. With the headlamps dipped, we break about even, since the passenger side then gets switched off! Your engine appears never to have had provision for a mag, so must be later than ours.
The engine’s relatively crude splash lubrication, however, surprised me. The 1927 16/55 model certainly had forced lubrication. It’s possible that Daimler decided to use an earlier method for the cheapest model in the range.
I suspect that your part in the project mostly involved a big cleanup of the engine (good job, by the way) and sorting out the bearings at the main crankshaft. The sleeves look in decent condition, which is just as well because making new ones is a very difficult task.
I see that the engine now has a modern carburettor. Ours still uses the original Daimler one.
Your comment about oil consumption is very true. We manage about 250 miles to the gallon of SAE30. Fuel consumption is frightening - the best we have managed so far on a run is 18 mpg.
Is the car back on the road yet? Does it run well? Which part of the country is it likely to be seen in?
I keep a website with details of our car, including manuals. You are welcome to browse and grab copies. In a business like yours, every bit of documentation will come in useful eventually. I personally grab information where and when as I can. Some of the stuff on there was acquired from a book I found in a museum in New Zealand. It told me the official way to set the timing, which was never mentioned in the manuals I already had!
Please have a look at:
www.andrewalston.co.uk
Andrew Alston
Chorley
Lancashire
aNDREW THANK YOU FOR YOUR WELCOME COMMENT, i AM VERY SORRY THAT SOMEHOW i SEEM TO HAVE MISSED IT FOR SUCH A LONG TIME. i AM AFRAID THAT i HAVE LOST TRACK NOW OF THE CAR
Delete