Mog615 .... I'd be interested in more info about the Morgan with the Daimler engine ..... that was a cracking Edward Turner designed lump ....a gem of an engine and readily tuneable for 200+bhp .... other than being 30kg heavier than the Rover V8 (lots of heavy bits on the Daimler so I reckon a lot of that weight could be lopped off with some judicious slimming work) I have often wondered what would have happened if Morgan had chosen it instead (unfortunately around that time the engine fell foul of being too much competition for the Jag straight six so was being phased out in a 'model rationalisation' ) .... that engine developed, and with an alloy block could have been up there with the all time great British powerplants .... would be interested in your experience of the actual over my imaginings.
K
Ps Geology graduate myself! .... tho my lecturer in palaeontology was an MG man!
Hi,
The Daimler V8 was a superb engine , great design with hemi heads, short push rods, and quite a compact unit . I believe that they manufactured the 2.5 litre for the Dart sports car and the saloons , and a 4.5 litre version for the limosines.
The problem came with the installation in a +4 engine bay. It either had to be mounted higher up , or canted to one side , in order to miss the steering column (no universally jointed items available in those days) . The first installation was done by The Hon Basil Fielding who had bough one of the Lawrence cars (XRX 1) , his team decided to do a lot of "cutting and shutting"in the engine bay even including the frame front. I think they had some success but even at its peak it was never a match for the TR engined cars on the track , but was said to be great on the road. This car was acquired by James Henderson who shipped it to S Africa for many years and raced it at Kyalami and other tracks . On its return to the UK Steve Spencer used it for a while , and whilst it was competitive in the Morgan one;y races , there was limited application outside of the one-marque series due to the non-standard engine. His last development was to turbo-charge it with a a low pressure turbine.
After some years the car ended up at BHM being run by the Swiss Kramer family (father and son) and after much discussion with Rick Bourne and others they covered it back to TR power so it was eligible for HSCC, Goodwood, Le Mans Classic and similar events.
My own car had the engine canted well to the left to miss the steering column , this in turn meant that the float chamber levels were affected and it never really ran well. Even a Daimler specialist in a Mews Garage in London pronounced it a mystery to him why it just would not rev properly. It produced loads of torque and was great on the road , but alas not on the track . It also suffered horrific oil consumption , much of which were leaks I suspect.
Eventually I gave up the unequal struggle , went to TR power and immediately had my best ever season of racing.
