04-05-2020, 07:08 AM
(03-05-2020, 03:02 PM)Jeff Taylor Wrote: Hi Nate M,
Unfortunately can't add anything at all to the interesting discussions above other than to say that I happen to own both a new old stock Morris Eight 'Military Tank' engine - (these were fitted to the Army's Centurion main battle tank powering a generator and are based on the 1951 / 53 Morris Series MM Minor SV engine block with the 'in water jacket' water pump / thermostat and external oil filter cartridge unit) - and a now seemingly rare 1946 to 48 Wolseley Eight OHV engine which is in many ways a scaled down version of the MG XPAG as both engines were designed by Claud Bailey. I don't unfortunately have an Alta OHV head conversion unit for the Morris 8 / MM Minor SV engine though I suspect the Wolseley 8 OHV would offer an improvement over the Alta OHV head especially if it were to be breathed upon as seen below. Of course the Wolseley 8 OHV uses a fibre camshaft timing gear / steel crank gear rather than the Renold duplex timing chain used in the Morris 8 / MM Minor SV engines.
The enclosed photo shows what is said to be 'high performance' 1946 Wolseley 8 OHV engine fitted to a 1938 Morris 8 Roadster Special over in Australia. Here's the build spec:
"This 1938 Morris 8/40 Roadster Special was originally built back in 1958 and powered by a 1946 Wolseley 8 OHV engine - one of only 4 Wolseley 8 engines in Australia at that time. The car has been completely restored / rebuilt in recent years reinstating the Wolseley 8 engine in place of a Toyota Corolla engine that had been fitted to the car in the early 1970's.
The chassis was welded and stiffened together with the fitting of telescopic shockers, 9" brakes and rack and pinion steering.
The current Wolseley 8 OHV engine was imported from the UK and rebuilt for high performance by Brian Sampson - bored to 1050cc, 9:1 compression ratio, special sports camshaft, twin 1.5" SU carbs, bespoke inlet manifold and exhaust extractors, 12v electrics and Tacho fitted.
The gearbox is a 4 speed Morris 8 Series E driving through a 4.8 Wolseley Hornet Diff."
The hope is that one of these days I may get round to dropping the Wolseley 8 engine into my 1936 Morris 8 Series I Tourer - would be even better if I could have its performance uprated to the above spec though I suspect that could prove rather expensive!
Jeff.
Have read elsewhere of the Alta head conversion in the 918cc Minor being capable of increasing the output to 38-49 hp, are you saying the 33 hp 918cc Wolseley OHV had a similar scope for improvement?
Interestingly given the 918cc Morris SV / 918cc Wolseley OHV origins as a reverse-engineered Ford Sidevalve (later OHV), a further hypothetical enlargement beyond the originally proposed 950-980cc Wolseley OHV along similar lines to what Ford of Germany achieved with the pre/post-war Taunus up to 1964 with Alta head would equate to around 62-94 hp 1498-1758cc. That is without even bringing up the possibility of Weslake improvements managing to prolong the life of the engine for a bit longer, assuming there was room in the design for such developments or if it was even needed.
Though have seen other sites and books bring up the Wolseley OHV being a slightly heavier rival to the A-Series engine for use in the Morris Minor, it is not mentioned whether the Wolseley OHV engine is closer to the A40 / B-Series engine in terms of weight.
*(- Heard mention made of the XP being capable of larger 1528cc and 1598cc displacements from 1466cc, did not know the XP and Wolseley OHV were related to some extent due to the 918cc Morris SV being a reverse-engineered Ford Sidevalve engine.