Squire's voitures

Talk about your cars etc here. Keep it sort of sensible and on topic please.
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Re: Squire's voitures

Post by CLINT »

Lovely! Although with the mpg of that, it would probably be cheaper to take a car and book a hotel!
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Re: Squire's voitures

Post by fried onions »

The engines as fitted had a much lower compression ratio of 6.5:1 so they could use commercial grade petrol. This reduced the power output to 85 bhp as opposed to around 130 bhp from the car engines. As the lowest octane rating we can buy is 95, I wouldn't be getting the full bang for my buck. I'm not sure yet if it has a car engine fitted however, the carburettor is the same as the car when the Commer handbook says it's different. I will have to check the engine number.
If it is the commercial version I would bring it up to car specification eventually. Hopefully this would just be a case of swapping the cylinder head but the pistons might also differ.
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Re: Squire's voitures

Post by SiC »

TIL commercial petrol

How did commercial petrol work? Separate pumps at a filling station or a big tank in the yards of companies?

When did the practice of (presumably cheap/less tax) low grade petrol end?
Last edited by SiC on Tue Feb 04, 2020 9:56 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Squire's voitures

Post by fried onions »

Also I have those spare engines, I could just fit one of them if needed. But that's academic at the moment.
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Re: Squire's voitures

Post by fried onions »

SiC wrote: Tue Feb 04, 2020 9:53 am TIL commercial petrol

How did commercial petrol work? Separate pumps at a filling station or a big tank in the yards of companies?

When did the practice of (presumably cheap) low grade petrol end?
Only the bigger fleet operators had their own fuel filling facilities. I think the octane rating was around the 70's. Lower grade petrol finished in the 1980's with two star being the cheapest. Four star of course lingered on for a bit longer. You could buy the various grades from most forecourts.
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Re: Squire's voitures

Post by CLINT »

I was talking to the owner of a J type Bedford the other day. He said it destroyed the plugs when it was new and when they contacted the dealer apparently it was because they were running it on too high a grade of fuel. He couldn't remember but I think they used three star.
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Re: Squire's voitures

Post by DodgeRover »

At that compression ratio twin tanks and switching over to kerosene (or whatever cross fuel you can get hold of) once warmed up would be my solution.
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Re: Squire's voitures

Post by cros »

I used to own this Loadstar and used it with its original 4 litre petrol engine for the first 5 years. With a flatbed it would do 16 mpg and could achieve 70mph. Liar I hear you say, but if you're still with me read Dick Salmon's A mechanics Tale (BRM history), these lorries could be quick with the right gearing. This engine powered the Jensen 541
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On modern petrol it ran terribly hot- long journeys (I did plenty of them) were a nightmare in the summer, and I didn't find that the usual trick of adding 10% diesel helped much.
When I fitted the luton body pictured, fuel consumption became unliveable with, one memorable day battling up the M1 against a strong headwind it was unable to keep in top on the slightest incline and returning 9mpg left me stranded on the hard shoulder, the 15 gallon tank dry as a nuns.
In went an Iveco 2.5 with gearbox- fortunately these have a 1:1 top and it just about coped. It was still in regular use last December.
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Re: Squire's voitures

Post by fried onions »

That is a lovely old van and the body really suits it.
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Re: Squire's voitures

Post by fried onions »

Got this back today, now I have the impetus to get it back up and running. Casting date June 1959 so it was a few months before it made it onto the car, which was registered in December 1959. There were never more than a couple of thousand Series II produced anyway.

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Next step clean up the block mating face, and externally ready for paint, mix a good colour match for the original Rootes dark blue, then re-fit cylinder head. I am in the process of cleaning up and painting the dynamo and starter motor. It will look fantastic freshly painted.
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