Posted 24 May 2008 - 00:35
Dredgeing up an old post...
Now, the A95 engine and the MGC/Austin 3-litre De Luxe engine...
I've not seen the latter, but some who have say it's actually a 7-main
bearing version of the Austin Freeway engine, enlarged to 3-litres. I don't
believe it could be, but all accounts about its reliability suggest that it
may well be true.
The C-Series 4-main bearing engine of the Isis, 6/90, A90 Six, A95, A105,
Morris Marshal, Austin Healey 100/6 (is that all of them?) was 2639cc, had
bolt-clamped little ends, angle-split big ends and a few other things the
later 2913 (?) cc engine had. Oh, that's right, there was a Riley 2.6 as
well... in the Pathfinder body.
The later engine had fully floating gudgeon pins, and in the A99, 6/99 and
first series 3-litre Princess Vanden Plas had the same head (perhaps bigger
valves?) as the earlier engine. Then, about when the A110, 6/110 and
correspondingly updated Princess came out, there was a larger diameter log
manifold cast into the side of the head.
The Austin Healey 3000 had the 12-port head that was made specifically for
it, though it's possible some were sold with the log manifold.
and what our MGC owner said....
Substantially true, though the guy was probably quoting out of a book. The
MGC (and Austin Princess) engine was going to be the new BMC 'C' series
engine. It had the same bore and stroke as the old engine, retaining
2912cc, but everything else was changed. It was made with the new thin wall
casting techniques, but still weighed a ton. It had 7 main bearings instead
of 4 and a 12 port head with a separate alloy manifold. Leyland canned it
after only 2 years of limited production. The engine went into 9000 MGCs
and about 2500 Austin Princesses (these looked exactly like the Australian
Kimberley/Tasman, but were North/South engine and rear wheel drive).
Thanks in anticipation 
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