Yeah we’ve been down this road before a few times.
Top of the range flagship lorries help sell the bread n butter range beneath them.
Saviem:
Makes one wonder, if one thinks about it…was the 14 litre a fluke■■?
^ This.The fact that it was a great 6 cylinder design is beyond doubt.The only question then is was that by accident or design.I’d still say it’s possibly more than a 50/50 chance it was the latter.IE if too many things are right from overall capacity to bore and stroke measurements just to start with and a design that goes from the drawing board in the 1950’s to more than 500 hp and well over 100 lb/ft per litre decades later the odds against all that coming together in one design by lucky guess not intention have to be massive. 
newmercman:
Yeah we’ve been down this road before a few times.Top of the range flagship lorries help sell the bread n butter range beneath them.
In which case even from the point of view of the ‘halo effect’ then ERF or SA would have arguably made a better point in that regard following the idea of the biggest power possible ■■■■■■■ in it’s most recognisable form the 14 litre.As opposed to being associated in the magazine testing scene with the lesser options.
So who made the best and the worst job of installing the 14 litre? The E290 would probably make the best candidate for comparison since there was such a variety of exhaust/turbo pipework. IIRC Foden made the worst job of it with the turbo hanging over the catwalk. Closely followed by the Seddon Atkinson 400 with the rear engine mountings on the gearbox.
Cav551 I would say that Scammell in the 6x2 Roadtrain variant had the tidiest installation, although that would be an E320 rather than an E290.
My own experiences with the E290 are with a 400 Seddon Atki and a Transcon, of the two the Transcon was the winner in terms of ease of access, fortunate as it was a complete dog and often required attention.
cav551:
So who made the best and the worst job of installing the 14 litre? The E290 would probably make the best candidate for comparison since there was such a variety of exhaust/turbo pipework. IIRC Foden made the worst job of it with the turbo hanging over the catwalk. Closely followed by the Seddon Atkinson 400 with the rear engine mountings on the gearbox.
Very good question. The thread is getting wheels!
abc
Many thanks, gents, for the thoughtful and thought-provoking contributions to this thread. I certainly now know a little more than I did when I opened it! Robert 
I can’t really comment on the best installation as I don’t think our Foden 220’s had turbo’s! The later 250’s had them but I can’t remember where the turbo was, the cab was panelled in at the rear so I assume that they were on the offside like the Rolls and L10’s?
Pete.
^^ looks like the m6 below Tebay .
I know who did the biggest shoehorn job, that was Guy’s getting the 290/335 and even 350 under the cab of a big j was no mean feat !
windrush:
I can’t really comment on the best installation as I don’t think our Foden 220’s had turbo’s! The later 250’s had them but I can’t remember where the turbo was, the cab was panelled in at the rear so I assume that they were on the offside like the Rolls and L10’s?Pete.
Hi Pete , We had two 250 turbo,s and the blower was at the back of the engine , these were in S/A 400s . I think on the Rollers the exhaust manifold was usually on the nearside so the turbo would have been n/s centre or at the rear . Regards Geoff
dosser:
windrush:
I can’t really comment on the best installation as I don’t think our Foden 220’s had turbo’s! The later 250’s had them but I can’t remember where the turbo was, the cab was panelled in at the rear so I assume that they were on the offside like the Rolls and L10’s?Pete.
Hi Pete , We had two 250 turbo,s and the blower was at the back of the engine , these were in S/A 400s . I think on the Rollers the exhaust manifold was usually on the nearside so the turbo would have been n/s centre or at the rear . Regards Geoff
Aye Geoff, I reckon you are right! The Rolls exhaust was on the nearside and I think that the turbo was on top in the centre, my memory isn’t so good now as it will be 18 years since I looked at a Rolls 265 engine in a Foden.
Pete.
I found a picture of an SA 400 which does indeed show the turbo at the back with the pipework caged in with steel mesh. So I’ll revise my opinion and place the 400 at the top above the Foden for poor installation. ISTR that the Foden S80 and the ERF
B series had the by-pass oil filter bolted to the outside of the n/s chassis rail under the wheelarch so it got covered in road spray etc.
We had two T reg S/A 400 E290 they had the bypass filter above and just behind the o/s /f wheel , they were alloy ? casings with the filter inside not a good job to change them , they had two clamp rings holding the end cap on and it was not easy to refit them . Geoff
Evening all,
ERF Continental, you have some interesting stuff in your collection. I was told about the potential White/■■■■■■■ tie up from colleagues at Allentown. It would seem to have “rumbled on” for quite a time, basically because the management at ■■■■■■■ foresaw the trend towards vertical integration in lorry manufacture, and the gradual side lining of component suppliers several decades before it actually happened.Yet your scan is the first time that I have seen anything written about it.Truly ■■■■■■■ Management were ahead of their time in their Corporate thinking.
My understanding regarding the first 14 litres is that Consolidated Freight Lines received two 14 litre engines in March 1955, for test evaluation, supervised by ■■■■■■■■ (here we go on the Stockholding influence of White)!. Mack received two units in mid 1955, (Mack were always a strong ■■■■■■■ user, despite being a vertically integrated manufacturer… a fact not commonly known…even in the 70s, if you wanted "big" power in a Mack, (over 240 hp), then your option was CAT, Detroit, or more likely ■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■ the big V8 came along)............Didnt half cause this simple fellow some confusion I can tell you.
Tommorow, I will try to find out what happened to my ex Montana NTC 475 engine K100, I wonder if she was the only K100 so engine ever to reach Europe? But the pevious post on the Container load of big power 14 litres makes one speculate, was that ERF the only lorry to be so re engined? Surely not!But as you say ERF Continental, they must be very rare over here indeed!
Of the US tractor units that I imported with KT range ■■■■■■■■ 3 went into France, (2 W900s 1 K100), 5 into Italy, (2 W900s, 3 K100s), whatever their original design performance, all were either 525, or 600 hp, with a variety of transmissions. Most of them arrived with independent Dyno Shop sheets showing the delivered horses at the bogie…amazing power, amazing “useable” torque!
Perhaps ERF C, you will share some more gems from your collection of data with us all, it is very interesting information indeed.
Now best installation of a 290…Bedford TM, (once they cured the cab of squeaking like a cage full of Canaries), it was a lovely driving lorry, and some of the installations by ERF, (though they could alter things without any seeming reason)!!!
I shall pour myself a large Bollinger to reflect on the E290 TM, (and I suppose the Transcontinental), what could have been!
Cheerio for now
Anyone remember the bloke down at the old transporter depot nr redditch ,can’t just think of his name ,I once went to collect a sandblaster self filtering unit ,he delt in ex us airforce stock and used a bonneted kenworth with if I remember correctly a kta 19 725 ■■■■■■■ ,he even let me start it up !
abc
Nice ■■■■■■■ brochure photo 
- BUT is that
not a Foden S80 with a Gardner 8lxb southbound on the M6, I THINK IT IS 
-
Long live the 8 
-
8LXBV8BRIAN:
Nice ■■■■■■■ brochure photo
not a Foden S80 with a Gardner 8lxb southbound on the M6, I THINK IT IS
Long live the 8
Red alert! Red alert! 
We have a Patricroft spy in the camp! Scramble!