FodenS80:
What are the thoughts of the 14L 250 versus the 12.7L 220?
I have heard it said that there was little benefit from the 250 over a ‘good’ 220. On paper it is a much better engine. As the 220 is only a tweaked 205 to meet the power to weight requirement, the 250 has the larger capacity so should have more guts.
However, no one really sings its praises. It is a lot thirstier for no measurable improvement.
Any comments?
That of course leads on to the 240 with the turbo. Did that provide a significant improvement in torque and reduced fuel consumption?
The 250(225) 14 litre was a much more reliable engine in service than the 220 from what i remember of the two great when it had a fuller
in the middle and it was ok with the D/B 8 speed much more so than the 240 8LXB Gardner.
The only 14ltr with a penny whistle stuck on the side at Waughs was a long term demo from S/A to try and win back ground as Mercedes Benz had started to
replace the Atkinsons , S/A GROUP AXLE springs to mind plus one or two other things.
The turbo ■■■■■■■ sounded Fantastic you could see the fuel tank getting sucked in when you revved it up, the two trunk drivers who had it loved it went even better than
the 265R/R-S/A the truck the devil sent from hell, that was taken off trunk for a short time.
so it could run along side the other trunk motor V8 Mercedes no competition the Mercedes was in a different class.
FodenS80:
More reliable in what way? What were the issues with the 220, other than having to keep on top of the timing?
I only recall us having one “iffy” 220 and that one had the two main diseases as well,the DB 6.600 box and the Group axle,all our other ■■■■■■■ chassis,both 205 and 220 gave reliable service.The only experience I had with the 250 ■■■■■■■ was when we aquired one in a takeover of another haulier,it was a 6 month old P reg '75 SA,we ran it for another 6 months and then I replaced it with a new F88.The 250 was a thirsty bugger and this fact finally put me off ■■■■■■■ for good,although I did relent on a couple of occaisions and tried both SA and ERF demos with the E290 ■■■■■■■ and their fuel consumption was even worse !!But by this time we had got into Scania in big way and although I did buy another ten (IIRC) 8LXB/Cs chassis in the early/mid 80’s the Scandinavians had firmly become our favourite motor and they remained so apart from,in latter years, a few Mercs and a couple of Magnums.Cheers Bewick.
Well Dennis we only had one 220 ■■■■■■■ and it didnt perform very well Im afraid, It was in a Foden S80, I was very dissapointed with it, But having said that my cousin had a few of them in the same motors and they did very well for him, So I Must have got a bad one as like other engines it does happen, But we got over it anyway, & lived to fight another day in the old haulage game, Regards Larry.
Lawrence Dunbar:
Well Dennis we only had one 220 ■■■■■■■ and it didnt perform very well Im afraid, It was in a Foden S80, I was very dissapointed with it, But having said that my cousin had a few of them in the same motors and they did very well for him, So I Must have got a bad one as like other engines it does happen, But we got over it anyway, & lived to fight another day in the old haulage game, Regards Larry.
Same with 'owt Larry if you get a bad’un it dosen’t matter what you do it’ll always be a bad’un ! Cheers Dennis.PS but then again us lads from 'ower this side never abused and overloaded our motors,well not as bad as you canny lads did in the N. East eh!
Lawrence Dunbar:
Well Dennis we only had one 220 ■■■■■■■ and it didnt perform very well Im afraid, It was in a Foden S80, I was very dissapointed with it, But having said that my cousin had a few of them in the same motors and they did very well for him, So I Must have got a bad one as like other engines it does happen, But we got over it anyway, & lived to fight another day in the old haulage game, Regards Larry.
Same with 'owt Larry if you get a bad’un it dosen’t matter what you do it’ll always be a bad’un ! Cheers Dennis.PS but then again us lads from 'ower this side never abused and overloaded our motors,well not as bad as you canny lads did in the N. East eh!
Dennis we did get naughtey sometimes when it came to overloading, But we were lucky and never got captured, Anyway sometimes it was the bloody customers that were to blame, For instance telling us the load was 20 Tonne but that didnt include the packaging & the pallets so in Fact the total weight of the load was 21.500 Tonnes, But they only wanted to pay for 20 Tonnes, the greedy gits Eh, Regards Larry.
Lawrence Dunbar:
Well Dennis we only had one 220 ■■■■■■■ and it didnt perform very well Im afraid, It was in a Foden S80, I was very dissapointed with it, But having said that my cousin had a few of them in the same motors and they did very well for him, So I Must have got a bad one as like other engines it does happen, But we got over it anyway, & lived to fight another day in the old haulage game, Regards Larry.
Same with 'owt Larry if you get a bad’un it dosen’t matter what you do it’ll always be a bad’un ! Cheers Dennis.PS but then again us lads from 'ower this side never abused and overloaded our motors,well not as bad as you canny lads did in the N. East eh!
Dennis we did get naughtey sometimes when it came to overloading, But we were lucky and never got captured, Anyway sometimes it was the bloody customers that were to blame, For instance telling us the load was 20 Tonne but that didnt include the packaging & the pallets so in Fact the total weight of the load was 21.500 Tonnes, But they only wanted to pay for 20 Tonnes, the greedy gits Eh, Regards Larry.
I recall many years ago just when I was getting going with my first “A” licence my first decent customer was Libbys ( tinned rice and milk) well this other haulier pal,who didn’t work for Libbys,would insist that Libbys were that tight they only paid for what was in the tin !!We carried the boxes and tins for nowt !! This was bollox of course as we were weighed in and out of some places and within a few pounds it was the weight on the notes,but this pal wouldn’t have it !! Cheers Dennis.
I went to ■■■■■■■ at Darlington in the 1970’s on a training course, their facilities were excellent,
there was about 20 of us on the course, but only three of us were shop floor mechanics, the rest were foremen, managers etc.
getting a “freebie”
One of the little tests was to read a micrometer (no digital ones in those days) – guess who were the only three who got it right !
Most of the ■■■■■■■ engined trucks I worked on were Harold Woods of Heckmondwike, they were based in the yard of J.L Robson & Son
of Stockton on Tees who I worked for, all their engines were equiped with Jacob’s engine brakes, which was a great device.
I later worked on Kenworths and Peterbilt’s with ■■■■■■■ turbocharged engines in the oilfield in the middle east.
We had an oilwell we were drilling blow out and there was a load of sweet gas (as opposed to poisonous H2-S) in the atmoshere and we had to use the trucks to get the rig and equipment off the well,
Although both the Peterbilt and the Kenworth C-500 had identicle engines the Peterbilt gave no problems with the gas but the C-500 engine tried to run away if it sucked in too much of the gas – incredible !
V Max Nomad:
I went to ■■■■■■■ at Darlington in the 1970’s on a training course, their facilities were excellent,
there was about 20 of us on the course, but only three of us were shop floor mechanics, the rest were foremen, managers etc.
getting a “freebie”
One of the little tests was to read a micrometer (no digital ones in those days) – guess who were the only three who got it right !
Most of the ■■■■■■■ engined trucks I worked on were Harold Woods of Heckmondwike, they were based in the yard of J.L Robson & Son
of Stockton on Tees who I worked for, all their engines were equiped with Jacob’s engine brakes, which was a great device.
I later worked on Kenworths and Peterbilt’s with ■■■■■■■ turbocharged engines in the oilfield in the middle east.
We had an oilwell we were drilling blow out and there was a load of sweet gas (as opposed to poisonous H2-S) in the atmoshere and we had to use the trucks to get the rig and equipment off the well,
Although both the Peterbilt and the Kenworth C-500 had identicle engines the Peterbilt gave no problems with the gas but the C-500 engine tried to run away if it sucked in too much of the gas – incredible !
Hi V Max Nomad, U will remember this Steam Bay e"h Mate B4 Tankclean? we used wash out there quite alot Cheers Mate, Chris.
I really must keep up with this forum.I loved ■■■■■■■ engines apart from that tiddler that was was fitted to Leyland 4 wheelers.I used to service one in Brum.It was dissaster from day one,Fuel pump changed and it even suffered from a porous cylinder head.We ran an ex Birmid Qualcast ERF tracter with a 205 14 litre and two S80 Foden tippers with the 250,fitted.I changed one engine for a 290.My constructor had an L10 250 fitted later changed by me for a 290.I had that truck for 13 years At Richard Reads we fitted a semi automatic gearbox to a ■■■■■■■ powered tractor.The jake brake was modified to operate if you lifted the throttle,touched the brakes and in between gearshifts.It would get off the mark like a sports car.
I remember Harold drove an LV for RR after his first stint as a haulier. It was fitted with a 180 ■■■■■■■ with a Jake brake which Harold would delight in using when drawing alongside some poor old biddie struggling with her shopping coming down The Plump!
Going off the engines and onto the cutaways, there are a few engines scattered around Gaydon, but there is a fantastic cutaway of a complete MGB car, sliced perfectly down the middle.
British Motor Heritage at Gaydon has a lovely MGB GT with its pistons, con-rods and gearbox cogs exposed for all to see and, prior to auctioning it off in the summer, had a Midget with various bits opened up.
In the late 1960s I had a Mini van which, apart from slightly wider wheels than standard, looked as if it came straight from the factory. My secret was that I had fitted a 1293cc engine I bought from a rally driver. Used to cause a bit of a stir! The only obvious modification on the outside was a chrome “Gardner 150” badge on the bonnet which was liberated from the company stores.
Happy days.
Retired Old ■■■■:
In the late 1960s I had a Mini van which, apart from slightly wider wheels than standard, looked as if it came straight from the factory. My secret was that I had fitted a 1293cc engine I bought from a rally driver. Used to cause a bit of a stir! The only obvious modification on the outside was a chrome “Gardner 150” badge on the bonnet which was liberated from the company stores.
Happy days.
Retired Old ■■■■:
In the late 1960s I had a Mini van which, apart from slightly wider wheels than standard, looked as if it came straight from the factory. My secret was that I had fitted a 1293cc engine I bought from a rally driver. Used to cause a bit of a stir! The only obvious modification on the outside was a chrome “Gardner 150” badge on the bonnet which was liberated from the company stores.
Happy days.
Sounds as if you was a bit of a Chav in your younger days Casey.
Cheers Dave.
I could well do without you two taking the p*ss out of a poor old pensioner!
My only excuse is that I used to do a bit of motorsport and loved fiddling with everything mechanical.
And the Gardner badge was free of course.
springs to mind plus one or two other things.
the two trunk drivers who had it loved it went even better than
At Richard Reads we fitted a semi automatic gearbox to a ■■■■■■■ powered tractor.The jake brake was modified to operate if you lifted the throttle,touched the brakes and in between gearshifts.It would get off the mark like a sports car. 
