Hi really struggling to find somewhere to post this I’m currently in the process of getting my truck back on the road but I am struggling for parts here in New Zealand as I can not find another 6 cylinder one there is a few 4 cylinder ones floating around but no heavy ones it is a 1968 with a 6 cylinder petrol, 5 speed box, 20" wheels and single speed diff but I can’t even find any information on the engine to try and get parts it runs and drives but the front brakes are half seized on working on it slowly
It doesn’t look like yours has moved for some time! I enjoyed using the old FG. Not many did though as I recall. But the cab was practical in town but the seats were really basic and not meant to spend too much time perched on.
I reckon one of the many brains on this forum will be able to help you in your quest for info and, perhaps, parts. I wish you luck with your project. Let us all know how it goes, eh?
The 4 litre Austin six cylinder petrol engine was a detuned version of the one fitted in the Austin Sheerline limousine and also fitted to some Massey Harris balers I believe! A good strong unit, thirsty though so diesel was more popular in fleet vehicles. It was an option in most of the BMC commercial range from the fifties and sixties popular here with private owners, the five speed gearbox was an option as well but I never encountered one in eight years of working on them (a four speed box was the usual fitment) so perhaps standard for export versions?
There is a Facebook group for Morris Commercial owners which has a big Australian and New Zealand membership (plenty of old Morris vehicles survive the climate there more than in the UK!) and they may be a useful source of information and engine parts for your vehicle as some parts were similar across the ranges?
Just remembered that there is a new Facebook group for the FG and FM ranges, might be worth a look? Those six pot FG’s were popular because although rated as a 5 tonner they could carry six tons with a light body. That also dropped the weight to below 3 tons unladed so no HGV licence required either!
windrush:
The 4 litre Austin six cylinder petrol engine was a detuned version of the one fitted in the Austin Sheerline limousine and also fitted to some Massey Harris balers I believe! A good strong unit, thirsty though so diesel was more popular in fleet vehicles. It was an option in most of the BMC commercial range from the fifties and sixties popular here with private owners, the five speed gearbox was an option as well but I never encountered one in eight years of working on them (a four speed box was the usual fitment) so perhaps standard for export versions?
There is a Facebook group for Morris Commercial owners which has a big Australian and New Zealand membership (plenty of old Morris vehicles survive the climate there more than in the UK!) and they may be a useful source of information and engine parts for your vehicle as some parts were similar across the ranges?
Pete.
Hi Pete,
Same engines was also fitted to Massey Harris combine harvesters, there was a conversion kit available to swop them for a Perkins P4, also a friend of mine has a Jensen 541R and that has the same engine, a sore subject when I remind him what else it was fitted in!
Jensen, thank’s Pete. I couldn’t remember which sports car was fitted with it, they are a very good engine though and we had very few problems with them apart from regular decokes. Four main bearing crankshaft in them I recall, timing chain wear would probably be the only weak point of them.
We did have one fitted in an FGK100 owned by a customer, a Jamaican scrap metal dealer (a massive chap named Arthur Blackett who was built like a brick outhouse and carried cast iron lamp standards on his shoulders, we never upset him as I was six feet five and he towered above me!) and that was running very erratically, we lifted the head and the head gasket had been blowing for so that long that the head itself was completely eaten away between two cylinders! It still ran though…just! Mr Blackett found a spare head from somewhere and away it went again. He was quite a character, apparently his neighbour had parked his Austin Cambridge outside Arthur’s house and he asked him to move it, the chap refused so Arthur picked the rear of the car up by hand and turned it sideways across the road and got his parking space back!
Hey thanks for that guys did a bit of research on the jensen and it is a ds5 120hp engine then they hotted it up and called it a ds7 with 150hp bloody hot wheels I’ve just had the radiator rebuilt and put it back in and the thermostat housing has eaten itself to bits and the coolant pipe has rusted to paper thin with pin holes, can’t find another one so I’ll just have to get the tig out on the housing and try and bend up some tube for the coolant pipe
windrush:
Just remembered that there is a new Facebook group for the FG and FM ranges, might be worth a look? Those six pot FG’s were popular because although rated as a 5 tonner they could carry six tons with a light body. That also dropped the weight to below 3 tons unladed so no HGV licence required either!
Pete.
That’s a strange motor Pete, did we have petrol FMs in the UK? I thought the only reason for the FM snout on the FG cab was to make room for the six pot diesel, after all, FGs had the 4 litre petrol with no snout needed.
Bernard
windrush:
Just remembered that there is a new Facebook group for the FG and FM ranges, might be worth a look? Those six pot FG’s were popular because although rated as a 5 tonner they could carry six tons with a light body. That also dropped the weight to below 3 tons unladed so no HGV licence required either!
Pete.
That’s a strange motor Pete, did we have petrol FMs in the UK? I thought the only reason for the FM snout on the FG cab was to make room for the six pot diesel, after all, FGs had the 4 litre petrol with no snout needed.
Bernard
The only petrol FGs I recall were 4 cylinders, 2.2 litres I think. The only snouted versions I knew of in the UK were 6 cylinder diesels. Perhaps 6 cylinder petrols were made for export. Or perhaps the vehicle that set this thread rolling was re-engined at some time from diesel to petrol. Do the vehicle documents happen to show an original engine number that could be checked against the one installed?
windrush:
Just remembered that there is a new Facebook group for the FG and FM ranges, might be worth a look? Those six pot FG’s were popular because although rated as a 5 tonner they could carry six tons with a light body. That also dropped the weight to below 3 tons unladed so no HGV licence required either!
Pete.
That’s a strange motor Pete, did we have petrol FMs in the UK? I thought the only reason for the FM snout on the FG cab was to make room for the six pot diesel, after all, FGs had the 4 litre petrol with no snout needed.
Bernard
The only petrol FGs I recall were 4 cylinders, 2.2 litres I think. The only snouted versions I knew of in the UK were 6 cylinder diesels. Perhaps 6 cylinder petrols were made for export. Or perhaps the vehicle that set this thread rolling was re-engined at some time from diesel to petrol. Do the vehicle documents happen to show an original engine number that could be checked against the one installed?
The little 350 FGs were 2.2/2.5 four cylinder petrol or diesel, the larger ones had the 3.4/3.8 litre 4 pot diesel or the 4 litre 6 pot petrol. Wheels were 16 or 20 inch. Like you, all the FG900/FMs I’ve seen have had the 5.1 (maybe later 5.7) diesel in, a considerably bigger engine hence the snout. Also as I recall they all had 17inch wheels. British Telecom had some smaller snouted ones but they were a BT special order, I think they had the small engine moved forward into a bespoke snout to make more room in the cab.
Bernard
Bernard
The FG and FM were vastly different, the FGK100/later renamed 900 FG, as in the O/P’s photo were very common and BRS Contracts had dozens of them on Hartmann Fibre etc. A larger version of the smaller 30cwt to 4 ton FG’s which had the 2.2 petrol and diesel, the 3.4/3.8 diesel and the 4 litre six pot petrol. We sold and serviced plenty, Lockhart Equipment in Reading ran them on a Scottish trunk in the 60’s and most had the 5.1 diesel but there were a few 6 pot petrol versions which we looked after so not a conversion at all. The 5.7 engine was also an option, as was five speed box/two speed axle and power steering.
The FM on the other hand was designed mainly for the Post Office and Telecom and had the four cylinder 4/98 engine moved forward (hence the ‘snout’) solely to accomodate a three seater cab. Can’t remember any being sold new to private buyers?
All this info is great as much as New Zealand was built on the back of Leyland and all those British trucks before the imports came in this still seems to be a odd one with not alot of information floating around over here I would of preferred a diesel truck but this one came up for $800 so it seemed like a good project to save before it got to far gone
It still ran though…just! Mr Blackett found a spare head from somewhere and away it went again. He was quite a character, apparently his neighbour had parked his Austin Cambridge outside Arthur’s house and he asked him to move it, the chap refused so Arthur picked the rear of the car up by hand and turned it sideways across the road and got his parking space back! 