Routemaster gets Daf repower
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• London Buses is evaluating AEC Routemaster repower packages from Daf and Iveco in a bid to keep the ageing double-deckers on the road well into the 1990s.
LB is running a 25-year-old Routemaster with a naturallyaspirated 11.6-litre Daf DK1160VS engine. The in-line unit, rated at 108kW (145hp) and with a peak torque of 583Nm (4301bft), replaces the old 86kW (115hp) AEC 9.6litre engine. The conversion has been supervised by London Buses Wandle District, which is also carrying out a Routemaster repower based on an 8.1-litre naturally-aspirated lyeco 8361.1 diesel.
As part of the Daf repower package, the DK1160VS has been significantly modified with a redesigned sump and flywheel. It also features a re vised exhaust manifold, engine mountings and a repositioned header tank. It is thought that the Iveco conversion will need less modification.
The Daf-engine Routemaster is based at LB's Norwood garage, and is running on the 2B route through central London.
Wandle District reports that the Iveco conversion is close to completion and that the 8361.1-powered RM will soon join its Daf-engined counterpart in service.
The 8361.1 engine develops a maximum 124kW (167hp) and with peak torque of 530Nm (3901bft). It was supplied by Glasgow-based Industrial & Marine Diesels — the UK concessionaire for Iveco's industrial and after market engine division, Iveco Aifo.
The two conversions are strictly for evaluation, but LB acknowledges that it is beginning to run into problems with its Routemasters, some of which are almost 30 years old.
Repowering LB's Routemasters would be a valuable contract to win: LB has 1,063 Routemasters, of which 818 are in regular service. No date has been given for their withdrawal, and LB says that it "expects to be using them for some years to come". Their open-backs make them among the easiest vehicles for rapid loading and unloading of passengers in the busy capital.
While the RM conversion represents a breakthrough for Daf Bus in the UK, Wandle District has already ordered 100 Iveco replacement engines for its Daimler Fleetline double-deckers, in a deal worth 2750,000 (CM, 14 January).
The Fleetline engines are based on the 8361.5111 turbocharged version of the Iveco 8.6-litre engine, also supplied by I&MD.
Daf Bus is also pushing its Leyland National repower kit, based on the horizontal DKDL 1160 engine, but London Buses has not yet followed West Midlands Travel by adopting it for its old Nationals.