The Peerless Chassis
Page 49
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with Gardner Oil Engine
and offered for sale as a standard product. Peerless Lorries and Parts, Ltd., Building 30a, Estate Main Entrance, Bath Road, Slough, has incorporated the Gardner 4L2-type compressionignition oil engine in its standard 6-7-ton goods chassis, which has thain final drive, and offers a complete pneumatic-tyred chassis, with a C.A.V. lighting set and electric fuel feed, at £1,100, the price of the solid-tyred model being 1980. These prices compare with '1690 and £570 respectively for the same type of chassis equipped with the Peerless four-cylindered petrol engine.
The oil engine calls for an extra 9 ins, of frame length, and special frame members have, therefore, been used. These are of rolled-steel channel and of the same section as the standard frame, namely, 6 ins. by 2g ins. The rear shackles of the front springs have been moved forward 41 ins. and the front shackles 9 ins., thus increasing the spring length by 41 ins. This lengthens the steering drag link, and the bigger flywheel calls for a slight alteration in the mounting of the wormand-segment steering-gear box.
The Gardner engine weighs about 15 cwt., as against 8/, cwt. for the standard Peerless unit, the respective flywheel weights being 21 cwt. and 1/ cwt. The oil engine is suspended at four points in a sub-frame which, again, is carried at four points on the main frame ; the Peerless petrol engine is, of course, mounted direct into the main frame with three-point suspension. The wheelbase is now 15 ft. n ins., as against 14 ft. 7 ins., whilst we are informed that a shorter model with a 12-ft. 8-in, wheelbase is also available, at £25 less.
There is no fan, but the belt drive for the dynamo occupies a few inches between the engine block and the radiator. The standard Peerless radiator is fitted.
As regards performance, the new oil engine has a bore of 114 mm. and a stroke of 152 mm. and develops 38 b.h.p. at 1,000 r.p.m., and 50 b.h.p. at the governed speed of 1,300 r.p.m. A description of the L2-type of Gardner oil engine was given in our issue dated September 23rd.
The engine fitted in the Peerless chassis has the same starting arrange
ment, the four cylinders being decompressed for cranking by hand and one _cylinder being changed over to _high compression by means of a control 'located by the dumbiron. This cylinder fires, even though the engine be cold, and the other three cylinders are then brought in by raising the valvetiming levers to the high-compression 'position, after which all four levers are lowered to the position of normal compression.
We may take this opportunity to mention that the Peerless petrol engine, which we last dealt with in our issue dated April 8th, 1930, has recently been somewhat improved by the lightening of reciprocating parts and by slightly raising the compression. A straight induction pipe is now used, in conjunction with a Solex carburetter and an Amal fuel pump, and, with full load, the standard model is reckoned to give a fuel consumption at the rate of 8 m.p.g.
With the Gardner engine it is expected that a slightly higher gear ratio may be found suitable in cases where the chassis is not to be used for hauling a 4-ton trailer.