Austin Car Engines

When launched, the FX4 was fitted with a 2.2 L Austin diesel engine. From 1962, the Austin 2.2 L petrol engine was available. Austin car engines can be found on this site, reconditioned or secondhand.

The vast majority of FX4s used in London throughout its service history were however fitted with a diesel. The Austin FX4 was the successor to the Austin FX3 produced between 1948 and 1959 and in its own day regarded as the classic London taxi.

Like the FX3, the FX4 was designed by Austin. Like the FX3, the FX4 had a separate chassis (which was in fact barely changed from the FX3 chassis) with a body stiffened by a divider between the driving and passenger compartments. In 1971, a bored-out unit displacing 2.5 L. replaced the 2.2 L (strictly 2178 cc) diesel engine. This new model was known as the FX4D.

Find some helpful information on Austin engines and gearboxes here:

Engines:

Austin Montego Engine
Austin Metro Engine
Austin Marina Engine
Austin Maestro Engine
Austin Allegro Engine

Gearboxes:

Austin Montego Gearbox
Austin Metro Gearbox
Austin Marina Gearbox
Austin Maestro Gearbox
Austin Allegro Gearbox

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The BL O-Series engine was a straight-4 automobile engine family produced by British Leyland (BL) as a development of the BMC B-Series engine family. Introduced by BL in 1978 on the Series 2 Morris Marina and the smaller engined versions of the Leyland Princess, it was intended to replace the 1.8 litre B-Series unit. The main advance over the B-Series was that the new unit was of belt driven overhead camshaft configuration, with an aluminium cylinder head.

Despite the engine being offered in the unusual capacity of 1.7 litres, it proved to be a reliable engine for BL, and was later bored out in 1982 to 2.0 litres for the Rover SD1 and Austin Ambassador. It was then reworked for front wheel drive installation in 1984 and given fuel injection for the high specification versions of the Austin Maestro and Austin Montego. This version of the O-Series was adapted for use with the Honda PG-1 manual gearbox.

In 1986, BL collaborated with Perkins to convert the O series to run on diesel. The oil-burning versions (known as the “Perkins Prima”) proved to be highly successful in the Maestro and Montego, and helped sustain the ailing mid-sized models into the 1990s.

By 1987, British Leyland (now known as the Austin Rover Group) equipped the O-Series with a 16-valve cylinder head for the Rover 800.
This 2.0 litre unit was known as the M-Series, and was further reworked into the T-Series in 1992. The original 8-valve version of the O-Series was also briefly used in budget versions of the Rover 800.

The R-Series is an internal combustion engine introduced by British Leyland in 1983 for the then-new Austin Maestro. It was only produced in one capacity – 1.6 litres. The engine was essentially a lightly modified version of the E-series unit found in the Maxi and Allegro. The main differences over the older engine are to the sump and gearbox mounting flange, which were adapted to accept a traditional “end-on” transmission unit which had been bought from Volkswagen in place of the traditional BMC transmission-in-sump arrangement.

The R-Series was mainly a stop gap, and had a very short production run that lasted barely two years. BL had been working on a more substantially revised version of the E-Series, but this was not ready for production in time for the Maestro’s already badly delayed launch. The company was instead forced into launching the Maestro with the half-developed power unit which cost the company dearly – R-Series equipped Maestros soon gained a reputation for hot starting problems, cylinder head gasket failures (endemic to the E-Series also), and premature crankshaft failure.

Because the E-Series was turned through 180 degrees in order to accommodate an end-on transmission, the R-Series was fitted to the Maestro with the carburettor facing the front of the car, which also led to a reputation for carburettor icing in cold weather. The R-Series was superseded in 1984 by the vastly superior S-Series.Find bargain prices on quality Austin Engines or call *0905 232 0099.

Carl Wilson
Carl Wilson
You won't believe it, I'm native Scotsman. Enthusiast. Car lovers. Almost finished rebuilding my Reliant Saber
Categories: Austin