Engine to gearbox flange

[Foxen]

Is the engine to gearbox flange somewhat identical on the E27N and the E1A majors, if not, what differs? The question is simply if one could fit that perkins diesel engine that was fitted to some E27N's to a E1A rear end... Not that I have one in my possession or am looking to get one either, just wondering... if I would want to swap out the engine in mine it would be for a 4 or 6 cylinder 2700-series engine

[Aussie Frank]

Hi Foxen,

As far as I know the flanges are the same but you would have trouble with the wet clutch. You would have to seal the clutch housing. I don't know how hard that would be.

Hmm a V spec 90 hp P6 in an E1A. You wouldn't have to lengthen it, the sump has the front axle support and only a little fabrication for the front rail support. If I find two P6s I might just try that for fun after I fix my crawler.

Regards, Frank.

[Foxen]

Eh... The E27N has a wet clutch?

[Kav]

Hi everybody. During the early 1950's some of the Ford dealers here in Australia were fitting the Perkins L4 to the E27N tractors. Prior to that there were supposed to have been 68 E27N tractors fitted with the L4 by Ford, before the release of the P6. Because the P6 was not running to full capacity, the L4 outperformed them on less fuel. When the 4-270 direct injection Perkins was released, they were fitted to a lot of tractors in place of the Petrol/Kerosene Motors. Perkins ran a series of advertisments in the Farm Magazines showing conversion kits for a whole range of tractors. The same Motors were fitted to the Massey 744's and were standard in the Chamberlain Champions. Best regards - Michael.

[BarryM]

Foxen,

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but the P6 will not couple up to the E1A transmission. The E27N flange is pretty much circular, whereas the E1A flange has the large bump in it for the starter. You would need another adaptor. Yes, the E27N was a wet clutch, however a lot of New Majors were converted to wet clutch by Malcolm Moore in Australia.

[BarryM]

Kav,

Have never heard the story about the L4's being fitted by the Ford Motor Company. The L4 never arrived until sometime in 1953, by this time the E27N was out of production. The P6 goes back to 1948 in the E27N. I have an original Perkins sales brochure for the 4.270 and it is advertised as suitable for the 'old and new Major'. The L4 didn't perform all that well in the E27N until you fitted an Air Cleaner from a 6G Chamberlain. The E27N Air Cleaner just couldn't pull enough air through.

Selene in Italy had a stock of E27N's in about 1955 that they couldn't sell, so they removed the Kerosene engine and fitted them with L4's and a Front Wheel assist. Don't know whether any of them got to Australia or not. Email me your phone number and we'll have a chat about it one night.

[Foxen]

Quite some bunch of information there, thank you for the replies

I'd like to add just one more question, the round plate where the oil filler cap is on the E1A gearbox, is it similar enough with the E27N one with the shifter lever so one could put a E27N shifter on a E1A major?

[Aussie Frank]

Hi Barry,

Well spotted on the starter mounting. Both tractors have provision for a starter in the same place but the E1A bump is bigger. A little while ago David in Wales had posted a picture of an E27N with an E1A major motor fitted to it and it didn't look like it had an adaptor plate fitted. That's why I thought they were a close fit. I went to the post to have another look at the photo but it was gone.

After hunting around in my photo collection I found two photos, one of my E27N back end and another of an E1A Major back end after having a real close look it looks as though you could bolt the E1A motor into an E27N by drilling some extra holes into the gearbox flange, but going the other way would probably not work. Damn, I was almost going to try that.

Regards, Frank