Series Land Rover (UK/Europe)
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The Series Land Rover 2 litre Engine (Siamese bore)

Existing Land Rover Series 1 customers had been complaining about lack of sufficient power at low revs from the existing 4 cylinder 1.6 litre engine, so Rover started on development of a replacement engine. It was decided to base the new engine on the existing Series 1 Land Rover 1.6litre block and enlarge the bore diameters. This however, meant that there would no longer be room for water cooling passages between all the four cylinders. There was a theoretical potential for the Series I to overheat. Perhaps this is why as many as 50 trial Series 1 Land Rovers were fitted with the prototype 2 litre engine for testing (a few still survive).

This new, 1997cc engine, was introduced in the summer of 1951 after having been satisfactorily trialled the previous year. The cylinder bores had the same centre distance spacing as the 1.6 litre Land Rover engine and the same length piston stroke - indeed, the crankshaft is interchangeable with the earlier 1.6 litre Land Rover engine. So basically, though not exactly, the block was a bored out 1.6 litre block. This meant that the cylinder bores were closer together than before and with less efficient internal cooling; the block was therefore potentially subject to overheating. An overheating problem did not present itself during the trials in Series I Land Rovers however, so production went ahead.

The design rational for the engine was to give the Series 1 more slogging power by producing more toque at low revs - very little extra top end power was produced.
This engine was fitted to Series 1 Land Rovers from 1952 to 1954 and was installed in the first 86in and 107in Land Rovers when the chassis was extended in 1953.

cylinder bore: 77.8mm
piston stroke: 105mm
compression ratio: 6.8:1
carburettor: Solex 32 PBI-2
power: 52 bhp at 4000 rpm
torque: 101ft lb at 1500rpm


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