01/65789 Posted September 8, 2018 Report Share Posted September 8, 2018 Hi All, I've just purchased a 13/60 engine for a winter rebuild project. The number is GE 68763 HEA. I've never seen an 'A' at the end of a GE sequence before; usually it's GE XXXXX then LE or HE to denote lower or higher compression. Has anyone else ever seen a 13/60 GE engine with an 'A' after the sequence? Does anyone know what it means? I can put a photo up if required. Thanks, Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dougbgt6 Posted September 8, 2018 Report Share Posted September 8, 2018 I've heard of HES which means High compression, Engine, Spare. These were spare engines supplied as warranty replacements. Thinking completely silly, did the engine-number-stamper-wallah keep his stamps in a keyboard order box? A is right next to S. Doug Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Lewis Posted September 9, 2018 Report Share Posted September 9, 2018 what did they stamp on the australian assembles cars??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Lindsay Posted September 9, 2018 Report Share Posted September 9, 2018 XXXX Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
01/65789 Posted September 9, 2018 Author Report Share Posted September 9, 2018 Hi Doug, that is a truly inspired bit of lateral thinking! And Pete, very plausible. Any other offers? Gonna begin stripping it down soon; probably find an aardvark in the sump. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dougbgt6 Posted September 10, 2018 Report Share Posted September 10, 2018 Yes, sorry about that Chris. Felt obliged to do a bit more searching and found Australian GE cars were prefixed KA and KB rather than GE. So a suffix to denote Oz seems unlikely, but not impossible. It all seems a bit chaotic looking back, it's not the first anomaly/mistake I've heard off. There are a number of Australian sites documenting Triumphs. it appears Triumph had problems down under with the climate, the carburation wasn't up to it. The poor roads didn't do the suspension any favours and also made Herald windows pop out!. Doug Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guppy916 Posted September 16, 2018 Report Share Posted September 16, 2018 Hi Chris try this link http://www.triumphspitfire.com/Ref.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
llessur Posted September 17, 2018 Report Share Posted September 17, 2018 With the 2000/2500 I'm pretty sure the A suffix was for an auto box. Therefore HEA is high-compression, auto-box. GE is a Herald engine yes? Did they ever churn out an auto Herald? ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick Jones Posted September 17, 2018 Report Share Posted September 17, 2018 No Herald auto from the factory Nick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Lewis Posted September 17, 2018 Report Share Posted September 17, 2018 May be the A for auto, was added by the Mix and Match Grim Reefer or even a Dealer retro fit at some time in its life Bit like they never built the Vitesse Estate Pete Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dougbgt6 Posted September 17, 2018 Report Share Posted September 17, 2018 Bern trained me to do valuations at SEM and then said "What about this then?" A cunning trick. "A Vitesse Estate" I said. I didn't know! To make a Vitesse estate you have to have a Vitesse and a Herald estate, cut them in half and glue the bits together. Insurance valuation is about what it would cost to remake the car, so I got it wrong by about a half! Doug Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Lindsay Posted September 17, 2018 Report Share Posted September 17, 2018 1 hour ago, dougbgt6 said: To make a Vitesse estate you have to have a Vitesse and a Herald estate, cut them in half and glue the bits together. If you'd rivetted the bits together the value would have been higher... more metal! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick Jones Posted September 17, 2018 Report Share Posted September 17, 2018 Hell of lot easier to create a Vitesse estate than a Herald (or Vitesse) auto as the autoboxes are considerably too wide for the chassis. Has been at least one Vitesse auto made (I've been in it) but I don't think it was a factory or dealer creation. Nick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Lindsay Posted September 17, 2018 Report Share Posted September 17, 2018 I debated it way back in the early 90s when I found a Dolomite 1300 automatic lying in an old garage yard - I was undecided on either Spitfire or Herald, but gave up once the true extent of the necessary chassis modifications became apparent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
llessur Posted September 18, 2018 Report Share Posted September 18, 2018 Just seems weird that Triumph would use the same suffix to mean two different things on two different cars ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Lewis Posted September 18, 2018 Report Share Posted September 18, 2018 Thats assuming its a Triumph A and not added by previous owner having a repairer add a letter for some identification and now nobody Knows , I dont see any GE prefix ending in an A on any documents I have Another guess base engine taken from an Amphicar ???? But why the GE Or modified by Alexander, s Pete Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
llessur Posted September 18, 2018 Report Share Posted September 18, 2018 Go on, share a photo... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thescrapman Posted September 18, 2018 Report Share Posted September 18, 2018 On 9/17/2018 at 2:09 PM, llessur said: With the 2000/2500 I'm pretty sure the A suffix was for an auto box. Therefore HEA is high-compression, auto-box. GE is a Herald engine yes? Did they ever churn out an auto Herald? ? It is BW on the end for an automatic 2000 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
llessur Posted September 18, 2018 Report Share Posted September 18, 2018 1 hour ago, thescrapman said: It is BW on the end for an automatic 2000 I think it was BW for the BW35 and then A for the BW65 fitted to later cars? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
01/65789 Posted September 20, 2018 Author Report Share Posted September 20, 2018 On 9/18/2018 at 7:22 AM, llessur said: Go on, share a photo... Good idea! I should have done so when I started this thread. Doh... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dougbgt6 Posted September 20, 2018 Report Share Posted September 20, 2018 No arguing with that! Half way down this thread a guy claims 2 Herald automatics were built. So.………….. https://www.triumphexp.com/phorum/read.php?8,924154 Doug Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Lindsay Posted September 20, 2018 Report Share Posted September 20, 2018 Wonder how they got it to fit between the chassis rails? My Scimitar had a BW65 and it was huge. It's funny I've never heard of the automatics anywhere else; wonder where they are now? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnD Posted September 20, 2018 Report Share Posted September 20, 2018 Reference to the TSSC Courier Technical Directory finds mention of auto Spitfire and Vitesse at: No.298, p. 42 No.302, p.60 No.143, p. 48 John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Lewis Posted September 20, 2018 Report Share Posted September 20, 2018 We fitted a BW 35 in a 2 ton Commer Walkthru it would not go up the hill to Luton airport engine flat out (well a 4.203 perky unit peaked at 2200) and ground to halt with smoke billowing from the convertor,, we condemned it , a later intro of the 65 proved more sucessfull The battery electric was a real rocket this is 1968ish Pete Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Herald948 Posted September 20, 2018 Report Share Posted September 20, 2018 On 9/10/2018 at 5:27 AM, dougbgt6 said: Felt obliged to do a bit more searching and found Australian GE cars were prefixed KA and KB rather than GE. ... Do you have a source you can site? The only references I've ever seen to the KA and KB series Heralds in Australia were to 1959 and 1960 models, respectively, then still with the 948cc engine. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now