ADE is a South African engine manufacturer. ERF (SA) used them.
Atlantis in South Africa built Cummins and Mercedes engines under licence. The ADE422T is in fact, a Mercedes OM422A in other words a 1635 engine. ERF SA, fitted I believe both Cummins and Mercedes, but, and I’m in no way expert, the Mercedes was only normally aspirated 280bhp, so 1628 engine. Cummins were 320 to 400.
Here is my newly rebuilt
NH220 12 litre 6 cylinder (755 American designation cu inch) power output 205 bhp.
Ace! That looks like a labour of love. What did it come out of and what’s it going into?
It is out of an Atkinson Borderer which i am renovating, full rebuild by a Cummins man called Matt Robinson from Lincoln area.
Nice! Look forward to seeing the finished restoration
Looking at that fine shot of a Cummins engine jogged my memory and in particular the front end . The first three Borderers I bought I fitted up with Kysor Rad shutters but the later ones I bought I fitted with the Dynair thermo fan which really improved noise levels and surprisingly the fans only came in for a few minutes near the top of the M/way grades . I also had the Dynairs fitted to our 220 “A” Series ERF’s and one lone 220 engined Seddon 32/4 which in particular was a great unit smooth as silk and pulled like a train !
Do you know the bloke that owns it now Dennis. It still looks well
He is a Pal called John Richards a.k.a. “Yappy” who used to post on TN. I’m not sure if he still has this unit which was new into the BTS in January 1977 and cost £14,000 + vat. It’s sister unit TEC641R I bought at the same time had the 5 speed box and cost £13,500 and went onto the K Fleet.
How did the 5 speed perform Dennis.I’m guessing the other was a 10 speed
The 5 speed was absolutely bomb proof ! We ran it on double shift for the first twelve months and it’s night shift was down to Hockliffe and back and when you pulled onto the M6 at Carnforth and got up into 5th you never touched the gear stick again until you ran off onto the services. They were both cracking units which IMHO the 111’s were the best units we ever ran ! Cheers Dennis.
Both statements have shocked me there Dennis.The second one the most.I thought the best motors you would have ran would have had a 240 Gardner involved.The first bit i would have thought you’d get caught between gears with only 5 gears to play with.How wrong i am
The UK built Gardner units were superb in their day but once the 111’s appeared well I had to admit they were an improvement and their fuel consumption was only marginally less than the 8LXB’s. As for the 5 speed box in the 111 well you only had to see which box many Scots hauliers plumped for ------- the 5 speed ! Sammy Anderson springs to mind ! Cheers Dennis.
Dennis…The popular transition from UK to foreign seemed to be the 86 Volvo, did you never fancy a go with one of them?
Also I remember ‘Jazza’ at Gilcrux with a few early Mercs when I was a kid.
George Hayton used to park his trucks in their yard outside Bothel, who my Dad drove for.
The F86 was probably the closest to what the British were building power wise and with them being light you could get around 22 tons payload with the right flat trailer.Comfort wise they were a decade in front.A low powered or probably average bhp in the early 70s a heater that worked a radio you could hear and an 8 speed box