Alec:
Could somebody shed some light on the Perkins I’ll fated R6, My uncle bought 3 S type Big Bedford’s about 1953/54 time,from what I recall none of them were very reliable, we had to rescue one from Standedge with a big end knock.Unfortunately I was only 13/14 at the time and did,nt understand that much about diesel engines . cheers Alec
With the benefit of past experience I was hoping nobody would remember the R6! Must have been the most unreliable engine ever to have a Perkins badge.
Strangely enough the R6 Bedford ‘S’ Type of Holdens (Bolton) broke down on the A62 Stanedge outside the Floating Light public house. It had thrown its timing chain. It did the same thing again near Leek. It was a notoriously poor starter when cold, needing neat ether squirting down the air intake and it needed an oil change every three weeks, the used oil being like tar when it came out of the sump.
gingerfold:
Strangely enough the R6 Bedford ‘S’ Type of Holdens (Bolton) broke down on the A62 Stanedge outside the Floating Light public house. It had thrown its timing chain. It did the same thing again near Leek. It was a notoriously poor starter when cold, needing neat ether squirting down the air intake and it needed an oil change every three weeks, the used oil being like tar when it came out of the sump.
i second that remark about poor starting . i had a bedford with the r6 in the mid sixties and it was so bad we drilled a hole in the inlet manifold to squirt the easy start in . it was always parked at the top of a long slope so i could bump start it . once going it started fine for the rest of the day . it never needed an oil change , it threw a gallon a day out of the rear crank bearing , propshaft never needed greasing though .i must add though that once going it pulled like a train .dave
Yes it did pull well when it was running. It was half an hour quicker from Bolton to Annfield Plain (Co. Durham) with an identical load as a newer Bedford ‘S’-Type with a Bedford 330 Diesel engine.
Lots of interesting background here for those interested in Perkins…
Interesting link Thomdu, I was going to ask if the R6 was a development of the earlier P6 but it answered the question. I have an old 1920’s/30’s Motor Engineer book that contains pics and info on several engines of the period even ■■■■■■■■ I’ll add a few pics, when I get a few moments, of these Golden Oldies. Cheers Franky.
Tomdhu:
Lots of interesting background here for those interested in Perkins…
Really interesting although I found very little mention of the V8 510 engine.
HI, Folks , We ran lots of Perkins , R6 , P6 EVEN A 4,99 IN a transet ,we were warened off the mark 1 R6 , we ran the mark two in Bedfords Dodge and Seddons they done us proud , the P6 we ran in a Thornycroft ,austin Bedfords Seddons they Done us well when u got them started , A sniff of eather ,or half a tin of easy start but gave us little bother ,as they were alwas over loaded , but dont forget they paved the way for all your D A F S ,VOLVOS and Scanias, just a bit of usless info, Cheers Barry
Perkins fitted with flame throwers in the inlet manifold vary on cold starting ,ones fitted with a small diesel reservoir start ok but the ones with no reservoir that just get diesel from the return need to crank first to get diesel to them before then holding the key to ignite before re cranking .
that would be the ki gas system dan . it was fitted to the gmc spreaders reengined with the p6 . a box on the dash with a heater button and starter button . dave
No Dave not gas ,a electric coil which ignites diesel fed from the return ,they fit in the inlet manifold ,when powered up with diesel present it shoots a flame out ,My lorries have got them with a reservoir so will start after 20 secs of holding the key against the spring prior to cranking ,my fork lift has no reservoir so needs to crank for a while to get diesel through then hold the key to ignite and crank again ,they used to be referred to as poppers because you can hear a pop when they ignite in the inlet .
yes dan it was as you describe , ki gas was only the trade name . dave
rigsby:
that would be the ki gas system dan . it was fitted to the gmc spreaders reengined with the p6 . a box on the dash with a heater button and starter button . dave
Hi “rigsby” IIRC The A 5 Bedford I drove in the 50s, Had a paraffin bottle fitted on the bulkhead under the bonnet, And a plunger type pump inside the cab, The bottle had a tap on it to let the paraffin through but had to be turned off after starting, Regards Larry.
I often used the Mark11, Deluxe version, Dan- remove the air filter, stuff the container with crumpled log sheets, set fire to them, then watch the burnt bits of paper get blown out of the exhaust pipe as the plot fired up!
I thought ki gas was gas like my dad had on his B series ■■■■■■■ Erf ? A canister ,I think he pulled a weld wire to squirt it ?
Ki-Gas was operated similarly to the first windscreen washers- by a pump mounted usually on or under the dashboard. Surely someone should have a photo or advert of the knob- it had the instructions printed on the head of the plunger which, as I recall, had a diameter of around an inch-and-a-half and a depth of around an inch (don’t talk to me about fancy, foreign millimetric thingies). I haven’t a clue as to what the original reservoir contained- probably ether- but the lads in the workshop used to top them up with a mixture of paraffin and petrol which worked OK without causing any fires or explosions.
As far as I am aware!!!
Not like the amazing tale of the workshop doors- don’t ask. 
Good Morning Mr. ■■■■,
Long time no speak my friend,I hope you are keeping well and out of trouble!.Here is a picture of a KI-Gas pump and one of the starting procedure from a grey fergie I think, whilst I was looking for these images I discovered that the KI-Gas system was used to prime the fuel system on Merlin engines as fitted to the Spitfire’s, what date is that Speech House rally and will Immigration give me a visa for the day if I am able to attend? Cheer’s Pete
There was a Ki-Gass control on the Bedford ‘S’-Type with the R6 engine, but neat ether from the local chemist was preferred in Fred Holden’s opinion. I recall that Ki-Gass was installed on many lorries of that era, usually those with indirect injection diesel engines. I had also read that Ki-Gass was used on Merlin engines and other high performance petrols as fitted to racing cars.
Here is a view of the Perkins P6 cylinder head using the ‘Aeroflow’ design of combustion where the fuel is injected into the throat of the flow chamber just as the piston reaches top dead centre then as the piston lowers the change in pressure draws the ignited fuel into the rest of the cylinder completing the power stroke, the advantages of this system was no glow plugs were required and starting from cold was easy and diesel knock eliminated or so the write up claimed.
This system was very similar to another known as the ‘Comet’ head and at the time (1930’s to 40’s) as many as 40 different British and foreign oil engine manufacturers used this system which enabled high working pressures and speeds of over 3,000 rpm without having a smoky exhaust. Good old engineering. Cheers Franky.
