Project Iceberg - The V8 diesel
- Details
- Category: Engines
- Last Updated on Monday, 01 August 2011 20:01
- Written by Site Admin
- Hits: 1891
In the late 1970s, British Leyland (BL) became aware of the increasing importance of diesel engined cars to the British, European and (especially) North American markets in the wake of the 1979 energy crisis.
It was decided that a new series of diesel engines powerful, refined and economical enough for use in British Leyland's cars was needed. However, with development funding tight, it was necessary to use existing British Leyland petrol engines as a base. This included a diesel version of the Rover 3.5 litre V8, the development project for which was code-named 'Iceberg'. BL collaborated with Perkins Engines of Peterborough to develop the engine. Naturally aspirated and turbocharged versions were produced, both using a Stanadyne rotary mechanical fuel injection system. Power outputs of around 100 (naturally aspirated) and 150 (turbocharged) horsepower were achieved.
The Iceberg engine was to be readied for fitment in the Range Rover, Rover SD1 and the Jaguar XJ but the project encountered problems with failure of the alloy cylinder heads and internal cooling problems due to the much greater pressures involved in diesel operation. They were limited by the need to use the same basic block casting as the petrol engine to allow the Iceberg engine to be produced on the same production line to reduce costs. Whilst these problems could have been overcome, the project ran into financial and logistical problems caused by the re-organisation of BL and specifically the splitting of Land Rover and Rover into separate divisions. Land Rover took over production of the V8 petrol engine in 1982, moving it from the main BL engine plant at Acock's Green into a new, much lower-capacity production line in the Solihull works, where it was built alongside the other Land Rover engines. This meant that there was no spare capacity to build diesel versions of the engine. Coupled to this, it was clear that the market for large diesel engined cars in North America had not developed as expected. BL finally pulled out of the project in 1983. Perkins initially decided to pursue the project alone, and even produced advertising brochures for the engine as an industrial power unit, but BL withdrew all technical support and Project Iceberg was wrapped up in late 1983. British Leyland's other collaboration with Perkins (producing a diesel version of the O-Series engine) produced the highly successful 'Prima' unit. Left without a larger diesel engine option, and with a pressing need to keep up in the marketplace, BL (and its Rover Group successor) bought in 2.5-litre 4-cylinder turbodiesel units from VM Motori to use in the Rover SD1 and Range Rover.
The effort to strengthen the Rover V8 for diesel operation was not completely wasted, since the 4.2 litre petrol variant of the engine used crankshaft castings developed as part of the Iceberg project.
Share this post
