Merlin Engine Help

Looks Spitfire to me from the remains of the engine mount.

Looks Spitfire to me from the remains of the engine mount.

Gets my vote too! Two piece banks too and a single stage/two speed s/charger…so Merlin 45 my guess….so Spitfire V

Merlin

Yes, that’s a Spit mount – and they are specific to type.

The Lanc mount is a welded affair and doesn’t have the stainless plates.

Anon.

The remains of the cyl blocks appear to be the single piece type, so mkI- mkV.

The remains of the cyl blocks appear to be the single piece type, so mkI- mkV.

Correct! We need a photo from the back of the engine to ID the blower properly. Tony, it is single-speed, they didn`t fit a single stage 2 speed blower to the Spit, it was going to be the Spit III, but wasn`t built.
Check for the engine number on the port front engine foot as well.

Pete

I stand corrected! You are a god Pete! pm sent on another subject!

Hi, thank you all for your help so far; I have just taken a couple of extra pictures, as seen below. Where exactly on the port front engine foot do I look for the engine number please? Is it numbers prefixed by letters, or just numbers? My apologies for all the questions.

http://s741.photobucket.com/albums/xx57/retrowalter/?action=view&current=P6050280.jpg&newest=1

http://s741.photobucket.com/albums/xx57/retrowalter/?action=view&current=P6050279.jpg

I also I found a number on the engine mounting frame, looks like 80087 12, does this help?

http://s741.photobucket.com/albums/xx57/retrowalter/?action=view&current=P6050284.jpg

300 = Mk.1 Spit

37 (not 87) engine mounting.

Anon.

Hi yes could be MKI but 300 serial used on other marks, & 37 not 07 as i suggested !!oops.

I also I found a number on the engine mounting frame, looks like 80087 12, does this help?

http://s741.photobucket.com/albums/xx57/retrowalter/?action=view&current=P6050284.jpg

Hi all, the number is more likely to be 30007 -12, as 300 part of number would represent spitfire . Just looking through some books to see if 07 is engine frame.

steve

Part number

300 = Mk.1 Spit

37 (not 87) engine mounting.

Anon.

That`s a 40 or 50 series blower, making it a MkIV, V or VI Spitfire.
The most common by far is the Merlin 45 in the Spitfire V, this series of engines were also used in certain Seafires.
I have a picture showing where the engine numbers are but it is on the other computer, I can post it over the weekend, but the number is on top of the rearward projection of the front port side foot. There is a contract number prefixed with the letter A and the Rolls-Royce serial number, which for this one would be between about 25000 and 70,000 and is an odd number (ie, not an even number!)

Pete

Brilliant, I will have a look tomorrow and see if I can find the engine number. Pardon my ignorance, but is it port side when looking at, or from the aircraft.?

Thank you all once again.

Walter

Brilliant, I will have a look tomorrow and see if I can find the engine number. Pardon my ignorance, but is it port side when looking at, or from the aircraft.?

Thank you all once again.

Walter

Walter, sit in the pilots seat & port is on your left looking fwd !!!

Steve

Thanks for that, I will have a good look (on the correct side) tomorrow!

Engine number location:
Plus two other places to look, the front projection in the bottom of the sump and the horizontal top surface of the generator bracket facing, see pics.

In addition it is often on the generator bracket itself and it will also be on the oil pump body, this is the unit projecting downwards from the back-end of the sump with a rusty 2″ pipe fitting in it.

Pete

i take it its a crash recovered engine as it looks like its had one hell of a hit

i take it its a crash recovered engine as it looks like its had one hell of a hit

Sorry but I just had to smile at this one!

I was going through the 1944 Rolls-Royce Instructors’ Course Notes for their Merlin series engines, to see if I could find any useful info. for poor old retrowalter’s engine and I came across this sheet headed:

CHECKING DISTORTION OF CRANKCASE AND REDUCTION GEAR AFTER SHOCK LOADING

Item (9) Check neck of crankcase and engine bearers for cracks or damage.😀

Engine number location:
Plus two other places to look, the front projection in the bottom of the sump and the horizontal top surface of the generator bracket facing, see pics.

In addition it is often on the generator bracket itself and it will also be on the oil pump body, this is the unit projecting downwards from the back-end of the sump with a rusty 2″ pipe fitting in it.

Pete

Hi Pete,

I’ve checked the front port side engine foot, but its heavily corroded. Thank you for the pictures, I will check the other locations tomorrow.

Thanks again,

Walter.

Found the info. I was looking for. This is my late father’s notes for identifying the various Merlin engines. It may not be too helpful in view of the amount of missing parts on the engine, but you should be able to see at a glance from the route chart, which series you can eliminate and which to consider. I see you’ve already identified it as two-piece cylinder block, single-stage, two-speed.

So you’re looking at the series shown in diag. top right listed under ‘X’ which is also in column ‘B’ of the bottom diag. Hope you can read it and see the colours ok!
Best of luck!