MPS News

Marine Power Services to MPS Vintage Diesels

Marine Power Services Rebrands to MPS Vintage Diesels

Posted - 10th April 2020

To accompany the new website detailed in our last news update we are happy to announce the rebrand of Marine Power Services to MPS Vintage Diesels. This change has been made to ensure that from a branding level it best describes what we do. Yes we do vintage engines for marine, but this is only a small part of what we do, we also support vintage diesels in any application including Industrial, Rail, Power Generation, Truck and Bus.

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New Website Launch

New Look MPS Website

Posted - 10th April 2020

Since the launch of the last MPS website back in 2014 a lot has changed both with our services and with computer technology. The old website has served us well but is now showing its age so for 2020 MPS is launching a new website that better reflect what we do and provides a better user interface when used on mobile devices. This new site includes a increased product portfolio in our store and a added selection of information and interest pieces.

Acquisition of Stock

Acquisition of Fuel Injection Stock

Posted - 18th December 2018
With the closure of Watson Diesel of Wimbledon in mid 2018, MPS can announce the acquisition of Watson diesels extensive stock of mechanical fuel injection equipment including pumps and injectors for everything from single cylinder Lister's to chieftain and Challanger tanks (Perkins V8 and V12's). This stock acquisition will compliment MPS existing stock of older fuel injection equipment. Don't forget we have in house facilities to overhaul most mechanical fuel injection equipment, so if you fuel equipment needs so TLC contact us.

Fuel Injection Equipment

In House Fuel Injection Equipment

Posted - 24th July 2018

Although companies that recondition fuel injection equipment are commonplace across the UK, it is becoming increasingly hard to find one's that have detailed knowledge of older mechanical fuel injection equipment. Many are lost if it doesn't involve plugging in a laptop. Because of this MPS have expanded our in house services to cover this shortfall and have the equipment and expertise to overhaul, test and calibrate most common makes and models of injector pumps, governors and injectors found in these old engines including, CAV - A, AA, B, C, D, N, NN, BZ and Bosch PE, PES pumps.

Time to Have a Wash

New Parts Cleaning Facilities

Posted - 2th December 2017

After many years of scrubbing, scrubbing and more scrubbing by hand all of the parts when we recondition an engine, MPS now has, in house, hot chemical parts wash facilities. This means no more scrubbing, but don't tell my wife... she will want me to do the washing up next...

Old for New

Old MPS workshop meets its end

Posted - 17th June 2017

Those of you who have been keeping up with what is going on here at MPS will know that back in 2015 we were fitting out a new workshop, this gave us the space to expand but also highlighted just how "past it" the old workshop really was. So as summer 2017 is upon us the old MPS workshop gets a date with Martyn in a mini digger. The old workshop is to be removed before a new larger workshop is built in its place. This will house the machine shop items leaving the other workshop for engine assembly and stores.

Saving Lives at Sea

Pair of Gardner 6LX marine engines

Posted - 18th December 2016

The end of 2016 sees the arrival of a special pair of engines and a rare combination of the day job and these old engines for me (Martyn). These engines have been temporarily removed for ex RNLI Lifeboat ON989 - RNLB James and Catherine Macfarlane. She was built by Berthon Boat Company, Lymington in 1967. Serving at Padstow, Cornwall from 1967 to 1983 and then The Lizard, Cornwall from 1983 until 1987 when she was withdrawn from service. Early in 1988 she was put on display to the public at Lands End, Cornwall where she remained until mid 2016 when due to her deteriorating condition she was sold to the current owners.

To compliment this boats return to the sea, she is undergoing an end to end refit and conversion for pleasure use whilst retaining her lifeboat looks externally. MPS have been tasked to return the pair of Gardner's that have not run in 30 years to full working order.

Marine Power Services on the Move Part 3

New Workshop fitout.

Posted - 12th August 2015
 

Following on from our last update the new workshop is now up and running with the first engines to go through the new workshop being a Gardner 2LW and a Kromhout 3LS

Marine Power Services on the Move Part 2

New Workshop fitout.

Posted - 06th July 2015
 

Following on from our update back in May many things have been happening at MPS. With the new workshop nearing completion the time has now come to start moving the many tonnes of engines, spares and equipment from one site to the other and the weekend saw the first engines arrive in our new workshop. Over the coming weeks we will completing the electrical fit out in the new workshop and sorting, cataloging and stowing away our stock of parts in our new stores area. as part of this work many new items will be available on our website over the coming weeks.

Marine Power Services on the Move

New Workshop fitout.

Posted - 08th May 2015
 

Since the departure of the Gardner 6L3 that was filling our workshop until late March our focus now has moved temporarily from the day to day re-manufacturing of vintage diesel engines to the fitting out of a new workshop. Our intention is for this to supplement our existing facilities for both engine re-manufacturing and to allow for expansion further into parts production. As recent years have seen an ever declining supply of some of the most commonly used parts ,and those that are available are of dubious quality, we will be adding the ability to manufacture, in house, CNC casting patterns, gaskets and press tooling for composite head gaskets etc . In particular accurately sized Lister JP,JS & JK head gaskets.    

Photo's to Follow Soon

Breathing Life Back Into The Heart of the Beta III Part 5

Repair and Recommissioning of a 1956 Gardner 6L3 engine.

Posted - 01st February 2015
 
February 2015 brings the next installment in the story of Beta III's Gardner 6L3 engine.  With Christmas and New year out of the way we progressed on with the reassembly of the Gardner 6L3, with January spent cleaning pipework and overhauling and calibrating the injector pumps and cambox, the later took some time due to damaged components caused by the engine being started after a long period out of use which resulting in various broken tappets and tappet springs. 
 
With the cambox and manifolds fitted the next couple of jobs will see the light at the end of the tunnel come into view with only a few jobs left to complete before test run time. First up is the refitting of the engine lubricating oil pump and all associated pipework followed by timing the camshaft and setting the tappets, well the latter as soon as we can track down a replacement water pump!!
 
The next update will see this engine undergoing its test running before heading back to the engine room of the Beta III.

New for 2015 - Marine Power Services Online Store

New Online Store for 2015

Posted - 07th December 2015
 
The start of 2015 will see the arrival of a new MPS Online Store. This will replace the original parts listing that the website has displayed since its launch in spring 2014. This new online store will now include a much larger selection of parts for many vintage engine models and will continue to be added to throughout 2015 to better reflect the new, new old stock, refurbished and used parts MPS has in stock. The new online store will also see the return of the ability to purchase and download manuals from the full MPS manual archive, the information area free online manual flip books will remain.

Breathing Life Back Into The Heart of the Beta III Part 4

Repair and Recommissioning of a 1956 Gardner 6L3 engine.

Posted - 04th December 2014
 
After a couple of month tracking down parts and tinkering away its time for an update on the story of Beta III's Gardner 6L3 engine. Finally after a period of cleaning, cleaning and more cleaning post the removal of the pistons and cylinder liners which revealed just how much silt had built up inside! once all cleaned out the new cylinder liners, new pistons and connecting rods could be reinstalled, well all except for cylinder six which on dismantling revealed a damaged big end bearing which had to be replaced, luckily it hadn't cause any damage to the crankshaft so after a few weeks wait while we tracked down a new old stock item all six were refitted.
 
Next came a job that seemed to go on forever.... Overhauling all of the cylinder heads, once stripped it was found that although the valves were good and within tolerance the valve guides were a different story, with some of the exhaust valve guides being nearly worn enough to squeeze two valves stems through. Once overhauled we could begin to refit them which also coincided with the aluminium components returning from the polishers so couldn't resist putting the head name plates back on.
 
With all the cylinder heads refitted and the timing case back in place we can now move on to some of the smaller external parts starting with the injector pump cam box, which as expected on strip down hid all kinds of nasties that the engines long period dormant had caused. The first notable issues were four out of the six tappets seized in the fully up position which would have basically meant the engine wouldn't have been injecting on those cylinders and another which was extremely sticky and only occasionally would return once pushed up. Digging a bit deeper found the cam box itself half full of water with one bearing collapsed and another so worn the outer race could be removed over the pitted balls.
 
The next update will see this engine nearing completion ready for test run, and then onto the fitting of a few modifications to make the engine better suit the owners needs.

Breathing Life Back Into The Heart of the Beta III Part 3

Repair and Recommissioning of a 1956 Gardner 6L3 engine.

Posted - 07th September 2014
 
Following on from our previous updates, the story of Beta III's Gardner 6L3 engine has moved on another step towards being fully running once more. Finally after a prolonged stop over at Arc Fab Sussex (Riveted Narrowboat Co) in Lewes ,the engine arrived with us on the 4th September. After some huffing and puffing getting it into the workshop, the stripdown and inspection began. We already knew the engine wouldn't run on all its cylinders and that the fuel rack was seized, so the next step was to investigate all possible causes for the lack of running on certain cylinders.
 
Initially the manifolds, pipework, cambox, injector pumps and all ancilliary bits were removed to allow removal of all the crankcase doors so we could inspect inside. Removing the timing case cover revealed a slightly worrying view; a timing chain so loose that we could make it jump round a tooth without undoing any of the tensioners. This could have been fatal to the engine had this happened whilst running as it could have caused pistons to come into contact with the valves. This could have also contribulted to the poor running and excessive smoke as the injection and cam timing was wildly incorrect.
 
The next task was a compression check, first up cylinder one and all appears well, but cylinder two is a different story with virtually no compression. Cylinders three to five are better but a long way off cylinder one, finally cylinder six seems ok. So with cylinder two leaking past the rings and valves and three to five passing valves it was time to get out the endoscope. A few minutes later and the primary cause of most of the running issues becomes apparent. Where the engine had sat for many years the salty sea air has done its magic with a combination of corroded valves, seats and in cylinder two a rusty cylinder liner. So after a discussion with the owner the cylinder heads were removed and the task of identifying all the bits that need some tlc begins.

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