Piston and spares for a Ford Sabre 275 urgently needed (Dover engine)

J

jeni

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Hi

We have a Humber 40

We recently blew a piston due to water in the engine and have been unable to get a piston - tried all the usual suspects such as Sea Horse Marine and cannot seem to find one at all

Any ideas? Does anyone know if we can have a piston made to order if we are unable to find one?

Luckily most of the work is being carried out inside the boat (had engine hoisted) and have a firm who will fit a new liner but cannot do anything else until we get a piston sorted

Looks like its getting harder to get spares for the 275 turbo diesel so if anyone is breaking a 250 or 275 please email me

I have been told to look to the USA as they have more spare (under a different name but the same engines) but we are unsure about doing this

Thanks
 
jeni said:
Hi

We have a Humber 40

We recently blew a piston due to water in the engine and have been unable to get a piston - tried all the usual suspects such as Sea Horse Marine and cannot seem to find one at all

Any ideas? Does anyone know if we can have a piston made to order if we are unable to find one?

Luckily most of the work is being carried out inside the boat (had engine hoisted) and have a firm who will fit a new liner but cannot do anything else until we get a piston sorted

Looks like its getting harder to get spares for the 275 turbo diesel so if anyone is breaking a 250 or 275 please email me

I have been told to look to the USA as they have more spare (under a different name but the same engines) but we are unsure about doing this

Thanks[/QUOTE

Try golden arrow marine at shamrock quay, they are the sabre agent and will know what is still available.
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Hopefully latestarter will be along to help on this one, its a real shame the parts are scarce for what was a great british engine for marine and industrial use, I love there simplicity, the Humber was a great boat too.

I do know where there are a pair of engines if you need a full unit or two!!!
 
jeni said:
Hi

We have a Humber 40

We recently blew a piston due to water in the engine and have been unable to get a piston - tried all the usual suspects such as Sea Horse Marine and cannot seem to find one at all

Any ideas? Does anyone know if we can have a piston made to order if we are unable to find one?

Luckily most of the work is being carried out inside the boat (had engine hoisted) and have a firm who will fit a new liner but cannot do anything else until we get a piston sorted

Looks like its getting harder to get spares for the 275 turbo diesel so if anyone is breaking a 250 or 275 please email me

I have been told to look to the USA as they have more spare (under a different name but the same engines) but we are unsure about doing this

Thanks
Click to expand...

Little surprised Dover piston so difficult to obtain, many Dorset pistons have been NLA since about 1997 however assumed lower power Dover stuff was OK.

Looking at old data sheets Sabre 275L has same 105 mm bore 14.7 C/R piston as the 320L and there lies the clue, Sabre 225L had standard Ford 105 mm 15.45 C/R piston so looks like the lower compression piston was a Sabre and not Ford part so zero point trying old Ford channels. Sabre used to source pistons from Hepolite factory just outside Lymington, Hepolite went under the bulldozer......

Golden Arrow should be able to to source correct piston IF it is still available, should they give the thubs down then you can be sure that nothing available from old Sabre stock.

Seahorse Marine SHOULD have all the answers as he the guy is ex-Sabre and still works for Hendy-Lennox, however in my experience he is hopeless at servicing enquiries. Emails never answered, probably too busy selling Iveco motors.........

Lancing will likely be best chance as Mark Dooley will have a solution involving some lateral thought, say modifying a Turkish Ford Dovertec piston or higher compression automotive piston to suit, do not reject any sticking plasters, they will likely work ok.

Whenever I have tried flagging warning regarding boats with old engines die hard owners go nuts, however just put the phone down on owner who has pair of Perkins HT6.354's re-built in 2009 and been source of nausia ever since ending up last November with no lube oil pressure. The guys doing the engine work are ex Broom and know their stuff, declared new pistons required, only source is some sets in New Zealand! As of yesterday afternoon 2013 holiday for two families on the boat have been cancelled. Both engines coming out, one with scavenge pump totally re-built by engineering company.

Now have four 6.354's to get rid of, two horizontal and two vertical as well as spares, only just dumped some Dorset 180's. Perkins die hards just PM me and I can put in direct touch with owners.........
 
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Hi

Thanks for your replies - we have tried lancing and seahorse but will get onto others later - we do not have the luxury of being able to change the engines due to cost and up until now they have not caused us any problems and we have been able to get parts easily from Ford Truck parts (some lorry engine supplier will post who when I can dig out details)

Maybe our only choice is to have the piston custom made to order - this is an option we will consider if the job will be done well and the piston will fit of course

Thanks
 
A friend of mine has a pair of Perfins Sabre 300 hp complete with gear boxes if you are interested in contact details pm me.
 
jeni said:
Hi

Thanks for your replies - we have tried lancing and seahorse but will get onto others later - we do not have the luxury of being able to change the engines due to cost and up until now they have not caused us any problems and we have been able to get parts easily from Ford Truck parts (some lorry engine supplier will post who when I can dig out details)

Maybe our only choice is to have the piston custom made to order - this is an option we will consider if the job will be done well and the piston will fit of course

Thanks
Click to expand...

I take it Mark at Lancing could not cobble up some help, very surprised.

Most likely source is India as you will require company with ability to produce a diesel Ni resist piston, not aware of any engineering company with that capability in the U.K. If you get somebody interested suggest you pull off a small batch, however you will need a drawing, IF you can get Seahorse to communicate he is the only person I am aware of who would know how to lay hands on drawing.
 
Was talking to Duncan at FW Thorntons, they have two Dover 150 pistons in stock with 15.5. C/R. Not sure what the 150 stands for. Could they be modified?

Best of luck

John
 
Hi All

Thanks for your help so far - it seems parts are available especially pistons IF we buy 100 !!! not sure our finances can quite run to that though!! so parts are available but no one is stocking them or prepared to buy large amounts

I have had a lot of replies so am assuming that a lot of people have this engine - I have been told that the US version of Lehman ford will do the job but am unsure as the carriage will be costly

Will keep searching and let you all know

The place we get our filters etc and consumables from is HGV direct .co.uk they do lorry spares that fit most marine engines and they are a fifth of the cost and were recommended by Ford Sabre - they will match part no's

Hope that helps you if you need parts to do a service and they defo do bits for Ford and Volvo engines and many other parts which may be under a different name for trucks so all they need is a part no

We saved a small fortune on fuel and oil filters

Thanks will keep you updated
 
Hi all



Piston is on its way from Norway and the plan is as follows (hope its the correct one!)

New piston liner fitted - new piston fitted - engine put back together - ! fingers crossed

Thanks for the Pm 's the mechanic we are using is Mike Wills Marine based at Cobbs Quay in Poole - luckily for us he is one of the few engineers who have had extensive experience of repairing an engine in situ and does not insist on the engine coming out - so far so good

Will keep you updated - not sure who Mike is using for Piston reline but it seems we are lucky to have liners and not need a rebore

Thanks
 
I’m slightly worried that the new piston may be a different weight if it’s not exactly the same make. You might get a “rocking couple” effect which may cause vibration or knock out a main bearing. I guess easy to check against your other pistons but not sure what to do if it’s different.
Just seen the date ....2013???
 
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