MARS 5HP DIESEL ENGINE - Completed Restoration of Engine No.32

See the results of a painstaking two year restoration of this rare diesel engine. One of four known in the world at present.

Mars diesel engines were made in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia and were not Lister clones. They had thicker 2 3/4" crankshafts and thicker internal pushrods as two of many things that set them apart.

Not one part was interchangeable between the two types.

The Lister engine were great engines but were prone to breaking or twisting their crankshafts in industrial workshop situations.

As the story is told, they were not strong enough to handle the start up load or torque so the Mars company invented a better mouse trap as they say.

An extraordinary amount of attention has been paid to getting every single part of this engine restored to its original factory specification and finish.

The paint was matched exactly to the original factory colour (modern day equivalent is Wattyl R55 Claret). An original intake silencer was sourced and measured and a new one remanufactured in the same method.

The Mars engines were sold from the factory minus the fuel tank, exhaust pipe and water cooling tank as the customer normally would have fitted these for the environment. Quite often the exhaust pipe would have come straight out of the engine and through the factory wall, and a 44 gallon drum would have served for a cooling tank.

All engine bearings, rings and seals have been renewed with brand new factory specification replacements. The flywheels are as per original factory installation and had never been off the engine until the restoration.

The tolerances between the flywheel and the crankcase were that fine that there were literally less than 1/8 " clearances so great care had to be taken to remove and reinstall these right the first time.

As well as having the engine serial number stamped on the head, the flywheels, gibb keys and keyway in the crankshaft are all stamped with the engine serial number which showed an incredible attention to detail by the company.

The injector side of the engine has an 32I on all its components where the other side has only 32 stamped.

The oil seals on the crankshaft were the very first of the new modern type oil seals that we still use today.

Mars were sure ahead of its time in 1942.

The Pyrox injector pump was also fully re-kitted and tested. A new high pressure fuel line was made and everything just came together perfectly.

Custom built fuel tank brackets were made and matched to fit with the engine with a 6 litre tank plumbed to gravity feed through a filter to the injector pump. Nice!

A heavy duty custom built transporter of plate steel and C Channel was also fabricated in an industrial style of the period, and finished in a Penetrol finish to enhance the raw steel. Yes it is heavy.

Check out the Mars Engine Codex website (still under construction) if you want to know more or would like to add to the knowledge base.

If you haven't seen the first video of this beautiful engine, check out the following link;

   • MARS 5HP DIESEL ENGINE - 1st Start Up...  

Many thanks to Gary, Simon, William, Don and Eric for their help and support.

Hope you enjoy the video and if you want to see a video on a piece of vintage machinery just let me know in the comments box.

Cheers

Phil