I bought an UNUSED 70-year old ROLLS-ROYCE crate engine! How bad could it be?

I'm 79 now and I did my apprenticeship with Rolls Royce Crew, these engines were not only installed in Champs, but various versions went in cars, tow wagons. Whilst I was employed at crew Austin had a contract to make these engines which went in various lorrys, but Rolls Royce were still supplying engines to the UK Army, Australian armed forces and the new zealand army, some of the 8 cylinder engines were installed in the M113 armored personnel carriers and FV101 Scorpions. The goop and marks inside the engine is a spray protective compound to keep the engine protected whilst in storage, you should run a flushing oil through the system before starting it. The 4, 6 and 8 cylinder engines are extremely quiet and reliable engines which were built to the highest of standards. The slight carbon above the engine is from where they run, test and tune the engines before boxing them up for delivery.

I just spend 98 minutes watching a guy revive a 70 year old NOS engine and felt superbly entertained the entire time. No short attention span here.

I love how people say "nobody has an attention span these days", meanwhile some of the most viewed stuff on YouTube is over an hour. We have attention for interesting and unique things.

I love the Doggo, constantly showing up in frame and expectantly dropping his toy to be thrown

Let’s all be honest…seeing the dog continually dropping the fetch toy was funny as hell!!

I am a 70 year old retired mechanic and get so annoyed when I see people start up an engine that has not run or years without even changing the oil. But you my friend went through and checked most everything you could before trying to start the old girl. well done mate.

I was very impressed when it started. I hope it finds a home with someone who is looking for it. Run an add in the UK or try to contact a related car club. Thank you for taking me along for the ride.

No man has ever spent a more relaxed and content hour and 37 minutes than I just have. Thank you very much. Salute from Ireland 🇮🇪

Most of the people who designed and built this engine are dead now, but we marvel at their workmanship that has stood the test of time and neglect. LEGACY!

Honestly, building the smoothest running Jeep with water proof Rolls Royce engine parts sounds pretty neat!

Are you crazy? This is gold! Did you notice - that this engine has 0 vibration - none at all. That is what I learned even as a kid - that Rolls engines are absolutely superbly balanced crankshafts and everything else which results in no vibration at all

I’m so glad you saved this piece of history. It would have been almost criminal to have it scrapped. Nice work.

I am an old fart who used to tinker in the ancient past when I was about your age. First off...it's so good to see a young man who knows his way around tools and engines and has commonsense and is inquisitive enough to fix things he hasn't encountered at all. If God had gifted me a son I would have loved for him to have this sort of patience and mechanical ability. I watched this video just by chance. I was checking on another video before settling down for the night watching a documentary before hitting the sack when I happened upon your video and I started watching. I was hooked after the first minute or two. I also fell in love with your dog. He looks like such a sweet soul...so kind to those ducklings and always bringing you something to play catch with. They are the signs of a once-in-a-lifetime dog...love him as much as you can. Now, me being an Aussie (and Australians being closer to the "mother country" than our US cousins) means I am a little familiar with this engine. You lucked out big time if you only paid scrap value for this proud old hunk of RR iron. These engines are as tough as nails and will easily do hundreds of thousands of miles. Unlike other British engines they are not prone to needing valve grinds around the thirty thousand mile mark. These are honest, hardworking engines designed not to fail but they are thirsty. Beware using any Lucas parts for any of the electrics. Lucas made crap back in the day. If you can substitute Delco or any other US or Japanese parts then do so. I wouldn't scrap the engine for parts. You could attempt to use it in a kit car or some sort of Jeep but the power output is not that great (although torque is very good). A lot of folks used these engines to create their own AC generators. Yes, I know diesel is more popular for power generators but this old baby will work forever given good fuel and a quality oil (20w/30 or even 20w/50 but make sure it is suitable for older engines). So if I were you I'd use this old engine to create an emergency generator which will be reliable, cost effective and last longer than me and your combined. My best wishes to you and please hug your dog for me. 😀

There's an old vintage restorer in Great Britain crying in his many pints of bitter over this, because, this engine is just what he's looking for.

I am 73 and you brought back a lot of memories. So simple and easy to work on. I wish you luck and continue to share with us like this. Ths sound of the old engine is so sweet. Subscribed and one like for you.

There's not many people left that have the empathy and just have the ability to make magic just happen for bringing things back to life. My dad had a friend that was an Air Force B-29 mechanic during WWII. You remind me of him. Those guy's made it run even after they returned shot to pieces. GREAT JOB! You Done Good!

You just made a British man really proud. Thankyou for bringing her back to life.

Holy crap! The way that fired up first try after sitting 70 years was nothing short of amazing!!!

Well that was interesting watching a 70 year old RR engine that fired up first try after 70 years! I like the no nonsense practicality of this episode. Glad to see that you saved this motor from the scrap heap! Oh and your Shep is an awesome dog having the patience to teach you how to fetch! Enjoyed the episode.

Hi Matt. I'm in Australia and excitedly recognized this motor straight away. A friend of mine has an Austin Champ with one of these engines, though now in storage. His father bought the Champ 40 or so years ago. I did some repairs and servicing, and we took it on some 4x4 trips with the local Land Rover Club. The Champ was built the same as the engine.... over engineered, but that's another story. I thought you may be interested to know what some of the spare pipes were for. Just in front of your oil pressure gauge you will notice a couple of large clamps. These held on the generator. This was an impressive piece of engineering. It served as both a generator and air pump. The air pump was at the back of the generator. It pumped air which was drawn from the air filter (also in a sealed brass housing) through the electrics and breather pipes to and from the coil, distributor and junction box. It had a 2 speed (planetary I assume) gear set behind the pulley which actuated centrifugally. At idle, it was geared up to ensure it spun fast enough to do its job, and when the revs were increased changed gear to slow the generator down so it didn't explode from spinning too fast. It sounded really tough listening to that genny changing gear as we revved it and backed off lol. This air pump (along with the unique spark plugs) when coupled with an air snorkel allowed the Champ to literally be driven under water! On close inspection, you should also see that the engine fan has a clutch incorporated to allow it to slip when under water and minimize drag on the crankshaft. As for the engine's performance, being red lined at 3700rpm or there abouts it had very poor highway speed, if I recall correctly, it struggled to do much more than 50mph (80kph). But in the bush it was unstoppable. These engines run sweet as a nut thanks to the long stroke and enormously heavy flywheel. The way yours started didn't surprise me a bit. Also, did you notice the distributor rotor has a rev limiter incorporated in it?