Hmmm, not sure what section to put this in but hey, here goes.

As some may know, I have a vintage Fordson Dexta tractor (1959) which I am restoring. This first job on this is an engine rebuild.

Now the Dexta uses a 2.5 litre 3 cylinder Perkins derived engine (although Fordson cast the block and head)

So, last year the engine (which is structual on this tractor!) was removed, stripped down and sent to the machine shop for new liners (bored and honed plus the block decked) and a crank re-grind.

This took some time (in order go get the best price) but, its now back and I need to put it all together.

So, here it is, crank starting to be fitted.



The no 4 main bearing cap is currently at work being machined as in mid 1959 they changed the thrust bearing design (mine is one of the first 12 months of production it would seem) and they old type is not available!. To fix this requires two grooves machining to accept the relocated tabs which stop the thrust bearing spinning.

I pressed new little end bushes in last night and have ordered (bloody expensive) a reamer so I can ream my little ends out (steady now).

And here is the buisness end, no belts or chains here!



I do have a small issue as there is a crack in the block on a coolant passage (common) which needs grinding out and filling with liquid metal.

Probably about another 4-6 weeks work to get it back together (takes a while as lots of old bits to clean!).

I should add, this thing is HEAVY. The block alone I can just lift and the sump is 50kg!

Desperate Den wrote on 22. Mar 2011 at 09:22:


Its just part of the design of this type of tractor, there is no chassis, the structure is the engine (wheels bolted to the front), gearbox and rear axle.....no chassis rails or anything!

Hence the sump is huge, heavy and thick as its taking the full weight of the tractor.

Was looking at this at the weekend, its one hell of a lump...

as is the other half of the tractor!

Marks DTM Calib wrote on 22. Mar 2011 at 09:26:


Certainly sounds to have been an innovative design although I'd have thought that the need for a full chassis was a given.

Was it a success in practice?

I'll also be interested to see more pics as you progress.

Marks DTM Calib wrote on 22. Mar 2011 at 09:47:


Aah, it's obvious from that where the need for such a substantial engine arrangement rises.

this brings back fond memories,my father had a super dexta back in the early 60's,spent many an hour riding around on that sitting on his lap doing the steering

Nice pictures

MDTM, could you do me a strange favour? Measure (roughly) how long the 'fingers' on your engine stand are (or can spread at max spread)?

I bought a Sealey ES550 only to find that it's fingers don't go nearly wide enough to reach the bellhousing bolt holes on the 390 (it has a huge bellhousing, admittedly) and apparently the next size up Sealey stand is even smaller I'm struggling to find one that'll reach.

nice work that - it's maybe only 18months since I rebuilt a 4-cylinder version of same engine, again for a tractor.