Dexta Fitted With Perkins P3 Engine

I have a 1958 Fordson Dexta im busy restoring. It is fitted with the Perkins P3.144 engine with the gear driven Lucas CAV injector pump. It has a diesel knock and im wondering if the injector pump timing may be out. Im removing the pump and sending it for overhaul as well as replacing the injectors. Is there anyone out there that can help me with a diagram of the engine timing and the corresponding timing marks? Appreciate any help.

Being a bit pedantic, you do not have a P3.144 in your Dexta, you have an F3.144, an engine that was built by Ford Motor Company,
Dagenham and assembled by Perkins. Perkins had some input into the design but it is a different engine as you will find when you
start to get parts for it that do not fit. If you call it a Perkins P3 you will get parts for a different engine.

The timing cover is different so that some of the gaskets sold by after market suppliers are not correct, if you replace the oil
pump with a new one it will require modification. The rear main seal is different. The engine liners are different and are press
fit, they have to be bored once fitted. Later liners from the P3 can be used if the block is machined to take them.

A P3 block can be fitted but it would require extensive modification to get the sump to fit.

The Dexta has an in line Simms/CAV pump where as the P3.144 has a rotary one.

I have a p3 Perkins with an inline CAV pump. This p3 is in an old TE20 or TE30 Ferguson and has the only inline CAV I remember seeing.

Hi,

The Perkins kit used for TE 20 tractors consisted of two engines. The first kits that came out had a Perkins P3-TA, and I think they had a clamped starter motor. In other words, the starter motor was clamped to the engine block, and not bolted to the bell housing.
Later Perkins came out with the P3-144 for this same kit. It is supposed to be a little modernized P3-TA, both have 144 cubic inch displacement, but there are other differences to them.
I am not sure, but I think the P3-TA has an inline pump, but then I am on too thin ice to have an opinion about the P3-144 in that regard. But, I suspect CAV did not make the rotary pump when the P3-TA came out. The P3-144 came in the 50ties I think, and at least in 1956 the rotary pump was on the market (Ferguson 35 with 4 cylinder diesel).

About the F3-152 in the Super Dexta, I have a friend with one, and he has had his engine fully overhauled 3 times. One of the original style liners/sleeves dropped during running, and the crankshaft saw it's opportunity to do something it should not have done. And he had to have the engine repaired again. After a fairly short while the same thing happened again, but then the guy demanded changes, and this time they pulled out all the liners/sleeves and replaced them with Perkins A3-152 sleeves, in other words those used in MF 35 which have a ridge on the top.
I don't know why Ford skipped this detail, it must have made some things easier for them during production, but then the block was machined by Perkins, only cast by Ford, so I don't understand why they did not use the same procedure as with their other engines.


Bill

Majorman,
My engine is definately a Perkins P3/144 engine which must have been fitted later in the tractors life and not the F3.144. The F3.144 major components and castings were made by Perkins and all the parts were then shipped to Ford at Dagenham who built it all up and then fitted it to the Dextas as there own engine the F3.144 and were fitted with the Simms injector pump the earlier ones having a pneumatic governor and then the later ones having a mechanical governor. The P3 that I have fitted is the later gear driven one fitted with the Lucas CAV mechanical governed injector pump. The timing casing is different than the F3.144 but all the internals i.e liners, pistons, crank,rear lip seal, bore and stroke are the same. Ive found the problem which gave my engine the knock as well It turned out to be No4 main bearing gone with very little marking on the crank, but everything is being replaced as well as the oil pump to ensure I have everything covered and managed to get the parts with no probelm. Boring out the liners to spec isnt a problem either as I have somenone to do that for me so hopefully get it all built up and running soon.