20L engine?

[avantey]

Has anyone heard of this engine? It is in a 1926 Davis or Gray (canadian Davis) and is a small six of unknown size.

[Bud Tierney]

It seems to be a well documented engine in the sense that it's listed in numerous parts catalogs...
My 38 Victor lists it for the 1926-27 Davis models 93 and 94, and under Cont'l lists it with 14 other "L"s that apparently share gaskets, except for two of the "L"s that take different head and manifold gaskets...
My 36 King Products (engine parts) shows it as 23/4 bore, the 38 Vic says stroke 43/4 (that Victors batch of 15 "L"s shows two bore (23/4 and 27/8, not saying which "L" has which bore, but all 15 "L"s have 43/4 stroke).
The 36 King says it only shares pistons with two other "L"s and a third "L" for part of its production...the others are shown with 27/8, so those were apparently built after bore change...
I've been told Cont'l assigned different numbers to basically the same engine, the different numbers meaning different car builders, but that doesn't seem to match the 38 Victors list of 23 makes the 15 "L"s went into...

[avantey]

Bud- Thank you for the info. My friend who has the Davis monitors this site a bit and I will tell him to make sure and read your post. He has no info on his engine so this is a lot of help. Maybe he wil have followups now that I got a response.
Thanks,

[Bud Tierney]

Always happy to share whatever information I have.

[thedavisman]

bud, thanks for some info. would you know what cars used this engine or it's equivelent? no where in the lester steele book is it listed. no where in any davis literature have i found it. I have a model 96 (?) that we believe is a derby car, assembled and manufacturered by davis. any help on this would be great. is there any printed matter i can get my hands on that shows all the different continental engine numbers and letters with specs and where they were used? i am in need of some things and currently have a 6Y, 7R, 7U & 20L. thanks again....jim

[Bud Tierney]

Well, what the engine came in kinda depends on who you ask---in my case I use a batch of old replacement engine parts catalogs, and they often don't agree (I have a lot more sympathy now for parts people)...plus many "assembled" vehicle builders bought engines and called them their own.
On a complete, relatively complete or even half complete listing on Cont'l engines and their specs, I'd like to find one myself. My own list, from my old parts catalogs, turned into a godawful nightmare of confusions, corrections and inconsistencies, presently bogged down and ignored.
There was a book, something like "Continental And It's Engines", but I've not found one in my occasional lookings and probably couldn't afford it anyhow.
Will eyeball some period catalogs and will advise what I find on the 20L.

[Bud Tierney]

As usual, my old catalogs are inconsistent on the 20L...eyeballed five (1924 piston=no listings, too early??; 29 piston, 30 McC gasket, 30 wrist pins, 33 Perf circle rings)...
For cars, 3 listed 20L for Davis, altho one listed 9L and 20L (many don't list years, so no way to tell if both engines available or if one engine replaced the other, altho, again, it's usually one replaced the other)...
The 30 Pin also listed 1926-27 Paige 6-40 with the 20L, the Star 1926-27 "early L" and the 27-28 "late R" with the 20L.
There were apparently some engine changes in the 20L--the 30 pin catalog, in its engine section, listed 9L, 14L, 18L and 20L "early type" and "late type"; a 36 King Prod (eng parts)catalog only lists those four engines to eng #92325.
There were listings for nine trucks; will follow. Bud

[Bud Tierney]

20L in trucks
Acme--27-29/28-30+?(catalog years, if shown, often differ;30+ meant listed in 1930 catalog, so may've been used in later years) #16, maybe #17 1ton (one catalog showed 20L and 29L);
Century-Defiance (usually listed as Defiance)--1928 #FL,F;
Corbitt--probably 1926-27 #20 1ton; the 1928 seems to've gone to the 31L;
Fisher--no yrs--Junior Express--9L, 20L, 31L; built 1912-33;
King-Zeitler--1927 #22A--9L, 20L; 1928 went to 31L;
Monarch--1928-29 no model#. This's a puzzle: it's listed in the 33 Perf Circ in the truck section, but none of my car and truck references list one of the period (late 20's). There was a Monarch tractor of the right period, but I don't show any Cont'l engine for it, and Cont'l engines in tractors were few and far between until later. If in a tractor, it'd be a lighter model.
Standard--1927-31 #FJE--NOTE: Standard was also Fisher, apparently producing under both names for awhile.
Stewart--probably 1926-27 #Buddy 3/4-1ton, shown as 9L, 14L, 20L
United--probably 1928-32+? #16, C6, 16C 1ton (one catalog showed 20L, 29L).
While I use these old catalogs for engine ID, it'd not unusual for catalogs to differ widely
To complicate matters, some states "dated" trucks in the year they were licensed/registered, NOT the year they were produced. So if a truck sat on a dealer lot for a year or more, or if inventory was tied up in litigation or bkcy, actual production date would differ from the state title date in those states.

[thedavisman]

thanks Bud. thanks for the time. no mention of the derby car that had a 20L in it. i think alot of the assembled cars grabbed what they could get. the 20L was out at the end of the line for many car manufacturers.

[Bud Tierney]

No mention of Derby in my stuff or the Std Cat US cars 'cuz the Derby was Canadian, or the Canadian name for the Davis.
Oddly enough, it is in Auto Qtlys The Am'cn Car Since 1775 ("5000 Marques"), but that's just names and addresses.
Wiki or somewhere said two Derby's exist; if one matches the Davis that used the 20L, chances are the Derby did, too, at least for that model--one of the Derby thumbnails said it used a Con't 6 cyl, which helps, but not much. With sympathy, bud

[kmstrade]

bud, thanks for some info. would you know what cars used this engine or it's equivelent? no where in the lester steele book is it listed. no where in any davis literature have i found it. I have a model 96 (?) that we believe is a derby car, assembled and manufacturered by davis. any help on this would be great. is there any printed matter i can get my hands on that shows all the different continental engine numbers and letters with specs and where they were used? i am in need of some things and currently have a 6Y, 7R, 7U & 20L. thanks again....jim

hi, i was curious what you might have reference cont red seal 7R
THANKS,

Keith123451@live.com