that eventually they would need an engine that could power many of its forthcoming medium-sized cars, and this would require an engine of at least 1500 cc capacity. Since the A40 Devon engine could not have its capacity enlarged, a new engine needed to be designed and built. The design of this new engine commenced around January 1952, and was designated as the "B" series. The first production version of the B series retained the same 1200cc capacity as the A40 engine and, superficially, appeared to be identical, with the same valve gear, same cylinder head design, same positioning of its ancillary parts (many of which were interchangeable with the older engine) and so on. But the B-series block and head were slightly larger in both length and width and the block had thicker cylinder wall castings making the new engine heavier than the A40 motor. This was to allow room for enlargement of the cylinder bore to provide the larger capacities foreseen by BMC. The stroke was retained at and was never altered. Originally of approximately 1.2 Litre capacity, later displacements ranged widely from 1.2 L to 2.4 L, the latter being a six-cylinder variant which was only produced in Australia. The most common engine sizes were 1.5 L and 1.8 L and saw service in a number of vehicles. This included a version of the engine built under license in India by Hindustan Motors for its Ambassador series of cars. Petrol versions were produced in the greatest numbers, but diesel versions exist for both cars and marine applications. Meanwhile the earlier 990cc displacement would later indirectly resurface in Japan from the late-1950s at Nissan after the company had engaged an American engine specialist called Donald Stone formerly of Willys-Overland as a consultant, Nissan was trying to develop a new 1-litre engine at the time for the 1957 Nissan Bluebird (210/211), but as Stone pointed out, it would have cost a fortune. His suggestion was to shorten the cylinder block of the 1.5-litre B-Series licence built in Japan as the 1H engine, thus the 1-litre Nissan C engine also known as the "Stone engine" was born being manufactured on Austin's old transfer machines. When it was later increased to 1.2-litres from 1958, it was named the Nissan E engine. This was followed by the Nissan J engine engine, distinctly different from the earlier engines yet similar in many ways.