186 in a 109?

[army2a]

Has any one here had a landy with a Holden six? Is it worth doing? I have a 109 ute with a 2.25 petrol. Does any one have a conversion kit they want to sell?

[pop058]

whats wrong with the Landy motor as the Holden conversion has it's issues

[Jeff]

Lots of people have had Holden powered Land Rovers, they are good, but it depends what you want to do with it. Many people see it as immoral to fit a different engine, but you have to live with it not them. The road performance is greatly improved, but if you use this improvement too much it can break gearboxes or axles. There is plenty of advice on the forum about engines and kits, search away.

Jeff

:rocket:

[Lotz-A-Landies]

whats wrong with the Landy motor as the Holden conversion has it's issuesWhat's wrong with a Holden engine as a Landy engine has different issues!

I guess it comes down to personal choice.

Diana

(I own Land Rovers with Landy engines and other Landies with Holden engines)

[army2a]

The landy motor hasn't got enough bottom end to power 35 inch tyres. I've already upgraded the axles. I just want to be able to drive with 35s rather than tow them. Id rather keep the landy engine but I don't think it's gonna do.

[JDNSW]

Has any one here had a landy with a Holden six? Is it worth doing? I have a 109 ute with a 2.25 petrol. Does any one have a conversion kit they want to sell?

Holden engines have been fitted to Landrovers for at least fifty years, with conversions varying from "professional" to "awful".

The reasons for the conversion vary, although the usual reasons are to replace a worn out engine with a cheaper one that parts are easy to find for, or to provide additional power, or both.

There are distinct problems with fitting a Holden engine as a replacement for a 2.25, quite apart from the point Diana makes about the quality of some adapters. Whether these outweigh the advantages is up to your individual priorities and circumstances. The major issues are.

1. Engine/gear ratio matching. Most (but not all) Holden engines are less than happy with the top gear ratio of the Series transfer case/final drive. It has been general practice to solve this by either fitting an overdrive or high ratio transfer gears, and this should be factored in to your plans.

2. Neither the carburetter nor the lubrication system on the Holden engine are designed to cope with steep slopes, and these may cause rough running or cutting out and loss of oil pressure (running the oil level a bit higher will help). If used only on the highway or on flat ground, this is, of course, not a problem.

3. The conversion from the four cylinder engine almost always involves cutting away at least part of the front crossmember. Since this carries the steering relay, plans for this should be checked with the engineer who is going to approve the conversion.

4. Care needs to be taken in planning the cooling - the Holden fan is not situated suitably for the radiator, so most conversions use an electric fan.

5. Some sort of non-standard clutch arrangements will have to be made. You should document exactly what parts are used, and keep this somewhere in the vehicle - you will certainly have forgotten what was used when you need parts!

Whether this conversion is a good idea is up to you, and I suggest you think carefully about what your priorities are before going ahead.

I do have a Holden adapter on a derelict vehicle, but it will be some time before I could dismantle it.

John

[Lotz-A-Landies]

The landy motor hasn't got enough bottom end to power 35 inch tyres. I've already upgraded the axles. I just want to be able to drive with 35s rather than tow them. Id rather keep the landy engine but I don't think it's gonna do.If you're committed to changing the engine, had you considered fitting a 200TDi instead of the Holden? The 200Tdi is loosely based on the 2.25 engine and are frequently fitted to the SIIa and SIII boxes in the UK.

At least it's Landy in Landy

Diana

[Johnno1969]

Has any one here had a landy with a Holden six? Is it worth doing? I have a 109 ute with a 2.25 petrol. Does any one have a conversion kit they want to sell?

Like everybody says, it's really up to driver preferences, what the vehicle is used for and any number of personal considerations.

My two bob's worth is that I had a Holden six in my car when I bought it, and used it for ten years. In 2001, I exchanged it for a 2.25 diesel and would never go back to the Holden motor. The vehicle is slower on the road now, but uses much less fuel and is much more tractable. I also like just having everything in the car genuine Land Rover again.

[Veryan]

I have a Holden adapter plate in Kal, I will be passing through next week. I can grab it then if you are interested.

[Sideroad]

I have a 179 bored to 186 in my 109 and it seems to be fine. I changed the diff ratios to 3.54 to work better in top gear. Given that you want to run 35" tyres this will work fine with the stock ratio. I am considering changing back to stock diff and running 9.00x16 tyres.
I also have a spare conversion kit to suit a holden 6. (seems to be a better quality kit then the one fitted to my 109 and uses the stock rover 6 engine mounts, I also have a spare 202) My 2A was a 6 so the conversion resulted in no need to modify the front cross member, but the PO that did the conversion did a shoddy job of the engine mounts. I do run a thermo fan and will be fitting a second one, as at low speed & mid revs it does get hot.
PM me for any qns.

[army2a]

thanks guys for the replies! i would rather keep the 2.25, as it is great offroad. and seems to have good bottom end power even with 35 inch tyres. is there any easy ways to increase power in the 2.25, i have a stromberg carby, extractors and 2 inch exhaust in it at the moment.

[pfillery]

I have a series 3 109" daily driver with the 186 conversion and on lpg and I love it. Cruises along all day on 7.50 16 tyres and has plenty of power (can pull a dead 109 up a 45 degree hill in 2wd no problem without excessive clutch riding)

I think if you do go this way, getting a good 186 or rebuilding it before you put it in would be a good move.

[Bigbjorn]

Don't do what many people did when they did this conversion. They bought a worn used engine from a backyard or a wrecker and installed it as is, proceeded to rev its head off up the highway with the new found power with predictable results. Then said the engine was no good in Land Rovers.

Give your Holden a thorough overhaul first. Fit a high capacity oil pump & engine oil cooler. Get the engine reconditioner to cross drill the crank before he grinds it, or better, get the rods and fully counter balanced crank from a blue 12 port engine and have the crankshaft man do the same and do the minor modification needed to fit this crank to the red block. The rods from the blue engines are what is known as "Starfire" rods and are better. There are a few other things you can do to improve the performance and durability of a Holden in a radically different application than it is designed for.