SWB 2A with a difference

[mick88]

Gave the Starfire Four a coat of paint and now it's nearly ready to drop in and bolt up to the cabstar gearbox.






Cheers, Mick.

[crackers]

What's a Starfire motor? :confused:

[mick88]

What's a Starfire motor? :confused:
Holden six less two cylinders!


Cheers, Mick.

[crackers]

Holden six less two cylinders!


Cheers, Mick.

Thought that was the one. Why have you chosen that and do you expect any problems come rego time?

[mick88]

The vehicle had a Holden six cylinder (186ci) in it when I purchased it. Originally I was going to return it to a standard Land Rover motor and drive train. Then I decided it would be good to retain the 5 speed box, but go back to a four cylinder engine. The starfire bolts straight up to the conversion and there is no structural changes to chassis etc. There is only about a 5-6% power increase 58kw as opposed to the two and a quarter being 55kw. (from 74HP to 78HP). Ideally I would like to bolt a two and quarter up to the 5 speed, but that's a job for another day as it would involve making up an adaptor. Alternatively there are a few Nissan four cylinder motors, both petrol and diesel, that will also bolt up to the box, should the starfire not be a success.


Cheers, Mick.

[Cobber]

I always knew the Starfire would turn out to be good in something :angel: :D

[debruiser]

At least your keeping it "original" :wasntme: :D:D:D:D:D

Looks like a nice paint job. You'll have to post some video when you get it going!

[mick88]

This is the donk it is replacing!


Cheers, Mick.

[schuy1]

Hmm, so the "fire engine red" was on special at the time huh ? Like the first 100 litre free sort of special? :D I thought all starfires had been consigned to mooring anchor duty years ago! Good to see a use has been found. It may be a handy donk in there as I recall they hated being reved hard in the torana.
Cheers Scott

[debruiser]

Nice rear windows!! I think she's a bit confused though.... flares one side and not the other??? whats the go there :D

[debruiser]

Hmm, so the "fire engine red" was on special at the time huh ? Like the first 100 litre free sort of special? :D I thought all starfires had been consigned to mooring anchor duty years ago! Good to see a use has been found. It may be a handy donk in there as I recall they hated being reved hard in the torana.
Cheers Scott

the PO had painted my SWB with bright red.... I don't know what the go is there... seems an odd colour to paint aseries to me. ALThough I was silly and made it blue. :mad:

I think this example is better though

[Homestar]

Hmm, so the "fire engine red" was on special at the time huh ? Like the first 100 litre free sort of special? :D I thought all starfires had been consigned to mooring anchor duty years ago! Good to see a use has been found. It may be a handy donk in there as I recall they hated being reved hard in the torana.
Cheers Scott

The starfire was a flop, mainly due to the horrendous lack of power they had while still trying to move a full sized car. They took a third of the cylinders off, but the power dropped by nearly half. The internals of the starfire are actually quite strong, but being such a small capacity motor trying to move the car around didn't end well for it.

I can't see why it shouldn't be a good little engine in the LR, and the fact it is a straight swap for what's in there is a real bonus, and good thinking IMO. :)

Oh - Mick, have you put a new timing gear in it at all? They can suffer the same fate as the 202 otherwise. While not catastrophic for the engine, if it strips, you'll be pushing it home. It is the weakest point of the engine. A new alloy cam gear fixes the problem, but if you put an alloy one in it, you need to open up the oil squirter a bit or they have a tendency to howl.

[mick88]

I have completely stripped and rebuilt it. The motor was in pretty good condition and had been reconditioned at some time. I have given it a full birthday, rings, bearings, lifters and new alloy timing gear, I don't think the compressed the goat dung ones are even still available now! I have a couple of XT130's (the Toyota variant) as donors engines, so I was able to rat head parts from them so that I could toss the exhaust valve rotators out. It's not going to be a daily driver and won't do thousands of kays per year, so I think it should do what is asked of it in this situation. Time will tell. Cheers, Mick.

[mick88]

Hmm, so the "fire engine red" was on special at the time huh ? Like the first 100 litre free sort of special? :D I thought all starfires had been consigned to mooring anchor duty years ago! Good to see a use has been found. It may be a handy donk in there as I recall they hated being reved hard in the torana.
Cheers Scott


The paint job was already done by the previous owner, so not my choice. He had painted it up pretty well, so it's a big job to change it back to something original. Then again it may have been owned by the PMG from new as theirs were all painted red back in the day, however I don't recall them having any short wheel base vehicles around here, but they may have elsewhere. I think one of the main problems with the Starfire was people expected them to perform like a six cylinder especially when fitted in the commodores, so they got well and truly flogged. Cheers, Mick.

[67hardtop]

"I think one of the main problems with the Starfire was people expected them to perform like a six cylinder especially when fitted in the commodores, so they got well and truly flogged. " Cheers, Mick.

Hi Mick, ive had acouple starfires in the past in uc sunbirds and corona's. IMO they are actually a great motor. I think that it would be a really good motor in a series. They rev well and have plenty of grunt to push a car along. As bacicat said make sure u drill out the oiler hole for the cam gear. Alloy gears get noisy in the 4. I fitted a fibre gear to mine as the alloy gear made it sound like a diesel when it was idling. With the oiler hole drilled out and the oil pressure boosted by fitting a washer under the pressure relief valve spring theres plenty lubrication for the fibre gear to last for years. My last sunbird was flogged mercilessly by 2 learner drivers over a 5 yr period. The car never failed once. Great little engine, it was fitted with a manual trans as well. IMO the xt130 motor was better than the starfire but the carby on the starfire was better than the toyota carby. Dump the air injection too.

But all that matters is that u have fun mate. :thumbup::thumbup:

Cheers Rod

Ps. Great looking motor there mate. Painted the right colour too....lol :cool:
Sent from my GT-P5110 using AULRO mobile app

[Cobber]

Nice rear windows!! I think she's a bit confused though.... flares one side and not the other??? whats the go there :DThe side without the flares must be it's 'Shirley Temple' side :D

[mick88]

The side without the flares must be it's 'Shirley Temple' side :D

First couple of photo's are older, flares were removed long ago.
Body all back to standard bar the late model side windows on the hardtop, when it comes time for rego. Flares, bucket seats, late model doors and single windscreen all removed.

Cheers, Mick.

[mick88]

Flywheel all prettied up and everything ready for assembly.






Cheers, Mick.

[Lionelgee]

Hello Mick,

Your last post about the Starfire was back on the 5th of November 2015. Just wondering how the engine is going now? Did the project get finished or is it placed on the back burner?

I remember lifting up the bonnet of an early Commodore and finding a Starfire in it - there was certainly lots of space left in the engine bay :eek:

Kind Regards
Lionel

[mick88]

G'day Lionel, it has been on the backburner as I was waiting for some body parts (radiator support panel etc.) from a bloke, thus in the meantime a few other projects have taken precedence. Like the two and a quarter motor I rebuilt for my other 2A and once in place the rear main engine seal started leaking, so that needed a fix. The starfire project was progressing well and all going together as planned, so there is not a real lot of work left to finalise it. There is a lot more room in the engine bay with the starfire four bolted up to the cabstar gearbox than there is with a Holden six cylinder motor.
Here are a few pics of the motor in situ. Cheers, Mick.

[debruiser]

G'day Lionel, it has been on the backburner as I was waiting for some body parts (radiator support panel etc.) from a bloke, thus in the meantime a few other projects have taken precedence. Like the two and a quarter motor I rebuilt for my other 2A and once in place the rear main engine seal started leaking, so that needed a fix. The starfire project was progressing well and all going together as planned, so there is not a real lot of work left to finalise it. There is a lot more room in the engine bay with the starfire four bolted up to the cabstar gearbox than there is with a Holden six cylinder motor.
Here are a few pics of the motor in situ. Cheers, Mick.

Nice work!

I notice that you keep your tools sorted about the same as I do! :D

[mick88]

Nice work!

I notice that you keep your tools sorted about the same as I do! :D



Lionel, the inside of my shed is like the inside of my head!
Unnecessary stuff everywhere ;)

Cheers, Mick.

[Homestar]

You should have no dramas getting that throught rego - VicRoads will just think its a standard Land Rover engine. :D. Come to think of it, most people that don't know land rovers will think it's original.

[debruiser]

You should have no dramas getting that throught rego - VicRoads will just think its a standard Land Rover engine. :D. Come to think of it, most people that don't know land rovers will think it's original.

Agreed.

Had the road worthy guys look at my 88" SWB with a 200tdi in it, they were like "Did these old things come with a turbo?" baaaahahahahahha... so could have got away with it if I was less honest.

[Lionelgee]

Agreed.

Had the road worthy guys look at my 88" SWB with a 200tdi in it, they were like "Did these old things come with a turbo?" baaaahahahahahha... so could have got away with it if I was less honest.


Hello Nick,

I am a turbo illiterate so bear with my asking some inane questions :angel:

Did the engine you get come with a turbo and if so was it a Land Rover brand or were turbos sourced from another supplier as a standard business practice at the time?

Were the two previous turbos that unfortunately failed Land Rover brands or were they some other manufacturer - if so whom? Is the soon to arrive turbo a different brand yet again?

Is there a particular oil pressure and flow rate that needs to be supplied to keep the turbo operating correctly? How would you go about measuring this?

I suppose I should invest in a book Turbos for Dummies :p.

Could a 300tdi be supercharged instead of turboed? This could be my semi-Luddite-ness.

According to KGB Answers - Accessed May 7, 2016 What came first the turbocharger or the supercharger (http://www.kgbanswers.com/what-came-first-the-turbocharger-or-the-supercharger/1567584) Turbocharger was patented by Alfred Buchi in 1905. Supercharger combustion engine was patented in 1885.

According to Wikipedia :) Accessed May 7, 2016 from, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supercharger .... The world's first series-produced cars[ with superchargers were Mercedes 6/25/40 hp and Mercedes 10/40/65 hp. Both models were introduced in 1921 and had Roots superchargers. They were distinguished as "Kompressor" models, the origin of the Mercedes-Benz badging which continues today.

Sorry for the travel back through history - it just that I associated vintage race cars with superchargers.

Room for the supercharger inside a Series III engine bay could pose lots of problems though. If it was easy more people would have done it.

:oops2: I had better return to reality and get back to my studies again :cool: PhD-Land where everything is wonderful :Rolling:

Kind Regards
Lionel

[Lionelgee]

Hello Mick,

My apologies for posting on your thread about turbos and superchargers :oops2:

I thought I was Nick's thread about the Series III

Conveners calling Conveners Please move my earlier post to Nick's 1975 Series III SWB thread :angel: That is if if Nick doesn't mind!

My apologies Mick for the unintended hijacking ! Sorry about that :(

Kind Regards
Lionel

[ezyrama]

Lionel, the inside of my shed is like the inside of my head!
Unnecessary stuff everywhere ;)

Cheers, Mick.

Bahahahaha! Sounds like me and my shed. Looking good Mick. Incidentally, which bell housing does the Starfire motor bolt too, 2.25ltr or 2.6ltr?. Ralph has a 2.7 Navara diesel via an adapter plate to the 2.6ltr bell housing, hoping to finid a 2.6ltr in the not too distant future.
Cheers Ian

[mick88]

Bahahahaha! Sounds like me and my shed. Looking good Mick. Incidentally, which bell housing does the Starfire motor bolt too, 2.25ltr or 2.6ltr?. Ralph has a 2.7 Navara diesel via an adapter plate to the 2.6ltr bell housing, hoping to finid a 2.6ltr in the not too distant future.
Cheers Ian


Nissan Cabstar gearbox (5 speed) that has a bell housing to accept a Holden straight six (Red, Blue or Black) but also accepts the Starfire Four.


Cheers, Mick.

[mick88]

Been on the back burner for a while whilst a few other more pressing jobs around the place took priority, however last weekend I fitted a new slave cylinder on the clutch. The vehicle had a heavy feel and did not feel smooth, especially when the pedal was about half way through it's travel. I wasn't happy with it and decided to do some research.
Original Land Rover clutch hydraulics are a 3/4" master cylinder and a 7/8" slave cylinder. The cabstar conversion used a 3/4 slave cylinder, basically the common standard with Nissan clutch hydraulics (1~1 ratio). I looked into either adapting a Land Rover (2A or 3) slave cylinder as both have a 7/8" bore. It would mean a loss of about 3mm in travel, but that was not problem, it was the reduction in hydraulic ratio that I wanted. I also considered boring out the Nissan slave to a 7/8" bore. Then some trawling on the net revealed that the Nissan powered Commodore of the mid 1980's used a 7/8" bore slave cylinder and in the pics I bought up it looked identical in appearance. A phone call to a local ex Nissan parts man (walking Nissan encyclopaedia) and he confirmed the slave cylinder for the Skyline of the same era (mid 80's) has a 22.22mm (7/8") bore. I ordered one through Bursons and two days later it was fitted, resulting in such a big difference to the feel of the clutch.


Cheers, Mick.

[Homestar]

Great to see you're back onto this one Mick. :)

Looking forward to the first firing of the engine and to see how it drives. :)

I'll be up your way mid November - Thursday evening the 17th I think, if you're about, I'll pop in to check it out personally. :)

[mick88]

We will have another twig and throw a couple of steaks on the coals like last time.


Cheers, Mick.

[mick88]

The starfire uttered it's first words today.
I fitted the Accu-Spark ignition system in distributor to replace the points, wired up the coil, tipped some juice down the carby throat, turned the key and it sprung to life. It was a bit noisy as the exhaust was straight out of the headers, but at least it runs.




Cheers, Mick.

[68s2alwb]

That's a tidy looking 88". Way back a Bathurst racer by the name of Jim Faneco set up a company called Country Dealer Team (CDT) that did performance upgrade installations for the Holden 6 as well as the 4 pot Starfire engines.

Here is their turbo-upgraded Starfire in a VC Commodore:

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/10/7.jpg

If you get bored with the power output of the stock motor something like that might be an option :)

I've been contemplating eventually doing essentially the same to the 2.25L in the S2A I am currently restoring; draw-through SU carburetor using a 200TDI turbo modified for 6 psi boost max. Though my priory right now is to just finish the resto with the engine in stock form and enjoy it for at least a year (if I don't get bored before that long!).

[mick88]

Thanks,
that is a very interesting pic.


Cheers, Mick.

[debruiser]

Sorry I'm going off track here but do I see a carbi bolted to the intake of a turbo there????? so the turbo is pressurising fuel/air mix???? if that works then that is a stroke of genius!

Would there be issues with running lean? Could the suspended fuel condense/settle onto the pipework before it gets to the combustion chamber?

[68s2alwb]

Sorry I'm going off track here but do I see a carbi bolted to the intake of a turbo there????? so the turbo is pressurising fuel/air mix???? if that works then that is a stroke of genius!

Would there be issues with running lean? Could the suspended fuel condense/settle onto the pipework before it gets to the combustion chamber?


It's known as a "draw-through" (as opposed to "blow-through") carburetor set up. Google "Draw through turbo pictures". The fuel is well atomized after passing through the compressor, don't think there are in general any significant fuel drop-out issues.

The first such OEM set up in a passenger vehicle was this:

Boost Beginnings: The Turbo Jetfire - Speedhunters (http://www.speedhunters.com/2015/06/oldsmobile-jetfire-turbo/)

[mick88]

This might be of interest to some!
I made this gadget up to align the centre of the crankshaft pulley with the portal in the cross member at the front of the chassis.
Normally a Holden straight six engine in a Holden vehicle has the front raised up and I believe this was to align the drive train and reduce universal joint wear. When series Land Rover had Holden straight six engine conversions they were mostly installed in the same configuration with the front of the engine raised approx. at the same angle. This causes the gearbox and transfer case to be kicked up and not sit in the original alignment it originally left the factory in. Not a big deal in the overall scheme of things, however in some situations the gearbox bell housing can hit the body work and also the gear stick doesn't sit centrally in it's hole in the transmission tunnel.
With the engine bolted up to the gearbox, but the engine mounts removed, the plate on the tool bolts onto the crankshaft pulley and the pipe spigot protrudes out through the chassis portal. The engine is the jacked and manoeuvred until the spigot is central in the portal and the wooden guide will slide freely along it and into the portal. The engine mounts can then be "tweeked" so that the engine will stay set in this position.


Cheers, Mick.

[mick88]

Earlier in the week I picked up some rims, radiator support panels, and seat mounts from the Sandblaster, and then hit them with a coat of primer on Friday. Come Saturday it was time give them a coat of paint, Limestone on five of the rims, and the remaining rims will get Deep Bronze Green as they are for a trailer. The seat mounts will get a coat of silver, as that is the colour someone has paint the interior of the vehicle. One of the radiator support panels was painted red, no specific colour name, I just got a "near enough" colour match made up from a sample on the vehicle.

If someone can tell me why my pics are always upside down I would greatly appreciate it!



Cheers, Mick.

[1950landy]

Earlier in the week I picked up some rims, radiator support panels, and seat mounts from the Sandblaster, and then hit them with a coat of primer on Friday. Come Saturday it was time give them a coat of paint, Limestone on five of the rims, and the remaining rims will get Deep Bronze Green as they are for a trailer. The seat mounts will get a coat of silver, as that is the colour someone has paint the interior of the vehicle. One of the radiator support panels was painted red, no specific colour name, I just got a "near enough" colour match made up from a sample on the vehicle.

If someone can tell me why my pics are always upside down I would greatly appreciate it!



Cheers, Mick.

I had that problem the other day also , they were correct way up in my photos:confused:

[67hardtop]

Were you standing on ur head when u took them?
Maybe coz ur from "down under"?
Was the lens on backwards?
Was the film in correctly?

Just joking Mick 😆😆. I have no idea.

Looking good tho mate

Cheers Rod

Sent from my GT-I9507 using AULRO mobile app

[rangieman]

I have really enjoyed this build keep up the good work id also be very interested on how it drives with the ****fire engine :p
All that aside and the nay sayer purists i like it:thumbsup:

[mick88]

A few more pics from todays therapy.
A couple of coats on the radiator support panel.
The rims are painted Deep Bronze Green and for a trailer.


Cheers, Mick.

[mick88]

Splashed a bit of red jam around on the bonnet today!
So far two coats, and weather permitting, another two will be applied tomorrow.



Cheers, Mick.

[Homestar]

Painting bits means you're very close now mate! Have you got the exhaust done yet? Surly the first drive can't be too far away?

[mick88]

Yes getting close.
Exhaust will be done in the new year, have a bit of tweaking to do with the header pipes first.
I am looking forward to having a steer of it though and see how it gets along!


Cheers, Mick.

[Cobber]

Paint! Very exciting! :cool:

It's coming along very well, it won't be long now! :BigThumb:
Well done :twobeers:

[mick88]

A few pics of the interior! Light was a bit poor as it's parked in the shed.
A previous owner did the under dash heater vent mod, and as it's a good neat/practicable job, I intend to leave it as is. It also can be switched to feed air to the windscreen demisters, being fed from a series 3 heater box which is installed in the standard position, in the engine bay. The dash panel has also had a bit of "tweeking" with a couple of extra gauges added.


Cheers, Mick.

[67hardtop]

Thats very neat Mick.

Cheers Rod

Sent from my GT-I9507 using AULRO mobile app

[mick88]

Yesterday I lined the second fuel tank with PVC Glue.
When I removed it from the vehicle it was very cruddy inside,
stale fuel, gunk, and lots of surface rust, so I put about five litres of water and a tub of Caustic in it then let it soak for about two weeks, rotating it from side to side every day or two. Then I flushed it out and took it down to the local commercial carwash and blasted the inside with the hotwash. It came up very clean. Next it sat for a week in our lovely hot forty degree temperatures to completely dry out. The previous tank that I did, I used the heat gun to dry it out, but that was back in the winter. I just left the heat gun running for about 15 minutes, it got pretty warm, you could have cooked eggs on the tank.
Anyway, yesterday I put some masking tape over the outlets and holes in the tank except for the drain bung, then I poured in a bottle of PVC Glue (straight, not diluted with primer/cleaner) and spent about fifteen minutes rotating the tank in all directions to coat all the inside surfaces. Finally I placed it correct way up on an even surface and let the excess glue drain out the bottom drain plug.
Here are a couple of pics, but there is not really much to see.
I will reinstall the tank today and let it sit for a while, as it won't have fuel in it for at least a month or three.


Cheers, Mick.

[mick88]

Second job of the day was to fit the leather steering wheel cover to give the old wheel a bit of a freshen up as it was showing it's age. I took the wheel off to do it, then went inside under some decent lighting to try and make the job easier. It took about an hour to fit and the result was rather pleasing.




Next job was to make up throttle linkages to the carby.
I wanted to stick with as much of the original components as possible, so just modified the existing arrangement.
There was a fair bit of messing around trying to get the desired amount of travel, distances, angles, and clearance from the carby, etc., correct. I didn't want a throttle that was too quick acting, but rather some good progressive travel. Anyway, I got there in the end.
I have to shorten the threaded rod down, but I can't do that until I get a 3/16 BSF button die, that I have ordered in town.
A few pics below.


Cheers, Mick.

[mick88]

These arrived from "Old Blighty" today!
Two sets of backs and one set of squabs.
Not cheap, but the quality is very good.


Cheers, Mick.

[mick88]

It's first time out of the shed after many, many months, to get all the dust washed off. I painted some mushroom headed screw red and used them to blank the holes in the wheel arches where the flares were riveted on. Also have to unplug the indicator wires in order to get rid of those plastic headlight surround/fascia's. Next job is to pull the left wing off, then it's onto the trailer, and off to the exhaust shop to have new header pipes made up, as the standard ones do not have enough drop to clear the firewall. Hopefully the original collector can be used to pick up the new header pipes, then a section of new exhaust fabricated to join up with the original pipework, just under the seat box. I will go stainless with all the new exhaust work. After that it's back home to have the wing, the radiator support panel and the radiator refitted, then maybe back into town for a roadworthy certificate.


Cheers, Mick.

[mick88]

Left wing removed for easy access and temporary header pipes in situ.


Cheers, Mick.

[rangieman]

Just curious is it still running the fibre timing gears if it does be warned it will suffer the fate of your typical gmh junk .
I am told the alloy timing gears work on the ****fire ;)

[mick88]

I fitted an alloy gear when I rebuilt the motor. The engine takes the same components as a six cylinder engine (2850cc/173ci). I am not sure if the fibre gears are actually available anymore, as all the replacement kits have both a cam and crank gear in them (alloy cam gear and steel crank gear). I am not sure exactly when, but sometime back the cut on the gears changed to a metric measurement and thus people were making the mistake of running the later model cam gear with an older imperial crank gear which lead to a noise and failure.


Cheers, Mick.

[1950landy]

The alloy gears were always noisy I can remember fitting them back in the late 60s early 70s & the customers would come back to complain about the noise . Then we gave them the choice either alloy with the noise or fiber that would eventully brake again.

[rangieman]

The alloy gears were always noisy I can remember fitting them back in the late 60s early 70s & the customers would come back to complain about the noise . Then we gave them the choice either alloy with the noise or fiber that would eventully brake again.

Funny i have fitted alloy gears and really you would hardly notice any difference.
In a Holden of the time i thought a bit of noise would just blend in with all the other noises:angel:
I put what you say down as anal owners :angel:
Sorry for the hijack Mick carry on the great work :BigThumb:

[67hardtop]

Most the time those gears were noisy was when the timing gear only was fitted and not both gears. The new alloy gear would take a long time to bed into the wear patterns of the old crank gear, and thus be noisy. The only trouble i ever had with a noisy gear was on a starfire where the alloy gear was almost worn out due to lack of lubrication coz holden had forgotten to drill the hole through in the engine block for the oiler. It was a common fault with later starfire engines im told. Ive seen only 2 with the fault out of probably 10 to 15 that ive done timing gear sets on. The starfires sound like a diesel motor when the alloy gear gets worn.
I know u've checked urs Mick.

Cheers Rod

[mick88]

Fired the engine up today.
At first had a fair bit of trouble getting it to run properly and run at low revs.
I kept thinking it must have a vacuum leak or crap in the carby.
The carby, an Aisan from a Toyota Corona with the SF engine had been sitting for a long time.
I dismantled it and gave all jets, venturis, galleys, etc. a good blow through before I first put it on the engine. On the pulling it down a second time for a good blow through I twigged maybe the fuel cut out solenoid was the issue. Sorted that out and problem solved, it idles perfectly.
It's a bit noisy with straight out header pipes. Booked in to get the exhaust done next week.


Cheers, Mick.

[mick88]

A couple of pics of the engine bay at the rear of the motor. There is enough room to hold a barn dance between the donk and the firewall. Easy to see why with the six cylinder Holden engine the radiator etc., had been moved forward a long way.


Cheers, Mick.

[mick88]

As I am using a later model radiator support panel, either of these three grills will fit. Which one?


Cheers, Mick.

[loanrangie]

As I am using a later model radiator support panel, either of these three grills will fit. Which one?


Cheers, Mick.

Item number 3 please :).

[grey_ghost]

Item #1 please.

[singlecell]

First one.

[67hardtop]

A couple of pics of the engine bay at the rear of the motor. There is enough room to hold a barn dance between the donk and the firewall. Easy to see why with the six cylinder Holden engine the radiator etc., had been moved forward a long way.


Cheers, Mick.
Yeah Mick, my s3 is the same. its coz the bellhousing is so long on the cabstar box. I think that the input shaft is very long on the cabstar box. Thats why the motor is so far forward. On my s3 its the same. And my s3 is originally a 6cyl. The front cross member is cut for the radiator on it too.

On the grille post, i think grille no 2 is the correct grille for late s2a. [emoji2]

Cheers Rod

[JohnboyLandy]

Number 1 if it's a late 2A, my 1971 2A has that grill.

[Homestar]

You're not going to get a concensus here on the grille mate - I think number 2. :D

Then number 3.

[Dark61]

I like the number 3 plastic fantastic ?
Cheers,
D

[mick88]

Re: the grill, my wife reckons that number one looks like it was designed to suit the cut-outs in the radiator support panel.
The vehicle comes up on CalVIN as 1963-4.


Thanks Rod,
I hadn't thought about the need for the front cross member requiring modification on the 109 six cylinder Land Rover, when the Cabstar box is coupled to a Holden six.


Cheers, Mick.

[Lionelgee]

G'day Mick,

Why make a single decision upon which of the three grilles?

You could put in four rivnuts in strategic locations on the radiator panel. Some studs and for convenience a washer and a wing-nut to hold each corner down. Then you could interchange them to match the day's whim. Or to match the opinion of whomever is being chauffeured around for the day!

Kind Regards
Lionel

[Dgd69]

First one

[mick88]

The new Exmoor Trim seats in place.
They almost look too good to sit on.
I posted these pics the other day, but with the AULRO "gearbox" failure they disappeared! ;)

Cheers, Mick.

[Dark61]

Very nice. I went through the post trying to see what the original ones were like but couldnt see anything. What sort of state were they in? NOt sure the thanks button is working yet.
cheers,
d

[JohnboyLandy]

Very nice indeed. Can I ask where you bought the floor lining from ? Also, what are those doors ??

Thanks
John

[mick88]

Dark,
The seats that were in it when I got it were buckets from possibly something Japanese.
It was a bugger of a job getting them out, as I think they were bolted to the seat box and then the seat box was installed with them attached.
In the end I attacked them with a Stanley knife to remove the cushion bases for access to the captive bolts, then I drilled the heads off the bolts.
They (3 bucket seats, a small one in the middle) were not accessible from under the vehicle because of the fuel tanks (vehicle has two) and to remove
the fuel tanks, the seats needed to come out, for access to the fuel line, and sender unit wire. A catch 22 situation.
Mind you, I used a few choice words during the seat removal process ;)
If someone wants to sit in a bucket seat, why not just buy a vehicle with bucket seats in it.

John,
The floor/seat box lining was already in the vehicle when I bought it, but I have seen them advertised on the UK sites.
As for the doors, I am not sure but I assume they are from something later than a series 3, say a County, 110 or maybe even a Defender (if they fit).

Cheers, Mick.

[JDNSW]

........
As for the doors, I am not sure but I assume they are from something later than a series 3, say a County, 110 or maybe even a Defender (if they fit).

Cheers, Mick.

Doors are from Defender or possibly post-87 County. Doors are interchangeable (apart from things like striker plate and door check arrangements) from start of Series 2 in 1958 to end of Defender production.

John

[Dark61]

Thanks mick.

I had something similar with Mutley. Seats out of some Holden or other - welded onto the supports.
cheers,
d

[mick88]

Finally got to take the vehicle for it's maiden voyage yesterday, just a few runs up and down the eight hundred metre long the dirt lane that runs up to the sealed road.
My first drive of the vehicle since fitting the starfire engine.
At first it was pinging badly and I couldn't time it out, so eventually I removed the electronic module from the dizzy and fitted the original points, then timed
it at 7 degrees, via the basic static method and bingo, it ran as sweet as pie, no pinging, good responsive acceleration. It has an imperial (miles per hour) speedo
and I got it up to forty miles per hour and it ticked along well. The cabstar box is very much like the Perentie gearbox in that it has a big leap between 3rd and 4th,
but has a very low first gear.
A few sundry issues to sort out with lights and indicators and then hopefully a roadworthy examination not too far off.


I used the "Googler" and looked up the ratio's for the Cabstar box, there are several models, with varying ratio's, as they were used in a range of Nissan's trucks and four
wheel drives. One lists 3rd gear as 1.780:1 and 4th is straight through at 1:1, possibly the gearbox I have.
So this means 2500rpm in 3rd drops to 1400 in 4th, or 4000rpm in 3rd drops to 2240 in 4th, just a bit over half the revs.

Cheers, Mick.

[ezyrama]

Looking good Mick, I was just thinking about putting some carpeted flooring and the heating system back in Ralph last night, and now I catch up on this today. It gets really cold here on the Gold Coast, occasionally we get into single figures at 3am :cool:. Look forward to seeing it rego'd and and a video of it running.
Cheers Ian

[Homestar]

Guess who got to drive this vehicle yesterday. :)

Cracking little car - very tight little unit - no rattles or clunks. Could easily hold a conversation in it. Defender doors and some carpet made it feel much newer than it is and it's a comfortable little car to drive.

Goes well, the gap in the gearing between 3rd and 4th is noticeable on the Cabstar box, but no real issues. It has similar power to a 2.25 but revs out better I think, so a few more revs before pulling 4th is no dramas.

Sits on around 90 in 5th no dramas and would do 100 if needed but it's happier at more normal series speeds.

Great conversion - thanks for the drive Mick. :)

[Lionelgee]

Hello Mick,

How is the Starfire project going? No posts about it since its maiden voyage in March 2017!

I was having a yarn with someone yesterday at the Bundaberg Early Holden annual show and they mentioned fitting a Starfire into a Series 3 Land Rover. The bloke who is a small engines mechanic by trade was displaying his EK utility that he shoehorned a VN 3.8 litre V6 engine into. All work on the car apart from the alignment was completed by him.

Kind Regards
Lionel

[mick88]

Lionel, sorry for the very, very, late reply.
The Starfire is performing very well.
It had a few teething problems and was using oil due to a poor honing job,
so i slipped it out and rehoned it, achieving a far better "crosshatch" and while it was out, i sent the cam away to Crow Cams for a "torque grind".
Very happy with how it runs along and the Nissan gearbox adds to the driving pleasure.

Cheers Mick.