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In Qld. as long as the mods are legal and mod. plated if necessary, the vehicle is roadworthy, certified by the Club Dating Officer as thirty or more years old, and you are a financial member of the club, the vehicle is eligible for Special Interest Registration and subject to considerable retraints on use.Quote:
Originally Posted by garrycol
My experience has been different to the above on a number of fronts;
-My first Rangie was a 1984 and the carbies gave constant trouble.
-Second rangie was a 1988 and the EFI was totally reliable EXCEPT when the gas backfired and destroyed the AFM. Ignition systems in these cars have to be kept in top nick to avoid this.
-I replaced the 3.5 in the 88 model with a 4.4, kept the EFI. I had the standard radiator re-cored. It never, ever showed any tendency to overheat regardless of ambient temp, hills, towing, whatever.
-Have had Hollys and Quadrajets on other vehicles prior to getting into Rangies, all had significant problems with both steep inclines and rough bumps. If going carby, stick to something that was developed on an off-road vehicle.
-How do you get the job of 'Dating Officer'???
EFI always starts and idles well, with more power and better economy, and doesn't often go wrong - but any problem is usually a big problem and a big pain to sort out.
Carbies never run quite as well as EFI but are very simple and cheap - and most problems are pretty straightforward as there isn't as much to go wrong as with EFI.
Twin carbies always need everything else to be in great condition before you tune them. I'm about to do a cam change because of this.
Thanks for everyone's opinions and advise as they are all valid points.
Bumping up this thread.
I have an 85 RRC with 350 holley on the 3.5 engine.
Runs well when I've got the ignition gear all sorted.
Pretty sure that the holley is mounted backwards.
The 3.5L seems pretty solid, and is more than capable of pulling the car up some decent hills or dunes. My problem is when I get to a proper steep downhill. If traction is a problem, and I am taking the descent slowly, I usually find that the engine floods and I end up nursing the car down the hill (with the handbrake) without power/steering/brakes.
As you can imagine, this is less than ideal!
Now, for someone like me who uses the range rover mainly for off road excursions (spent about 2k on the car and about the same again on repairs and upgrades), what would be the most ideal engine setup for this application?
Looking at purchasing a cheap unrego car to take some bit off - maybe an 89 model with EFI? (these seem to be common)
Can the EFI manifold and associated bits from a 3.9 be put onto a 3.5? or is this not possible?
All the EFI bits will bolt up to the 3.5 and it's a pretty easy conversion as far as that goes. The bigger job is the fuel lines and fuel tank that need replacing as well. Wiring up the ECU is pretty straight forward as well.
If all that sounds like too much work, going back to twin Stromberg carbs will also sort your problem.
Either way, ditch the Holley if your using it off road.
You will need the fuel tank and lines off an '86 to '89 3.5 EFI RRC as this is a bolt in fit to your '85 and then you're best off with the inlet manifold, injectors, maf, ECU, wiring harness etc off a 3.9 '90 to '93 RRC with the 14CUX system. I did this to a 3.5 carby V8 110 for a local bloke and it works very well. The old 3.5 flapper EFI system leaves a lot to be desired.
So the 88-89 EFI is rubbish? Haven't seen any cheap examples of a 90+ unrego car. Other option is to buy a rego 92 and swap my goodies into it, there is one on my radar...Quote:
Originally Posted by bee utey
The problem with the old flapper is just that ;they are old.
The injectors are almost impossible to get as they have a hose on top, the flappers are unobtanium, the thermo time switches are probably still available but I bet at a high price.
The ECU AFAIK is a hybrid analogue and digital.
They are a dead copy of a Bosch L Jetronic .
The 14CUX is a copy of the Bosch LE Jetronic and digitizes many of the functions that were mechanical in the old flapper.
The 14 CUX has electronic control of cold start, a MAF that calculates MASS of air not just volume , modern injectors that can be updated easily etc. The parts are still available at mostly reasonable prices. They can also be updated to run O2 sensors if you are really keen. I have done this also and this DOES improve economy.
I wouldn't expect any better economy from injection than carbies, just nicer running and better cold starting.
I actually retrofitted a "Federal" system from a P6 (similar to the Flapper) , to a 77 RRC and was disappointed at no gain on economy Vs a well set up pair of Strombergs.
Regards Philip A
I just looked at this and thought "Jeez I did some stupid projects in my time"
Buy the p76 engine and fit the efi from a later RR, i had a late 89 with the p76-spacers between inlet manifold and man could it go, much better than the 83 3.5 that i wasted thousands on with high comp pistons and later camshaft and 350 holley/sprint gas system, my 89 never ran hot so i must have had a good one, it also had holden pistons in it and a malaggi? fuel pressure regulator was a must.