holden or not

I see a Holden powered Land Rover.

The same as I sometimes see an Isuzu powered Land Rover and at other times I see a Rolls Royce powered Land Rover or a Detroit powered Bedford and other times I see a Cummins powered White, or a Cat powered ACCO.

We are not talking about sacrosanct untouchable closer to godlike machines, we are talking about a utilitarian vehicle designed to do a purpose. In Australia, Rovers were and are always more expensive to repair, difficult to acquire parts for engines and pragmatic Land Rover users wanted their vehicles to be useful and economic. Before service stations became supermarkets, you could acquire parts for Holden engines at 9 out of 10 service stations and every machinery or auto parts store in Australia had Holden engine parts on the shelf. Something that could never be said and still isn't true about Rover engines. Holden powered Land Rovers without having overdrives, hi-speed transfer boxes or diff replacements could and still do, get along the road at 90-100KPH and remain in top gear up all but the steepest hills, while Rover powered Series Land Rovers were and still are often the mobile road block travelling 20-30 KPH slower than the rest of the traffic. Rover 4 cyl and 6 cyl Land Rovers were always in one to two gears lower than the Holden engine up hill.

I still like to see Land Rovers running, restored or not with OEM engines and similarly pragmatically I appreciate Holden powered Land Rovers.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Hartley

I think you need to imagine the Land Rover is restored. How will you feel when you open the bonnet and see a Holden in there? What do you think when you see Holdens in other people's Land Rovers?

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As long as you mind your own business and don't start sounding off about some other owners car - restored or not - you can think what you like.

Bob

Restore it to original or not, always promotes an interesting discussion......

My Series 1 has a Holden carby and aircleaner, I will change it once I find a correct original but it has many, many other period modifications:-
Home made hardtop
Home made welder running off PTO
Additional fuel tank
Door locks
Storage system
Fold down bed
Coil over conversion
Overhead storage locker
Cable operated wipers
Home made roofrack for a Tinny, outboard & fuel tanks.
Etc, etc

Restore it ? No I'm keeping it as it is. I may repaint the interior of the homemade hardtop and tidy up the storage system but otherwise just routine repairs.
Put it back to original ? Maybe some items like the carby but generally no.
But having said all that I generally prefer to keep vehicles as original as possible, this one is unusual so I'll keep it as found.

The Holden engine conversion, if done well, is a period modification and I wouldn't automatically change back to the original engine.

Everyone has their own ideas/likes/dislikes but we are all different, a few of my dislikes (on Land Rovers) are :-
Paint jobs that are far, far better than the original factory finish.
Radial tyres instead of crossply (usually fitted for 'safety' reasons)
Multi coloured, plastic shrouded wiring harnesses with masses of extra fuses fitted (again for 'safety' reasons).
Those should fire a few people up :)

It's always nice to have correctly restored, original vehicles that can be used as a benchmark. But if used as a benchmark they must be correct. I remember when the National Motorcycle Museum opened in the UK there was a torrent of criticism because a lot of the bikes were not correctly restored. The argument was that people went to the museum to see how their bike should be restored and the 'benchmark' wasn't correct.

Anyway, original or not, get it back on the road and actually use it.
If you make any modifications, try and make them easily reversible.
If it has 'period' modifications why not keep them, you could change it back to 'original' in future years.

Must get in the shed tonight and count some rivets........


Colin

Top post Colin!

It appears that you and I have similar taste :D

Some I can add to the list of dislikes:
1. Gaudy plastic battery in the "original" engine compartment, rather than a rubber-cased one; however; I accept that rubber-cased ones can be hard to find :)
2. Not applicable to Land-Rovers - chromium plating on pre 1930's cars restored to "original" condition, which should have nickel plating.
3. Brightly coloured high-tension leads - even in the 1970's all of the new cars I remember had black leads.
4. Veteran and Vintage cars with spray-painted finishes, rather than brush-painted with coach enamel,

Cheers Charlie

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Hartley

I think you need to imagine the Land Rover is restored. How will you feel when you open the bonnet and see a Holden in there? What do you think when you see Holdens in other people's Land Rovers?

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What do I think?
I think ¨here is a Landy that isnt being let down by the gutless POS original motor¨

Quote:

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Originally Posted by chazza

1. Gaudy plastic battery in the "original" engine compartment, rather than a rubber-cased one; however; I accept that rubber-cased ones can be hard to find :)

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Thanks Charlie, batteries are another one of mine. It is possible to find black plastic ones that don't look too out-of-place (mines a calcium battery in black plastic) but the brightly coloured ones always look odd when the bonnet is lifted.

Maybe we need to put together a list of where to find some of these items i.e. suppliers for rubber cased batteries, crossply tyres (there have been some discussions on here in the past), 'old fashioned' copper cored HT lead (in black of course) etc. etc.
Another forum I use (nothing to do with Land Rovers) has a section where they list bearing numbers, suppliers etc. etc. This has proved very useful keeping the wife's car on the road.


Colin

Fix up the holden motor(or put in a 186 if that fit) and also change the brakes to disks, then you can have a landie that goes AND stops!:D
Seriously most holden swaps where done for reliability and to adapt the landie to Aussie conditions. If you want a full resto. car do that but if you want an original looking landie but a bit more fun to drive + safer add a few things like better brakes, springs, shocks,a better radiator, stronger driveshafts and if it's got the low gearing try and get an overdrive with better tyres/wheels and keep the original tye wheel combo in case you change your mind or sell it to someone who wants to restore.

I guess it all comes down to usage.
Is it gonna sit on the garage and only come out occasionally to show off? Or it going to be used...the way a Landy should?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Hartley

I think you need to imagine the Land Rover is restored. How will you feel when you open the bonnet and see a Holden in there? What do you think when you see Holdens in other people's Land Rovers?

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Australian ingenuity.
It's an Australian Land Rover, restore it as one. What's more common in an Aussie Landy, Holden, or Landy donk?
Do you have a corgie, or a catle dog? Were you born here of English decent? Do you continue with Brittish traditions or Aussie?
I see an Aussie Landrover how they should've been made. Wish Holden had made a deisel that was used.
I say put an electric motor in it, get it ready for the next stage of Aussie ingenuity;)
That's what I'm going to do when time/cash permits(and hopefully batteries get better).
Does my arse look big in this flame suit?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by gromit

<snip>
Maybe we need to put together a list of where to find some of these items i.e. suppliers for rubber cased batteries, crossply tyres (there have been some discussions on here in the past), 'old fashioned' copper cored HT lead (in black of course) etc. etc.
<snip>
Colin

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There used to be a thread like that one! :confused:

If anyone can find it, (re-activate it or PM me the link) then I'll stick it and it will always be in the group at the top of the list.

Diana
Moderator S1 section