Thread: SWB Holden conversion Help

Where do I start?
The main answer is NO.
A holden conversion is really quite permanent in a 4cly.
Firstly, the 6cyl rovers had the gearbox mounted further back and had different firewall to suit. The only way to convert a 4cyl to a holden and not stuff around with hacking the front cross member and moving the radiator is to move the gear box back and to change or mod the 4cyl fire wall.
You will also have to convert the front brakes to the larger 11" drums to allow decent braking and to get an engineering ticket.
If you wish to have the rover engine for the long run, I would advise to not do the conversion and save yourself massive hours of work and strife. Maybe find a reasonable 4cly as an interim.

Originally Posted by custommade

Hey guys about to start a holden 186 conversion. Yeah I know but its my only option for the moment, a 2.25 will go back in eventually so I have a 2A ute you may have seen it on ebay 186 rebuilt high ratio transfer case conversion and has toyota diffs. I want to swap all this stuff into my SWB 2A I'm a shortie man.

So my question

Will the holden engine fit in my swb with the 4cyl firewall without moving the radiator forward or moding the firewall.

I was hoping it would be a straight swap of all the running gear but the ute looks like it has a different firewall I'm assuming a 6cyl dont realy want to swap the firewall as well pain in the arse and the holden swap is not meant to be permanent I want to put the 2.25 in when its fresh.

any help would be appreciated

Cheers

Luke

So if I use the firewall from the ute the 6cyl one, would I have to hack things up, will the gearbox mount up to the original mounts? Also i am going to use the toyota diffs so that will fix the 11" drum issue.

The 6 cyl chassis had the engine mounts in a different place and possibly the gearbox mounts too, so you would need to either cut and reposition the mounts or fabricate new brackets. You would also need to shorten your rear tail shaft and lengthen your front one, the rear is already very short so the angles will cause stress on the unis.

If you cut the front cross member, or install the one from the donor vehicle and keep your SWB one they can be reinstalled later, there are threads on here where people have replaced Holdens with 4 cylinders and put a standard front cross member back in. It's probably easier than changing a firewall and engine mounts. I once had a LWB with a 4 cyl chassis and a six cyl firewall and nothing looked right or fitted well.

Jeff

Originally Posted by Jeff

The 6 cyl chassis had the engine mounts in a different place and possibly the gearbox mounts too, so you would need to either cut and reposition the mounts or fabricate new brackets. .....<snip>

Back in the 1970's many kits - particularly the Roy Sim kit came with only the templates for the engine brackets. You cut out and drilled the plates, fitted them to the engine and onto the top of the rubber mount then with the engine in position tacked them together. So this process can be repeated where ever you want to position the engine.

If you push the engine back in the engine bay you may have problems with the back of the rocket cover hitting the firewall.

If you don't want to cut the front crossmember, it is possible to fit the engine in behind the original radiator if you don't fit the engine fan. If you do this you have to fit an electric pusher fan in front of the radiator. You can have switched on with the ignition, or with/or without a thermatic switch in the cooling system.

Thanks guys think il just have to look for a 4cyl and just steal all of the running gear that i want out of the ute