Thread: What engine is this & what might be the issue?

Grey motor 130-138.
canadian grey castings can be a little bigger.

red go from 130-202.

might be the photo but it might be a crimson EH engine.

ID are cast on the block near the fuel pump but the engine number will tell you what it came from.

Hi All

The cast number showing the cubic inches, for the red motors is on the opposite side of the motor to the fuel pump and in about the same position, back from the front of the motor.
For the later blue and then the black motors, the cast number is in the same position but it was changed to show the capacity in cubic centimetres.

The only exception to this, AFAIR, is the high performance 179 red motor, it had HP displayed instead of a number.

I have had some time to study the photo and it is a red motor with the glass bowl on top of an earlier style fuel pump.
The inlet manifold has me a bit, as it is the same as on the later motors, the inlet manifolds didn't have a water heated jacket.

This motor also has positive crankcase ventilation, with the crankcase fumes directed via the PCV valve back into the throttle body and this is done to burn off any oil fumes, by feeding them into back the inlet manifold.

My guess it is a 161 cubic inch, 6 cylinder motor, that is the smaller motor of the pair of the sizes used at the time, the larger size was the 186.
So we will see when the engine number is given.

Cheers Arthur

Originally Posted by langy

Holden 161 or 179 engine. Should also be known as a 'grey motor'. EH ?

As with all old engines: plug gap, points, vacuum leaks, fuel leaks.

Difinately a red motor the grey motors had a larger more rounded rocker cover And stopped production with the EJ models in 1963 64, EH was the first of the red motors. Castings on the exhaust side of the block tell you the cubic inches and If you look at the engine number you can define cast crank or steel crank ie 186sxxxxxxxxxx also 179hp were at the time a high performance engine available in the EH s4 if you can tell me the engine number I can find out as much as my Holden library will tell me. The bad running could be a cracked or worn dizzy cap rotor button or points. Holden engines love correct timing And will run like a dream for months unchecked dizzy advance is generally at 6 to 8 degrees advanced. Pm me if you would like to know why to do to make it sing i can rebuild one of these blind folded

Originally Posted by jdobson

It's not running very well at the moment, fine when accelerating but when pulling away it's down on power and possibly misfiring. Will clean the plugs soon---- . Cheers Jack

Hello Jack

If the plugs are suspect, then it would be better to replace them altogether. Then the points are also something you should be replacing at the same time.

By renewing the most probable causes of problems first, makes the job of fault finding, much less of a hit or miss affair.

Another tip I can give you is, at night when its dark ,have the motor running and lift the bonnet, if you can see sparking around the high tension path, then those parts that are arcing across, should also be renewed.

Cheers Arthur

Well going by the colour (red) and the thermostat housing (if original) I would say (like other posts) it is a 149-186 (EH-HG - adjustable tappets) as the 173-202 (non-adjuatable tappets) is an 'orange' coloured engine. Ref the 'grey' motor much earlier 48-215/FX (132 CI) to EJ (138 CI). First 'red' motor 149/179 - (EH model).

An interesting point s that in the last 6 months of production of the HG commercials (van/utes) were fitted with 202 engines whilst gearing up for the HQ - I know as I had one factory fitted by Holden and always wondered why it had a 202 in a HG!

Pronto

Originally Posted by PRONTO

An interesting point s that in the last 6 months of production of the HG commercials (van/utes) were fitted with 202 engines whilst gearing up for the HQ - I know as I had one factory fitted by Holden and always wondered why it had a 202 in a HG!

Pronto

At GM-H we made HG utes for some months after release of the car/wagon lines of the HQ. HQ utes were quite a different production task as they had a full separate chassis.

A lot of change went on within GM-H during this period. Bedford production was taken from state plants and centralised in Dandenong. Pagewood stopped assembling Torana and panel vans. Acacia Ridge assembled Torana and vans for NSW zone. Pagewood assembled Monaro, Statesman, and anything with a 350 engine for Qld. One tonners were made in Adelaide for all of Australia. Mosman Park plant in Perth was closed. Torana for Adelaide were assembled in Dandenong.

I haven't had a chance to find the engine number (had a brief look but couldn't find it but sounds like I was looking in the wrong place).





Going to dedicate this weekend to finding out what's wrong with it. I think I'll give the carb a clean, replace the filters and replace the plugs and leads.. will I be able to buy these things from somewhere like Super Cheap Auto?

Thanks for all the comments and I shall definitely provide the engine number once I've found it!

Cheers Jack

Originally Posted by jdobson

I haven't had a chance to find the engine number (had a brief look but couldn't find it but sounds like I was looking in the wrong place).





Going to dedicate this weekend to finding out what's wrong with it. I think I'll give the carb a clean, replace the filters and replace the plugs and leads.. will I be able to buy these things from somewhere like Super Cheap Auto?

Thanks for all the comments and I shall definitely provide the engine number once I've found it!

Cheers Jack

The first photo shows the engine number but I can't read it. On the machined pad next to the RH engine mount and distributor. Rub it with chalk and it will be easy to read.