Thread: A Straw Poll re Holden Conversions.

I have a 1981 S3 LWB with a Red 202. All the running gear is standard except 4th has longer legs. I've had her almost 17 years, and for the first 10 doubt I even changed the oil, (it was a weekender / bush basher that only owed me $1000). I do a lot of highway driving now and cruise at about 95, but can go over 100 easily, but hey, she's old and don't want to push my luck. I do plenty of off roading too. I've had no problems with the oil pick up or petrol flooding on inclines. It is pretty thirsty though, and noisy on the highway, mostly gearbox whine I think.

Anyway, that said, I've only had to replace the water pump ($50) in 17 years, and maybe 200,000ks. I did change to electronic ignition which helped starting and cold running. And for the last 6 or 7 years I've been splashing out on oil and filters every 10ks….

Maybe I've been lucky but my landie 202 mix is brilliant and trouble free. Although I think I did mention the petrol usage…...

I did a conversion on my s3 swb after
The original motor blew a week after I bought it. At the time I didn't want to but even with engineering it was by far the cheapest option. It was fairly straightforward, worked well, parts were cheap as chips twin su on an x2 manifold with an electric fuel pump handled things fairly well across a variety of terrains and a monster flexi fan from the local speed shop kept it all reasonably cool. It did rev higher, but keeping the speed down fixed that.

Hello,
I have read some of the claims stated, and see that there are some interesting comments, however there seems to be little to admit that there are a great many different uses that the Land Rovers are put to and this is the major factor detirmining the reliability and practicality of doing a Holden conversion.
For example if a Land Rover used is rarely driven on the open road at any speed, gearing will likely not be an issue.
But if driven at around 100 - 110 kmh then it will be!

I have experience with several conversions and all have been set up differently.
We used Land Rovers on relative flat sandy land on the farm, and also used it on the highway carting way for the pigs and for shooting and fishing trips.

My first experience was when I was a early teenager with my father's 1969 original 6cyl Holden converted series 2 A this had had a hard life at Carnarvon in West Australia used for professional roo shooting, this conversion was less than ideal and we used the 179 fitted for a while, once we overcame the caterpiller yellow paint instide the distrubitor, carbie and just about everywere except the glass.

After breaking three rear axles we removed the Holden pressure plate and fitted a Land Rover one, that helped considerably!
The gearbox conversion plate was a cast iron one and it had also cracked from rough ground. Aluminum plates are much better but dust getting into them is a problem which seems to helps break series 3 pressure plates.

One issue which should have been addressed was the low gearing, while this was not an issue in the narrow lanes in England, it was a considerable deficiency in the open Australian landscape,
Later we fitted a Fairey Overdrive which almost resolved this gearing issue, of course at that time conversion ratio diffs were expensive!

The Land Rover electric fuel pump was by passed and the Holden pump fitted after making clearance on the 6cyl engine mounting.

I also rebuild the gearbox after an inspection to investigate a bearing noise revealed it had lost all of its oil and the bronze bush had broken. That was just normal wear and tear.

After some time, at the finish the replacement reverse gear was stripped of three teeth, this was related to a couple of factors 1, the replacement being too soft, and 2 a combination of the Holden power and agressive driving by my brothers )
We also had a problem with the chassis cross member from below the bell housing, which fell out!
This was due to the stumps my brother did not drive around, and not a Holden conversion problem, we welded it back in!

We also had a problem with the coil blowing up one day, this was a conversion problem, but related with the person concerned not having enough knowlege about ignition systems and putting too much voltage through the Holden coil.
We also had a problem with engine cooling, but again this was due the the previous owners lack of knowlege about what he was doing, he had removed the thermostat, which in such a conversion causes the engine to overheat! ( in a Holden it is a different result )
In due course we fitted a complete 186 from our HK station wagon untill it wore out.
To shorten this story we ended up scrapping the old girl and getting a series 3 ute project and making one from the two.

The series 3 ute ( which was an ex APB vehicle ) was purchased from Dowerin in the WA wheat belt and it had been abused, the Holden 186K X2 engine was well past its best, being overheated by no thermostat again.
The conversion had not been completed very well and the radiator pannel had been butchered to avoid extending the bonnet.
The front chassis member had been cut out and not replaced, so another case of the conversion person being a butcher!
During the restoration I welded in a replacement cross member and fitted a replacement radiator pannel and extended the bonnet by 4".

This was a body off complete rebuild, and all of the mechanical componets were rebuilt by myself this was about 1982.
This vehicle was fitted with a 186 I totally rebuilt, with a new stock grind cam, modified head with V8 valves and ported like Yella Terra, this engine was fully balanced which made a difference too.
I did the head work too as I was working at a engine recon shop at the time.
The engine had the standard carbie and extractors I custom made from a an old worn out set.
This engine performed absolutely great for our purposes, and had plenty of torque, but may not have suited other persons uses in other conditions.

We tried refitting the original oil bath filter, but that was obviously too small in air capacity, and increased the fuel consumption considerably and soon was removed.

My Father also purchased a new series 3 in 1981 to use around the farm and for Fire fighting Officer duties, so we soon had two Land Rovers in use.
I also drove the new series 3, and the engine performance was absolutely dreadful by comparison, it used a litre of oil a week from almost new!

On the highway it took all day to wind up to any decent speed.
As soon as the 12 month warranty was over I swaped to a non polution correct size Holden carbie which stoped some of the spluttering from the engine, but it was still hopeless!

After a couple of years I fitted the 202 engine from our rusted HQ station wagon this woke it up, but understandably still was not as good as the recon 186 I had built up for the Ute Land Rover.

From then we had two series 3 Land Rovers on the farm, the biggest issues with these two Land Rovers were the brakes needing frequent overhauls due to the sandy quarts sand scoring the drums and wet winter conditions seizing the wheel cylinders.
We also had to rebuild the main gearboxes on a regular bassis due to the cluster wear on first gear and the first second synro hubs breaking the corners, but now I know that both of these were possibly due to the rough driving by my brothers rather than any conversion related issues.

In all the three Land Rovers converted to Holden we had, served us well and from working on other 4WD vehicles from my trade, it appears that no other 4WD would have performed much different GIVEN THE CONDITIONS IN WHICH WE PUT THEM T0!
Most 4WDs have their week points and many of us change our vehicles because we want a shiny new one, rather than for any practicle purpose, or financial reason!

Now I have both of these Land Rover parked on my property waiting for further refurbishments after being off the road for almost 15 years when my father finished with them.

I now have just purchased another two, a series 2a and a stage one and also have the bones of a an original 6yl converted to Holden this was not up to my standards of conversion and somehow had managed to crack the Land Rover bell housing, which is something that we never managed to do on the farm, so I don't know what they did to it!

Currently after a long spell away from Land Rovers I am starting to get a couple back on the road, and for see no real issues apart from the usual noise and uncomfortable cab issues.

I do have another spare parts conversion series 3 ( another APB one ) which again had the radiator conversion issue dealt with poorly.

There are good conversions, and bad conversions, there are good drivers and there are bad drivers ( often refered as steerers )
Everthing is relative to circumstances, what is a good vehicle for one person, can be a disater for another person if certain factors are wrong!

Mike

thats if you are prepared to drive a Holden....

s3 landy 109, 202 with cam and carby and exhaust mods is great all round other than the fact that the original gearing is useless!! Fix that and your set!

Originally Posted by creature

s3 landy 109, 202 with cam and carby and exhaust mods is great all round other than the fact that the original gearing is useless!! Fix that and your set!

Hello Creature,

I have a 202 as well.

How would you go about "fixing" the gearing? Have you solved it by putting in a later model Land Rover box or stuck an auto in? Or have you gone over to dark side and Toyota-ed or Nissan-ed it?

Kind Regards
Lionel

Change to 3.54 diffs from Range Rovers and County's

Even better - fit a high ratio transfer case - available from Ashcorfts. Brings the hi range gearing up 30% without effecting low range.. About 300 quid plus shipping. You then just need to build it up using some bits from your existing transfer case.

But, if your not worried about your low range gearing becoming higher, the the diff centre swap is easier and cheaper.