Thread: Holden Red Conversion

It's not that hard to do, but there are a few things to take into consideration. If you are going to get rego on it at any stage, then do your homework first. If it is only ever going to be used on the farm, then no probs and get cracking.

With a 4 cylinder, you will need to cut a section out of the front crossmember to get it to fit, and weld in a bit of angle iron to replace the cut out bit. If you need to get it registered, then you will also need to strengthen the crossmember with some box section on the front.

The engine driven fan may give you clearance issues, but I just stuck a thermo fan in front of the rad to fix that.

Everything else is fairly straight forward. Don't forget to check the alignment of the engine to the gearbox properly or you could chew your box out in no time. There is a sticky thread on this at the top of this forum - BEFORE FITTING A HOLDEN ENGINE CHECK ALIGMENT FIRST

Cheers - Gav.

Well I think I'll set about buying the things I'll need and get going, I've only got a very small budget to work with but I should get away for under $180 or maybe $200. But thats very cheap in conversion terms. If I can use the Landy flywheel it'll be even better I'd say just that bit more torque lower in the rev range. Is this conversion pretty easy to take on within a week or does it require a bit more.

I did mine during a ground up resto of a IIa many years ago, so it was more than a week...

You should be able to bung it in without issues in that time. Just remember that everything will need modding - wiring, hoses, throttle, etc and these can take time, but there is nothing hard about it all.

Keep us posted and post some pics along the way to help others out.

Cheers - Gav.

When I do eventually do it, there will be many pics and updates. It's too much to take on right now cause of the 100" but when I've got most of that sorted it's on the to do list.

I've found a way of saving a bit of money, I've got a line up on a 202 that I can have for free, but she needs some work. No.1 cylinder had a lot of oil fouling on the spark plug so theres work to be done to it. The bloke who owns it said he wants to do a clean up and thats in the way. It was running when it was pulled out of the car but a bit rough. He said if I want it he might source a rebuild kit for me so thats even better.

I'm still considering the Holden Red conversion but the 202 will probably cost too much to repair, I'm wondering which would suit best a 186 or 202. As I've said the vehicle is an unregistered bush basher and I use it for general farm work, playing around off road and hunting (chasing foxes so a bit of grunt is required) so which engine would suit and does anyone in WA (Albany Area) have the conversion kit they're willing to part with?

If you end up with a choice between a 186 and a 202, go for the 186 - it is better suited to the series vehicle, and IMO was a better and smoother engine than the 202.

I've had both and much preferred the 186. 186 was in a series 2 and 202 was in a series 3. Found that the 186 was better in low range off road, but the 202 was a bit better getting up to speed on the highway(had it up to 130 once, quite scary, never did it again).

Also had a 186 in a HQ many years ago and found it to be a good, free revving motor, but they don't like really high constant revs.