Plugger and The Camel

G'day Tricky,
yes there were two Holden conversion kits sold commercially that I have come across, but given the amount of conversions done I am sure there would have been plenty of others about as well. Then there would also have been plenty that were either made up at home, or made by the local mechanic etc..
The two I have are the Johnson kit which has a cast iron adaptor plate and then the Dellow kit which has a cast aluminium adaptor plate and utilises the heavier Land Rover flywheel, by redrilling it to bolt up to the Holden engine with an adaptor/spacer, and also uses the Land Rover starter motor.
The conversion engine mounts for a Land Rover that had a four cylinder engine are fabricated from 8mm plate, while the ones for a Land Rover six conversion were cast iron, but I have seen fabricated examples of them too.

If your engine mounts look much like these here on the right, and the adaptor plate is cast iron, it's possible you may have a Johnson kit.

Diana, Lotzalandies on here, would have a lot more knowledge on what commercial conversions were available back in the day.

Cheers, Mick.

Top Show Mick!!!

Those sure look like the engine mounts on Camel, see below:

Attachment 135690

And this is the bellhousing adapter:
Attachment 135691

Johnson kit you think??

Cheers,
Tricky

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Archangel007

Top Show Mick!!!

Those sure look like the engine mounts on Camel, see below:

Attachment 135690

And this is the bellhousing adapter:
Attachment 135691

Johnson kit you think??

Cheers,
Tricky

---

Interesting adaptor plate Tricky, it appears to be a cast (iron I assume) one, but I haven't seen one with those webbed reinforcements on it, yet the actual engine mounts are almost identical to the ones I have, so possibly a Johnson kit. Can you throw up a few pics of the adaptor kit flywheel? Is it a steel one or cast iron, and does it have six tapped holes in it to take a Land Rover clutch? Some also have a smaller centre hole (1.125") to accept the spigot bush, as opposed to fitting the spigot bush in the end of the crankshaft.

You obviously don't have dust (Mallee Snow) like we do here, if you can leave that motor sitting on the engine stand without the rocker cover on and the ports taped over. ;)

Cheers, Mick.

Hi Mick,

No malee dust here but we don't ever leave engines open like that either. I think that was a snapshot taken when I was halfway through painting the rocker cover! You will notice the dust-free sterile clean-room that it is being recondtioned in...(not)! [biggrin]

And yes, the adapter plate is a cast iron jobby - to quite high standards too. Very few casting marks or parting lines!

The flywheel: TBH I don't have a photo of the flywheel or the clutch but as I recall it was definitely a steel one and I am sure it had more that six bolts holding the pressure plate on - more like twelve and I do believe that the spigot bearing was in the flywheel, not the crank!!

Thoughts??

Cheers,
Tricky

Tricky,
If you don't reckon that shed is sterile, well you wouldn't want to see inside mine, it's a bit like the inside of my head,
stuff everywhere. ;) That is the thing when you play with old cars, you need a lot of "stuff" around.
Anyway if it's a steel flywheel it will probably be about 281mm diameter, weigh about 11.5kg, and be a few mm thinner
than a stock Holden flywheel. Stock red flywheel weighs 11kg, so the extra 0.5kg will boost the old girls inertia a touch.
Toss a few pics of the flywheel up if you think of it.

It might look like the one below.


Cheers, Mick.

Tricky,

Any updates?

Trickey,
this is a Land Rover 2.25 flywheel that has been drilled to bolt up to a Holden crank.
It still has the Land Rover ring gear as the conversion it came out of utilised the
Land Rover starter motor, however it would be easy enough to machine it to take a
Holden ring gear.

Cheers, Mick.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by mick88

Trickey,
this is a Land Rover 2.25 flywheel that has been drilled to bolt up to a Holden crank.
It still has the Land Rover ring gear as the conversion it came out of utilised the
Land Rover starter motor, however it would be easy enough to machine it to take a
Holden ring gear.

Cheers, Mick.

---

That doesn't look like the one we installed back into the Camel Mick....

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by OneOff

Tricky,

Any updates?

---

Yes I do mate....

The workshop has been packed up and all our machines and gear shifted up to Hervey Bay and into temporary storage.
Until the new shed/workshop gets built work on The Camel will have to be suspended until then.
We just don't have the room or facility to undertake any works on the Camel in the rental we are in.

So, this weekend just gone we transported him up to Hervey Bay and put him to sleep in the backyard next to the shed, waiting for the day he will awake from his slumber to complete the metamorphosis!

Here he is on the trailer ready for the big drive north..

Attachment 139245

Attachment 139246

And here is Plugger putting him to bed until that time whereby we can complete the build....
Attachment 139247

That's about it for now, might be a few months until something happens.

Cheers and thanks,
Tricky and Plugger

P.S. As an aside, Plugger has been doing really well with his footy scholarship making the Wide Bay Regional team and will be off to the State Championships in May in an attempt to make the State team - wish him luck!!

C'mon Tricky, get your finger out!!!

I need an update...