Thread: 2.6 Engine Improvements

Originally Posted by Lionelgee

Hello Diana,

Thank you for the information about the Weslake manifold. When people talk about the putting in an engine with a Westlake head are they referring to swapping out the whole 2.6 litre motor and bolting up the complete 3.0 litre motor? I thought they were writing about just swapping the head over?

Could the issue of the placement of the carburettor and the positioning of the steering box in RHD vehicles be circumvented by installing a EFI system? Bacicat started a thread about this a while ago. The leg work begins. Plus, I think there is a more detailed thread about Toyota (?) alternatives of EFI system and somehow tricking the electronics to replicate itself so it fired six times instead of four times for its original design for a four cylinder motor. With an EFI system the delivery pump and the location of the air cleaner could be positioned away from the steering box.

The difference in water pump impeller could be alleviated by using an electric water pump.

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Kind Regards
Lionel

Hi Lionel

The head bolts match up between the standard Land Rover 2.6 and the 3.0 car engine, it is just that the Land Rover water pump has an adapter plate behind it that moves the pump forward by about 10mm. It may be possible to adapt the bypass hose on the Weslake head to fit the LR pump or modify the head to mate the LR pump for that matter.

Scouse had a SIII Army with a 3 litre Weslake head engine but had a special adapter fitting to connect the air cleaner hose, it would have significantly impeded air flow and still there was only a few mm between the steering lever and the adaptor. So it is possible but not elegant and has reduced efficiency.

Yes using a throttle body and EFI system could work as would modifying the carby position or type on the Westlake head. I had thought about putting a 70 to 90 degree bend on the head (pointing forward) and fitting the carby at the end which would almost line up with the air cleaner hose.

Hi Andy

The Rover 3 litre rover car engine block is basically the same as the Land Rover 2.6 at least the last 2 versions of the 3 litre. The Land Rover has a different water pump and the head is different to accommodate the pump. The 3 litre crankshafts have a longer stroke and are 8 bolt instead of 6 on the Landy. The shape of the 3 litre and 2.6 pistons are slightly different although the same bore size swapping pistons will change the compression ratios, making the Landy even lower compression than it already is,

The Land Rover RHD and Mk1 P5 3 litre have an inlet manifold integral with the head. The Mk2 and Mk3 have a detachable inlet manifold (Weslake head) but the carby and steering box on the Landy are incredibly close making the air plenum difficult. Remember you can't use the Land Rover water pump on a Weslake head, meaning Australian conditions may be too much for the capacity of the 3 litre cooling system.

If your mate is talking twin carbies he's likely talking about one of the P4 engines and not the P5 3 litre.

Clear as mud?

Diana