Thread: holden conversion seems sick....help required.

I had a holden once with a broken engine mount that jumped around at low revs - use a crowbar to find out.

Yep sounds like broken engine or gearbox mount. Slowly jacking up engine or gearbox should show this.
CraigE

ok, thanks guys. I'll give that a go.

cheers

Jimmy

Once you determine if it is the engine mounts (and check the gearbox mounts as well) you should take the carburettor to a carburettor specialist to check if it is from a manual or automatic transmission vehicle originally. The 186 cid motor had a 1 and 5/32" carburettor rather than a 1 and 7/32" carburettor that came from a 202 /3300 and most of these are for automatic transmission vehicles.
The cast iron base is different in that the take-off for the distributor vacuum advance is different between a manual and an automatic installation - either above or below the butterfly. I can't remember which is which at the moment but I am sure one of the posters here will.
When an automatic carburettor is fitted in a manual vehicle the move from idle to increased revs is sudden and not a smooth transition. On a hill or towing it's a flat spot, likely to cause a snatchy start and is why many people knock Holden conversions.
You can have the base replaced or modified to the correct position of the vacuum take-off making it smoother on starting off and with the correct carburettor more economical. You can even fit an adjustable main jet - talk to the carby man.
Bob

Once you determine if it is the engine mounts (and check the gearbox mounts as well) you should take the carburettor to a carburettor specialist to check if it is from a manual or automatic transmission vehicle originally. The 186 cid motor had a 1 and 5/32" carburettor rather than a 1 and 7/32" carburettor that came from a 202 /3300 and most of these are for automatic transmission vehicles.
The cast iron base is different in that the take-off for the distributor vacuum advance is different between a manual and an automatic installation - either above or below the butterfly. I can't remember which is which at the moment but I am sure one of the posters here will.
When an automatic carburettor is fitted in a manual vehicle the move from idle to increased revs is sudden and not a smooth transition. On a hill or towing it's a flat spot, likely to cause a snatchy start and is why many people knock Holden conversions.
You can have the base replaced or modified to the correct position of the vacuum take-off making it smoother on starting off and with the correct carburettor more economical. You can even fit an adjustable main jet - talk to the carby man.
Bob

Hi guys,

I jacked up the engine and gearbox but the mounts seemed ok. The rubber was a little perished but intact. Could it be something else??

I'll certainly check the carby status. It would be nice to get the system running smooth and efficiently (as much as is possible with a landrover/holden hybrid).

thanks again for the help so far

Jim

If not engine or gearbox mounts and being an old holden I would say carby or timing/dizzy. The problem is most new generation mechanics would not know about carby's and points. Most need an ecu to talk to these days and diagnosis tools. Gone are the days of tuning by ear, which is a shame as I knew a couple that could tune better by ear than a dyno.