Help with 6 cylinder military landy

Dear All

It's been a while. I have very reluctantly sold my trusty series 3 24V FFR. After 14 years I'd had it longer than my daughter! The sale was forced by a move to Perth Australia.

I'm looking at an Australian military Series 3. The big issue for me is it has a 6 cylinder engine in it. I have lived and breathed 2.25 petrol engines and have no knowledge of these.

I'm assuming it's a Landy lump and not a Holden. If its Holden I'm leaving it.
F
I read a few old posts which indicated the 6 pots run smooth (expected) and have some more grunt at low speed, a bit more thirsty but how much?

What carburettor?

What do I need to look for?

I'm familiar with running gear and rust spots. Apart from being driven on the beach rust is not a particular problem.

It's a 1978 series 3. Is this likely to be made from poor steel common in the 70's? My old truck was 1980 and had a good chassis on it.

Any help greatly appreciated.

Regards

Rupert

The rover 2.6 litre straight six is an inlet over exhaust so never going to be massively efficient, mine does 15-18 mpg but I know it's been looked after by previous owners and I drive it like a granny, I've seen others quote anywhere between <12 mpg (quite possible) and 25 mpg (not a chance unless the last 10 miles were downhill). It has an aluminium head, either standard or a Westlake head for performance, which if the engine is not kept in tune will overheat the head and it will warp, make sure the engines seen some attention from previous owners. Also, with it being an aluminium head getting spark plugs cross threaded is quite easy. The engine came in 2 compression ratios, from memory they're 7:1 and 8:1, the higher CR was standard for the UK market but I don't know about Oz. The standard carb is the Zenith Stromberg 175 CD2s.

Hope that helps.

Thanks.

No service history and not owned by enthusiasts either so it's anyone's guess.

It seemed sluggish when I drove it.

i had a 2.6 6 cylinder and i loved the noise it made but god it loved to drink and its not all that much better than a 2.25 in fact i prefer a 2.25 so make sure its ok before hand and metal quality from the factory in 1978 really wont make the slightest bit of difference now it depends if its had good owners as the tin worm is not fussed on quality on a 35 year old chassis just look with your eyes not your heart and if the engine is that bad TDI

If its got a holden run a mile , the only decent Aussie engine to fit is a Chrysler Hemi . The holden they originally used were a smaller capacity with a shorter stroke and would rev well for long while , as the bigger capacity engines were developed they dont take the low gearing of the landy and quite often throw No 3 rod thru the block .
The holden has a pressed tin rocker cover the rover has a ali cover , and looks very different . The rover six is a nice torquey engine max at 1500 rpm , better figures than a 300tdi . It needs regular maintenance , or will burn ex valves , the dizzy drive also drives the oil pump from cam by a bronze skew gear, if the oil hasnt been changed regular , it tends to wear concave , until;l it suddnely strips and stops the engine .
The stromberg tends to get thru the rubber diaphragms in OZ , some earlier ones had a su carb . The rad needs to be in good nick as they generate quite a lot of heat , and it can get quite warm over there! I had a couple of FC one had a rover six the other I put a 4ltr hemi in , plenty of grunt , but a salisbury copes oK if you are sensible with it . HTSH

ps the series are a bit limited for use in OZ as it gets bloody hot , and the distances involved on trips , most are used for dragging a boat out to beach and back etc .

what bit of Perth you living ?

for best information if it's not a Rover engine i suggest you join the AUstralian Land Rover Owners forum (AULRO)

there's a lot of them out there running Holden engines along with many other engines, many folks will have opinions and ideas of the best configured Series Land Rover but at the end of the day it will be your choice (there are several Holden engines that have been fitted) remember that they have strange registration laws out there that most of us poms won't know about so if it has got a conversion you need to know if it's been through it's engineering inspection and got it's WOF (warrant of fitness) or you might have a headache/expense getting that side of things sorted, if it hasn't been registered in some time that may also pose problems

any Series Land Rover needs looking at with your head, a hammer and a screwdriver, be prepared to crawl under it looking for rot as well as looking at the upper areas

i really would recommend signing up to the AULRO to help with these matters, i believe the legalities of getting even a standard Series back on the road vary from state to state out there which could turn buying something that could almost just be driven to the mot station here into a fair sized headache/project

i've nothing really useful to add regarding the sixpot rover engine as i've never owned one, i do like the sound of them though

steamcoaster said:

Dear All

It's been a while. I have very reluctantly sold my trusty series 3 24V FFR. After 14 years I'd had it longer than my daughter! The sale was forced by a move to Perth Australia.

I'm looking at an Australian military Series 3. The big issue for me is it has a 6 cylinder engine in it. I have lived and breathed 2.25 petrol engines and have no knowledge of these.

I'm assuming it's a Landy lump and not a Holden. If its Holden I'm leaving it.
F
I read a few old posts which indicated the 6 pots run smooth (expected) and have some more grunt at low speed, a bit more thirsty but how much?

What carburettor?

What do I need to look for?

I'm familiar with running gear and rust spots. Apart from being driven on the beach rust is not a particular problem.

It's a 1978 series 3. Is this likely to be made from poor steel common in the 70's? My old truck was 1980 and had a good chassis on it.

Any help greatly appreciated.

Regards

Rupert

Click to expand...

I just a google and there is alot of stuff/info out there on them was mentioned a leyland/ford motor, possible

Hi

Thanks for the replies. It's not a Holden it's a Rover engine.

Chassis was very good. Just worried about engine.

It has a Salisbury rear axle.

As its FFR they have larger radiator and oil cooler so that should cope with the reported overheating problems.

I'll keep u posted.

They only have o/heat probs if not maintained, as do many vehicles in OZ , When you check it out look for calcification in cooling system , very common in WA as high mineral content in water . If rad is good from outside it would pay to get it "rodded out" , there are plenty of places that service rads . The rover engine is better than most holdens for reliability, if maintained properly , check all tappets, and pull the quill shaft , (remove dizzy, undo locating bolt and it comes up thru same hole, have a look at bronze gear , you might be lucky and find a nos one . there are quite a few old 6cyl lying around on farms as the farmers bought them ex mil . There was a guy near capel who was a keen landy owner , sorry forgot his name , but should not be too hard to find (small pop) "roadworthy isnt to much of a prob in WA (pay attention to emission hoses and suspension/stearing wear) ) I used to carry them out HTSH