Oz engines

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Shannow

Shannow

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Mentioned in a NASCAR thread, there were a bunch of Oz built and designed (?) engines for the Big 3.

We had stuff like Slant 6s, Windsors (260, 289, 302,351), Cleveland (302, 351...the last of the Oz 351s were bought by De-Tomaso), 400M, 318, 360, SBC in 307, 327, and 350 in the Monaros, FEs in the Galaxies and Fairlanes.

But there was a lot of home grown stuff

edit...later, L67s, LS1, etc. became the norms, but not advertised as such for obvious reason.
 
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Holden Grey, 1948 to ummm.

Holden Introduced the 1948/215, often called the "FX" Holden in 1948.

Just under a tonne, seated 5, did the legal speed limit, and got 30MPG (IMP).

Engine was the Holden Grey, also known as the Sideplate 6.

4 main bearings, and available in 132.5c.i., and later 138 c.i.
holden_grey_6_cylinder.jpg


http://www.uniquecarsandparts.com.au/holden_grey_motor.htm

Heaps of aftermarket parts in the day.
 
Holden Red came next...as it got older, it became blue, and black with emissions and regs.

7 mains, 3" and 3.25" stroke, 5.25" con-rods, regular and fully counterweighted cranks, initially 6 exhast port, and siamesed 3 inlets, later 12 port.

holden_hr_red_motor.jpg


http://www.uniquecarsandparts.com.au/holden_red_motor.htm

Capacities 138, 149, 161, 173, 179, 186, 202 (Chronologically 149, 179, 161, 179, 186...173 and 202 were later, and pretty well neutered with emissions)

I've had 138, 161, 186, 202, and love the 186 (3.625 bore, and 3" stroke) over them all...the longer stroke with the 202 cracks pistons and is pretty rev limited.

Ended up mid 80s with 12 port heads and fuel injection.

In the 1970s, Holden had the GTR and GTR XU-1 Toranas, with heavily worked 186 and 202s, with some prodigious horses.

http://holden.itgo.com/gtrxu1.html

This one's a 186 in an LC Torana XU-1

GTR_XU1_Engine.jpg


My best was a 186, Big valve/port head, 23/60 60/23 cam, and triple 1-3/4" S.U. carbies,got my less than 1 tonne car to 135MPH, and leaning off would get 25MPG US on a trip...if the needle valves didn't stick and pour fuel over the exhaust.

They did an Iron Duke on it at one stage, lost a few cylinders, made a very shakey 1.9, but gave us a great source of tough conrods (Starfire 4, with Varajet carb).

edit, they can be built to 235+ c.i. with a Ford 221 crank, machined, and with the back end machined off and a Holden steel crank end welded on.
 
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Holden V-8s.

As per the other thread, they made #1 forward on the right bank to give better steering clearance on RHD, Buick style alloy front cover with water pump and jackets to the block, Mopar style oil pump mounted to the block, driving off the front cam gear, and rear mounted dizzy.

000_0886.preview.jpg


253 c.i. and 308.

253 had a Stromberg 2BBL, 308 quadrajet, although later 253s got them too.

Mucked around with them for emissions and racing, dropping capacity to 304 to meet a 5 litre class restriction.

L34 engines had big valves, roller rockers etc. in the 70s, for limited production models.

Walkinshaw homologation models had even port heads, which allowed some slide throttle bodies in racing.

0053_04mg.jpg


Players can get them over 380 c.i.

They got killed off when Ford asked to use NASCAR gear in the V-8 races, and Holden asked to use Chev, as there was no Holden NASCAR stuff.

Interestingly, Ford killed their V-8 in the 80s, and Street Machine Magazine ran a "V-8s to '98" campaign, which kept Holden in the V-8 business (ford later caught back up with the 5.0 windsor).
 
Chrysler 6s.

Got the 245 and 265 hemis...only ever driven a couple.

DSCF1127.jpg


During the supercar wars down here, Chrysler sent a 265 hemi to Italy, and Weber sorted it out (including driving Bathurst on the dyno)...to a rated 224kW.

Everything in the day got no more than 224 kW for political reasons.

E49 Hemi (weber) 6 pack.

hemi2651.jpg
 
Ford had lots of stuff, in the GT and GT-HO Falcons.

Not hugely up to speed, but 302 and 351 Clevelands were run up to the early 80s. pretty sure that they were open chamber, with a combination of 2V and 4V porting.

My highschool History teacher drove one of the "last of the V-8s", an XE Falcon 302 C-6 Wagon.
 
Ford 6s...

221, and 250, iron block, cast in head inlet manifold.

Grew into a seperate manifold 2V job, then alloy head 250, then OHC, OHC with VVT, and not sure on the current arrangement, but the same basic engine is probably older than me, with various tinkerings and upgrades.
 
I spent a lot of time in the '70's, '80's and '90's working on all those engines - probably worked on more reds (and their other colours) than any engine ever made. You forgot the Starfire....I'm sure Holden have removed all evidence that it existed anyway.

I liked the old sideplate engine (we didn't call them Greys), always ran smooth even with smoke pouring out of both the road tube and rocker cover breather. Never done more than a headgasket on one. 186 was the best 7 main (what we called reds) engine, but 149 and 161 ran sweet too, the 179 was a grenade - taxi drivers would buy a Premier to get the trim, and then put a 161 into it. The 173 and 202 became more common as time went on,but they were never as smooth running as the earlier engines. I didn't like the non-adjustable bridge rockers....and after valve work we sometimes had to grind or shim them to adjust the followers. The V8 oil pump was just basically the 6 cyl pump.

The slant 6 was nice, the Hemi not so. Same reason as the 202, running too lean for emissions (and we had nearly all the emission stuff removed for over here). On lean cruise the camshaft would float and so ign timing hunted. Very prone to headgasket failure - and the gasket set came with a recommendation to use Hylomar....good fix Chrysler. A friend of mine built a 265 Charger to do the unofficial and illegal Wellington/Auckland race, even now an 8hr drive...back in the '80's doing it in the 5hr bracket was the goal. I've seen the dyno printout for the engine - 450hp and 550 ft/lbs. I've driven it too - it came on pretty strong.

I think I've only owned one Holden - a 1971 HG with a 186. I converted it to CNG.
 
The 6 cyl Ford got worse and worse as time went on. The old 250 with cast in manifold was the best they built. The cast iron Xflow was junk,then they made an alloy head, just as bad, then they got the Japanese to give them a hand and made the Alloy Head II....not a lot better. Then the dreadful sohc, the only good thing I can say about it was it was better than the iron head Xflow. The dohc seems to be ok so far, but I don't get to work on them much these days.

I had a '79 I think XC station wagon, called the XC and a half....first with the blue oval badge. The garbage iron head Xflow was tossed and a fully reconditioned red top 250 put in. What a great car that was - found it in the shed unused for 6 months, so sold it. Also had an XC Fairmont, 302 with bonnet scoops.
 
I beg your pardon that I forgot the Starfire...they were the aforementioned source of conrods.
 
A kid I worked with many years ago had a '74 Gran Torino.

His dad was a local mechanic and built an "Australian 4bbl Cleveland" for it

The heads were off and that thing had HUGE valves. I've seen regular 2bbl 351 Cleveland heads and they weren't that big. He said that the Aussie block had a higher nickel content than the Ohio blocks.

When built, his Torino was pretty darn quick. Certainly made quick work of another co-worker's '73 Mustang Grande 351
 
Originally Posted By: Shannow
Chrysler 6s.

Got the 245 and 265 hemis...only ever driven a couple.


That was going to be my offering of the OZ-designed engine that I have always heard the most about. According to Bill Weertman's "Chrysler Engines" book, it had some roots in North America and was occasionally considered for production instead of the Slant-6, but most of what made it great was done by Chrysler's Australian operations.

I've never driven one, but reading about it made an impression on me even back then. I remember seeing this picture (much less faded!) back in "the day" and drooling. without the fade, its obvious that the header is glowing BRIGHT orange:

charger5.jpg
 
Heard from a bloke in the know that they're abandoning IC engine development, as they reckon electric and hybrids are 6-10 years away.
 
Originally Posted By: Shannow
I beg your pardon that I forgot the Starfire...they were the aforementioned source of conrods


Oops, sorry. I saw XU1 and switched off. I go to a car show and somethings just make me turn 90 degrees and walk away - 24 Mustangs in a row...Oh, come ON!!! GTHO Falcons....Poms call them anoraks. Blue VL Commodores with a Brock signature... none the real thing,sad,just sad. Lime green Torana SLR5000's... walk on by. But I love an XU1...even a pretend one. I knew a guy who said he got 140mph on an Auckland motorway...I believed him, well I wanted to anyway.
 
Yeah, I always end up stuck drooling over the LCs and LJs...when I was 13, our Italian teacher, Mr Lombardi had a metallic pink LC GT-R, that made him a legend...although knocking off the art teacher in a Catholic School was pretty impressive too.

My second car was probably my favourite ever.

lj.jpg


Had the GT-R interior option, and I messed with it a bit (lot)

It would go past the 125MPH on the speedo, by about what looked like a solid 10mph, and be at nearly 6 grand, so speedo probably wasn't linear up there.

In 1993, I got hold of an LJ XU-1, and it was a real let down after by 4 door (big tank was good), as the 202 seemed all 202 rough, and made flogging it feel scary.

Pity I didn't keep the XU-1 in hindsight, I flogged it for 5 grand...then I should have kept a lot of teh cars I enjoyed.
 
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