For several years now, everytime I drive, I have the habit of looking
at garage forecourts or peoples back yards, to see what interesting vehicle
may be lurking there. This weekend I took a trip around eastern Pennsylvania,
an I saw a multitude of British cars including 2 Cortinas MKII,
3 mid 60's MGBs, a TR3, 2 early 60's Spirfires, an early GT6, a 67 Sprite,
a Fiat 600 (does not qualify but still interseting !), Austin Somerset
( I think)
> Now Land Rovers, there is my love/hate relationship, my first was a 48
> Series I. I must be swinging towards the love side as I am getting ready
> to start restoring a `67 109 this spring (I am eagerly awaiting the follow-
> up 3.5 litre V8 info).
For you information, the Ford "ESSEX" 3.0l V6 engine also fits the
Land Rover with very little modification. The bell housing adaptor kit
is readily available from England and from what I remember they were not too
expensive. In 1982, my brother and myself removed the Perkins diesel engine
in his Land Rover and fitted the Ford V6 engine with no trouble at
all. One of the exhaust manifolds had to be modfied and the I believe
the engine mounts stayed the same. These engines were fitted to a
multitude of cars include Consul, Zodiac, Granada, Zepher, Capri, TVR,
Scimitar, Stag (!!) etc so in England at least they can be picked fairly
easily. Over on this side of the "pond", the TVR is the only car that
I can think of that has that engine. The 2.8L Ford V6 as used in the
European Capri in the States, I believe can also be used (can't verify that),
and there are plenty of those here.
When we finished the conversion, it was a vast difference in the perfomance.
The horsepower went up from 55 to 140, and torque from 90 to 180 lbs/ft.
The fuel economy was slightly better, but it just made the car some much
better.
BTW, I have a friend who has a Rover 2000, sitting in his yard. It
is in fairly good condition and I know that he is willing to sell it.
For more info drop me a line.
Gerry
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