My old Series 1 engine is getting tired.

[auf_wiedersehen_pet]

My old Series 1 engine is getting tired - I'm not an expert, it's just my gut feeling.



It is an original 2.0 (1955) with an unknown mileage and there are no signs of a rebuild.

What should I do/fit?

It will only ever be a summer car - no roof, no doors - just a bit of fun.

[S188]

If the vehicle is otherwise original I'd be inclined to keep it that way, when they are running right they are still great things.

If its got vereous minor mods then I'd stick something slightly newer in, probubly 2.25 or sherpa in, prima isn't a bad idea eather but a bit revvy for my likeing - not so good for gental summer crusing down back lanes on near tickover like you can with the original.  Any of them will fit without much if an chopping around required so its not that perminant.  Just watch the front pully on the axle caseing, a bit tight on 86" but fine with good front spings/bumpstops.

[Henry Webster]

I'm quite liking the look of the 200 tdi conversion that has featured in LRW the last two months.  Cheap Disco TDis are plentiful!

[bogie]

G day mate,ur have 2 bin the series 1 gear box.It wil b a tight squeeze for the lump.Best use a series rad as its slimmer.With the box use a 2a as they are stronger. Ive gone through 6 series 3 boxes in two n half years with my 200.

[Chris Putt]

The prima engine is great, one of my pals has a series 3 with one in which I have been in/driven a few times. In response to it being 'revvy' I would say that in character its fairly similar to a series 1 petrol, only more powerful and torquey.

Another friend is getting the parts together to put a prima in his series 1 mule, it seems that a conversion plate, mounted to a series 2/2a box is the one to go for, but he was saying that he needs to move some mounts, having not seen the vehicle and the engine box side by side I couldn't comment.

Look for a montego prima turbo, and then try and find a NA sherpa one that is [!Expletive Deleted!] so you can get the sump off it as some of the sherpa ones have baffles and they are a sod to get hold of. If not, and you are planning to use it offroad, welding in some baffles is a good idea as they can starve themselves of oil on slopes. A couple of other things we learned doing the conversion on a series 3......

Loose the oil bath filter- it gets in the way and is rubbish anyway- A Daihatsu poortrack 2.8td filter unit is ideal, and has the right size connections. There is no bottom area to the timing cover, leaving it very exposed to water/gravel ingress (having said that steves on has been in a lot of water and is ok?!). Try and find some nice flexible engine/box mounts because the engine does vibrate a lot on its mounts, being so light.

 The prima is very compact and surprisingly light, so is probably better suited to a series 1 anyway IMHO.

[James.Harwood]

Stick with the correct engine for the car, don't butcher a series 1 in such good condition to fit a non standard engine! 

Keep it original (will let you off with the wheels).

[Chris Putt]

^^ In response to this, Man up, Fit a V8.^^

And a Cage.

[auf_wiedersehen_pet]

Many thanks for all of the suggestions. I'm going to put it through the MOT in March and see what the outcome is - I'll also have a bit more cash by then!

[Saffy]

If the engine turns out to be a no hoper then fit anything to keep running and more comfortable for your use. Do not worry about it not having original engine type as there are plenty of mint spec S1's out there for historic representation so you won't be committing some major crime against landroverdom anymore than the white modular rims you got on it do.

[auf_wiedersehen_pet]

If the engine turns out to be a no hoper then fit anything to keep running and more comfortable for your use. Do not worry about it not having original engine type as there are plenty of mint spec S1's out there for historic representation so you won't be committing some major crime against landroverdom anymore than the white modular rims you got on it do.

True. The one thing it will never be is original. The rims are actually silver - they always photograph like they are white!

[Les Henson]

Mot inspection on a S1 of that age will be very limited. Emissions will be 'sight only', so unless it's belching out smoke it will pass.


Les.

[S188]

In response to it being 'revvy' I would say that in character its fairly similar to a series 1 petrol, only more powerful and torquey.

Thats funny, all the 2.0 IOE petrols I've driven (and I own one) pull quite strongly from very low revs (I'm not saying it goes like a TDI but right at the bottem its probubly better than a 2.25p, though that aswell it ultimately more powerful once it gets going (can't really match the fuel economy though!)), they develop peak torque well below 2k rpm so a good one is very happy at low speeds.  No point reving them, they aren't built for it.  Its a very old long stroke small bore design, not oversquare.

As said to fail MOT you'll need to be produicing clouds of blue smoke.  Your more likely to call it a day for the engine if your fed up with the oil consumption or diminishing power, though tipical rover engines they tend to get less and less powerful rather than break.

[auf_wiedersehen_pet]

As said to fail MOT you'll need to be produicing clouds of blue smoke.  Your more likely to call it a day for the engine if your fed up with the oil consumption or diminishing power, though tipical rover engines they tend to get less and less powerful rather than break.

It kicks out a lot of black smoke on startup, runs roughly for a while then settles to no smoke.

Oil consumption - difficult to gauge as it does maybe 500 miles a year. Never needs to be topped up.

Power seems okay - again difficult to gauge as I have only ever driven one Series 1. It's a PITA to keep in tune, often pinking. Quite rattley!

You guys are going to say they are all like that aren't you!  :oops: :oops: :oops:

[S188]

Blowing exhaust, air leaks around the carb, poor HT leads/plugs/points/dizzy, week fuel pump.  All of them can rob power and make it run stroppy.  We eventully got through all of that on ours to get it running nice.  As the compression ratio is so low they tororate alot but do go nicer if you get them right, I set my ignition timeing to the book and it runs nice but I often wonder if I should try something else as the 95 octane fuel I run it on is quite alot better than it was built/designed/expected to use, guess that could extract a bit more go but I don't think its high enough CR to care really.

It does black smoke when accelerated on choke, which I think probubly is normal.  Not an MOT issue of course as you should never atempt emissions enspections unless and engine is up to temp without choke, regardless of if it requires a gas analiser or not.  If it doesn't get used alot that can cause a bit more soot, like any other engine.  When its up to temp use the full throttle travel once in a while to blast it out - I think alot are treated too jently in their retirement, people seem to forget how tough S1's really are, they can take it!

I suspect ours is down to around 40Bhp, as unladen I've been cought up climbing hills by a fully laden 80".  That vehicle had had a full engine rebuild a few years ago including a brand new camshaft so had alot less than 50 years ware on it.  Mine doesn't have the full compression readings but its balanced in all pots so does for an aged engine.  Thats perhaps where the "they are all a bit like that" factor comes in but they should still run nicely and smooth, no coughing/spluttering/pinking.  Its game over when the exhaust valve seats go (usally through poor ajustment rather than ware) or the bores get too worn as it'll need to come out for a full rebuilt - have a chat with "Cox & turner", they still do all the parts and will hapilly chat for hours how to set them up right, he'll probubly know whats caused by poor ajustment and whats ware.

Its definately hard to guage whats good and whats not if you only drive one vehicle.  When I bought my second we realised the first wasn't as good as we thought and did quite a bit to it to get them simular (luckally the second is a good bench mark).  Same story with the 80 above, I got to have a go in that and it did make me feal a bit disapointed driving mine afterwards, but an exhaust gasget was blowing a bit at the time and that made a massive difference!

[Chris Putt]

I don't think the 2.0l petrol in a series 1 is as powerful as the prima unit....... They don't have 80hp/114lbft torque?- bearing in mind the 2.5 petrol only has 85hp?
Having driven both, and a V8, Id have the prima. Just tweeked the one in my mates series and its excellent.

[Rich_P]

The longer stroke engines have more torque than raw power.  The 2.25 petrol has 77 or 82 horsepower depending on compression, and 120 lb/ft worth of torque.  If I remember rightly, the 2.5 petrol has a fair bit more torque over the 2.25