High speed for a Series?

[Grover73]

Going too Fast

We have three land rovers in our family. Two 88's and a 109. They all run stock 2.25's that have been rebuilt at one time. Both of the 61's (88" and 109") have had the speedo needle hitting the wrong side of the peg at 0mph. And that was with 29" tires and a overdrive. I had my 73 88" out on the mass pike one day and was clocked at 84 mph with 29" tires and no overdrive on the flats with no tail wind. I'm now saying these speeds are safe but a rover with a well mantianed motor will run at these speeds.

Cheers, Grover

[teechizpet]

I once got a warning ticket for doing 68 MPH in my all stock 74 Lightweight FFR. 60-65 MPH is not too difficult on the interstate.

[GrFa]

I had my 73 88" out on the mass pike one day and was clocked at 84 mph with 29" tires and no overdrive on the flats with no tail wind.

How did you manage that in a stock series? That is nearly 5300rpm. I thought 2.25s blew up around 4500-5000rpm.

[greenmeanie]

How did you manage that in a stock series? That is nearly 5300rpm. I thought 2.25s blew up around 4500-5000rpm.

He's probably running undersize tyres for one. I can't comment on the 88 but I don't think the 109 ever came with anything less than 7.5X16.

How much the speedo is over reading depends on the OEM tyre size and the speedo fitted. If he is running a speedo sized for 7.5X16 tyres but only running 29's then it could be as much as much as 10% out.

Cheers
Gregor

[Grover73]

Yes, the tires are undersize and the speedo reads fast. I was clocked by a friend in his new truck. My motor was all original lower with a 8.5:1 recon head and was nice and loose and loved to rev high. And yes they will someday blow up when reved that high. Mine took 6 years of daily driving and 4 more years of part time use like this to blow. Not bad for a motor over 40 years old (Ser II motor) and of all things it was the recon head that let go.

Cheers, Ryan

[GrFa]

Yes, the tires are undersize and the speedo reads fast. I was clocked by a friend in his new truck. My motor was all original lower with a 8.5:1 recon head and was nice and loose and loved to rev high. And yes they will someday blow up when reved that high. Mine took 6 years of daily driving and 4 more years of part time use like this to blow. Not bad for a motor over 40 years old (Ser II motor) and of all things it was the recon head that let go.

Cheers, Ryan

Well thats pretty good to hear actually. And to think I was worried about spinning mine up to 4k rpm/70mph. However, mine is all original late IIa with 69k miles. I can't wait to see what blows first.