Cracked 6cyl head

[NepentheSea]

Cliffnotes in bold/underline. Whining in normal font.

Took my head off today (the one that is re-attachable. on the rover).
When I dropped it off for evaluation (replacing the gasket) at the machine shop, four men gathered round, looked down at the thing and cussed various ways. Saying that they'd never seen one like that.

George calls back with the wonderful news of a cracked head! He doesn't want to try and repair it, and doesnt know of someone who would.

And that brings me about to wondering just how much I really want to spend on this 2.6 bundle of leak. Rob Davis' conversion kits are mighty mighty appealing right now. And Peter of Riverport Rovers has great videos of his Chev 4.3 swap on youtube.
And TeriAnn's side has been tremendous help, I'll be spending alot more time there. TeriAnn, if you come across this, thank you for taking the time to write web pages.

Reasons for posting this thread?
1.I dont know. But where else can I whine.
2. Anyone have any news/experience on other adapters?
3. I suppose Im looking for general recommendations on a swap. There, at last, is my reason for posting. My whiny post is theraputic.
I dont care about originality when it comes to my 6cyl. If I had a 2.25 and easier access to parts, things may be different.
Im mainly looking for reliability, and ease of replacement.
Is the Chev straight 6 my best option for those two goals?
many thanks,
-Will

[greenmeanie]

I think I said it in the other post but if not. Chevy 6 pots are good engines that will live a long time. OOoodles of torque at low rpm make them fun to drive and well suited to the Rover. Fuel economy is not a strong point. One benefit is the rodders pulled them out to put in SBC so you can quite often find them free or extremely cheap. They are, however, getting long in the tooth so I would really say that a 4.3L V6 would be better these days.

The nice thing is Chevy used that common 90° bell housing pattern for decades so you have lots of options using a Scotty's adapter onto your original drivetrain. 2.5L I4, 250 or 292 I6, 4.3L V6, 350 V8 and a bunch of others I'm sure. As stated earlier, however, if your doing the engine you might seriously consider a drivetrain swap too in which case the world is your oyster.

[Linus Tremaine]

which six cylinder is it?

I know where a head is for both if you need one.

I also have a scotty adapter for the six cylinder bell housing if you need one.
I think robert davis would be a great way to go otherwise.

[brucejohn]

Will... At least in my opinion one of the better reasons to belong to a community such as this is to have a place to go where you know many will commiserate when you're having a bad day.

We feel for your pain and we are rooting for you. It will come together, keep us posted.

[NepentheSea]

Green, Linus and Bruce-
You guys have saved my sanity. Im taking paramedic classes right now and couldnt think about anything but my rover in class tonight. Its really bummed me out. I really appreciate the help and advice.

Linus- Ive got the 2.6, and its a right hand drive, so Im assuming that means that I dont have the westlake heads. I can take some photos and send them your way. Im interested in a good head if you have one, or in your scotty adapter. I'll send you a PM

[NepentheSea]

crack head photos

Ive got cracks on 3 cylinders between the valve and the spark plug hole. Argh!

[NepentheSea]

Top of the head- I think Ive got the euro spec six.
And as it sits now. At least theres some company; cows and the dump truck.

[badvibes]

Ive got cracks on 3 cylinders between the valve and the spark plug hole. Argh!

Apology for taking this off track But is this the type of damage that results from running unleaded gas in a leaded motor? Not saying that's what happened here. But is the cracking between the valve and sparkplug hole typical of something specific? Does that one valve surface look like it's been scorched/hot? Just trying to learn something here.

Nice blue Ford by the way. Now back to the regular scheduled thread.

Jeff

[NepentheSea]

The scorched look you mentioned is pitting from coolant in the cylinders- that one was the worst, but the other two with the lesser cracks have noticeable pitting too.
I dont know if the cracking between the spark plug hole and valve is because of something particular- it is the thinnest part of the head, so I thought that was the reason.

Thanks for the comps on the Ford- its only got 45k miles and runs great. Tops out around 45-50. When I get the rover going again I'll have a race.

[Linus Tremaine]

could be

part of the advantage of lead is that it coats valves and valve seats and serves as a lubricant of sorts between them. Without lead, valves can get hotter and burn or crack. Still, I dont know how much difference it would make. I have heard, from two sources that I trust, that I do or dont need to run lead substitute, so I always did. I would be more suspect of lean mixture.

[badvibes]

NepentheSea/Linus T-

Thanks for the replies.

[swingkeel]

RD option

I dont know what Robert Davis is offering these days, but if you go that route I would recommend that you or your local machine shop build the engine and that you only get the pieces such as mounts, radiator spacer, adapter (if you cant find a Scotty's) etc from RD. In my opinion the LR sixes are not worth fixing. The 4 cylinder swap is relatively easy and requires no altering of the firewall. The Chevy six has more grunt than the standard LR tranny can handle in the long run as do the other V6s and 8s. The I-6 Chevy also has clearance problems with the firewall and front driveshaft. Good luck and post pictures!

All the Best, Michael

[NepentheSea]

I'd love to do the Chev 4cyl swap- my only deterrent to that is finding one. Aren't they only found in 60-70's chevrolets? I need to find a list of cars with that motor so that I can start checking the junkyards.

Ive also looked at the Series Trek site and his Mercedes Diesel out of a 240D.
The downside to that? I wonder if I could even move uphill with it in my 109. From TeriAnn's site- Of the four cylinder engines, the Mercedes 240D engine has been adapted but seems way underpowered for all but the lightest 88's. Here is an excerpt from an unsigned email I received from someone who had a 616 engine in a Land Rover Series I "Ive done the mercedes 240 D swap in a 49 80 inch. I used a factory remanned motor with about 40K miles on it. Ran sweet returned fair mileage. However, its a gutless motor. Its great for an 80, but not enough oomph for anything much larger. Under 100 ft/lbs of torque."

[amcordo]

I've read through TeriAnne's (awesome) site, and surfed on here for a while wondering about this...

Has anyone ever transplanted a modern motor? It's a LOT of work to transplant the powerplant, so to replace it with an outmoded engine still seems kind of backwards in my head (even if all of the adaptors already exist).

I'd love to see someone put a modern Ford 4 or 6 into one of these. By modern I mean last half-decade. Maybe one from a manual Ranger truck so the computer doesn't cause you issues?

[kevkon]

I kinda agree with you on that, though I understand why certain motors are usually picked. Cost, availability and ease of installation.
I was looking at a friend's Isuzu diesel as a possibility. A Duratec 4 cyl Ford would be another possibility. The problem is you have to consider all of the other requirements a modern engine requires. For one, the additional torque may require replacment of the trans and transfer case as well as the differentials. Then there is the engine management and injection systems on these more modern engines to consider. It can certainly be done, but it can get quite extensive ( not to mention expensive).
Another thing, do you really want your truck to be like everything else today? I mean with these modern engines and management systems you are pretty much out of the loop, if you know what I mean. One of the joys of these old trucks is their simplicity and the ability of the owners to fix them.