Series 2a 109 6 cylinder restoration

[island dormy]

  Hi Rory

Thank you for the compliments.
I have no clue on MPG I have only put about 1/2 a mile on it since it got restored....but its likely not going to be good, and the Nada 6 uses premium fuel to boot (9:1 compression) about 125 HP or so I'm told.
The Weslake cylinder head is very different from the lower power land rover 6. I modified a few things so mine is not totally Nada spec. I wanted a oil bath oil cleaner (That's what a old land rover should have it just looks correct) so I made one fit I just could not make myself hide that beautiful looking 6 cylinder engine under neath the huge air silence that was installed on the Nadas (kind of looks like a twin exhaust silencer).

  Front brakes the landrover 6 cylinder design works fine just be aware the shoes are wider than the 4 cylinder and the wheel cylinders are also deferent .
  The Rocky mountain parabolics ride fine a friend over here has had them on his for 15 years.
  Victor

[Alan Drover]

Well worth joining. My Series 3 had a complete suspension rebuild last May and I reckon I saved 7 years membership on the discount.
Six pots fo about 12/15 mpg IIRC. Overdrive will help.

[haveyoubooked]

My parabolics were fitted last May so are still settling in. The Land Rover is a Series 3 petrol SWB hardtop. It doesn't wallow and is firm without being hard. The spring eye and chassis bushes are standard but the dampers were supplied with Poly bushes which would account for the former ride.
When fitting the chassis bushes and springs give the bolts a coating of copper grease. The Land Rover business that fitted my parabolics and chassis bushes had no problems in removing the old bolts that had been there for about 20 years because they had been coated with copper grease.

Good to know. Thats the kind of ride I'm aiming for so will certainly have a look at those. Good reminder on the copper grease. Although I'm recently taken with Aluminium grease as it seems to work better where there's aluminium castings and steel fixings (not that that matters to spring fixings!)

[Wittsend]

 
Don't forget, the 6-pot engine went into thousands of Rover P4 saloon cars 

There are several clubs/forums for the Rover P4s and they can help with engine parts/suppliers.

I think in the Series 2 Land Rover world 6-pots have a bit of a bad name because most S2 owners deal with 4-pot engines

 

[haveyoubooked]

Hi Rory

Thank you for the compliments.
I have no clue on MPG I have only put about 1/2 a mile on it since it got restored....but its likely not going to be good, and the Nada 6 uses premium fuel to boot (9:1 compression) about 125 HP or so I'm told.
The Weslake cylinder head is very different from the lower power land rover 6. I modified a few things so mine is not totally Nada spec. I wanted a oil bath oil cleaner (That's what a old land rover should have it just looks correct) so I made one fit I just could not make myself hide that beautiful looking 6 cylinder engine under neath the huge air silence that was installed on the Nadas (kind of looks like a twin exhaust silencer).

  Front brakes the landrover 6 cylinder design works fine just be aware the shoes are wider than the 4 cylinder and the wheel cylinders are also deferent .
  The Rocky mountain parabolics ride fine a friend over here has had them on his for 15 years.
  Victor

Thats interesting, didn't realise they had different air cleaners. Mines on a chassis stand under bonnet and battery is under passenger seat. I think most of the late Series 2a 6cyl had that config over here. Is the grey paint a NADA thing? Whats left of the paint on my block (only one layer and looks very old so assuming original) has more of a green tint to it, so I'm assuming UK spec were painted the same green that the 4cyl were done in.

Meant to ask before - did your block have this hole at the back, and was there an "ear" on the head that blanks the hole with an o-ring recess in it? Mine did, but didn't show in the LR workshop manual (got an old one from early 70's) and didn't have an o-ring in the kit. I had a selection pack of o-rings in stock so chose one that fits, but when I'm doing it properly, I want to be sure to have right seal. Without reference to it anywhere its hard to know what to look for...

[haveyoubooked]

Sorry Victor, these pics might make that vague question make more sense.

[haveyoubooked]

Don't forget, the 6-pot engine went into thousands of Rover P4 saloon cars 

There are several clubs/forums for the Rover P4s and they can help with engine parts/suppliers.

I think in the Series 2 Land Rover world 6-pots have a bit of a bad name because most S2 owners deal with 4-pot engines

 

Good thinking. I've had a look through some of the postings on those, and there's a lot of good info. Think there was only a few bits modified for landrovers. I got details of a company in Australia (JP pistons) for piston supply from the P4 forum, but have been surprised at difficulty of finding parts for these engines and the cost - nearly £1k inc VAT for a set of pistons for instance. Still on the p4 forum there's talk of these lasting 200k so I guess in the scheme of things it'll be 20 years before I've got to do it again!

[haveyoubooked]

Final spam today. The very beginning of the resto was getting it started to get it into workshop, so started by freeing off the starter, cleaning up com and rebrushing. Heres one of it on the lathe before a com cut.

Will try and post progress here once I get cracking (mid January all being well). Just reply STOP if it gets too boring!!

First move under its own steam (literally with a leaky core plug) here: https://youtu.be/PgzvXJO2vrs

[Bloke]

Hi and welcome to the forum! Nice to see another 6-pot owner join the club.

Me and my Dad have been doing a rolling restoration of his 1968 2A Station Wagon 6-pot since he bought it in 2020. It's a nice runner so we haven't had to do anything significant to the engine besides adjusting the valves, replacing several gaskets and oil pipes. We run it on premium unleaded and pop some Redex lead additive and some 2 stroke oil into the tank which seems to work nicely. We've also recently replaced the old points for electronic ignition from Powerspark - very simple to do and seems to have provided a slight improvement.

It's also fitted with Rocky Mountain doortops - which we HIGHLY recommend. My 1968 2A 88" also has them fitted. Such an improvement over the original design.

It's also on parabolic springs but I'm unsure of the brand - fitted by a previous owner. It sits very well and the ride is rather comfortable!

If there's anything else I can help with, just shout. I'm far from an expert on the 2.6 engines but I'm rather fond of them. When looked after and serviced regularly (valve clearances and oil changes), they work well.

Tom

[island dormy]

  Hi Rory

  That hole you have circled in bright green in your pics is the oil return hole from the head to the oil pan.
Rover only had the one hole designed into that motor (originally a 4 cylinder) the 6 was copied from that years later.
It is a rubber O-ring seal, the one I used came with the head gasket kit and I'm sorry I have no clue how thick its supposed to be. I do not remember that it sat in any kind of recess.
I made up two fake studs to make sure the head got lowered down absolutely straight when it got installed, once down I installed a couple of head bolts and removed the studs.

Supposedly having only the one oil return hole (at the rear) caused smoke on the overrun when going down steep long hills as the valve cover area would fill with oil that could not flow uphill to get back to the sump.

  If you look at the front end the water pump to head also uses a O-ring seal.

  My battery is also under the seat a slightly different size (original) battery tray was however factory installed in the engine bay as well.

  This engine was grey when I got it unmolested. My 62 also had a grey block and I know that was also original since my dad had the 62 since 1964. I think the grey should be just a touch darker.
I am unsure when landrover switched to light green blocks on the 4 cylinders or the 6 cylinders.
All 811 NADA's came to north America and were based on 1967 model year trucks hence the lights in the centre of the grill on my 69.

  Victor

[22900013A]

Welcome, nice to see another six pot owner. I remember your vehicle being for sale as someone asked if it was ex southern electric, I said no as they didn't operate in Scotland!
I see you asked about parabolics, be aware there are some excellent standard spec springs out there and parabolics often make the vehicle looked "jacked" in an odd way.

Looking forward to your progress. Here is my 69 six cylinder 1-Ton.

[haveyoubooked]

Welcome, nice to see another six pot owner. I remember your vehicle being for sale as someone asked if it was ex southern electric, I said no as they didn't operate in Scotland!
I see you asked about parabolics, be aware there are some excellent standard spec springs out there and parabolics often make the vehicle looked "jacked" in an odd way.

Looking forward to your progress. Here is my 69 six cylinder 1-Ton.

That looks very smart! Nice to see it in use, not many 1 tonnes about. I love the 1-Ton wheels but think the price of them will keep them further down my list!

I bought mine off a lad called Terry Kemp who had it up on Facebook, he's a local magpie for Landies. Mine was registered new in Aberdeen and has spent its last 40 years at least within 15 miles of me - first in Ardross at an engineering firm, then up on a croft out at Croick. I'm hoping to get in touch with PO's eventually.

[haveyoubooked]

Hi Rory

  That hole you have circled in bright green in your pics is the oil return hole from the head to the oil pan.
Rover only had the one hole designed into that motor (originally a 4 cylinder) the 6 was copied from that years later.
It is a rubber O-ring seal, the one I used came with the head gasket kit and I'm sorry I have no clue how thick its supposed to be. I do not remember that it sat in any kind of recess.
I made up two fake studs to make sure the head got lowered down absolutely straight when it got installed, once down I installed a couple of head bolts and removed the studs.

Supposedly having only the one oil return hole (at the rear) caused smoke on the overrun when going down steep long hills as the valve cover area would fill with oil that could not flow uphill to get back to the sump.

  If you look at the front end the water pump to head also uses a O-ring seal.

  My battery is also under the seat a slightly different size (original) battery tray was however factory installed in the engine bay as well.

  This engine was grey when I got it unmolested. My 62 also had a grey block and I know that was also original since my dad had the 62 since 1964. I think the grey should be just a touch darker.
I am unsure when landrover switched to light green blocks on the 4 cylinders or the 6 cylinders.
All 811 NADA's came to north America and were based on 1967 model year trucks hence the lights in the centre of the grill on my 69.

  Victor

Thats interesting about the oil drain hole. On this one the head has the o ring recess, but the centre of the hole is blind. Wonder if it would be worth me drilling out to avoid the issue you mentioned...

[NoBeardNoTopKnot]

.....I'd be inclined myself to keep the body and paint just as it is!...

Save the removal of someone's quest to walk up the vertical panels, me too. Looks great. Leave as.

[haveyoubooked]

Hi and welcome to the forum! Nice to see another 6-pot owner join the club.

Me and my Dad have been doing a rolling restoration of his 1968 2A Station Wagon 6-pot since he bought it in 2020. It's a nice runner so we haven't had to do anything significant to the engine besides adjusting the valves, replacing several gaskets and oil pipes. We run it on premium unleaded and pop some Redex lead additive and some 2 stroke oil into the tank which seems to work nicely. We've also recently replaced the old points for electronic ignition from Powerspark - very simple to do and seems to have provided a slight improvement.

It's also fitted with Rocky Mountain doortops - which we HIGHLY recommend. My 1968 2A 88" also has them fitted. Such an improvement over the original design.

It's also on parabolic springs but I'm unsure of the brand - fitted by a previous owner. It sits very well and the ride is rather comfortable!

If there's anything else I can help with, just shout. I'm far from an expert on the 2.6 engines but I'm rather fond of them. When looked after and serviced regularly (valve clearances and oil changes), they work well.

Tom

Thats looking good, looking like you've done a lot of work there. Nice to have the feedback on the Rocky Mountain door tops and the parabolics. Looking to get the cab as weathertight as possible and make the transition from my air suspended Disco 3 a little less of a shock so the most compliant ride available is what we're aiming at.

What sort of intervals are you doing valve clearances at? Also what kind of MPG do you see on average (can't see an O/D lever in there?)