Post by bent8rover on Mar 26, 2018 18:36:57 GMT
In case it is lost to history, I thought I'd pop this up here. Linked from a post by andrewa in this thread:
landcrabforum.co.uk/thread/1188/v8-crab?page=1&scrollTo=13153
$45,772 when in a new Austin 1800 cost around $2500 !!
landcrabforum.co.uk/thread/1188/v8-crab?page=1&scrollTo=13153
[Posted by askalbert (Peter A. Jones) on minicooper.org forum May 1999]
V8 POWERED LANDCRAB
Not many people outside of the old BLMC (Australia) design team and top management know that during 1969 a V8 engine powered version of the Austin 1800 was produced and test driven around the streets of Sydney. The preliminary design layout for this car began as early as February 1968, only a couple of months after the take over of BMC by British Leyland.
This was followed in April of the same year by the body layout, with minor component manufacturing starting in May. The manufacture of major components was under taken between October 1968 and January 1969, with the vehicle having its first run on the 10th March 1969.
The car consisted of basically a fully trimmed ADO17 (Austin 1800) body being obtained from the main production line, this car had all its body panels forward of the ‘A' pillar and dash panel removed. Specially made panels were fitted to the car which increased the overall length of the vehicle by 11.6mm, the existing front cross-member was used with only extra air vents added above the front bumper.
Only minor changes were made to the front suspension, these included changing the position of the front displacers and the use of Triumph 2000 upper suspension mountings. While the steering made use was a LHD version of ADO17 steering rack inverted, coupled to a Ford Falcon steering wheel and column assembly.
Several other items were changed and parts from other BMC vehicles as well as other manufacturers were used in this prototype, but the biggest change was in the engine and drive train of the car.
The engine was a standard 3.5 litre Rover V8, with its stroke increased from 2.8 inches to 3.57 inch using a Repco single plane crankshaft, this gave a capacity of 4.2 litres. After a few changes to the induction system and a reduction in compression the engine was dynamometer tuned and tested. During these tests the engine was found to produce 236 ft.lb. of torque at 2000 rpm and 154 BHP at 4400 rpm.
The major part of the design work was taken up by the transmission, which consisted of four separate assemblies bolted together. Basically it consisted of a standard Rover torque converter driven via an ADO17 auto gearbox front pump into a gear train which then transmitted the drive into a Borg Warner 35 Automatic gearbox. The final drive was then taken out of the front of the transmission case using Chevrolet Corvair components.
The total cost of this protype vehicle was $45 772 (1969 prices when a new Austin 1800 cost around $2500)
According to some ex BLMC engineers that I worked with, this car was very quick from a standing start and even upset a lot of V8 Holden and Falcon owners who of course did not know that the car was fitted with a V8 engine, but it did not have the cornering ability of BMC's over front wheel drive cars. As a result of these tests it was decided that a rear wheel drive car was more suited as an Australian replacement for the Austin 1800/X6 range and so the Leyland P76 was born.
The above information comes from a BLMC Test report dated 10th July 1970.
V8 POWERED LANDCRAB
Not many people outside of the old BLMC (Australia) design team and top management know that during 1969 a V8 engine powered version of the Austin 1800 was produced and test driven around the streets of Sydney. The preliminary design layout for this car began as early as February 1968, only a couple of months after the take over of BMC by British Leyland.
This was followed in April of the same year by the body layout, with minor component manufacturing starting in May. The manufacture of major components was under taken between October 1968 and January 1969, with the vehicle having its first run on the 10th March 1969.
The car consisted of basically a fully trimmed ADO17 (Austin 1800) body being obtained from the main production line, this car had all its body panels forward of the ‘A' pillar and dash panel removed. Specially made panels were fitted to the car which increased the overall length of the vehicle by 11.6mm, the existing front cross-member was used with only extra air vents added above the front bumper.
Only minor changes were made to the front suspension, these included changing the position of the front displacers and the use of Triumph 2000 upper suspension mountings. While the steering made use was a LHD version of ADO17 steering rack inverted, coupled to a Ford Falcon steering wheel and column assembly.
Several other items were changed and parts from other BMC vehicles as well as other manufacturers were used in this prototype, but the biggest change was in the engine and drive train of the car.
The engine was a standard 3.5 litre Rover V8, with its stroke increased from 2.8 inches to 3.57 inch using a Repco single plane crankshaft, this gave a capacity of 4.2 litres. After a few changes to the induction system and a reduction in compression the engine was dynamometer tuned and tested. During these tests the engine was found to produce 236 ft.lb. of torque at 2000 rpm and 154 BHP at 4400 rpm.
The major part of the design work was taken up by the transmission, which consisted of four separate assemblies bolted together. Basically it consisted of a standard Rover torque converter driven via an ADO17 auto gearbox front pump into a gear train which then transmitted the drive into a Borg Warner 35 Automatic gearbox. The final drive was then taken out of the front of the transmission case using Chevrolet Corvair components.
The total cost of this protype vehicle was $45 772 (1969 prices when a new Austin 1800 cost around $2500)
According to some ex BLMC engineers that I worked with, this car was very quick from a standing start and even upset a lot of V8 Holden and Falcon owners who of course did not know that the car was fitted with a V8 engine, but it did not have the cornering ability of BMC's over front wheel drive cars. As a result of these tests it was decided that a rear wheel drive car was more suited as an Australian replacement for the Austin 1800/X6 range and so the Leyland P76 was born.
The above information comes from a BLMC Test report dated 10th July 1970.
$45,772 when in a new Austin 1800 cost around $2500 !!
