Just came across the forum, and thought readers might like to read my story.
About 30 years ago in Sydney, Australia I acquired a '65 FC delivery van in decent shape but with a partly disassembled 1600 engine for $50. After some fiddling with various parts, I got it to run, only to find it left a huge smoke screen behind it. So what to do?
I considered putting in a 1725 from a Hillman Hunter, but this would still be pretty gutless. Australia is the home of Holden, so I measured up a 186cu (3.0L) 6 cylinder Holden red motor, and decided that it would fit in the engine bay. The radiator would have to be moved to the front of the body, coolant hose routing handled and an electric fan system installed. New engine mount brackets lined up with the original, very convenient.
Since the suspension and running gear were from the Humber Snipe series, I replaced the front drums with Super Snipe disks, increased the master cylinder diameter and installed a power booster (from an Austin 1800) under the driver floor.
The original rear diff was low ratio (5.3?) and the axle casing was from a 4 cylinder Snipe, so I left this in place for the moment.
I also found a Snipe 4-speed + overdrive gearbox, and adapted this to the Holden engine with a custom bell housing. This all worked well enough, but the overdrive would never engage, and eventually it stopped locking in normal mode, and I had to get towed home.
The dead overdrive was ripped out, and replaced with a Hillman Hunter 4-speed manual gearbox. The original gear selector rod system had to be modified as the reverse gate was now on the opposite side, and a new rear cross member support fabricated.
This led to the next modification stage: the original diff was way too low for the power of the 6 cylinder, and when I found a 6-cyl Super Snipe rear axle with the 4.2 (?) diff and handbrake, I installed that with drop supports for angled telescopic rear shocks to replace the useless old lever arms. What I then found was that the Super Snipe diff was physically bigger than the old one, and the prop shaft was now 5cm too long.
At the time, getting a modified vehicle registered was reasonably easy. All that was asked was where the front disks came from, and Super Snipe was the right answer.
Driving the van was interesting. The 6-cyl engine moved the center of gravity forward a bit, so I got used to having a 200lb bag of sand near the back doors to even the weight distribution.
The torque of the big six made quite a difference. On the highway, it would cruise along at 100 kph at 3000rpm, quite economically. Above that, wind resistance dramatically increased the fuel consumption, and the tiny fuel tank (4.5 gallons if I recall) did not help.
I only had one emergency stop occasion when the front disks were worth the effort. In all, it was not a sports car, but it was interesting and fun to drive. I recall on the highway pulling out to pass a laden semi on an uphill grade, and a driver following me leaned on his horn because I guess he expected the Commer to be 1kmh faster than the semi on the hill. In fact the Commer accelerated to about 110kph.
Eventually I sold the van to mate, and about a year later I spotted it in a wrecking yard.
About 30 years ago in Sydney, Australia I acquired a '65 FC delivery van in decent shape but with a partly disassembled 1600 engine for $50. After some fiddling with various parts, I got it to run, only to find it left a huge smoke screen behind it. So what to do?
I considered putting in a 1725 from a Hillman Hunter, but this would still be pretty gutless. Australia is the home of Holden, so I measured up a 186cu (3.0L) 6 cylinder Holden red motor, and decided that it would fit in the engine bay. The radiator would have to be moved to the front of the body, coolant hose routing handled and an electric fan system installed. New engine mount brackets lined up with the original, very convenient.
Since the suspension and running gear were from the Humber Snipe series, I replaced the front drums with Super Snipe disks, increased the master cylinder diameter and installed a power booster (from an Austin 1800) under the driver floor.
The original rear diff was low ratio (5.3?) and the axle casing was from a 4 cylinder Snipe, so I left this in place for the moment.
I also found a Snipe 4-speed + overdrive gearbox, and adapted this to the Holden engine with a custom bell housing. This all worked well enough, but the overdrive would never engage, and eventually it stopped locking in normal mode, and I had to get towed home.
The dead overdrive was ripped out, and replaced with a Hillman Hunter 4-speed manual gearbox. The original gear selector rod system had to be modified as the reverse gate was now on the opposite side, and a new rear cross member support fabricated.
This led to the next modification stage: the original diff was way too low for the power of the 6 cylinder, and when I found a 6-cyl Super Snipe rear axle with the 4.2 (?) diff and handbrake, I installed that with drop supports for angled telescopic rear shocks to replace the useless old lever arms. What I then found was that the Super Snipe diff was physically bigger than the old one, and the prop shaft was now 5cm too long.
At the time, getting a modified vehicle registered was reasonably easy. All that was asked was where the front disks came from, and Super Snipe was the right answer.
Driving the van was interesting. The 6-cyl engine moved the center of gravity forward a bit, so I got used to having a 200lb bag of sand near the back doors to even the weight distribution.
The torque of the big six made quite a difference. On the highway, it would cruise along at 100 kph at 3000rpm, quite economically. Above that, wind resistance dramatically increased the fuel consumption, and the tiny fuel tank (4.5 gallons if I recall) did not help.
I only had one emergency stop occasion when the front disks were worth the effort. In all, it was not a sports car, but it was interesting and fun to drive. I recall on the highway pulling out to pass a laden semi on an uphill grade, and a driver following me leaned on his horn because I guess he expected the Commer to be 1kmh faster than the semi on the hill. In fact the Commer accelerated to about 110kph.
Eventually I sold the van to mate, and about a year later I spotted it in a wrecking yard.
