The main reason for doing this was to overcome inconsistant spark when on LPG or wet conditions. I had a modified standard distributor with aftermarket electronic conversion but it never really performed. I had in previous projects (hotrods) run HEI's in open engine bays in all weather with no problems. I could hose down the engines, including dizzy, while running without a miss, where my rangie just needs to see water, then splutters and dies. This is why i decided to convert the P76 to HEI.
First there was the two donor distributers, with the std rover for comparison,
This is the buick V6 that supplied the body for the conversion
and this is the OldsmobileV8 dizzy that supplied the shaft with reluctor etc
As you can see the reluctor etc unbolts easily and is a direct swap, once the shafts are removed. This was easy, knock out the pin, remove the drive gear, plenty of CRC and out they came.
Once the rover and HEIs areput together the size difference becomes obvious as you can see from this photo,
and i wondered if this space was big enough
Well after a lot of grinding of the intake manifold it was
The Hyprid dizzy is topped off with a chev rotor and cap, and being a cheap bastard i changed the plug ends on the old leads to suit the HEI cap. I also fitted an aftermarket centrifugal advance kit to recurve the advance, it now comes in very quick and has 20 degrees at 4000rpm. You can see in the next photo the fitted kit and the grinding required to fit this to a tall deck motor. I would expect it to fit in the std rover easier as the manifold would be below the dizzy height.
Another photo of grinding reqd,
and finally a photo of how tight the top hose is to the cap.
The main thing is that it does fit and has transformed the starting and running of this old rangie. Plugs are now gapped to .050" and it never misses a beat and with good scrounging skills the whole conversion cost under $200 and took about three hours all up (once all the bits and pieces were sourced).
On both petrol and LPG is now starts and runs fine, and feels to have more torque which could be in part due to the changed advance curve, but i beleive that the HUGE spark from the HEI makes the biggest difference. I have only done about 100km on it so far but i pulled the plugs last night and they look as clean as new (they are 18 months old), so things look good.
Kevin
