British Leyland

**Edbear** · 22nd February 2010, 20:31

Originally Posted by Motu

Wow,it's a MKII - twin engine mounts,spin on filter,alternator,tandem master cyl.All the good stuff.

Extended rear guards...

Personallly I like the Mk1 better

**Indiana_Jones** · 22nd February 2010, 20:31

.

-Indy

**Motu** · 22nd February 2010, 20:51

Originally Posted by Edbear

Personallly I like the Mk1 better

Me too - I had 2 MKI's.One of the main problems with the MKI was the right engine mount,it was mounted to the engine and delaminated the rubber bonding.The MKII had two seperate mounts not on the engine.I converted my last MKI to MKII mounts,other mods were Kimberley bottom inner suspn bushes,which were much better,and Hardy Spicer universal joints so I didn't have to keep replacing rubber crosses.I also fitted a proper PCV valve,and Falcon radius rod bushes...to handle rough gravel roads.

Nice one Indy,some people might laugh....but you can smirk.That's way cooler.

**Indiana_Jones** · 22nd February 2010, 21:46

Wood needs some work, as does the carpet lol

-Indy

**merv** · 22nd February 2010, 21:47

Now you are talking Motu, you mentioned the Kimberley. It always looked so much flasher than the Tasman. I thought the Kimberley should have done better sales-wise than it did but that first oil crisis was cruel as no one really expected it. Bigger cars just flopped.

**Motu** · 22nd February 2010, 22:06

The Kimberly was British Leyland,as opposed to BMC and Isognosis - BMC was Sir Alec Isognosis coming up with some well engineered cars with radical ideas and maximum interior space (Morris Minor,Series II Oxford,Mini,1100,1800),British Leyland was the British motor industry going down the gurgler.Sort of like Norton Villiers Triumph.Doomed before they started.

**pete376403** · 22nd February 2010, 22:06

Didn't the Kimberley use the same engine that was the 6 cyl option for the P76?
And bending the thread a bit from Leyland to just plain odd, anyone remember the Chrysler 180? A French Simca with its 2 litre 4 cyl replaced by a hemi 6 (215 or 245, not sure) which means someone somewhere would have put an E49 in. That could have been interesting.
But the cars bombed because of Aussie consumer backlash against french nuke testing, so they never sold well.

**Indiana_Jones** · 22nd February 2010, 22:09

Originally Posted by Motu

The Kimberly was British Leyland,as opposed to BMC and Isognosis - BMC was Sir Alec Isognosis coming up with some well engineered cars with radical ideas and maximum interior space (Morris Minor,Series II Oxford,Mini,1100,1800),British Leyland was the British motor industry going down the gurgler.Sort of like Norton Villiers Triumph.Doomed before they started.

Hear Hear.

-Indy

**Ixion** · 23rd February 2010, 09:16

Wasn't there a 2200cc version of the 1800? Or did I imagine that?

I also have vague memories of a four wheel drive version cleaning up in rallying.

**Edbear** · 23rd February 2010, 10:52

Originally Posted by Ixion

Wasn't there a 2200cc version of the 1800? Or did I imagine that?

I also have vague memories of a four wheel drive version cleaning up in rallying.

There was and it was imaginatively called the Austin 2200. There was one on TradeMe the other week Not sure about the 4WD though.

**Motu** · 23rd February 2010, 11:01

BMC were never able to make a 4 cyl bigger than 1800...I've heard of bigger,they must be stroked because the 1800 engine was the max bore they could go.This is because the boring machine they used was built back in the '30's when they made engines to the RAC hp rating....this penalised bore size,so they made long stroke engines.By the '60's bores were bigger,but the boring machine couldn't be extended for more spacing.The 1800 has siamesed bores and is as far as they could take it.

Just another reason for their demise - they couldn't afford to retool,and just had to keep trying to use the old tooling.It was the same throughout the British motor industry....Ford and Vauxhaul were able to use their German factories....and some US stuff as well.It's alright to sit here over 30 years later and say why didn't they just buy new tooling,but it just wasn't possible at the time.Anyone who has been in business will know the catch 22 of updating your plant.....and why don't you just go out and buy a new bike today? I sure can't afford it....and if I did it anyway,other parts of my life would come crashing down.