Just curious to know if this has been done before...

too heavy i think you will find for a rear mount. wes has a v6 in his though.
search for baja wes

Yep this one was done at least 15 years ago, maybe more......

Runs at warwick at the drags. been there for both VW Warwick events from memory.

what engine does he/she run? looks massive...

any build up or anything on this thing?

type it in youtube.com

There is one in QLD... its yellow, runs a V8 rover engine(From memory). Its not registered though, don't think its compliant. but its been at the shows. has a nice roar, radiator setup in the bonnet and what not.

An adapter to mount a V8 leyland/rover went for less than $150 from memory on ebay, bout 6 months ago from sydney way... again, from memory. They are a smaller V8, and the adapter mounted it to a low ratio gear kombi box(not beetle). They haven't got iron blocks, they got aluminium, hence they are on the lighter side of the available V8 engine conversion range and are preferable.

4.4L Leyland V8 used in P76's and the like? Mini man is right into them so he'd be the bloke to speak to.

i took a video of that yellow one above leaving dubs by the pub
i was gonna put it on youtube but wes has his up already which is same just different angle
its been around for ever with a v8 in it
runs twin radiators one front and rear

yep,,, thanks Brended,,, I only have abbout 12x leyland P76 4.4l engines & about 3 or 4 Rover 3500 donks :-)

& i think Barry MacFarlane had a Leyland v8 donk in his Baja back in the day,,,it may even be that yellow one but i remember it as white back then so i couldn`t be sure if it is that one or not

adaptor plate is the same for both engines

Now a mid mount alloy V8 manx buggy would be the go :-)

Always thought the P76 V8 and the Rover 3500 where the same engine, is that the case or not?

Rover bought the entire Buick alloy V8 engine production rights & tooling from the states & shipped it all to England,,, started producing it`s own version of it (hence the Rover 3500 alloy V8),,, then in it`s wisdom decided to creat a whole pile of ather Alloy V8 engines, one of which became the Leyland 4400 V8 (Rovers Big brother so to speak),,, same bore but longer stroke creating a square bore,,, the Rover is 3inch stroke by 3.5 inch bore,,, the Leyland donk is 3.5 x 3.5 & is therfor slightly wider & slightly taller, with differences almosr everywhere else,,, (obviously the crank rods & pistons to start with) the front engine/timing cover, rockers, oil pump, heads are slightly different but interchangable, manifold is different ... etc etc etc

The leyland donk still revs well but has way more torque & is capable of turning into a ball tearing 6litre... just add lots of time & money :-)

How many do you want??? :-) i used to sell lots of em to the jet boat (shot-over) boat people in NZ,,, i still have a bundle of them here

the newer versions of the Rover turned into 3.9litre, 4.2litre, 4.6 litre & i believe they went as far as 4.9 litre to but i`m not up on the later ones so i can`t be positive where they ended up,,, the P76 is still the best of a bad bunch tho,,, potential wise that is :-),,, well,,,, unless you have a lexus V8 that is :-) :-) :-)

whats the cost of these engines?

and how hard is it to put one into a baja?

is it easier to just put a ej in?

Hey Miniman, have you seen the one where they mated the Rover V8 to the Leyland Princess gearbox etc and fitted it all into a mini still driving the front wheels over in the UK. It was really well done and even looked almost factory!..................Sorry about the hi-jack

how about these

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/flywheel-bolts-for-a-Subaru-Volkswagen-conversion_W0QQ...

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Volkswagen-engne-adaptor-plate-flywheel-Leyland-V8-VW_...

thats cheap!

whats the rough cost of parts for a v8 conversion into a baja.....

eg.. cost of engine , cooling and all the other bits and peices...

This is the yellow one leaving dubs;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5P2AYtdF4U


What is the purpose of this Baja your building? As others have said, the V8 won't be legal. I saw a Manx buggy with a 351 in the back at the summernats years ago, it had number plates but I doubt the process used to register it was completely by the book.

Why wouldn't the V8 be legal?

Is there a number of cylinders limit for the size or weight of a vehicle?

Ancientbugga,,, have a gork at my website :-) I started doing that conversion when i was 18 years old (yeah a long time ago)

http://www.miniman.com.au/black.htm

But then i thought a little more power wouldn`t go astray,,, soooo,,,,,,-->



yeah single T04 hair drier stuck to the dam thing now,,, i was even thinking about adding another turbo V8 into the back of the thing,,, just for the sake of that long lost substance commonly called "Traction" :-) dam i miss that stuff :-)

Jigga,,,, complete Leyland P76 alloy V8 engines can still be picked up for a song,,, one went on e-bay just a few weeks ago for next to nothing, adaptor plates, flywheels & clutches can be bought from John Sherman or Dellow i believe also makes a kit...

If it were me tho i would mid-mount it if you want it in a beetle,,, definately going to handle far better than hanging it out the back,,, they work ok in a kombi tho-->


That`s my old 62 splitty ute beast at Moreton Island with Leyland P76 4.7litre donk up it`s bum... back before Barry did his beetle v8 conversion

& i`ve always wanted to make my Astom Roadster buggy a mid mount ally V8,,, just have way tooo many projects on the go to finish any one of the dam things :-(

Check this one out--->

i started building that thing a few years ago & altho it runs, i still havn`t ripped it all apart to paint & clad it with alloy sheet & finish it yet either. It`s Yamaha R1 powered & only weighs 185kgs :-) you work that Power-to-weight ratio out for yourself ,,, :-) yep,,, prety dam quick hey? we call it "whiplash" ,,, but funny enough some other people call it "Phucken-Mad" ;-)

& this one--->


This is a BMW twin cam K series motorbike Cyl head that i`ve adapted to fit ontop of the mini engine, then turbo injected it :-)

& there are way more stoopid bloody fast car projects i`ve got myself into as well as all those

I`m an absolute idiot :-)

Jigga,,, there`s a P76 donk on e-bay right now that sounds like a bargain

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Leyland-P76-V8-engine-complete_W0QQitemZ150310068876QQcmdZViewItemQQptZAU_Car_Parts_Accessories?hash=item1503 10068876&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=66%3A2%7C65%3A1%7C39%3A1%7C240%3A1318

Miniman, your in a good position to make a judgement here. To me, if you wanted a V8 conversion the natural choice would have to be the Lexus V8. Cheap, plentiful, modern, powerful. How do you think they compare to the rover / p76 family of V8's.

Wes,,, you bring up a very interesting question actually & i`ve been ponering that same question for some time now,,, altho i really do like the Lexus donk, it`s an exceptionally well designed engine, smooth fast, quiet & very strong,,, it`s an absolutely lovely donk

However, i`ve noticed some pitfalls when compared to the Leyland donk

The Leyland donk is much lighter,,, very much actually,,, it`s also got a heap more low down torque.

examples from my own personal experience--> The quad cams, 32 valves, 32 buckets, 32 spring packs, 32 valve seat inserts, the sheer size of the cyl heads are F`ken huge,,,& all the extra crap on the outside of the donk is just massive,,, it`s a BIG engine & all the asscociated wiring & computer stuff is a bit dawnting & can become troublesome if not set up well in the first place (All this i have experienced first hand)

I`ve also run both these engines with many various diff & gear ratios & basically no matter what box i`ve run the leyland with i can let the clutch out on idle & it will punch a hole through the wall in front of me (or the commodore rear bar & panel parked at the lights in front of me) ;-) ... The Lexus won`t,,,, It just stalls,,, even with the little rims & the 1600 box.... WithThe P76 engine i can idle along the beach, on high tide at Moreton Island in 2nd gear at about 400rpms quite easilly & confidently knowing that it won`t bog, stutter or stall,,, the Lexux just won`t go anywhere near that low & still have any pull if/when you need it,,, it enjoys the mid-to-higher end of the power spread rev dept way more.

I`ve actually recently been talking with my girlfriend about selling the Lexus power unit & adaptor plate assy & re-fitting the Leyland

It`s actually quite sad really because i really do like the Lexus donk for it`s smoothness, strength & refinement,,, but i have "PLENTY" of Leyland engines & i can make them with as much grunt & way less weight & complication... I also have no problem making them strong, they`re a great engine.

So,,, if i was asked to recomend/suggest to anyone else my thoughts of the best choice between the 2,,, Then i`d have to say go for the Lexus,,, & yeah i can hear you now thinking i`ve just contradicted myself,,, but for "ME" the Leyland is the one to have,,, for anyone else the lexus is my suggestion

The Lexus donks are fairly cheap, "VERY" reliable,,, "SUPER" strong, lovely smooth & quiet,,, for me tho,,, i`d rather the weight saving, the less complications, & the better low down torque & i have plenty of them avaliable to me,,, not eveyone has 12 of the dam things under their work bench :-)

funny what you say about the weight of the toyota. in another discussion a fellow poster from the states was saying that the LS7 chev weighs LESS than the toyota. scary eh?

That's because the LS7 is a single cam (vs quad cam), 16 valve (vs 32) engine. It's heads and construction is relatively small. It is a small block.

Can you just imagine how much the Lancruiser quad cam 32v cast iron engine weighs then ???????

I really like the little Rover donk , they`re really cute, really light, & they can easy go out to 5litres so once something like that is done & keep the cam at a reasonably torquey thing , it wouldn`t be a bad propersition,,, the later verion of the rover engine had a much stronger bottom end ,,, "sort-of" cradled main caps with 4 bolts, 2 of which are stuck into the caps from the sides, i hav`nt got one of those blocks (i don`t think) but that`s probably the one i`d go for if/when deciding to go the alloy V8 conversion route

mid mounted 4x4 Turbo charged injected alloy V8 splitty duel cab ute kept lookin pretty stock with just some nice rims/tyres would just be the ducks nuts in my books :-)