Decluttering - Blackbourn 438

By: Rob Blackbourn

Date: 17.04.2020

Decluttering is hugely over-rated. Just ask rob

The soft-top FJ40 ’Cruiser project and the MGB basket-case that went to new homes when I had to clear out my old shed in town in a hurry didn’t have much in common. There was one link however – at different times they were both possible recipients of an alloy Leyland V8 that lay in the corner of the shed for years.

Looking back I was probably on the wrong track all along.

The old ’Cruiser was lively enough thanks to its nice 2F motor with a 350 Holley and Pacemaker headers – it had heaps of grunt and it sounded strong.

Getting the MG’s original donk up to scratch was going to be the least of the challenges of the overall resto. As well I’ve always had a soft-spot for BMC B-Series fours and given that it was intended to be my wife’s car, reconditioning its original motor should always have made sense.

The Leyland V8 had come to me decades back from a bloke wanting to clear a small debt. What I heard was: "She’ll be good as new with a hone and a set of rings and bearings." What turned up one day while I was at work was a grimy, well-worn short-motor, the heads, half a set of headers plus cartons and Milo tins of bits and pieces.

Truth be told it was never really about what I’d be using it for – it was always the appeal of having it there to bring back to life. One day...

I’ve really enjoyed resurrecting several dead engines over the years. It’s a magic moment when something that was a wheelbarrow full of bits finally spins over and fires before settling into a nice fast idle with all pots chiming in faithfully. And it gets better as it warms up – the sounds, the feel, and even the ‘cooking’ aromas as it burns off the assembly lubricant in new bores and cures the gasket goo and the fresh paint.

But the moment of truth had arrived for me and my bent-eight Leyland. The vehicles that were my excuse for keeping it had gone. And alloy V8s are no longer exotic or rare as they once were. Furthermore I had worked out a while back that it came from a Leyland Terrier truck, meaning it was a low-compression version of the P76 motor with a milder cam, rpm-limiting distributor and possibly a heavier crank. With its hot-property moments now ancient history and with me too flat out to put in the time and effort to get a few bob for it, the decision was made. Against all my deep engine-love instincts it would be joining other stuff going to the tip.

It was tough, but I manned up. The heads and intake manifold went to the scrap-metal area at the local transfer station in my first ute load. A couple of hours later when I arrived with another load that included the block, two tradies were examining the heads and the intake manifold. One said to me, "Mate these are alloy V8 heads! And it’s the Holden V8 firing order on the manifold. Pretty good, eh? And someone’s dumped them. Any idea what they’re off?"

"Yeah," I said, "they’re Leyland heads, a modified Buick design so it’s the GM firing order, like Holden. And here’s the rest of it."

Tradie – now enthusiastically: "Jeez, it would still be worth money. You should clean it up and advertise it on Gumtree. Or maybe one of your mates might want some parts."

Me – almost despairingly: "Do me a favour, mate. It already hurts to chuck this stuff out, and you’re just making it harder. Just give me a hand to unload the rest. Please…" 

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