Leyland P76

[motorsportnerd]

Australian Classic Car had a story on the P76 Targa Florio in its August issue.
Evan Green entered a P76 in the 1974 London to Munich World Cup Rally. Apparantly it reached the lead position in the early stretches across the Sahara Rally. It also won some sort of special award for the section of the rally that went across the part of the route formerly used by the famous Targa Florio road race. Hence, the name of the subsequent production car that was released to commemorate the P76s World Rally exploits.
The production version of the P76 Targa Florio was available in three colours - Omega Blue, Nutmet (a brown colour) and Aspen Green. A total of 600 Targa Florios were apparantly built. All the Targa Florios were V8 automatics. However, the Targa Florio was little more than a base model V8 Executive with the Targa Florio name on the bootlid, a nice set of alloy wheels, a limited slip differential and reclining bucket seats. The Omega Blue coloured cars also came with silver stripping and name tags. The stripping was not available on the other two cars ex factory, but many were so adorned in the after market.
See the website on P76s that I linked in the first post of this thread for a picture of a Aspen Green coloured P76.

[nota]

Great Stuff, what surprises me is how they got 4.4 liter out of the Buick/Rover engine, I thought the best you could get was about 3.9 litre

In later years the Rover V8 was eventually bored/stroked to 4.0 and later 4.6 litres, as seen in Range Rovers, but kept the original (external) block dimensions

However the earlier P-76 V8 used a unique 'raised block' version for its extra capacity, in much the same way as Chrysler did when enlarging their B-block (eg 383cid) into the RB-block (440cid). Ford did similar to redesign their 302cid Windsors into the long-stroke 351W

As compared to Rover V8s, the deck height for the P-76 engine block was raised by approx 17mm, along with a stroked crankshaft and longer conrods, for a 'square' bore/stroke dimensions of 3.5 inches. The block itself was manufactured by the (partly govt owned I think, ex de Havilland) Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation in Sydney, who also cast the unusually high-quality alloy wheels seen on the Targa Florio model (as mentioned by blackhonda) and Force 7Vs. Cylinder heads were initially sourced from BL-UK, while plans were made for local production

Apart from the car-spec unit for P-76 there was also a heavy-duty version of the engine called the Boxer which was destined for Leyland-Oz trucks. The lightweight motor enabled greater front-axle loadings and if memory serves these V8-Petrol trucks were 8 tonners called the Terrier model. These Terriers were quite a popular truck especially for high-speed usage like intrastate and interstate newpaper delivery etc, and apparently the Boxer V8 aquitted itself well in service

A fully factory-marinised V8 was also sold for boating enthisiasts (usually seen in ski-boats) via Leyland's parts department

In a motorsport footnote, Repco which was once Australia's biggest automotive parts manufacturer got together with Phil Irving (reknown designer and builder of the Repco-Brabham race engine, also of Vincent motorcycle fame) to build a Formula 5000 race engine based on the P-76 V8. Later development was carried out independantly, after Repco Engine Development Company closed down. A Repco-Leyland was fitted to the McLaren M23 of Gold Star champion John McCormack. Initial output was 390 hp (vs 192 hp for stock P-76) but to address this relative lack of power against other competing race engines, new heads were designed by Phil Irving and cast from a special 'hypereutetic' alloy from Comalco. "Comalco were working towards eliminating valve guides and seats, and thus these heads had none. The design also featured a 'bent' pushrod, with a shuttle running in a bush in the head between two short pushrods to allow more room for straight inlet ports." This left the P-76 block as the only production-sourced component, as this was a requirement within Formula 5000 rules. Power increased to 420 hp and 420 ft/lbs of torque - this latter figure was sensational, being about 40 higher than the Repco-Holdens, renowned for their mid-range. An alternate cam returned 470 hp and 380 ft/lbs. Unfortunately, additional stresses imposed by these new big port, big valve heads then overstressed the package to the point of regular failure via a cracked block. Many retirements ensued until the project was eventually dropped after a few hard years and McCormack reverted back to the reliable Repco-Holden

McCormack also ran a lightweight Rover P6B (ex-UK factory racer) in local Sports Sedan races. I think it may have been re-powered by a P-76 V8 of some sort, although not sure if this engine was a Repco-Leyland

[pimento]

Wasn't TVR's old 5.0 V8 based on the Rover engine too?

[nota]

Wasn't TVR's old 5.0 V8 based on the Rover engine too?

Ignorant of TVR .. but for many years there was an aftermarket 5.0 litre stroker crank conversion available for the P-76 V8. I think it was made in Sydney

Recall talking with the owner of a big-buck Volvo 242 'street machine' in Canberra that had an equally show-quality P-76 engine, supposedly stroked to 5 litres, which did have a fantastic burble to it

[pimento]

Oooh, I want a Rover 3500SE with one of them in it!

[henk4]

thanks for the update, as you mentioned F5000, yes they used the block here too, attached is a picture of a Leda, shot 13 years ago...

[Pando]

^^ Focus intently on this steady glare of disapproval from this both past & present P-76 owner (jk Pando )

Ah, I was expecting a reply from you.

[alloy280zx]

hey guys, i recently bought a datsun 280zx with a leyland alloy 4.4l v8 conversion. the EFI had been totoly removed and replaced with a hollie 300, it has all been adapted to suit the original 5 speed manual. just wondering if anyone would recomend twin turbo over supercharge and would turboing be a fairly strate forword procedure after lowing compression?

[clutch-monkey]

hey guys, i recently bought a datsun 280zx with a leyland alloy 4.4l v8 conversion. the EFI had been totoly removed and replaced with a hollie 300, it has all been adapted to suit the original 5 speed manual. just wondering if anyone would recomend twin turbo over supercharge and would turboing be a fairly strate forword procedure after lowing compression?

sweet jesus that sounds insane. got any pics?

[rayza]

these all appear to be all old threads, but if anyone is still on here , I am looking for a manual flywheel for a V8 Leyland P76.

Can anyone help??
Cheers
Rayza

[nota]

I've got one, but wouldn't want to sell it without the complete gearbox (4-speed) conversion sitting in the garage, and probably not that either unless you bought my Executive (previously pictured) along with it. Sorry mate.

Tried the clubs have you? There's also P-76 odds & sods that turn up on ebay every so often. I even discovered some of those very hard to find NOS front-repeaters, tail lights & grille on a non-ebay spare parts site the other day.

[Allemano]

Has it been mentioned that the P76 was designed by Giovanni Michelotti?

[helen m]

here's a photo i took of one at the "all british day" at parramatta on 17 August this year:

[fnqvmuch]

if you can find it - maybe ask rage - the clip for '(Every Day is) Fathers Day' by 'Weddings, Parties Anything' features a clubs worth of P-76s

[Tall_G]

In the late '80's, my family had the (mis?)fortune to own a P76 Executive and Austin 1800 simultaniously!

My brother had the P76, while I rolled around in an HQ 202 CID and later a Ford Falcon, then 2 Valiants. So we had many chances for fair comparison.
The Leyland outhandled them all, had a much bigger, better shaped boot, and better driver's seat. It never overheated but did suffer an underdash fire, which may have been the result of my brother's amateur attempts to hook up a car stereo.
It used about the same amount of fuel as my 265 CID Valiant Regal but sounded nicer. It was a good car by comparison. Shame it's timing and typical Leyland half-arse construction killed it. Plus chicks hated it and were far more likely to get frisky when the Valiant's back seat beckoned.
As for the Austin 1800.......well, it was spacious. 3 6"-plus boys in the back, Ma up front with youngest on her knee, dad gripping the wheel like Andretti, a sedate 80km/h on the speedo....