I picked up an article from Aug '97's Practical Classics on Ebay the other day. It was on the restoration by Reg Mason of JLG 5 K. Reading the article carefully this was originally a 1970 built LHD Canadian personal export car. It was to full NADA 3500S spec except that it bore non standard badging with a small and discreet "lucas injection" logo below a shortened S on an otherwise standard badge. It no longer had the injected engine when found, having had a later '73 plus engine fitted and was believed to have been converted to RHD around '74.
James Taylor's book on the P6 makes mention of the V8 injections and states that early systems were by AE(Associated Enginering) but that by 1970 a system "possibly made by Lucas or by Brico" was production ready. He quotes a model name of 3500EI and shows photo's of the badging. He also says this was a manual transmission home market car allocated commission numbers 461... to 465... to cover also LHD and CKD export versions. He has a photo of an injected engine in a P6 on page 123.
He goes on to speculate that it may have been primarily developed for the North American market. The NADA 3500S had auto chokes on the SU carbs and these were a disaster. Coupled with a very poor dealer network this gave the car a dreadfull reliability reputation in the States and only 2043 cars were sold from Summer '69 to August '71 when the model was pulled.
Putting these two sources together I think we can be fairly sure that the 3500S (Lucas Injection) and 3500EI are the same engine. I'd put a lot of money on the injection being the then best answer to meeting American emission regulations, with the EI being a means of getting the production volumes up by offering it to the home market as well. After all the injected SD1 Vitesse has it's origin in American SD1's needing injection to meet the Federal emission regs ten years later in 1980!
It can't be a coincidence that the NADA 3500S ceases production virtually at the same time as the launch of the S2 facelift models (with near idententical external detailing and interiors to the NADA 3500S). I'd guess the 3500EI/3500(lucas Injection) is actually what the S2 3500 was meant to be; but without the need to meet the Federal emission regs the injection suddenly became a costly luxury and was deleted.
So all you guys who have put an injected Range Rover or SD1 engine in your P6's take heart - if you could only rebadge them 3500EI you'd be incredibly close to what Rover actually had intended to sell!
Chris
PS anyone know if JLG 5 K is still around and in Reg's care? Reg fitted a Triplex glass roof as well so it is a pretty special car!
James Taylor's book on the P6 makes mention of the V8 injections and states that early systems were by AE(Associated Enginering) but that by 1970 a system "possibly made by Lucas or by Brico" was production ready. He quotes a model name of 3500EI and shows photo's of the badging. He also says this was a manual transmission home market car allocated commission numbers 461... to 465... to cover also LHD and CKD export versions. He has a photo of an injected engine in a P6 on page 123.
He goes on to speculate that it may have been primarily developed for the North American market. The NADA 3500S had auto chokes on the SU carbs and these were a disaster. Coupled with a very poor dealer network this gave the car a dreadfull reliability reputation in the States and only 2043 cars were sold from Summer '69 to August '71 when the model was pulled.
Putting these two sources together I think we can be fairly sure that the 3500S (Lucas Injection) and 3500EI are the same engine. I'd put a lot of money on the injection being the then best answer to meeting American emission regulations, with the EI being a means of getting the production volumes up by offering it to the home market as well. After all the injected SD1 Vitesse has it's origin in American SD1's needing injection to meet the Federal emission regs ten years later in 1980!
It can't be a coincidence that the NADA 3500S ceases production virtually at the same time as the launch of the S2 facelift models (with near idententical external detailing and interiors to the NADA 3500S). I'd guess the 3500EI/3500(lucas Injection) is actually what the S2 3500 was meant to be; but without the need to meet the Federal emission regs the injection suddenly became a costly luxury and was deleted.
So all you guys who have put an injected Range Rover or SD1 engine in your P6's take heart - if you could only rebadge them 3500EI you'd be incredibly close to what Rover actually had intended to sell!
Chris
PS anyone know if JLG 5 K is still around and in Reg's care? Reg fitted a Triplex glass roof as well so it is a pretty special car!