Holden motor

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The Holden motor is straight-six engine produced by General Motors–Holden's in Australia between 1948 and 1986. Initially dubbed the Grey motor alluding to the colour of the cylinder block, later iterations came in the form of a Red, Blue, Black and the four-cylinder Startfire engine.

Contents 1 Grey 1.1 Applications 2 Red 2.1 Applications 3 Blue 3.1 Applications 4 Black 4.1 Applications 5 Starfire 5.1 Applications 6 Notes 7 References

[edit] Grey

The Grey motor built between 1948 and 1962, earned its name as the engine block was painted grey. This overhead valve engine was first fitted to the Holden 48-215 and mated to a three-speed manual transmission. A three-speed GM Roto-Hydramatic 240 automatic transmission was optionally fitted in the latter EK and EJ series. The engine was based on a Buick pre-World War II engine design, and saw only minor changes throughout its 15-year life.

It displaced 132.5 cubic inches (2.2 L) in its original form, and was bored out to 138 cubic inches (2.3 L) when the FB series was introduced in 1960. It made only 60 brake horsepower (45 kW) at 5000 rpm, providing superior performance than competing four-cylinder Austin, Morris, Vauxhall and Ford of Britain vehicles. Due to the low compression ratio (7.5:1) they were able to revolve quite fast and effortlessly. Due to their sheer ubiquity, they were popular for racing, and were fitted to many open-wheelers, as well as racing Holdens. With the motors low-end torque, they also found their way into boats and machinery such as forklift trucks.

This engine ran a nine-port non-crossflow cast iron cylinder head (three port inlet, four ports exhaust in a siamese layout), and was fed by a single barrel Stromberg carburettor and fitted with a traditional points distributor and ignition coil. The ignition system was six volts to match the 48-215 and FJ's six volt negative ground system, as was the starter engine. The earliest grey motors (approximately 100,000) were fitted with Delco-Remy accessories, although Lucas and Bosch equivalents throughout the motor’s lifetime replaced these.

The very first production grey motor (1948) was number 1001, and they continued in a single sequence until July 1956, when the prefix "L" was introduced at engine number L283373 for 12 volt negative ground engines as fitted to the all new FE model. The prefix "U" was introduced from engine U283384 for motors with the original electricals as fitted to the run-on FJ utility and panel van models, which ended in February and May of 1957 respectively. The prefix "B" was introduced and the number sequence reset with the introduction of the 138 cubic inches (2.3 L) displacement engine, and ultimately this was replaced by a "J" prefix for motors fitted to EJ vehicles in 1962.

[edit] Applications

• 1948–1953 Holden FX
  • 1948–1953 Holden 48-215 (sedan)
  • 1951–1953 50-2106 (coupé utility)
  • 1953 48-215-257 (Business/Taxi sedan, sometimes abbreviated to 48-217)
• 1953–1956 Holden FJ
• 1956–1958 Holden FE
• 1958–1960 Holden FC
• 1960–1961 Holden FB
• 1961–1962 Holden EK
• 1962–1963 Holden EJ

[edit] Red

Holden Red motor (1971–1974 HQ series)

Engine	Displacement	Compression	Power		Torque
			bhp	kW	ft·lb	N·m
2.84 L Red I6	173 cu in	Low	112	84	160	220
		High	118	88	168	228
3.3 L Red I6	202 cu in	Low	129	96	190	260
		High	135	101	194	263

Superseding the Grey motor, the Red motor was manufactured between 1963 and 1980. Denoted by the cylinder block painted red, the engine debuted in the Holden EH in capacities of 149 cubic inches (2.44 L) and 179 cubic inches (2.93 L) producing 100 brake horsepower (75 kW) and 115 brake horsepower (86 kW) respectively. This was a power increase of 33 per cent and 53 per cent over the previous motor.^[1]

[edit] Applications

• 1963–1965 Holden EH
• 1965–1966 Holden HD
• 1966–1968 Holden HD
• 1968–1969 Holden HK
• 1969–1970 Holden HT
• 1970–1971 Holden HG
• 1971–1974 Holden HQ
• 1974–1976 Holden HJ
• 1976–1977 Holden HX
• 1977–1980 Holden HZ

[edit] Blue

The Blue specification debuted in the 1980 VC Commodore.^[2]

[edit] Applications

• 1980–1981 Holden VC Commodore
• 1981–1984 Holden VH Commodore

[edit] Black

The Black specification was introduced in the 1984 VK Commodore.^{[citation needed]} In the VL series of 1986, Holden ceased the tradition of employing Australian-made and designed six-cylinder engines, instead opting for the Nissan RB30 engine. This came because pending emission standards and the requirement for unleaded fuel made it difficult to re-engineer the engine.^[3]

[edit] Applications

• 1984–1986 Holden VK Commodore

[edit] Starfire

This 1.9 litre powerplant, known as the Starfire engine, was effectively Holden's existing straight-six with two cylinders removed.^[2] Peak power output is 58 kilowatts (78 hp), with a 17.5 second acceleration time from 0-100 kilometres (0–62 mi).^[4] This variant was a compromise due to poor performance and the need to push the engine hard led to fuel consumption similar to the straight-sixes.^[2]

[edit] Applications

• 1980–1981 Holden VC Commodore
• 1981–1984 Holden VH Commodore
• 19??–1982 Toyota Corona (XT130)

[edit] Notes

[edit] References

• Robinson, Peter (2006). AutoBiography: The inside story of Holden's all-new VE Commodore. Woolloomooloo, New South Wales: Focus Publishing, 224. ISBN 1921156104.