Queensland P76 Owners Club - My Valiant rescue

From: Steve

: Date: Tue, 11 Feb 2003 18:56:03 +1100

: Dear Members, there seems to be more talk on Leyland ignition systems and electrics than any other aspect of our beloved cars, so I thought I might throw in my two bob's worth, (20 cents to the young ones).

: Alternator: BOSCH UNIVERSAL 85 AMP. suits Holden etc, these bolt straight up to the V8 with no problems, indicators will now work at the normal flashing rate at idle with all lights, heater, and wipers on with the volt gauge showing 12.5 to 13 plus volts.
: Yowee comments:- I have one fitted to my car but I had to change the fan belt as the metal fan on the alternator will hit the water pump casing. A way around this is change the fan to the smaller Lucas one. It works without doing this. Also when you connect the sense wire, don't take it back to your fuse box, wire it directly to the battery terminal otherwise you will have a voltage drop across loom that make driving day and night difficult. Your gauges will go mad and you could damage the battery. end Yowee comments
: I have fitted one to my six with a bit of re-engineering.

: Wiring: Fit the thickest earth lead you can find along with the positive lead and use a large relay for the manual shift and replace the steam powered relay on the auto model, this will generally stop slow cranking and solenoid, "click". i fit the biggest battery I can get, I am currently using a 550 CCA battery.
: P.S my headlights (with several relays) are: low beam 90/130watts, high beam 130 watts, that's 520 watts!, on high beam, drawing around 43 amps without any other device on!, still idles over 12volts.

: Ignition: After tearing my hair out trying to set up the points and timing to get a smooth idle and no break down at high revs i found a kit (JAYCAR Kit #KC-5247 UNIVERSAL HIGH ENERGY IGNITION) , made one up, "NO! you dont have to be an electronics wizz kid", it can be configured to use points, twin points and reluctor ignition systems, look them up on the net.

: I have built and fitted several, my V8 and SIX, and one for my mate's V8, he is a retired motor mechanic / service manager/ RACV manager and worked at LANES MOTORS MELBOURNE when they were selling LEYLANDS, he was so impressed he fitted one to his TRIUMPH STAG with better than new results, cheap reliability and performance, also better fuel economy for around $53. ( no i don't work for jaycar)

: Distributor: Valiant V8 (LUCAS) distributers can be found at the wrecking yard, ask for the ones that were for the "ELB", they have a relucter system, that means no points, i have re- engineered a Valiant dizzy to a Leyland casing with no problems at all, and coupled to the high energy ignition system configured to reluctor, it works a treat.

: Also if you find a valiant with round dials and a tacho, grab the tacho, it fits in place of the clock ( tells the time properly twice a day), a little bit of swapping faces and casings and you have a lovely tacho that blends in with the other gauges.

Leyland P76 Owners 2004

Our Valiant rescuer and others

by Steve, Andrew and comments by Yowee

"Prince of Darkness", (LUCAS) Ignition, and electrics.

Valiant