Rover V8

[Guest kenton]

I have been thinking about my next kit, i have a 2b wishbones with a 2l inj pinto and am currently helping build a westfield X1.

When finished i will have space in my workshop for my next kit, i dont know what yet but it will be lighter with more power and a v8 would sound great!!

I am looking out for engines but would like some advice on what to buy.

Is it right that the sd1 vitesse is best?

What about land/range rover?

Any tips gratefully recieved

Thanks kenton

[Guest salty_monk]

I believe the injected SD1 V8 had the most power as standard...

[Guest Cantbearsed]

From what i've seen and heard, the 2 engine blocks are the same just with different heads, sumps and cams to fit whatever bill they are planned for. If you could find a very dead morgan anywhere, have the heads off that and stick them on the SD1 block.

 

Or try the bigger rover 3.9 from a range rover and put the injection system to good use!

[Guest kenton]

Have just been on ebay there is a 3.9 under £400 but i would like to remove from a running vehicle. also engines on ebay tend not to have all/any ancillaries.

What is a realistic budget for a running engine? £600?

[Guest salty_monk]

Like all old cars SD1's & Range Rovers succumb to rust... I would have thought a running car with no MOT needing chassis welding should be obtainable cheaper than that....

[Guest kenton]

Im not in any hurry as the westfield wont be finished for a few months. The new rh with rear wishbones may be worth looking at.

Just want to be ready when i need it.

[Guest elwe]

Complete SD1's tend to go for big money to be restored. I suppose you could buy one, break it up and resell most of the bits. I have an SD1 Vitesse engine in my garage I am not going to use now. I would sell it for the £100 I paid for it.

 

I bought a 3.9 from a Range Rover. It didn;t come with the ECU or airflow meter but I always planned to use a megasquirt anyway. It cost be £350 and I was able to see it running before it was removed from the RR. They guy I bought it from bough running RRs and breaks them for profit.

 

The 3.9 block has thicker cylinder walls than the 3.5 so in my view its a better starting point. The nice thing it you can take it to 5.5 litres and 500HP without too much trouble.

 

Now I am back from taking my sister to the pub I can finish off!

 

The 3.9 comes in two compression ratios, 8.somthing and 9.something. The 9.something is 184BHP as standard (?). Thats less than the european 3.5 vitesse. However all the 3.9s were mapped for emissions rather than power as the US version of the 3.5 vitesse was. With the change in ECU I will correct this. Also the RRs intake and exhaust systems are quite restrictive. With these things corrected it should be somewhere over 200BHP. Alan Rowe quotes his 3.9 as 240BHP with a holley carb. I would be interested to know if it has a performance cam in rather than the 4x4 one thats standard or any other changes in internals.

 

I am going to build with the standard 3.9 (but squirted) to start with and then look to get another block and rebuild it with 12:1 compression. Maybe I will up the size as well.

[Guest Alan_builder]

so that is what I am building im garage!

 

Nice one Elwe, all 8 cylinders!

 

I my RH

[Guest kenton]

On some adverts they quote compression ratios, does it make a lot of difference?

If so what is good.

In the friday add (free add mag) there is a stage 1 v8 landrover on the road £800 a simmilar price as a non runner sd1.

[Guest kenton]

Forgot to add 3.5ltr 48000 miles 1980 w reg

[Guest Alan_builder]

The compression ratio is a good lead to the BHP.

The rover starts @ 140 and up to 250HP without modification depending on what the engine was in.

The SD1 is a high compression and If I remember 220BHP

The rover web is the best starting place.

 

Elwe will tell U he is the expert!

 

He didn't take me to the pub!

 

I my RH

[Guest elwe]

I edited my above post to add a bit about compression ratios.

 

In my opinion the 8. something is too low to stay as it is. But it is just asking for forced induction. The 9.something is better but not ideal. The 3.9 isn't available with a higher ratio. The 3.5 from the P6 is available with a 10.75:1 ratio but its an old block and head design, cheap though. The 3.5 Vitesse I have in the garage is 10.25:1.

 

Because the later Rover V8s were mainly used in 4x4s you have a trade off between the latest designs and highest ratios. To get the ideal combination you need to rebuild the engine. Unless you can find a TVR engine for reasonable money. I believe their Rover V8 was 12:1. I plan to use TVR pattern pistons in the block I rebuild.

[Guest elwe]

In the friday add (free add mag) there is a stage 1 v8 landrover on the road £800 a simmilar price as a non runner sd1.

I don't belive a landrover engine of that age will have the stronger webbed block that came in part way through the SD1 range. It won't have the larger valves that came in with the SD1 either. I believe the lanrovers were all 8.25:1 or 8.33:1 compression.

 

£800 sounds a lot to me. What do you think you could get back for the bits you don't use? With an old SD1 you will get a gearbox you can use as well.

 

The RR engine I got for £350 was from a 1991 (or was it 1992?) RR with 72,000 on the clock.

[Guest elwe]

The SD1 is a high compression and If I remember 220BHP

Compression on the SD1s varied. The injection vitesse was 190BHP. I think that was the single throttle one, the very rare twin throttle put out a little more but the throttles were really too big for road use with a 3.5. They are supposed to be quite good on a 3.9.

[Guest kenton]

Thanks thats given me lots to think about, i will check out the specs of the different engines available before rushing to buy!!

kenton