Newbie - tell me about the rover v8!

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douchecalamondaes
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Newbie - tell me about the rover v8!

Post by douchecalamondaes »

Hi everyone, I am from herts, I build pickup trucks and have been looking at the rover v8 as another possible engine swap, my parents old P6 is sitting in the barn rusting away and that is all I know about the rover v8, and all that wiki can tell me.

I am interested in the 300+ hp 5litre versions from the TVR's I had no idea the rover could make that much power, i thought 250 would be the limit, but 340 makes it a monster, especially with its massive torque and tiny size.

I am already doing a 1UZ-FE swap, but I was wondering on the rough cost and availability of these tvr engines, can a 4.6 be built up to the same spec as a 5litre without ridiculous cost involved?

also at some point in the future I plan to put one in an MGBT which currently has the 1.8.

thanks very much for your help in advance.

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Post by DaveEFI »

The common stock sized engines can be excellent value for money used. Once you start looking for much more power than they make, it might be more sense to source an entirely different unit which gives that as standard.
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douchecalamondaes
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Post by douchecalamondaes »

but the 5.0 HC is a "factory engine" am I wrong?

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Post by DaveEFI »

douchecalamondaes wrote:but the 5.0 HC is a "factory engine" am I wrong?
Sort of - but not so common as a 4.6, so is going to cost a lot more.
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Post by ChrisJC »

The 4.6 from a Range Rover P38 is easily the most common 'high powered' engine. Anything from TVR is going to be rare and expensive.

You can get an entire Range Rover for a grand.

Just bear in mind that you would be wise to get it relinered (£1000) before using it as they all crack behind the liner.

Chris.
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Series IIA 4.6 V8
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douchecalamondaes
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Post by douchecalamondaes »

steel liners on the 4.6? they only make 220hp though, I was looking for a bit more, any other common faults? and any way to get them towards the 250mark?

thanks again guys, just testing the water

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Post by ChrisJC »

You can get 250 from a 4.6 with a cam change and a spot of head work. That's easily achievable. 300 is starting to push it though.

The bottom end is fine, but the heads are lousy, it just can't get enough air / fuel into it.


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douchecalamondaes
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Post by douchecalamondaes »

yea this is what I am assuming TVR changed to get 340 from the 5litre?

are there many aftermarket heads which are copies of the tvr type or higher flow at least?

or are people supercharging?

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Post by ChrisJC »

TVR just ported standard Rover heads as far as I am aware. They certainly never cast any of their own.

Also, their claimed 340BHP doesn't stand up to scrutiny....

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Post by DaveEFI »

ChrisJC wrote:TVR just ported standard Rover heads as far as I am aware. They certainly never cast any of their own.

Also, their claimed 340BHP doesn't stand up to scrutiny....

Chris.
I've often thought that the emphasis so many put on peak BHP encourages makers to make dubious claims.

On most road vehicles, it's the shape of the torque curve and how much of that it produces that makes it fun to drive.
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douchecalamondaes
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Post by douchecalamondaes »

thanks again dave and chris, wise words, I know the rover makes plenty of torque, (well over 300? if I remember right) from all of the peak models, but the rev line gets very low on the 4.6, 4750rpm?! cmon for a petrol thats poor, at least 5000! I am assuming its land rover's safety margin.

I am no stranger to engine work, I cant imagine its too hard to put a cam in a rover, and with only 2 ports porting should be easy. never changed liners but a big hammer would be my solution to that.

basically pick up a cheap 4.6 and get to work with the old school stuff then? that the advice?

my next question would be, they are all injected correct (yknow-post 1980 and colour tv etc) so how do the ECU's take to being swapped over? immobilisers etc etc I would prefer carbs as I hate wires but, I can see that as a pipe dream

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Post by ChrisJC »

I have built a 4.6 engine up with the older timing cover / sump / ancillaries / ignition / carbs. There's a couple of nuances, but it's not hard.

The 'flapper' type fuel injection as fitted to the SD1 and earlier Range Rover EFi's has no notion of an immobiliser, and can be transplanted easily if one understand how it works.
The 'hotwire' is the next one, which is pretty popular and you can use Megasquirt with it.
Later than that are GEMS and Motronic which do understand immobilisers and are problematic for that reason.

Chris.
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Series IIA 4.6 V8
R/R P38 4.6 V8
R/R L405 4.4 SDV8

douchecalamondaes
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Post by douchecalamondaes »

ChrisJC wrote:I have built a 4.6 engine up with the older timing cover / sump / ancillaries / ignition / carbs. There's a couple of nuances, but it's not hard.

The 'flapper' type fuel injection as fitted to the SD1 and earlier Range Rover EFi's has no notion of an immobiliser, and can be transplanted easily if one understand how it works.
The 'hotwire' is the next one, which is pretty popular and you can use Megasquirt with it.
Later than that are GEMS and Motronic which do understand immobilisers and are problematic for that reason.

Chris.
thanks chris, do you have a rough idea of the performance , (particularly torque curve) you get from a carb'd dizzied? 4.6? can it rival a standard 4.6 with the efi? and whats the (very rough) extra cost of those parts?

thanks

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Post by DaveEFI »

Any of the RV8 injections systems can be the basis for a MegaSquirt. Which would immediately get round any immobiliser - and allow easy mapping for any modifications to the engine. The latest version, the Thor, isn't so popular for conversions as it uses an entirely different design of the induction side, specifically to increase low end at the expense of the top end.

If you buy an used engine, it will likely come with the majority of the injection anyway. So to change back to a carb and dizzy could cost more that a MegaSquirt, and not be as good.
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Post by ChrisJC »

douchecalamondaes wrote:
ChrisJC wrote:I have built a 4.6 engine up with the older timing cover / sump / ancillaries / ignition / carbs. There's a couple of nuances, but it's not hard.

The 'flapper' type fuel injection as fitted to the SD1 and earlier Range Rover EFi's has no notion of an immobiliser, and can be transplanted easily if one understand how it works.
The 'hotwire' is the next one, which is pretty popular and you can use Megasquirt with it.
Later than that are GEMS and Motronic which do understand immobilisers and are problematic for that reason.

Chris.
thanks chris, do you have a rough idea of the performance , (particularly torque curve) you get from a carb'd dizzied? 4.6? can it rival a standard 4.6 with the efi? and whats the (very rough) extra cost of those parts?

thanks
I had my engine tuned on a rolling road, and it delivered about 250BHP, which is more than the standard 4.6 fuel injection engine.
It was running twin 2" SU's on a ported inlet manifold.
Camshaft was a Piper 270, which compromises a little on bottom end torque for top end power. Before then I had a TorqueMAX cam from RPi, ,which was definitely torquier.
I was running a MegaJolt Lite Jr mapped ignition system, which does give a little over a distributor as I could map it spot on whilst on the rolling road.

Chris.
--
Series IIA 4.6 V8
R/R P38 4.6 V8
R/R L405 4.4 SDV8

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