The V8 Owners Forum -

Having left the carb off overnight the “wet” manifold port is still wet and feels oily. Can’t tell from smelling if it’s oil or antifreeze. Any thoughts on identifying a source? Has anyone heard from Sidecar recently? He seems to have taken a break from passing on his enormous practical experience?

Very late to the problem but I had the similar problem which was cured by a simple pcv outlet, from real steel, direct to the centre vacuum port on the front of the carb.

Hope you also ready sorted.

Hi I’ve been chasing poor running and idling for months on a rebuilt 4.6l Rover. I’m using an offy dual plane manifold that was fine for 15years on a 3.9l with the same carb and distributor. I changed to sidecars suggestions on the needles and springs at the weekend without improvement. I’ve just re...

Thanks for the suggestion, as I said I can’t put a figure to the btdc that I’m using, just the best speed I could achieve when adjusting the distributor. I’m going to start a new post in the engine section as I’ve taken the carb off and found that the right hand rear barrel appears to be flooding as...

Hi Richard Haven’t got any Lambda (?) sensors fitted to measure afr. Started with the 3.9 settings, which I believe are the base 1404 I ran for 15 years, went up and down on the needles and springs but didn’t stumble on a better setting. Real steel and rpi both say base settings for 1404 ok for 4.6l...

Thanks Ian/Chris I’ll try using the jump leads for extra earthing not something I thought of as the braided earth from battery to engine looks to be in good condition. If I knew a garage that would do more than twiddle the idle screws I would book in for a reading. Asked the local American cruisers ...

Hi, Recently had a rebuilt 4.6l Rover engine fitted to replace a smooth idling and running but tired 3.9l, both fitted with a piper 270 cam. The 4.6 has the non serpentine front cover. I transferred over the distributor and edelbrock 1404 but cannot get the new engine to idle smoothly or cruise with...

Slight deviation but same general topic. Has anyone had experience of using a steel interface plate instead of refacing the aluminium face of the pump body? Refacing removes any trace of the original anodising leaving a soft bearing area which must wear more quickly than originally. Got a vague memo...

Thanks everyone, I’ve settled on 3/16” as the way to go and ordered some. Hopefully will be sorted and back on the road soon.

Thanks Ged

Found a helpful chart on the Spirol website of pin sizes and hole variations. A 3/16” pin is ok for a hole up to just over 5mm so going on my theory that Lucas would be imperial that would seem to be the size to go for in the absence of anyone having a definitive spec. Thanks for the advice and I’ll...

Thanks for suggesting having a look at Rimmers - lots of distributor spares but no pins.

I’ve looked at quite a lot of Rover and Land Rover sites for spares but not come across the pin. I think the assumption is you already have the pin and just need a new drive gear to use with the old pin.

Haven’t got anything other than a ruler so can’t very accurate on the hole in the gear that’s already predrilled - just know from offering up a 3/16” drill that is too small but a 5 mm catches. I think the pin theory is the hole shouldn’t be greater than the nominal pin size so somewhere between the...

Thanks Ratwing.
Hoping someone can tell me what the size should be if all else fails

Hi, can anyone help get hold of the roll pin holding the Lucas distributor drive gear in place on a Rover V8? Converting a Mallory MBI drive gear to a Lucas style as the current gear is looking tired. The Mallory drive gear seems to be unavailable and uses a much smaller roll pin so I can’t swap it ...