The V8 Owners Forum -

i thought i'd introduce myself via the forums target subject,,v8 powered cars

ive had this car since 2008 and ran it for a year completey bog standard
this didnt stay that way for long as it was terribly unreliable ,if it wasnt headgaskets,,it was the standard 10 derived running gear dying

so with all that in the bin i swapped to a RV8,LDV 200 lt77s and shortened prop,,and a sprint salisbury axle over a few months

as bought,,bog stock 1500hl,,no rot,,but terrible running gear
2.5 years later,,,


rover 3.5,,10A block home ported heads with waisted stem valves
4CU efi ,,,range rover mapping so quite sluggish throttle response ,,but quite quick generally
not sure what cam was fitted as it had been rebuilt extensively but it managed 153bhp and 220lb/ft owhen it had a terribly restrictive exhaust and a 40mm weber dfi,,now fitted with something that has bends rather than mitre joints


nothings really changed in this area,,aside from the max power rev counter replacing the 4cyl unit,,and extra guages to watch the oil psi and temp,,and a econometer for those times when i need to achieve the 33mpg it can do now and again


brakes have been sorted out,,,vented up front and discs at the back,,much better than 222mm solids up front ,,with 10" drums at the back like it used to

hasnt got a LSD at present,,,i think a se5 scimitar axle and a powerlock would be the way to go with this but this axle doesnt whine or have any signs of damage from hard starts etc

next on the list was a 4.6,,but i think price wise they seem to be abit mad given i built this car in under 1500quid all in so maybe supercharging ,,or a better value for money 3.9 as this car is quick,,,but not that quick

Very nice.

You can get the original rev counter adjusted to do 8 cylinders if you want to?

Chris.

i should have done that really in hindsight but i sold it as soon as the 1500 was pulled out

one possibility will be a mk2 stag tacho as it fits the car in the same way without modifiying and can read the electric ignition coil properly

one thing that it defo needs in the short term is a 3.08 diff as the 3.45 cwp means a mere 23.4mph per 1000rpm

Hi,

Welcome,

Great car, had a Sprint before my first TR7.

Was it your car i saw up at Stoneliegh Triumph day last year I am sure there was a Dolly V8 there

Cheers John

ive only had the triumph on the road for 7 months and embarasingly havnt been to any shows in it yet but there are a few other v8 powered dolomites knocking about so i'm sure there will have been one at the show no doubt

Nice street sleeper !

Every car looks right with a V8 under the bonnet!

Have you thought what the world of mid 70s cars would have been like if BL had released this as a production car?? The golf GTi would have seemed very dull when it came along
Best regards
Mike

kiwicar wrote:Have you thought what the world of mid 70s cars would have been like if BL had released this as a production car?? The golf GTi would have seemed very dull when it came along
Best regards
Mike

The Dolly Sprint was pretty wild.

they wouldn't of released it tho, wasn't there a fuel crisis on?

Probably more to the point, they had the V8 Stag, and a V8 Dolly would take sales away from that.

Also, the Triumph V8 had 'issues', which is the one that would have been fitted. Is it heavier than the Rover lump?

There was also the MGB V8, hardly a success.

Chris.

""There was also the MGB V8, hardly a success. ""

Only takes a few quid and a bit of imagination to change the 130hp MGB V8 into a real contender eh ??

Nice looking dolly though.. Get yourself down to the Retro show at the Pod in july to show that off with our cars ??

ChrisJC wrote:Probably more to the point, they had the V8 Stag, and a V8 Dolly would take sales away from that.

How so? They are totally different cars.

i most certainly will make the effort to attend the retro show as ive always been meaning to get down to santapod at some stage

i think a dolomite v8 could have been possible but it already had the option of 4 engine sizes ,,i think the triumph 2000 would have been better placed for factory v8 power being essentially what the stag was based on
if the rear driveshafts werent so problematic ,,i'd have done the conversion to a 2000 rather than a dolomite

i think the stag engine is something like 240kg compared to a sub 200kg rover so a 3litre v8 could be used with a stag gearbox and slant 4 subframe and not be too wildly heavy

Hi
Can you please send me some pics of the sump / power steering area as I am doing the same a 3.9 rover V8 into a 75 1850 Dolomite any info would help and would be very grateful.
Thanks Larry PS email laza56@live.com.au.