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Posted: Tue Apr 28, 2009 6:48 pm
by ChrisJC
The Rover is pretty compact, you can get a 5.0 litre Rover in not much more space than a 2.0litre Pinto, and it weighs about the same too.
It might be a bit fairer to compare power to weight ratio of the RV8 to see how it compares to the big lumpy American V8's.
But the Rover is mostly limited by the heads, they are not designed for big power. If you stuck on a pair of Lotus heads (they have the same bore spacing), then it would go a bit better....

Chris.

Posted: Tue Apr 28, 2009 7:17 pm
by sidecar
ppyvabw wrote:
CastleMGBV8 wrote:Basically we are talking about a 50+ year old design
but so is a chevy or ford and they p*** all over rovers litre for litre don't they?

A standard Chevy won't p*** all over the Rover in terms of BHP per litre. The thing is with the Chevy or Ford lumps is that very modern after market heads have been designed for them and that is what most people will have fitted, yes they are still two valve jobbies (which is the big killer for these engines) but the ports have all been massively improved.

Also as the SBC or SBF lumps are bigger to start with so they can run a more radical cam as standard, if this was done on the little Rover lump all the bottom end would go down the pan. :shock:

Finally there are a lot of roller cams around for the SBC and SBF lumps, these allow very rapid opening and closing of the valves whilst not having too much overlap, again this gives a big boost in BHP. As far as I know there are not many roller cams for the RV8, and the components required to use one seem more expensive than for the yank lumps. (Economy of scale I guess).

All just my humble!

Pete

Posted: Tue Apr 28, 2009 8:41 pm
by mgbv8
The beauty of the RV8 for me is that you can build yourself a nice engine for around a grand which will give you good road use and reliability assuming you are ok to assemble at home.

The best bit for me is the fact that these engines will take immense amounts of stress for short periods. Which is why I use them for drag racing on a tight budget.

Posted: Tue Apr 28, 2009 10:21 pm
by HairbearTE
The cost of many rover bits is expensive when compared to sbc and ford engines but only gets REALLY expensive if you try to make big hp with a normally aspirated engine. Ultimately power is limited by the size of the valves on the Rover V8.

Posted: Tue Apr 28, 2009 10:44 pm
by chodjinn
True true, but you know what? I kinda like the idea of tuning Rovers, I know it's a Buick design, but hell it's pretty much British lol :)

Maybe it's something to do with taking things a bit further I dunno. But my MG was meant to have a Rover V8 in it, and I like collecting rare parts for my next build because it will be something special hehe!

Posted: Mon May 04, 2009 7:14 pm
by DR JONES
in terms of why are the are they so expensive from the likes of
RIP
V8 DEVELOPMENTS
AND LAST BUT NOT LEAST J E DEVELOPMENTS ??? ETC

Posted: Mon May 04, 2009 7:29 pm
by chodjinn
DR JONES wrote:in terms of why are the are they so expensive from the likes of
RIP
V8 DEVELOPMENTS
AND LAST BUT NOT LEAST J E DEVELOPMENTS ??? ETC
Well they ain't gonna give the parts away now are they? They're tuning companies, and that's the price parts cost to tune a Rover, plus you get their experience and know-how. You have to remember that pro-rata not that many Rovers are used or tuned (the world over), say compared to Chevys or Fords, so parts are always going to be more.

Posted: Mon May 04, 2009 7:37 pm
by kiwicar
RPI.... they think because you have a range rover you are a mug and will pay what they ask.
V8 developments . . . specialist tuners, high overheads, relatively small turnover of parts, you normally buy parts as part of a package of tuning work so when the labour is added in the parts are a small part of the package. Further they will only sell top brand parts (non pattern) often imported by them from the states in small quantaties.
JE Developments. . . Much the same as V8 developments.
there are cheeper places, depending what you want, pattern parts fron Ebay if you know exactly what you want. Direct from people like Summit in the states (215 buick parts like bearing shells). Cams from crane and comp cams and iskydine again Buick 215. Convert to Chevy small block where you can, for tappets/ pushrods/ rockers con rods and pistons (not straightforward but a cheeper source of specialist high performance parts.
It boils down alot to my previous answer, the rover V8 was only made in small quantities, there is only a tiny market for tuning parts, any of the Chevy aftermarket head manufacturers will have cast more performance heads for the SBC than Rover will have ever cast for normal production.
Mike

Posted: Fri May 08, 2009 9:04 am
by 450 racein
the likes of rip/ v8 didnt develop v8 n co just put motors together, they dont make any thing or engineer anything its all out sourced. if you by into the chain you will pay high price .
The secret if knowing where all ste parts come from and who makes them!!
ie/ buy a 5ltr from rip!! errr which comes from v8dev rip dont do naff all, but v8 dev get all ther blocks from /
chesman engineering cov tel 02476689665 ask for steve he's fab!
the crank rods and pistonds come from wildcat eng Ian Richardson
tel 01341450200
he gets the cranks from
nash charmers in birmingham the pistons come from diamond in the usa
0018107926620
Its all balanced by midland balancing tel 07768577222
etc etc etc
rip get most small parts from real steel 01895440505 ,so cut them all out as do v8 dev and je dev

Posted: Fri May 08, 2009 9:12 am
by chodjinn
^^^ All those facts are pretty well known mate. And yes, you may save some money by going direct to each individual company. But at the end of the day, once you've spent time and money contacting and arranging things with each of these separate companies, paying for shipping etc on parts, it actually works out cheaper to just go to, say V8D and pay them for everything.

Personally speaking I can't afford to just walk into a tuning company, slap down a blank check and point to an engine and say 'that one, with this spec' etc. In fact not a lot of people can say they can do that. I'm collecting all my parts bit by bit, paying for things bit by bit, and when I've got what I want, I'll go to V8D and tell them to bolt it all together for me and make a monster engine!

Posted: Sat May 09, 2009 11:27 am
by DR JONES
Ah ha finaly , someone on the right track/ mr 450 racein.
how long have you had rover v8's ?
Me , since 1970.
sound like you know who's who!

chody , why v5/3,8 ths dev they aint that good.
Have a word with Dave Butcher ,
he was the brains at J E and a sound engine developer & builder .
rova un tec , that gang are way to hit and mis

Posted: Sat May 09, 2009 12:35 pm
by CastleMGBV8
Translation?

Posted: Sat May 09, 2009 8:27 pm
by DR JONES
be specific

Posted: Sun May 10, 2009 7:40 pm
by mgbv8
I cant complain about the prices I get at JE for the builds I do.
JE only do minor engineering for me like skims, decks and valve guide mods and I do the builds myself.
I also collect my parts in person from JE, and then pick their brains for advice which they are more than willing to do.
I was in the mire for parts last Friday well after JE closed. But a call to John had him opening up to sell me some stuff. Only £40 worth, but he still helped me out. I suppose him living on site does help though. But at least he answered the phone for a small sale.

Real Steel have never been cheap. But if you need something urgently they will no doubt have it in stock at 11am on a Saturday morning when you are in the crap. And the lads on the counter have always been very helpful.

I've only dealt with V8D once. Great advice. But delivery very slow.

Good info there Mr 450. Thanks for the heads up.

Posted: Mon May 11, 2009 10:44 am
by 450 racein
HI MGBV8, JE D PRICES ARE DEAR TRUST ME, SHOP ABOUT, HE CAN ONLY SKIM HEADS ALL OTHER HEAD WORK IS DONE AT CHESMAN ENG IN COV / GO DIRECT. WATCH OUT !! HE BLOWS HOT AND COLD , HE IS VERY SHORT OF WORK AT THE MOMENT. HE IS WELL KNOWN FOR FISHING PEOPLE IN AND PULLING YOUR PANTS OFF LATER, PS WATCH OUT FOR THE ROTWIELER SHIRLEY / THE DUTCH AUCTION SPECIALIST!!!
SHE AND HE HAVE HAD ME AND MY MATES, NEVER AGAIN!!! WE ARE FAR TO TECHNICAL , APPARENTLY .WE KNOW WHAT WE ARE DOING & CAN MEASURE AND HAVE A DISLIKE ON BEING TOLD ONE PRICE AND SPEC ONLY TO GET SOMETHING OTHER!! errr HATE THAT.
MOST OF HIS STUFF IS 2ND AND 3RD RATE REJECT SCRAP HE GOT FROM PTP WHEN THEY FINISHED.


HEY DOC! DONT SEND CHODY TO DAVE BUTCHER , HE'S A GREAT CHAP AND WONT WANT TO BUILD HIS STUFF , IT SOUNDS LIKE HE HAS COLECTING BIT HERE AND THERE, ERR NOT GOOD IDEA , HE IS BETER OF HAV'IN A GO HIMSELF.

IN ANSWER TO DOC 40 YEARS AND KNOW THEM ALL!!! TO WELLAND ALL THE SECRETS TO WHICH /

OK THEN CHODY YOU RUN A EFI , WHERE DO YOU GET THE 71/72 MM PLENUMS FROM?