Proven rover v8 power figures.

ihatesissycars · Post by **ihatesissycars** » Wed Dec 06, 2006 12:11 pm

A general question for you all.

As i'm sure you'll all know theres alot of professional pub talk in regards to power figures from rovers so i've been trying to track down what really has been achieved with (naturally aspirated) them. Not including the wildcat engines which aren't really rover anymore the biggest figure i can recall was a tvr race car in Dave Walkers section of PPC, it looked to have rover cast heads (but obviously heavily modified) and made a genuine 400bhp. 5.0 i think it was.

Any other examples?

ian.stewart · Post by **ian.stewart** » Wed Dec 06, 2006 12:55 pm

276hp on walkers rollers from an 3.9

ihatesissycars · Post by **ihatesissycars** » Wed Dec 06, 2006 2:05 pm

Thats a bit bloody good that figure really!

JP. · Post by **JP.** » Wed Dec 06, 2006 3:12 pm

I once had 204 bhp @ 5500 rpm on the rollers before the blower buildup.
Specs where :
std 3.5 V8 9.35 cr,
Kent sports torque cam,
Edelbrock Performer intake,
Holley 390,
MSD 6 AL on stock points distibutor
and a twin 2 1/4" exhaust system with balance pipe.

Post by **katanaman** » Wed Dec 06, 2006 5:08 pm

5.0 tvr engine isnt rover anymore either. It has diff crank,rods,pistons,valves and the list goes on. It only really uses the bare block and head castings. If I remember right you cant even use rover shells as the journals are a diff size to both the rover crank sizes. Using a proper rover engine (4.6) I would say 300 ish is a fair power figure for NA

Ian Anderson · Post by **Ian Anderson** » Wed Dec 06, 2006 5:15 pm

Gavin
The one in the 40 came with a dyno readout of just over 250hp at about 5500rpm - done by JE in 1990 - Perhaps the 102 cam is pretty beefy!

Ian

ihatesissycars · Post by **ihatesissycars** » Wed Dec 06, 2006 5:22 pm

250 is good Ian! I hope mine bangs out something like that! What inlet setup are you using?

Marki, the tvr was in a race series of some sort, the one thats is sometimes on sunday mornings with the ferraris and maclaren f1 and so on. I think that engine was a completely no expense spared 1 off, Ian stewart knows a bit about it i believe from when he was at Dave Walkers. . . . . I've found out recently some intersting things about 5.0 tvr engines though, the "standard" ones fitted to griffs and so on. The crank i believe is a standard one offset ground or similar, one of rods but not special in any way but the scary thing was the pistons, standard 3.9 units just machined down top and bottom to clear the crank and not go above the block face, a weak piston made weaker and then asked to do more work!

Ian Anderson · Post by **Ian Anderson** » Wed Dec 06, 2006 7:35 pm

The engine was built by JE Motors in 1990

Full spec (other than I forgot to type Cam Vernier fitted can be seen here

http://www.v-8.org.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=207

All done with hotwire EFI but no lambdas and really rich when first run.

cheers
Ian

HairbearTE · Post by **HairbearTE** » Wed Dec 06, 2006 9:57 pm

All the RV8's that produce really high power with stock style heads have been very heavily modded. A 248 solid cam, huffaker/wildcat inlet, big valve heads properly developed and matched to inlet and a 650 or 750 holley can make 330-350 hp on a 4.6. I know someone who has an engine to this spec and it makes around 330hp. The engine I'm building at the mo comes in at only 4.4 but features some very trick pieces and i'm hoping to make good power @ high revs but i'm not going to bandy around figures until its finished! The best figures ive seen for a N/A rover v8 (non wildcat) was 408bhp in a hillclimb car, engine was built by John Eales.

Mark · Post by **Mark** » Wed Dec 06, 2006 11:04 pm

I had a 4.5 Rover that made 333bhp and 320 lbsft on Oseli's rolling road.
450 Mech sec holley carb
Harcourt inlet
Vulcan maxiflow 2 heads
Kent M238 cam
Mallaroy unlite
MSD blaster coil and MSD6AL ignition
Yella terra roller rockers and steel posts
Chrome molly pushrods
Group A steel rods
Crank from TVR power
linered SD1 block
block girdle
steel timing gears
4 into 2 into 1 exhaust manifolds with dual 2 1/4 inch system

still going strong over 10 years later

idle emissions were a bit on the high side though

Mark

mgbv8 · Post by **mgbv8** » Thu Dec 07, 2006 10:10 pm

Are we talking at the wheel or flywheel figures here?
My old V8 in my MGB does about 185 at the fly, about 155 at the wheels with no gas. 3.5 litre with a weber 4 barrel and a Typhoon cam on pump down lifters. Quite a good increase on the factory 134 at the fly I think.
With a 50 shot, it does 202 at the wheels and best time of 12.8 at the Pod.

r2d2hp · Post by **r2d2hp** » Thu Dec 07, 2006 10:43 pm

Mine is 220 at the wheels before the supercharger, Never been happy with these calculated FW HP estimates.

mgbv8 · Post by **mgbv8** » Fri Dec 08, 2006 9:08 am

I've only done one dyno.
There seems to be so much debate about different dynos giving different figures for the same car. I guess the trick is to keep using the same one to see how the motor is improving. I found it interesting the way they work out the transmission loss on the run down by the drag it causes.

ihatesissycars · Post by **ihatesissycars** » Fri Dec 08, 2006 9:35 am

mgbv8 wrote:Are we talking at the wheel or flywheel figures here?
My old V8 in my MGB does about 185 at the fly, about 155 at the wheels with no gas. 3.5 litre with a weber 4 barrel and a Typhoon cam on pump down lifters. Quite a good increase on the factory 134 at the fly I think.
With a 50 shot, it does 202 at the wheels and best time of 12.8 at the Pod.

You've done a 12.8 1/4 mile with 200bhp??????????????????????????

When i watched your video i thought you had piled in loads and loads of nitrous to get those times with a wee v8! How have you managed this? What gearbox, axle + axle ratio and tyres do you use? Any idea of car weight?

mgbv8 · Post by **mgbv8** » Fri Dec 08, 2006 6:24 pm

I have fitted a TH350 streetfighter 3 speed auto. I have fitted a holeshot 3000 converter to allow me to hold the brake on while I bring the revs up just before launch. I'm told I shouldnt use a transbrake on my setup. I'm using the original 31 year old diff, just overhauled and with a Phantomgrip diff locker (great bit of kit). Axle is a 3.07:1 standard MGB V8. But on that run in the video, I was using my BFG Drag Radials which have a diameter of 22" as opposed to the 24" that it should be (cant get slicks to fit 14" rims at the right diameter). I do have a concern that the cheater plate system I was using on that day was delivering a lot more nitrous than the 50 it should have been as I had noticed a massive difference when I warmed the bottle up from 600 to 900psi. The WON system I'm using now should give a much more measureable shot of gas. Thats why I want to get it back on the dyno to see the difference. The car only weighs 1100kg all up, so not very heavy. I did run the engine up to about 6500 rpm once I was in 2nd and third.

I'm hoping if the new setup works, I'll be shoving a 200 shot through a controller. I'm told old Saab 900 rims will have the same pcd as my MGB. So I can fit 15" rears and get some mickey thompson slicks at 24" or 26" if I can fit them in. I think this car should get into the 11's.

Trouble is, if it does, what then? Its great to hit a target when building a motor up, but then you sort of feel lost when its gone as far as it will go. Maybe look at a 3.9 lump. I have a spare tranny and converter, so might look at another build over 2007.
The most improvement over standard was the home made exhaust.