The V8 Owners Forum -

hi all, didnt know what to put this in so put it here, my poor old rover 3,5 still doesnt want to pull off the line, tried it at 8 degrees btdc and 10 , it revs up fine but under load it just doesnt want to know, slow pull away then it picks up after about 2 car lengths, stall test only goes upto 1400, although i have ordered anew torque for it, any ideas qwhere else to look, rich

I'd keep retarding the timing until it pinks under load. Maybe it's way out still?

Chris.

Bones,

My Rover's original 3.5 litre was much the same. After 200,000 miles, she would still run off the line no problems, still smooth and quiet, but climb a steep hill...forget it. The pull was gone! On long hills where I once would have flown over, I was now relegated to the inside lane, with 4 cylinder buzz boxes passing me by.

Mine was a 10.5 : 1 CR, and I was running ignition timing at TDC @ 600rpm, as per the manual. I had the engine running this way for over 24 years.

When I stripped her down, I found the camshaft totally worn out, with some lobes almost non existant. The standard nylon toothed timing wheel had only one tooth left, all that remained of the others were stumps.
The Morse timing chain was soooo loose.

Of course it could also be your ignition timing, or carb settings or even blocked flame trap hoses and fittings.

How many miles on your Rover's clock?

Ron.

bones wrote:hi all, didnt know what to put this in so put it here, my poor old rover 3,5 still doesnt want to pull off the line, tried it at 8 degrees btdc and 10 , it revs up fine but under load it just doesnt want to know, slow pull away then it picks up after about 2 car lengths, stall test only goes upto 1400, although i have ordered anew torque for it, any ideas qwhere else to look, rich

Forget about static timing, it means nothing. You need to check the timing at running conditions, about 3000rpm to get some real idea of what is going on. get a timing light and test it at various rpm.

My SD1 motor wouldn't advance more than 25 degrees, until I modified it inside the distributor, and changed the springs to Real Steel lighter ones.

Do you have the vacuum advance connected?

sorry for not replying in june to this, the engine only done about 4000 miles, since re-build, and yes its still slow at pulling of the line, static timing is at 10 b,t,d,c as hyfire digi box only goes that high on the settings, could the problem be the lifter pre-load setting is wrong ,and it is wrong after the way it was done ,2 v8s built and we did the pre-load the same way and both cars not good at pulling away, and one was fuel injected, rich

Rich
If you come to the Pod on the 11th-12th October we can use my TDC tool to check your valve and ign timing mate.

Pel

ok ive been told this but i cant make sence of it, Take vac pipe off, rev to 3.500 rpm 34 degrees, back to idle vac on direct port max 10 degrees extra vac line on timed port, the carb ive got is a edelbrock 500, can someone help with this and make it easier, rich

Just be shure you'll use the timed port for the ignition.
Its common that people by mistake use the wrong vacuum port of the Edelbrock carbs for the ignition and with that you'll get the porblems you'll describe.

Ownersmanual here
Instalation instructions here

Imo the Edelbrock 500 is way too big and a Holley390 makes more sense on a 3.5 V8.
Shure you can make an Edelbrock 500 work by restricting the secondairies going fully open.
With a carb too big the car won't go off the line either.

I think you'd better search Fleebay for a Holley 390 list 8007.

Rich,

Contrary to what JP said the edelbrock 500 worked fine on my road modified 3.5. If you are riunning it out of the box then a change in Rods and jets would help and aid economy as well. On my last decent run to the Pod and back in an MGB the car averaged 27MPG with no vacuum advance.

The recommended rods are 1441 and jets 1421

If running vacuum the correct port on the carb looking from the front is the Left hand side one. I and others have metioned that the vacuum generated by the edelbrock does not suit the vacuum canister and as a result over advances the ignition, I wont be running vacuum on the new engine.

This is worth a read on how I re-built my dizzy, ably assisted by Pete.

http://www.v8forum.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4128


Kevin.

At the moment im not using the vacuum ,its plugged off, ive have changed the jets for use on the 3.5, and got a holley 390 in the garage, that was the first carb i used. according to the dvd that came with the edelbrock as you look at the carb from the front the left one is for the dizzy and the right one is for the gearbox if a vacuum is fitted to it, i think Paul at v8 tuner is right and its the cam, rich

Rich,

You are correct left hand side,I think I'm getting dyslexic! have edited post to correct.

kevin.