The V8 Owners Forum -

it's 20 years since i played with petrol engines and then it was minis so here goes
i have a 3.5 in a land rover its a 17d engine starts up fine, idles,drives perfectly but develops a loud knock in the front nearside when hot seems to be rev related any ideas ?? oil levels are fine oil is clean
the other question is about identification of an rover v8 engine i bought as a possible replacement it was a 'crate'engine shipped out to kuwait as a replacement for a 110 land rover it is fitted with a monster holley carb it has no engine number is there any way of working out what it is
any help would be great

Hmm, sounds like a big end / main bearing to me. I think I'd drop the sump and investigate all the bearings.

Without an engine number it could be anything! Is there a plate riveted to the flange at the rear of the engine with any info on it?

Chris.

Just as a quick check, before you drop the sump, check for an exhaust manifold leak at the head manifold juntion, this can give a very metalic sounding knock at times.
Mike

would a big end bearing not knock when it was cold too? this is only as it gets up to running temperature/hot and its a deep knock you can feel it through the wing if you lean against it

It could well be a main bearing cap/s which has/have worked loose. When hot from block expansion, the knocking will become evident.

My original 3.5 in the P6B had this. I removed the sump and found a number of main bearing cap bolts had worked loose.

Upon returning them to spec, the knocking was gone.

Ron.

On the subject of the 'mystery' engine. Is there a block casting number that you can see?

Ron.

ok casting marks aplenty
on the drivers side behind where the starter would sit is hrc2411
underneath the drivers side engine mount wyf11 ove hrc2411
and a large B next to each core plug and on the head 31 over 97 in a circle

Engine block HRC2411...this is a 38A, the last block casting design for the Rover V8. That block casting is either a 4.0 or a 4.6. Both use the same castng, but the latter have more material between the liners.

At a guess I would say that the heads were made in 1997.

Ron.

I could well be wrong here, but I am pretty sure that there is no way to externally distinguish between a 4.0 and a 4.6, as per your description of the build.

Ron.

all i know of the engine is this a friend was working out in kuwait and bought this 110 land rover with this engine fitted, it was according to it's arab owner a crate engine that was sent out from the uk and fitted to the 110 as the origional expired he told my friend it was supposed to be 250bhp ! but mike didn't get any supporting paperwork for the engine as he was just anxiuos to get the land rover , he came back to ireland and removed it to fit an oil burner, so i bought it from him

It could also be an intermediate 3.9 block. Way to tell is if it has the cross bolts along the crank or not.

Marki wrote...
"It could also be an intermediate 3.9 block. Way to tell is if it has the cross bolts along the crank or not."

It is my understanding that these blocks had casting number HRC 2493.

Ron.

not according to this http://www.britishv8.org/Articles/Affor ... ker-V8.htm

Hello Marki,

Thanks for that link.

I do however feel that it may not be correct.

On page 18 of Des Hammill's text..."How to Power tune Rover V8 engines"
there is a clear photo of an interim engine block, the bosses cast but not drilled for cross bolting, and the block casting number HRC 2493 clearly visible.

On page 21, a photo of the 38A block, used in the 4.0 and 4.6, the block casting nunber HRC 2411 clearly visible. The block is fully drilled.

Interim engines also use small journal crankshafts, thus a casting distinction will exist between the 2 blocks.

Ron.

Go with whatever source you feel is most reliable. As you quote daily from the Des Hammel book that will be your preferred source. Whether it is large or small journal might not be a casting change I imagine it will be a machining change. Never actually seen an unmachined block so don't know what that area looks like pre-machined.
Academic anyway if it has cross bolts chances are its 4.0-4.6 if it just has the pads its interim.