Rebuilding 3.5, what parts?

AdamSindrey · Post by **AdamSindrey** » Sat Feb 10, 2007 12:49 am

Hello. My name is Adam Sindrey and I own a 1977 Triumph Dolomite 1850HL. I've got myself a 3.5 litre Rover V8 from an SD1. It's a 155hp engine.

I'm rebuilding the engine to standard for now I know I need bottom end bearings and rings so far. Are there any manufacturers to avoid, i.e crapply made parts?

Also if I were to try and get about 200hp out of the engine what work would be needed?

Thanks, Adam

IainB · Post by **IainB** » Sat Feb 10, 2007 8:37 am

Hi Adam, welcome to the forum.
I always used to use http://www.realsteel.co.uk for all my Rover parts. As for 200bhp, a decent cam, carb setup and maybe some head work should see you on the way, im sure some of the others will be along soon to give further advice (its been a while since I did any Rover work!!)

sidecar · Post by **sidecar** » Sat Feb 10, 2007 11:54 am

Hi adam,

I agree with IainB, the real limit for a road going 3.5 is about 200-225 BHP (not bull shxt figures). You will lose some bottom end torque as the motor will need a top endy cam, ported heads possibly with big valves, a decent inlet manifold such as the edlebrock performer and a webber (carter) or holley carb. A good set of equal length headers will help too.

Your probably looking at 2k for that lot. (Dumping in a bigger motor may work out cheaper)

Regards,

Pete

sidecar · Post by **sidecar** » Sat Feb 10, 2007 11:57 am

Oh, by the way Real Steel are very good but be prepared for endless pixx taking as you have a Rover lump! (And they'll try and flog you a holley)

AdamSindrey · Post by **AdamSindrey** » Sat Feb 10, 2007 1:25 pm

Ok I don't want to spend £2k on the engine

With a rebuilt engine, that viper hurricane hydraulic cam that real steel sell, some K and N style air filters what kind of torque and HP figures can I expect?

I'd be happy with 155hp but if I'm replacing worn bits (cam for instance) I may aswell get a sportier one

I know of a fella with a 165hp EFI V8 in his Dolomite. Timed it to 60 at 5.8 seconds!

(that'll be Lewis of this forum actually! lol)

Thanks, Adam

sidecar · Post by **sidecar** » Sat Feb 10, 2007 2:42 pm

You may get 165 at the flywheel with the cam, don't forget that you'll need new followers as well. RS may try to sell you bleed down followers, be a bit wary as they are noisy by all accounts. My motor runs the typhoon cam perfectly well with standard range rover followers. (V8 Developments said this was an OK setup).

You could get the heads skimmed as that won't cost much and will give you a useful torque and BHP boost across the rev range. Don't go mad, 9.75 - 10 : 1 is high enough. You could get enough skimmed off to allow the use of composite head gaskets, rather than the leak prone tin jobbies.

Good luck and enjoy the re-build!

Regards,

Pete

AdamSindrey · Post by **AdamSindrey** » Sat Feb 10, 2007 3:29 pm

Followers? Sorry new to the rover V8, where about would these be on the engine?

Thanks for the luck

Adam

IainB · Post by **IainB** » Sat Feb 10, 2007 4:46 pm

AdamSindrey wrote:Followers? Sorry new to the rover V8, where about would these be on the engine?

Followers / Lifters one and the same thing
Sit above the cam.... so would go cam/followers/pushrod/rocker/valve

p.s. did you follow Lewis from OCUK?

AdamSindrey · Post by **AdamSindrey** » Sat Feb 10, 2007 4:51 pm

OCUK?

Yer I know what the lifters are

New standard ones or anything special?
These are more than likely on the rebuild list anyway.

Adam

ihatesissycars · Post by **ihatesissycars** » Sat Feb 10, 2007 6:48 pm

I'd seek some late 10 bolt heads or 2nd hand peformance jobbies, get the Typhoon cam (you may lose a bit of bottom end but sod it!) high rev lifters and duplex timing chain kit, and a 4 barrel carb and manifold of some sort. I reckon if you search egay and the classifieds you could do that for less than a grand and easily pass the 200 bhp mark.

AdamSindrey · Post by **AdamSindrey** » Sat Feb 10, 2007 6:51 pm

Excellent

Does the Rover V8 have any achileas heels (or however its spelt) ?

Thanks, Adam

adamnreeves · Post by **adamnreeves** » Sat Feb 10, 2007 7:01 pm

A few I have heard of:

1. Poor oil pressure on older engines due to external oil pump driven by the camshaft. Intermediate or Serpentine timing cover fix the issue where the oil pump is driven by the crankshaft.

2. Cylinder 7 and 8 bore cracking behind the liner leading to liner dropping. This was due to quality problems but I think this only affected the later higher capacity blocks 3.9/4.0/4.6. This was because the cylinder bore being larger is very close to the water jacket.

I think these are the two main ones. I am sure others will add!

AdamSindrey wrote:Excellent

Does the Rover V8 have any achileas heels (or however its spelt) ?

Thanks, Adam

softdash3.9 · Post by **softdash3.9** » Sat Feb 10, 2007 9:24 pm

When I rebilt my 3.9, I sourced the mains and big ends bearings + gaskets from www.paddockspares.com cheap as chips, spend over £50 and postage is free

(recommend buying high quality head gaskets though, especially if using tin gaskets as I have has spurious ones let me dow

Cheapest rings were from RPI, where I bought my camshaft kit, if looking for a minor lift use a std spec 3.9 cam, good for @ 10hp.

ChrisJC · Post by **ChrisJC** » Mon Feb 12, 2007 8:21 am

I use Paddocks, Rimmer bros and RPi for my spares.

The other achilles heel is that the main bearing caps fret on the pre cross-bolt blocks. (i.e. 3.5 litre engines). Not that I think it's a serious issue in normal applications....

Chris.

kiwicar · Post by **kiwicar** » Mon Feb 12, 2007 9:50 am

Hi
for basic mods I would stick with SU's if you have them, clean up casting marks and blend any sharp edges in the heads (if you have P6 heads chuck em out and go for sd1 or later heads) open out the valve throat area by a couple of mm with a cutter using the guide as a center, don't remove material fron the short turn radius on either port unless you know exactly what you are doing otherwise a basic cklean up some compressioon (at least 9.35:1) and a decent cam and the right needles for the carbs (with a cold air intake for the carbs, not a pair of belmouths sucking from above the exhausts ) should get you close to 200 bhp, a set of headers should take you to just the other side then EFI set up and an aftermarket ECU, more head work (or different aftermarket heads), this is where it gets cheeper to go for a 4.6! (or a small block chevy or ford, where bits are really cheep) the 3.5 seems to hit a max output of about 230bhp on the road. I used paddoces, 4x4 center, Reel steal, and RPI, for bits, only RPI would I have reservations about as they are hard sell merchants and a bit pricy, Paddocks are very well priced and know the basic stuff very well.
good luck
Mike