The V8 Owners Forum -

Guys, just a quick one to see what variations of Rover V8 there are out there.... basicaly I need to get some parts for the rebuild on my 3.5, but there are serpentine blocks & non serpentine blocks..... are there any others and how do you distinguish between them?

Cheers
Jono

Hi
For rover engines,
Basically there are 2 bore sizes, the 3.5L bore size, and the 3.9L, 4.0L, 4.2L and 4.6L. There are 2 bearing sizes, those used on 3.5, 3.9 and 4.2 engines and those used 4.0 and 4.6L engines. so there are basically 3 blocks, 3.5 blocks, 3.9 / 4.2L and 4.0 / 4.6L.
There are obviously a selection of cranks, but fundementally 3.5 and 3.9 blocks will take 3.5, 3.9 and 4.2 cranks and a 4.0/4.6 blocks will take 4.0/4.6 cranks.
There are various other variations made by TVR, Leyland Australia and Buick but is you have any questions about interchanging bits someone on here will know.
Front covers can be fitted onto pretty much any block by using a selection of spacers.
You can also fit a selection of pistons and rods from chevy, buick and ford, and Buick 300 heads can be made to fit. . . welcome to the mad world of rover engines.
Best regards
Mike

Nice one mike it is all a bit confusing when you start out by the looks of it! LOL
So what is the difference between the serpentine and non serpentine??
The engine I am rebuilding is out of a later SD1 with the EFi system (although this is now going to be running a Holley 390)

Cheers
Jono

Jono FD3 wrote:
[snip]

The engine I am rebuilding is out of a later SD1 with the EFi system (although this is now going to be running a Holley 390)

Cheers
Jono

That's your first mistake.

Na, doing it for 3 reasons matey,
1: couldn't be arsed messing about with wireing as it is going in to a truck
2: Didn't have the injection setup from the engine, plenum, harnace or ECU
3: got a cheep carb setup!

although I'll see how she performes and if I want a bit more go I'll get an injection manifold and doctor it to run 8 46mm bike carbs.

Jono

Hi
Serpentine front cover has a crank driven oil pump and no provision for distributor, If you are opting for a leaky bucket to do your fuel for simplicity then go with the non serpentine front cover. Otherwise go Megasquirt and rover injection manifold and a serpentine front end and use the MSQ to do your sparks aswell!!
Best regards
Mike

I'm going carb too, looks nicer, I know how they work and I'm crap at setting EFi up, however, never heard anything bad about megasquirt. Unless you have the twin bowl Holley try and get it horizontal, they don't like it otherwise.

intermediate 3.9 and 4.2 engines have a serp belt system with a long nose for a crank driven oil pump and a distributer. The late interim blocks also have provison (need to be drilled) for cross bolting too but use the smaller crank journal. These interim engines also have 10 bolt heads and 28cc combustion chambers. early interm blocks had 14 holes later interm blocks had 10. Heads also used stretch bolts. interim blocks also use a thrust plate to hold the cam inplace.

I've got a late interim block in my 110

kiwicar wrote:Hi
Serpentine front cover has a crank driven oil pump and no provision for distributor, If you are opting for a leaky bucket to do your fuel for simplicity then go with the non serpentine front cover. Otherwise go Megasquirt and rover injection manifold and a serpentine front end and use the MSQ to do your sparks aswell!!
Best regards
Mike