Chris Gale

Thanks all ... starting to get this armchair engineering project progressed !! 10.5:1 with composites looks like the best option ... with ARP bolts and adjustable pushrods ... Gearbox etc stay as is after going through the Ashcroft Calculator ... but a move from 15" + crossplies to 16" wheels will happen sometime .. Thor manifolds with fuel rail - injectors - TPS sensor are on the kitchen table !! Anyone got any photos of how to get the fuel tank out of a 110 ?! Mine has the Dormobile floor and kitchen unit so hope it drops out the bottom of the chassis rails ? Cheers Chris

Thanks ... I'll save the pain for the 302 then (we need traction control and a few other things) ... so should I do MS1 or 2 ? Also the Thor manifold based conversion looks really neat and doesn't seem to have any minus points ? I've bought a couple of Rover V8 books that will be arriving shortly to continue the Armchair R&D ... V1 Urgent - Looks like extract and dismantle - chemically wash to get rid of the black gunk - check the heads again - hone block - 9.25:1 pistons - composite gaskets - ARP studs + bolts - Mini studs - Range Rover Classic manifolds - fit the trigger wheel to the bottom pulley whilst out. V2 Armchair Pipe and Slippers - Thor + MS + Range Rover in tank pump and new fuel lines ...

Damn .. I'm the one diverting the thread ! .. Blackford just off the A303 ... perfect for a test drive 🙂 We're moving to Bideford ..

This is her on the only permanent four wheel drive rolling road with an entrance tall enough !! I couldn't believe how gutless she was and thought playing with timing and fuel would get me big gains .... not the case ... the drive home was painful ... then other things got in the way. The engine has done 80,000 ... bores are good, compression test good, distributor advance curve is correct ... mixture good ... eliminated as much as I could ..this is how I got to to the engine rebuild with compression ratio increase. Just wanted to keep the topic on track 🙂

Thanks to all for this. Rover V8's are new to me .. FridgeFreezer - I'm on the Old Worting Road behind the Fire Station .... mine is the light green Land Rover 110 Dormobile seen going around the Ring Road 🙂 Would love to pick your brains before I start pulling bits off and also thanks for the hints on minor modifications. I think Range Rover Classic cast iron exhaust manifolds may also be a good upgrade. My engine had SU's with the funny air injection pipes into the heads to try to get emissions down ... I want to keep the 3.5 block .. I have some friends in the US who have first refusal if I sell her and they want matching numbers. Also my 110 has solid discs front and drums rear and I don't want to go into axle changes etc ... She was bought to tow a car trailer for other toys (Ford Pre Crossflow engined) but has so far failed miserably .... after lockdown you can have a go and see just how bad ... I'm very confident mechanically, come from an IT tech background and being locked down has given me way too much reading time to do "MegaSquirt Armchair Engineering". I *really* like the Thor conversion but also have the "calling" to do a V3 sequential for lots of non Rover reasons (Ford 302 based !) I think I'll do the first rebuild with the 9.35:1 pistons and the composite gaskets with the exhaust change (its a bitch getting to the starter motor with the current strange manifolds) ....and see if I can get a reasonable amount of performance. I've got all the bits in stock on the shelf. Also I've got a house move later this year and I'm trying to reduce my stock of engines .... I was more "armchair curious" to know if the 10.5:1 compression ratio could be made to work with better fuel and ignition control (any MegaSquirt) but looks like a bridge too far ... I also hadn't realised Ethanol has a higher Octane ratio than petrol so may actually help ? Thanks to everyone ...

Engine has 8.13:1 pistons at the moment and I can swap them for either the 9.35:1 or the 10.5:1 pistons ... compression was ok after the rebuild but I can have another go. Its currently on a single Weber carb .. so I think I'll just do the piston swap first and get it running hopefully with a bit more power before then going to the next step of efi ... the addition of more ethanol in fuel is guiding me to the 9.35:1 and I'll stick with tin for the first go and see if I get the improvement I need .. I also figure my 8:13:1 distributor may cope with a 9.35:1 swap but not much more .. I was however gently wondering if Megasquirt would allow a higher compression ratio as you'd scrap the distributor, get a much more granular advance curve that could be tailored and better control of fuel but didn't know if 10.5:1 was pushing my luck ?

I have a 110 V8 Stage 2 with a low compression engine with 80,000 miles on it. When I bought it it ran like a dog. It hadn't been serviced and was full of black sludge. The garage gave it a "refesh" to try to breath life into it of a new cam and timing chain kit, reground the valves and ran a few gallons of Gunk through it to clean out as much sludge as possible. It ran better but I still hate it ... I also suspect they may have put composite head gaskets in .. With lockdown I have some time on my hands and have decided to do a full rebuild. I have a set of 10.5:1 pistons and a set of 9.35:1 as well. Have read through a ton of stuff could the panel help clarify if 10.5:1 pistons and composite gaskets would get me the best results or do I go for 9.35:1 and tin ?! The cam is a 3.9efi as this seemed to be a cheap upgrade and will stay ... heads are original low compression 1986 .... If I go Megasquirt could I go 10.5:1 and tin and use the granularity of ignition control and Shell VMax to avoid detonation ?! I didn't buy the thing for economy and only used a tank of fuel last year ! Thanks in advance ..