Will Rover 3.5 V8 engine from SD1 fit to LT95?

[Mr. Horion]

Obviously a newby question, but I need a confidence boost 🙂

As stated in title, will a V8 from a SD1 (manual) fit as a replacement of the current V8 in combination with the LT95 gearbox?

Thanks!

Edited January 15, 2019 by Mr. Horion

[FridgeFreezer]

You'd want to swap the flywheel over as the SD1 flywheel is too thin, but other than that it should drop in - ancillaries / belts etc. may differ.

[Green200tdi]

Do you not need an adapter plate bell housing?

[Bowie69]

Not when there has been a V8 in there before....

[FridgeFreezer]

Rover V8's are all the same bellhousing.

Mind you, given the plentiful nature of 3.9 and bigger / newer lumps I'd wonder about fitting a crusty old SD1 lump unless it happens to be a good one.

[Green200tdi]

3 hours ago, Bowie69 said:

Not when there has been a V8 in there before....

i was thinking more gearbox you know v8 will fit but gearbox is different? thats why sometimes you need an adapter plate, 

so we want to see pictures 😂

[Green200tdi]

2 hours ago, FridgeFreezer said:

Rover V8's are all the same bellhousing.

Mind you, given the plentiful nature of 3.9 and bigger / newer lumps I'd wonder about fitting a crusty old SD1 lump unless it happens to be a good one.

you cant beat 3.5 on carbs best v8😀

[Bowie69]

Given the LR had a rover V8, and the sd1 was a rover V8, I fail to see the issue?

[smallfry]

The only issue will be that if you try to use the thinner and lighter SD1 flywheel (which will physically fit) instead of the thicker Range Rover type, you will have to either make up a longer slave cylinder pushrod in order for the clutch to work, or make a longer release bearing carrier sleeve.

Neither of which are commercially available AFAIK. Other than that, its a straight swap

[neil110]

On 1/16/2019 at 5:57 PM, roverv8 said:

you cant beat 3.5 on carbs best v8😀

Yeah you can, a 4.2 on carbs. The longer stroke makes a world of difference to how the V8 works with a Def neddy

[Bowie69]

Or a 4.6 on EFI, even better

Not worth bothering with the bigger ones (5.x litre), just too expensive.

[Green200tdi]

3.5 is just right 

[FridgeFreezer]

17 hours ago, roverv8 said:

3.5 is just right 

Big, bigger, best...

[Flash17]

Should fit the lt95 without drama, apart from as stated above swaping the fly wheels over.

Some minor points of note, (and I'm assuming your swaping vehical original V8s, if not please correct/forgive me) if your replacing a factory fitted V8 with one from a SD1 you may find the LR engine is fitted with stroberg carbs and the SD1 engine is SUs stick with the SUs as the SD1 engine is likely to be a high compression ratio (CR) engine (9.35:1 ish) and the LR lump a paltry 8.13:1 or figures something like that (i forget) if they are original, therefor the SUs with likely have the correct needles for the engine, and the SD1 high CR v8 should give a little more power too than the original. That is unless the SD1 V8 is a EFI unit..... in which case if you want to keep it EFI good luck plumbing it in (as you need to change fuel pumps/line etc), but you could just put your original carbs and inlet manifold on the SD1 v8 and it would still be fine.

CRs are stamped next to the engine numbers if your interested to find out for sure.

If your considering running LPG in the future, LPG loves high compression ratios as a added bonus too.

best of luck!

[FridgeFreezer]

EFI conversion isn't that hard, the in-tank EFI pump drops in and the early ECU's are standalone, need only power & ground to run really.

[Mr. Horion]

So far appreciate all the help and shared wisdom!

Flash17, I was actually considering moving the current carbs to the SD1 V8, but based on your advice will definitely reconsider.

Some sneak peaks attached.

[Bowie69]

Unfortunately that looks like a clean pair of heads slapped onto a filthy bottom end to me.

Have you checked the cam for wear? Doesn't looks great, but difficult to see the lobes properly.

[FridgeFreezer]

I can't tell if the bottom end is black 'cos it's filthy or black 'cos someone's painted it with something, neither would be brilliant. Unless there's some other reason?

Still, if someone's flushed it out and fitted some new bits it should be good to go - rear cam lobes usually go flat 1st if memory serves so that would be a sign of wear.

This was my old 3.9 after some years of use:

And this was a dirty old one I paid £50 for to get the ancillaries:

 

[neil110]

Speaking of ancillaries, the LR starter motor has the solenoid mounted in a different place to the car starters, I cannot remember if it is the prop or exhaust which causes the problem

[FridgeFreezer]

Hard to see but @Mr. Horion's starter/solenoid position doesn't look too much different to mine;

This is looking back toward the bulkhead, chassis rail in bottom. My V8 is sat down & back compared to many.