How did you do when you put in the V8?

[Kvammen]

I am planning to put a Rover V8 into my S2/3 -66 and need some input regarding choice of gearbox, transmission box, installation and which problems you met during the process.

[Rich_P]

The standard gearbox is up to it if you don't thrash it.

[task]

I am planning to put a Rover V8 into my S2/3 -66 and need some input regarding choice of gearbox, transmission box, installation and which problems you met during the process.

I'm actually in the process of doing this, pictures in the members vehicle section.

I'm using the standard box and a 3.9 EFI engine coupled to RR diffs. Mainly as this is what I had available to me.

[Jon White]

I had a V8 in my series a while back. It transformed it when compared to the old 2.25 petrol.

However I now run a 200tdi, and have to say that had tdi's been cheaper when I fitted the V8 into mine thats the route I'd have gone.

Tdi bolts in with minimal fuss really and work well.

I found the V8 ate gearboxes, hated water and the fuel consumption was trully appauling! I reckon i was getting 12-14 mpg at best and less off road. The Tdi is very nearly as quick but the consumption is heaps better. Plus the V8 never really ran cool enough, where the TDi if anything i struggle to get hot enough!

Jon

[FridgeFreezer]

I found the V8 ate gearboxes, hated water and the fuel consumption was trully appauling! I reckon i was getting 12-14 mpg at best and less off road. The Tdi is very nearly as quick but the consumption is heaps better. Plus the V8 never really ran cool enough, where the TDi if anything i struggle to get hot enough!

But you were running carbs and dizzy you lead-footed luddite

My experience was with a 3.9 V8 running MSEFI the standard Series box stands up OK as long as you don't do racing starts, 3.54:1 diffs make a decent difference but low range does suffer slightly, and I got 15-20mpg depending on how loud I was. Cooling was a bit marginal with the Series radiator, in good condition with a decent electric fan and a clean radiator it coped OK, although a bigger radiator can be fitted in with a bit of work and will help matters greatly.

If you're putting the V8 into a LWB then you have enough room to use an LT77/R380 and LT230 which will be stronger and give you a choice of gearing. You can make the LT230 2WD (use the search button) to keep things Series-stytle, or leave it as permanent 4x4. You can do the same in an 88" but it's tight.

Here's my current placement:

That's 4.6 V8 / R380 / LT230 in a 109", I have a custom radiator (which is not very big, but it is very open core and holds a lot of water) and twin Audi fans which provide more than enough cooling - the fans only come on full speed if I do donuts in low range

[bigblue110]

a mate of mine is at the mo trying to sell his s3 v8 monster.

hes running rover p6 v8 on a standard s3 gearbox(a very low milage unit) and rangy diffs the drive is awsome, pulls past a ton real easy although not advised! although needs to be gingerly applied very much a half shaft twister and haven driven it offroad aswell i would agree that with the diff setup low suffers dramatically, but is warranted for the road. we managed to get hold of a snatch v8 rad to sort the cooling issue. and you'll need a remote oil filter housing if i remember rightly.

however you end up doing it you will find it hard to remove the smile from your face when driving it

[LittleBlue88]

Wish mine would do over a tonne,cant get anymore than 85-90ish(private runway )

My 88 is running a SD1 3.5 twin-carb on a S2 gearbox with disco 3.54 diffs and other than a persistant clutch problem,its been dead reliable.......bit thirsty sometimes.....ohh i give up,most of the time But tonnes of fun,scares saxos and even bigger motors if you catch them off guard!

[bigblue110]

makes it a real 'sleeper' of a vehicle as you say. next truck we're thinking about is a 4ltr stroked to 5ltr v8 in a 110 see how that tootles along, quite nicely i would imagine. only thought at the mo tho

[mickeyw]

I sold my SII 88" V8 a few years ago having had tons of fun with it.

I fitted a 3.5 carb engine to a SIII box and used the series clutch too, also fitted 3.54:1 diffs. I drove this for 9 years, on and off-road, with no clutch or gearbox problems. As said above, shoe size makes all the difference to the transmission life as well as fuel consumption.

There was enough go in that engine to still get mega acceleration in 3rd and 4th. I reckon it was quicker than the 3.9 90 I have now, a lot less weight too with it being a soft top and no toolboxes. I always got out of it with a huge grin.

I never really looked at fuel figures, I'm quite glad of that, might not have had such a big grin.

Engineeringy wise, I kept the gearbox in standard position, used a home-made adapter ring (or you can buy one purpose made) and fabricated my engine mounts to bolt straight on to the 4 cyl mounts on the chassis. The engine was mounted level, i.e. you could still see the crank nut through the starting handle hole in the chassis. This was dead handy when the starter motor packed up.

The foot wells needed some reshaping both sides to clear the exhausts. The exhaust system came from Jake Wright who sell off the shelf pipes for this application. Nice and easy to fit, following the original series routing.

I also had to move the series radiator forward a couple of inches to clear the water pump nose. This involved minor surgery to the front cross member as well as the front panel. (I think I found the V8 90 water pump had the shortest nose of all the V8 pumps). Fan was a 16" blower in front of the rad. This setup always kept it cool.

Remember that with all the extra horses you ought to look a bigger brakes. I uprated just the front ones to 6 cyl LWB drums. IIRC they are the largest of the shelf ones. I also used to servo assisted dual circuit master cylinder.

Good luck with your conversion, I would certainly recommend it. Please feel free to ask more if you need to.

Cheers,

[RPR]

My rig is admittedly a bit of a freak show and Jon will undoubtedly disagree with my experience with Megasquirt but here's the story. Started out with a 3.5 on carbs, an old and somewhat dubious Siii box and of course 5.99:1 EV11 portal axles (and disc conversion). Plenty of power, but maxed out at about 45mph before blood would run from my ears at the revs. In went a Roverdrive and it's now bearable up to 65mph. But the Edelbrock-Weber carb absolutely sucked offroad and would stall out at any angle. It did however provide the most amazing throaty grumble in tandem with a cheapo glasspack silencer.

After the various stallings on the 2008 Trans-Vermont Expedition, I decided it was time for EFI. The original thinking was to go Megasquirt especially as the 14CUX rover stuff has issues running without cats. But after farking around with Megasquirt rather a lot the conclusion was that it is not quite as straightforward as others have found it to be (enter Jon with the dissenting view). In the end, it will run on a wire (with the no-cat reprogramming of the ECU) and stay pretty much standard rover stuff.

My experience has been that if you treat the gearbox properly, it will be fine. I like Lucas heavy-duty gear oil stabilizer. I would rather have the R380-LT230 for strength, but that's mighty tight in an 88". The one thing I strongly urge is that you go with efi. Carbs suck offroad.

[missingsid]

My SeriesI has SD1 V8 on carbs, SII box SI Transfer box, SII Diesel rad, 3.54:1 diffs and LWB Brakes. The adaptor plate is a Phillips conversion and the manifolds are P5 cast iron.

The original V8 was a P5 engine but it went south in sand on Salisbury Plain as the P5 has rope oil seals on the front cover.

I use to regularly drive it like a hooligan when younger, sliding it around roundabouts and drag race it away from the lights.

The only time I broke a halfshaft was when trying to free the clutch after a long period of non use.

After many years use (I have had it for 25 years as a V8 now) it bust a layshaft once when my girlfriend was driving at 30mph!

It has never overheated even though it has an old single Kenlowe on it.

MPG is around 20mpg and it pulls past a ton as I just had to overtake every 90/110 that I saw on the motorway no matter how far away (hooligan again), off road I still have not matched it's total ability yet.

The only thing I am looking at now is to fit Discs.

If anyone needs a write up on the conversion I have the complete one for my LR as it was done as a Hot Car project all be it back in 1979!!, and I can scan it on Monday.

Will I ever sell it, not a chance.

Marc.