First time RV8 buyer

[paolo]

Right chaps - I need to order myself an engine for my Pilgrim Sumo. I've decided on the Rover V8, 3.5l with Edelbrock manifold and Weber 4 barrel carb.

A few questions I hope to get some guidance on. I'll wade in with the biggie first:
1) How much should I be expecting to pay for a recon engine with gearbox and who are good suppliers? (Pilgrim are asking £2800 for engine, gearbox, manifold and carb - I'm trying to get a feel for how expensive/cheap this option is) I know this has "how long is a piece of string" written all over it, but I'm aiming for basically a standard engine with the manifold and carb to get around 200bhp - note I don't want to spend months and months building/upgrading the engine myself (at least not at this point) - I do want to finish the car sometime!

2) What is cross-bolting and is it worth it?

3) I believe there are two manual Rover gearboxes to pick from the R380 and the 5spd from the SD1, what's the difference and which should I be looking to get?

4) Are there any other easy-to-mate gearbox options (e.g. Tremec) that I should be thinking about?

I think that'll do for now. Thanks in advance!

[Bernie]

I'm not an expert, but - my RV8 came from an SD1, cost £30 from an internet ad. It was was in very average condition, but I expected to strip it anyway. The gearbox came from a Vitesse - from a scrapyard now closed - in very good nick, cost £400 with flywheel and clutch and a few other bits. New crank and bearings, Mallory electronic distributor and coil etc, etc from Real Steel. Weber/Edelbrock kit from RPi. Total cost in the end around £1200. (plus engine hoist gear and engine mount from Machine Mart.

[PrivateVoid]

Paulo,

1) I paid now about 2000 euro for my RV8 3.9... I also got me a EFI installation from ebay for another 500 euro.
I don't know if it's that easy to get 200 bhp from a 3.5 engine with just that carb and manifold. With my EFI my 3.9 will give 182 bhp without any mods. So I guess to get that same power from a 3.5L you'll need to swap cam's and other things on your engine. And I have no clue how hard that is for the average newbie to cars (I'm one like that too).

2) I did some research too on my RV8, and I've learned that crossbolting is that your crank is bolted with 4 bolts instead of 2... by default they have 2 bolts on the top of the bearingmounts, and crossbolted blocks have 2 extra bolts that go in from the side of the block. This gives the crank less possibilities to move around. Not that happens a lot but it does happen from time to time under extreme conditions.
There's a way for normal bolted engines to more or less (probably less ) archieve the same strenght as with a crossbolted engine and that's by adding a "girdle", which is a plate of steel that goes between the block and the sump... it has 3 or 4 square holes so the cranck can turn of course.

3 and 4) can't answer on that one since I use the LT77 - the SD1 5 speed box.

If you really want to buy a Rover V8, buy that book of David Hardcastle with the title "Tuning Rover V8 Engines" (or something close to that)... forget about the other (older) book titled "The Rover V8 Engine" (or something like that) - the older book has pages and pages of history, and that's not what you want, right ?

Everything I know about that engine and which I explained above is from that book .

Michael

[MacGD016]

Hi Paul

Difficult to say whether the Pilgrim price is good or not as you dont say whether it is a recon unit or not. As Bernie says second had RV8's dont cost much and there are usually a number on eBay. As for recon units the RPI site will give you an idea of cost as well upgrades. A carb and manifold from Summit in the US will set you back about $500 or about £300 with shipping and tax etc.

Regarding bhp I think you will be lucky to get 200bhp out of a bog std 3.5 just by adding a carb and manifold but you might with a new cam as well.

If you dont enjoy playing with engines it would be worth having a look at Chevy engines as the $ is so weak, you might just find that you can get a lot more more bhp for a little more cash.

Cross-bolting - This came in with later RV8's and adds streangth to the crank area I think.

R380 or 5spd from the SD1 - Again the R380 is a later gearbox and is supposed to be much stronger so if all things (particularly the price) are equal I guess this is a better proposition. Having said that the LT77, if in good condition, seem fine for 250bhp or so.

Mac

PS Nice web site

[PrivateVoid]

Hi Mac,

No hard feelings, but I've been researching the option between an RV8 and a Chevy too, but the Chevy quickly fell out of my options since it's so god damn heavy... ok, it has a whole lot more power than a RV8 and it's WAAAAYYYY much cheaper and easier to tune (easier in resourcing parts for example), but the bottom line was that I didn't wanted to add another 200 kgs (at least) to my little Pilgrim chassis.
I want to be able to make turns and not go full speed ahead .

And the other reason was that somebody wanted to sell his RV8 3.9L which still is in a marvelous condition .

Michael

[Miket]

Paulo

I would look for a complete SD1 and take out the bits you need, I bought a complete MOT failure for £180, the car was a genuine 80,000 mile with full service history, but the body was s*****d, I took out the engine and box, changed all the easy replaceable gaskets and seals, new manifold and webber 500 and stuck it straight in the Sumo build.

I did 5000 trouble free miles before I sold the car.

Standard 3.5 Rover with new manifold and webber 500, dyno'd at 182bhp

[Purple AK]

May be worth contacting Rimmer Bros http://www.rimmerbros.co.uk/They dont give engine prices on the site, but worth a call :thumb:

[Bernie]

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...518151357&rd=1

See here - £26 at 17 hours to go...