whats the best way to tune a RV8

[ceejayjay]

I don't know thw provenance of my Rover V8 but I reckon its pretty sound. Rocker gear etc all mid brown. no sludge, no smke revs freely up to 6000, oil pressure when hot si 35psi at 25oorpm.

I belives its a standard 3.5 SDI and the only mod I think is an Edelbrock Performer 4 barrel and manifold. My guess is that its probably about 180 bhp at the flywheel.

Whats the most cost effective way to get roughly another 50bhp.
I'm thinking either - supercharger which will also add good torque - or faster cams + headers + big valve ported heads.

Any views on which my be the cheapest route too! Limited budget or a divorce! Or what single mod would yield the biggest gain.

Help appreciated
Thanks
Chris

[GDmerlin]

My first thoughs are 'What do you want?' and 'What is the budget?' also 'How sure are you that you currently get 180BHP?'

Do you want high BHP or good power low down the reve range (what's usually refered to as torque)

Have you considered increasing capacity?
May be cheaper than supercharging.

My advice is attention to detail and make sure you are getting the best from what you already have and everything you add. There's no point adding expensive cams and superchargers if your ignitions shot with 25 year old plug leads.

The 3.9 I use is making 290BHP according to an accelerometer power meter I tested it on. I haven't spent a fortune on it but I have make the most what I have added (I believe)

[Purple AK]

Chris. A straight forward capacity upgrade is not going to give a massive upgrade in BHP. The 3.5 Vitesse was 190bhp. The highest spec 3.9 was 185bhp and the 4.4 was 225bhp. Add a performance manifold and a 4 barrel carb and you may see another 20-30bhp. Any more is really going to cost!!

[Miket]

Standard SD1 with Edelbrock 500 and manifold is 185 bhp, I know because I had my previous Sumo tuned and jetted on a rolling road. :thumb:

[kev]

The inlet end has been improved, the bottom you say is good, so the only route left is cam and heads, unless you want to blow it which causes it's own probs. 50 BHP should be attainable albeit at the expense of torque. Not cheap though. Don't forget that BHP comes from allowing the engine to breathe.
IMO biggest single gain would be a cam job, you can do some work on the heads yourself if you're handy
Kev

[slogger]

You could just add a squirt of gas! :thumb:

[Clarkson]

Tuning and budget don't go together sorry!!

It gonna cost at least a 1K if you do everything yourself.

You could change it for a small block chevy.

[David Large]

I would be tempted to leave well alone if it is running well. As someone has wisely said, just make sure you are getting the best out of what you have got.

I went down the route of adding cams and heads to a 3.5 and frankly it wasn't really worth it. If you are going to modfy it make sure you have a strategic plan because just chucking random bits at it will not work, you might create BHP and lose torque making the thing less fun to drive on the road.

I'd like to know how someone gets 290bhp out of a normally aspirated 3.9 without spending a fortune on it. My new 4.0 litre showed 240BHP and 250 ft lbs of torque on a dyno; and that was not cheap!
cheers

[robinj66]

I agree with all of the above - any significant power gain is gonna COST!

You also need to decide what you want from your engine - is it a higher BHP to compete wth your mates; faster acceleration; ease of servicing or something else. Also remember that upgrades in engine power will usually require upgrades in brakes, power-train & suspension as well.

Cheapest start would be to get the following and study them carefully. that way you would have a realistic idea of what you might gain rather than "pub-style" estimates:-

"Tuning Rover V8 Engines" by David Hardcastle
How to Power Tune Rover V8 Engines" by Des Hammmill

I would also recommend a visit to www.v-8.org.uk :thumb:

[maxGD059]

I would have thought the cheapest way forward is to leave the engine standard & just go to efi for some extra horses. The kit can be picked up fairly cheaply on evil bay etc. If you decide to go to a bigger capacity in the future (which you will), then you won't need to bother about the induction side of things too much.

Oh -BTW that's what Tony M did so I'm not claiming it's an original idea!