Offroad-Express

Hi as a possible engine option im looking at the 3.5 rover v8, can't say i no anything about them ive had a look through previous topics but can't find much info. Whats peoples thoughts on them? who has them and how do they find they go?

They suffer from overheating when shoe-horned into Hilux engine bays...

oh, and they are British...

As for good points... hmmm... its a V8?

Steve

they are getting a bit 'long in the tooth' now, also they can suffer from water proofing issues... also su carb on em are a bit manky... efi if poss..

in saying all that, ya spend a bit of time on it and you'll solve a lot of the afore mentioned 'quirks'..

rover v8 good way to go, nice and lite fit a good torquey cam good oil cool and a good size radiator if poss .as for the water in electrics seal the dizzy and fit a breather to the dizzy.and shits load of sealant to all the other electrics and it should be all good

Cam gear can wear and in extreme cases will drop a cylinder. Hydraulic tappets.

Basically they are a great motor, rev nicely, the firing order makes them the best sounding V8 out there...... (sorry guys ) Will last well but like any V8 they like a drink. EFi ones def better in this regard and EFI ones gained almost 40hp from the twin carb. But you do get wonderful British electronic's......

And they are a Americian motor

NJ V6 yeah you're right about the sound. rover v8s have a sound of their own, nothing like the sound of a good rover v8 ripping through the forest.
yep you're right they're a copy of a buick v8 and yes efi is the way to go

I've got one in an old Rangy....

power for buck and weight they arn't a bad option, against Nibs view I'd say go with the twin SU's with a bit of working they are better than the EFI (alot of comp boys run this setup), if your not gona take the time and effort to improve the flow then EFI is the stronger option (and more economic option )
Run a compresion test on it before you buy, look for a difference in #8 it seems to burn out and if the cooling was suspect thats the one that will show it....
Due to age if you can veiw before its removed from the vehicle check the coolent colour it should be green with anti-freeze (:roll: i know there is brown anti-freeze who ever came up with that colour option was a ...) if its got rust in it don't waste your time
Oh and if you do buy a good one do the water pump on them it solves most of the cooling issues

Cheers Reece

why not 1uzfe ?

MAHINDRACJ4A wrote:why not 1uzfe ?

just price, only a question really. I don't want to offend anyone but it wouldn't be my choice of engines but saw a double cab with one in it on trademe and it got me thinking.. Thanks for the input guys

They are a pretty old engine and fairly simple as a v8, but they are used in a huge number of things and well known they are not and never will be a huge power house but in a light truck they go really well.

I was thinking of one of these 3.5 V8 or a 3.8 holden V6, the holden is a far more of a torque delivering beast but has the whole injection thing to deal with so new fuel pump and lines new wires and cooling of the beast.

But so far my terminal prediction of the little petrol toyota motor has not occured and I have tried!

I have seen one of these replace a v6 3.0 toyota motor and they say it uses less fuel but they also had the carb's on the v8 serviced but remember with twin SU carbs they dont work as well as they could on angles but you can do TWIN SNORKLES

i wish i could fit 1 of the rover v8s in my suzuki as they are so powerfull not like suzuki motors and if u stroke them there even better.they pulled most army artilary around the world if u can get a vitesse motor or a 4.6 as same weight and the vitesse cleaned up at bathurst against the 5.0v8 holden with the 3.5 rover v8

can be a good motor, but getting old and good bits are getting harder to get,oh and rover has never won a bathurst.
vaughan

think vitesse came 1st in group A at bathurst in 1984 and was 12th over all
might b wrong but pretty sure

but i like rover v8s.and if they didnt win they should of, as the motor has to b 1 of the greatest v8s ever,and they are harder 2 get as the stockcar boys used them just about all up b4 they changed the cc limit,but you cant change people who like fords n holdens but its great 2 tease them
lol

With a little work they can really perform and you cant beat that sound!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UeSLsAhL3-A

got a 3.5 sitting here bolted up to a hilux 5 speed, twin carbs of howies rally truck, hei ignition, i cant part with it, im to attached to it, mainly because of the torque and the sound, love the sound at full note, cant be beat, rangie flywheel pressure plate,etc.. economy is good, not anything worth worrying about, it over heats, has low oil pressure, but i can handle all that, just waiting till i get some time to put it into something

I must admit, I like them a whole lot more this week than I did last week... Something about hearing Mikes one roaring around the Sheffield circuit

And I owned an SD1 for a while, and drove a mates Vanden Plas SD1 - and I'm looking at getting a Vitesse...

Still, I've seen trouble occur when they are fitted to Hiluxes too many times to recommend one. Get a Supra powered Hilux and a Vitesse for fun

Steve

Foxo has one in his LN61, and as far as I can remember, he's had no problems with it, (well, nothing serious, but expect "niggles" with a rover )

He's fitted it with LPG, but it's still a bit thirsty, the LPG price helps a bit with that though! It's out of a (I think) 88 Vogue, EFI.

I sat in the back all the way to lake sumner, oh dear god, the sound is magnificent I live by the tunnel rd in Ch-Ch, see lots of nice cars out "test-driving", but you can hear an old rover belting along long before you see it, sounds so unique, and so damn cool

It's a sick affliction.............

thought i might post this 4 people who repower with rover v8s. might pay to get rangie or landie front timing covers and water pumps as they are different to that of the cars .bigger water pump with higher flow and bigger gears on oil pump to for when you are at low revs. could be the problem with these conversion if you just using rover sd1v8 or the older p6 v8 with getting hot.my thought get the rest of the rangie/landie to go with the motor lol...

SupraLux wrote:I must admit, I like them a whole lot more this week than I did last week... Something about hearing Mikes one roaring around the Sheffield circuit

I know what you mean Steve, it was a great way to open the DVD

I'm surprised Mike hasn't chimed in here yet, seeing he's got 1 and a bit of them

As a lot of us go for looks/sound in a mod, how could you beat it really

ive got a done up rover motor in my dclass, its a 5L and its sounds awsome, but to get rid of the water in dizy problem, you can just put a HEI dizy in which are only around $250 or something, and that makes rovers the best motor ever!!!

Love 'em.

in basic form they are fine, but the tuning options are endless. If money is no option talk to some of the boutique engineers in the UK who have produced a 5L version of this engine, without a turbo in sight.
http://www.jeengineering.co.uk/engine_petrol_eng.htm

With the right TLC they are a very forgiving engine

spanky wrote:can be a good motor, but getting old and good bits are getting harder to get,oh and rover has never won a bathurst.
vaughan

Bits are hard to get? I don't think so, bits are very easy to get and usually cheap. I've had these motors for ages and never had a problem getting bits. They are a good motor and lots of cars/trucks use them, hence why parts are easy to get.

They still make new bits and if you can't find locally you can import from UK no probs. Although I've always been able to get parts locally. I just got a new temp sensor (rover one) over night about 2 weeks ago. Also head gaskets and Valley gasket last year, all new and all overnight delivery.

John

i would simply get one for the sound. i have an ls1 in my commie with big loud pipes and a v8 rover in my landrover and the rover sounds so much more beautiful, compared to the big angry Detroit power house

if you wanna hear a nice one

http://nz.youtube.com/watch?v=3cRE7mSR7P4