On Sep 10, 1:00 pm, "Dave Plowman (News)"
wrote:
In article om,
Andre Jute wrote:
Interesting point was that just about the only US V-8 that ended up being
made in the UK was the Buick unit which became the Rover one - and gained
some 20 bhp when being fitted with SUs. Of course that wasn't the only
mod. But I'm not sure what the original carbs were.
The particular aluminium engines that came from Buick to Rover were
marine engines, if that gives a clue to their carburettors and tune.
The engine was first seen by William Martin-Hurst, the MD of Rover, in a
boat yard, according to legend, but then it was and is common to use car
engines for some racing boats. That unit was shipped to the UK for
evaluation and fitted to a Rover 2000 mule. But Martin-Hurst was already a
fan of the engine as fitted to a Buick Skylark he'd driven, and it was
only on seeing the bare engine in the yard he realised it was short enough
to fit his 2000.
The Rover V-8 is based on the Olds/Buick 215 which was fitted to cars
between 1961 - 63, and bought by Rover in '65. It was considerably
modified for UK requirements and production - by a combination of GM and
Rover engineers working together in the UK.
Thanks for the historic refresher. There are no conspiracies;
happenstance rules. What if he hadn't gone to wherever the marine
engine was sitting on the floor...
If you're right and they picked up so many horses on being fitted with
SUs, they couldn't have put out more than about 110-120hp in US trim.
We had one out of a Rover Coupe on the dyno in the middle 60s and it
was good for less than a four and a quarter Bentley engine, which was
pretty choked and good only for a smidgin under 130bhp.
The first Rover V-8 was quoted at 160 bhp - but I dunno about export
versions with lower compression ratios, etc.
I've heard about 160bph being claimed. I just never saw it on a dyno
under my control.
(I seem to remember people often spoke of 135 horses for that engine in
the Mk Vi.) We were looking at the Rover V8 because back then it was the
only engine we knew with any power that two guys could pick up between
them, a wonderful thing. It wasn't much chop though; a very unreliable
engine if you breathed on it even lightly.
Hmm. Just what broke?
Usual British crap production. The heads wouldn't seal properly
without double-O-ringing, threads stripping, conrods coming through
the side of the engine before we even exceeded the rev limit. My
mechanics were student engineers, supervised by couple of real racing
mechanics with a lot of experience. The engineers were fascinated by
this lightweight engine, the real mechanics advised me (or rather my
girlfriend's father who was paying for all this) to waste no more time
and money on the Rover engine, to continue with our very successful
development programme of the unbreakable Chrysler hemiheads which had
served me well until we went off on the lightweight wild goose chase.
Still, a decade later it made the SD1 into one of the greatest cars BL
ever built;
I've got one. ;-)
Must take some TLC to keep it on the road.
such a pit
they didn't see fit to carry forward the second-best thing about the
P8, the De Dion rear axle, a beautiful thing of 300B-like purely
linear motion..
Snag is the space such a design takes up - you wouldn't have had the same
flexibility of the hatchback design with vast load area which is
originally why I kept mine.
All my mates who previously drove 3.5 V8s, the 2000 shape, as company
cars. decided that without the De Dion rear they would switch to Jags.
They weren't family men, or at least not one-car family men, so they
didn't care for the space. Rover lost a lot of prestige those years,
and partly because of decisions like that one.
We should take time out here for a moment of silence for the lost
opportunity of what the Rover SD1, born to greatness, could have
become with proper development in a company with proper management
rather the British Motors Leyland rolling fiasco. (Not that I can
think of one: all the British motor companies were up to **** those
years, so pick a German car company, say VAG.)
--
*Why can't women put on mascara with their mouth closed?
What are you doing in your wife's dressing room when she is working?
Dave Plowman London SW
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Andre Jute
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