Increase compression and change transfer gears

nijweide · Post by **nijweide** » Tue Nov 08, 2005 2:31 pm

I am planning the restauration of my Stage1 Stationwagon. The V8 that is in it is performing reasonably. I plan however to open it and give it a good clean and inspection and to replace any worn parts.

Do you think it is worthwile to replce the pistons with a higer compression type? I will be running mostly on LPG.
On the same topic: what about changing the cam-shaft for a higher torque one? Any rec ommendations?

Also: To increase comfort, economy and soundlevels I am thinking about changing the gear ratio of the transfer box to a higher gearing. I will not use a roofrack, will only occasionaly drive the vehicle heavily loaded and will do very limited towing.
What gear ratio do you guys use? Or do you think that I'll be better of using a Overdrive?

Thx!

Steven

Basil · Post by **Basil** » Tue Nov 08, 2005 5:55 pm

Hi Steven,
Don't know about the high comp piston's but i can tell you that the v8 does where it's camshaft out fairly quickly especially if it does not have regular oil changes and is always a good place to start if you are looking for more power.
I ran lpg on the standard 3.5l for years before i put a 3.9 in with no problems.

I ran an overdrive for three year's but to be honest i did not really like it and tended not to engage it, so i changed the transfer gear's but i cannot for the life of me remember which ratio i used not much help to you i know sorry but this made the old girl a lot more civilised drive.

The biggest problem i have now is stopping her, i kind of thought the engineers at landrover where just being cautious when they resticted the v8 because of worries about the brake's, mine goes like a rocket and stops like an oil tanker, stopping distance being measured with a calender not a stop watch.

hope this is some help Basil

jonnyboy · Post by **jonnyboy** » Tue Nov 08, 2005 7:19 pm

I have found this site great for V8 engine info.

http://www.v-8.org.uk/forum/

Jon

nijweide · Post by **nijweide** » Tue Nov 08, 2005 8:20 pm

Hello Basil,

Can you remember were you got your gears from? Were they new or did you take them from an old range rover or 110V8?

Were you happy with the pulling power with the long gears? I run my 2.25 petrol SIIA with an ashcroft conversion and find 4th gear just a little bit to long especially with the power I lost on the LPG conversion.

For stopping I plan to put some TI Console (Santana) disc brakes on the front axle. That should help a bit in everyday traffic.

glencoyne · Post by **glencoyne** » Tue Nov 08, 2005 11:31 pm

I fitted Range Rover transfer gears (1.113:1) to my last Stage One, and found the result a bit disappointing. Certainly it was much quieter at cruising speeds, but it was noticeably slower away from standstill, especially when towing a trailer. It depends what you are planning to use the vehicle for, but I reckon that, combined with 3.54 final drive and 7.50 tyres, the RR transfer gears make the vehicle overgeared for the available power. I now have an overdrive which I will fit to my next Stage One (if I ever get it on the road).

Richard

Basil · Post by **Basil** » Wed Nov 09, 2005 7:14 pm

Hi Steven, I took the gear's out of an old range rover box, i was lucky i had a couple to choose from and they had different ratio's and i kinda worked out from there which was the best one to use.

I agree with Richard though if my memory serves me right i think i was over geared to start with till i upgraded to a 3.9 litre out of a disco but i did away with the fuel injection and put it on su carb's.

By the way i run 255/85/16 tyres.

Basil

nijweide · Post by **nijweide** » Sat Nov 12, 2005 9:22 am

The overgearing is exactly why I'm thinking about increasing compression and putting in an hi-torque camshaft. I was just wondering if somebody went the same route before me and could tell me if it would be enough or that a should, as Basil did, put in an 3.9

Steven

samro · Post by **samro** » Wed Mar 15, 2006 12:22 pm

I have up the compretion in my Stage 1 from 8.35-1 too just shy of 10-1 I put in some Buick extra thick head gaskets wich droped it a bit but hope fully will last & be a bit stronger, I have all so fitted a hi-lift long lift cam to go with the pistons I got advise form RPI.
Note when setting your ignition timeing you will find the original timeing marks use less so it a bit of good old trile and error!

onno wielinga · Post by **onno wielinga** » Wed Mar 15, 2006 4:27 pm

sorry for the double dutch;

hoi steven, ik had een 8.13:1 blok en range rover gears in de bak.
in het vlakke nederland heb ik absoluut geen problemen gehad, behalve bij erg harde tegenwind moest ik op het gas om snelheid te houden.
soms trek ik een anhqanger onderde 750 kilo. geen probleem.
later heb ik een overdrive geprobeert (kon ik goedkoop kopen).
dit beviel niet; veel herrie en veel schakelen (bij terugschakelen bak+overdrive schakelen!) . de outo reed ook niet zuiniger.
ik heb de overdrive verkocht op billing en ben weer gelukkig met mijn rangerover gears.

op het moment heb ik het blok en bak gewisselt voor een 9.35 blok (geen verschil) en ee rangerover 1:1 bak. deze is echt te hoog gegeart.
de tandwielenset 1:1.13 ga ik ook wer in deze bak plaatsen.
als je vragen heb kan je bellen 072-5899164

groeten onno