SOURCING A NEW ENGINE

firemanshort · Post by **firemanshort** » Mon Nov 20, 2006 3:49 am

Neat story about this engine - I have been watching Mike's water usage over the months as I think mine miight be loosing a little, too - but I am not sure. Anyway, that is another story.

As far as the great deals at Lund - I have seen some unfavourable posts on other forums regarding this business. They may all be bollox but still... I recommend doing some homework to make sure the deals are not too good to be true.

On another note - I would love to see someone put a 3.9 or 4.0 or even a 4.2 litre block in the Stage One with the normal aspiration carbs and such. Go find a great Disco or Rangie with a V8 in the breakers yard.

-Firemanshort

jonnyboy · Post by **jonnyboy** » Mon Nov 20, 2006 3:10 pm

I would love to see someone put a 3.9 or 4.0 or even a 4.2 litre block in the Stage One

I am pretty sure Basil on here has a 3.9 in his.

I always wanted to fit either a 4.6 or a 5.0L TVR into mine

Manfred · Post by **Manfred** » Mon Nov 20, 2006 4:08 pm

I was also planning to "go large" but I guess it won't be as straightforward as is seems. I think my plan is to have my 3.5 overhauled and maybe put in another camshaft for some more torque if possible, overhaul the gearbox and fit a new clutch etc.

I'd also love to hear a complete story of someone who has put in a bigger engine. What problems occured etc.

jonnyboy · Post by **jonnyboy** » Mon Nov 20, 2006 4:50 pm

Fitting a bigger engine is easy! As long as you start with a complete "ish" engine any rover V8 will drop straight in. Running a bigger engine on twin SU's can cause issues because 1 3/4" carbs were not designed to fuel a much bigger engine. You could fit 2" SU's from a jaguar, a webber/holley or EFI can be made to work without to much trouble.

The big problem is not fitting a bigger engine and getting it running, the hard part is getting the vehicle to stop after you have doubled the BHP coming out of the engine

mikeinbeverley · Post by **mikeinbeverley** » Tue Nov 21, 2006 9:33 pm

Well, a lot of interesting stuff has come up. I'm always wary of firms that rebuild engines; my current engine was a rebuild & after a few hundred miles made nasty noises on start up & lost oil pressure. I stripped it down & found No. 7 big end like a ploughed field. Obviously somethong had been left in the oilway after its regrind. Anyway, the firm concerned provided me with all the necessary & I rebuilt it & its been ok for the past 12 yrs. So maybe I should learn from my own experience - if you want a job doing properly......etc.

As for the water loss, after reading all the previous, I'm tempted to think it may be a head fault. Water seeps into a cylinder on the inlet stroke, from the far side of the inlet valve, vapourises, and goes out via the exhaust. The leak only needs to be tiny, and is protected from blow-back by the closed inlet valve, so no water contamination occurs. There's not enough to produce visible steam. As the engine cools, water is drawn down from the reservoir, and the loss is noticed. In fact, I have noticed one cylinder is usually a bit slow to fire up from cold. Maybe that's jumping to conclusions, but it's a possibility. Anyway, the whole lot wants sorting while I'm at it. I can see myself sitting amongst a pile of bits in the end, doing it the hard way again! Still, I'll get a change tomorrow, new diff arrives so that needs doing straightaway before the pile of engine parts makes life impossible. Weather forecast suggests not a good day for crawling around underneath - situation normal!

mikeinbeverley · Post by **mikeinbeverley** » Fri Nov 24, 2006 8:29 pm

Marvellous! New diff arrived in box marked "Fragile" ( a landrover diff fragile?) Somewhere en-route somebody had dropped the box & BENT the tailpiece flange! Box looked ok so I had signed for it - fortunately the sender was understanding, & replacement tailpiece on way. Lesson learned - always check box & any marks, sign as "damaged" even if contents thought to be indestructible! Now dubious about getting new engine through the post!

jonnyboy · Post by **jonnyboy** » Tue Dec 12, 2006 12:43 pm

My 3.5 is now making water disappear at a rate which makes out-of-town travel dicey

Mike,

I have been thinking about the water loss problem you are having after reading something on another forum. Do you loose all; your water or does drop to a certain level and then stop?

Someone with a V8 NAS 90 was loosing water and would have to add a couple of litres every time he ran it. He would top it up and it would loose water quickly to a point and then stop. After a lot of research he fixed it.

The solution:

A new radiator cap

Here is a few quotes from other websites that might help diagnose the problem:

When the engine has ran for a while, after a few km's and is hot, release the pressure from the cap, if pressure is released quickly without gurgling/bubbling, I would hope the head/block is OK.

If gurgling/bubbles take a while longer to disperse air is in the block.

The manufacturer chooses an expansion (or recovery) tank by calculating how much the coolant will expand assuming
1. a set amount of coolant
2. the heat range of the engine
3. the pressure of the system, fixed by the rad cap

As the rad cap goes, the system pressure drops and more coolant flows out into the expansion tank than the manufacturer ever planned for. The expansion tank is too small for the extra coolant so it flows out onto the ground throhgbnt the escape hose.

This process continues each time you drive until you reach a new coolant level consistent with the lower-than-recommended pressure the bum cap is producing and the size of the expansion tank.

The difference between normal coolant quantity and the new coolant quantity (aka loss of coolant) will vary depending on how bad the cap is. I have seen the new level at 1-3 liters less with a bad cap. Every time you refill it, it will go toss that out after a bit of driving and suck air back in. Eventually, the car overheats and the RAC guy comes and puts a new rad cap on.

mikeinbeverley · Post by **mikeinbeverley** » Wed Dec 13, 2006 12:46 am

Thanks for the interest, jonnyboy.

Alas, radiator cap & rad both new. I tried pressure cap on rad & swapped it to overflow bottle - no difference. Nor was there ever any sign of water or steam at the bottle's overflow pipe. A real headbanger! Changing the lot ought to cure it, but it's a bit cool out there now, might leave it 'till the weather gets a bit warmer. At least I got the new front diff fitted - though I'm forced to admit it was heavier to lift underneath than it was when I did it last about 15 years ago.......why would that be???

Manfred · Post by **Manfred** » Fri Apr 20, 2007 8:32 pm

Finally some news about another engine.
Bought a second hand 3.5 which came out of a 101 FC.
Planning to do a total rebuilt on it, but now a cheap 3.9 came across, so maybe I am still going to change plans..

Will try to make some pictures during the process

Basil · Post by **Basil** » Sun Apr 22, 2007 3:21 pm

jonnyboy wrote:
I would love to see someone put a 3.9 or 4.0 or even a 4.2 litre block in the Stage One
I am pretty sure Basil on here has a 3.9 in his.

I always wanted to fit either a 4.6 or a 5.0L TVR into mine

Yep sure have, I have a 3.9 out of a discovery running on su carb's have also got the front cover from my original engine fitted as well so it just look's like a stock motor, I really need to uprate the brake's to disc's though as it is very quick.
lol 5.0L TVR Jon you would want a parachute to slow you down

Cheer's Baz

gary_in_nz · Post by **gary_in_nz** » Sun Apr 22, 2007 11:50 pm

Basil,
did you do the engine swap? how did the engine bolt up to the LT95? No adapter plates needed?? engine mounts in the same place?? is there much space left in the engine bay?? was the 3.9L orrignally a fuel injected one?? what was the model it was out of?? could you post a pic of your engine bay so i could have a perve please or post a link to it??

thanks,
gary

Stage 1 V8

SOURCING A NEW ENGINE

Caveat Emptor