Land rover v8

[PhillipM]

I thought the Rover V8 had hydraulic tappets so was self adjusting?

You still need the right clearances on the pushrods otherwise the expansion holds the valves open after the engine warms up for a few minutes. Had a friend with one with that exact problem not too long ago - engine had the heads skimmed down heavily.
Preload settings are in the Haynes IIRC, worth a check if you find nothing with the carb or ignition side.

 

[8ob]

You still need the right clearances on the pushrods otherwise the expansion holds the valves open after the engine warms up for a few minutes. Had a friend with one with that exact problem not too long ago - engine had the heads skimmed down heavily.
Preload settings are in the Haynes IIRC, worth a check if you find nothing with the carb or ignition side.

As above lifter preload is important, also daft things like a dodgy pressure relief valve in the oil pump. This can pump up the lifters enough to float the valves bringing the engine to a stop, leave five minutes and it will start.......................... and on

Bob

 

[Wallace]

SD1 has an additional low oil pressure switch that kills the ignition, doubtful it is wired in if the vehicle is a V8 conversion and not factory.

Quite surprising how much power they still make with next to no lift on a worn out camshaft.

 

[Slowcoach]

Weren’t they a Buick engine originally.

 

[Wallace]

Weren’t they a Buick engine originally.

Yes, and the Oldsmobile version was Turbocharged with water/methanol injection.

 

[Slowcoach]

Never heard of the olds version, do you know what they were like.

 

[Wallace]

Never heard of the olds version, do you know what they were like.

Troublesome apparently as new technology unleashed on the buying public tends to be! I have never seen one and they are different to the Buick engine in many areas from what I have read over the years. I did find a Buick in a local scrappy with French plates on and liberated it of the rocker covers as they are pressed steel with a wonderful crankcase breather tube. There was a Formula 1 version and an Australian 4.4 iirc.

 

[Slowcoach]

Were the formula 1 and 4.4 the olds or Buick. Never seen the pressed steel rocker covers.

 

[Wallace]

Were the formula 1 and 4.4 the olds or Buick. Never seen the pressed steel rocker covers.

Going a bit off the OP's topic here! I'll take some photos of the covers later in the week. If you Google Oldsmobile Turbo Jetfire and Turbo Rocket Fluid there's some interesting reading plus Leyland P76 V8 and Repco Brabham.

 

[Slowcoach]

Cheers I’ll have a browse.

 

[RWD3M]

You still need the right clearances on the pushrods otherwise the expansion holds the valves open after the engine warms up for a few minutes. Had a friend with one with that exact problem not too long ago - engine had the heads skimmed down heavily.
Preload settings are in the Haynes IIRC, worth a check if you find nothing with the carb or ignition side.

Hi Phil,

There is no adjustment on the SD1 V8 lifters. The only engines that had adjustable rockers were the 'so-called' homologation engines fitted to the Twin Throttle Plenum Vitesses and they were welded up on the road cars.

SD1 has an additional low oil pressure switch that kills the ignition, doubtful it is wired in if the vehicle is a V8 conversion and not factory.

Quite surprising how much power they still make with next to no lift on a worn out camshaft.

Hi Wallace,

You're almost right, the oil pressure switch cuts out the fuel pump if oil pressure is low when the engine is running (the pump is powered during cranking).

As has been mentioned above, a 500 cfm carb is way over the top for a 3.5 and I would agree that overfuelling sounds like the problem here.

I had an '85 Vitesse for 18 years, great engine and huge fun to drive.

 

[jsf55]

I've read loads on the subject of carb tuning on the rovers, here's a helpful (technical)explanation of why they come over jetted for a standard 3.5
https://www.v8forum.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=829
There's a load of info on the forum too
https://www.v8forum.co.uk/forum/index.php

 

[Wallace]

Hi Wallace,

You're almost right, the oil pressure switch cuts out the fuel pump if oil pressure is low when the engine is running (the pump is powered during cranking).

As has been mentioned above, a 500 cfm carb is way over the top for a 3.5 and I would agree that overfuelling sounds like the problem here.

I had an '85 Vitesse for 18 years, great engine and huge fun to drive.

Not bad from memory whilst still under anaesthetic from an operation! The Edelbrock 500 is the carb Weber supply in their conversion kit, I know a guy that worked on the kit development many moons ago and it was tested on a variety of different configurations back then. Another friend did a Rover V8 carb shootout for one of the magazines back in the 90's, basically taking each conversion kit available at the time and fitting them as a home user to give a fair comparison of each on fitting and setting up. I might have the magazine somewhere, he found the Weber easiest to fit and tune.

I had a Holley 390 with a secondary metering plate fitted on my V8 Manta with a standard SD1 engine and Lumenition as mentioned before, it would give 33mpg cruising and over 20mpg round town. Personally, I find the Holley to be slightly better made than the Edelbrock but either carb to work well if set up correctly on a good engine. Unfortunately I have found over the years that some of the bad press each make of carb gets stems from those who do not fully understand how each carb circuit operates and fit them to knackered engines with low vacuum expecting miracles. When they don't work properly the carb is at fault!

 

[PhillipM]

Hi Phil,

There is no adjustment on the SD1 V8 lifters. The only engines that had adjustable rockers were the 'so-called' homologation engines fitted to the Twin Throttle Plenum Vitesses and they were welded up on the road cars.

You usually just shim them under the pedestals or with the pushrod lengths.

 

[RWD3M]

Not bad from memory whilst still under anaesthetic from an operation! The Edelbrock 500 is the carb Weber supply in their conversion kit, I know a guy that worked on the kit development many moons ago and it was tested on a variety of different configurations back then. Another friend did a Rover V8 carb shootout for one of the magazines back in the 90's, basically taking each conversion kit available at the time and fitting them as a home user to give a fair comparison of each on fitting and setting up. I might have the magazine somewhere, he found the Weber easiest to fit and tune.

I had a Holley 390 with a secondary metering plate fitted on my V8 Manta with a standard SD1 engine and Lumenition as mentioned before, it would give 33mpg cruising and over 20mpg round town. Personally, I find the Holley to be slightly better made than the Edelbrock but either carb to work well if set up correctly on a good engine. Unfortunately I have found over the years that some of the bad press each make of carb gets stems from those who do not fully understand how each carb circuit operates and fit them to knackered engines with low vacuum expecting miracles. When they don't work properly the carb is at fault!

Pretty good actually!

And 33 mpg wasn't bad.

I think I once managed 32 with the MiL in the back seat on a motorway run.

 

[RWD3M]

You usually just shim them under the pedestals or with the pushrod lengths.

Ah, ok. I haven't seen that before.

 

[Wallace]

Pretty good actually!

And 33 mpg wasn't bad.

I think I once managed 32 with the MiL in the back seat on a motorway run.

That's really good, Injection was better on fuel, Manta was a lot lighter than Vitesse though.

 

[Am333rcr]

Hi

Quick up dates .thanks for all the ideas. I have finally worked out that the coil I had was for standard point and not my luminition ignition.

So I reckon it has been overheating . Stops then leave to cool down and it starts

 

[Wallace]

Is the coil wired for permanent 12v or ballasted? Easily checked, measure the coil supply voltage with the engine running.

 

[RWD3M]

Originally the SD1 had a ballasted coil. The resistor used to sit up in the LH footwell.