today i visited a rolling road....rover v8 powered ...

[Sportster-Green]

today i visited a local car show where some guys had a mobile rolling road.

we tested my Rover V8 powered sportster:

3.5L, Rover SD1 engine running on SU carbs, the engine is featured in des hamills book "how to powertune a rover v8"

when i had the heads down i couldnt see any "big" improvements...standard pistons, no porting...standard SU manifold with carbs, even the valves are standard size...but the engine rev´s easily up to 7000rpm


what i have been told from the former owner: the camshaft has been re-profiled and the SU carbs have been modified (no damping oil, updated needle) and the engine was thourougly balanced.

214horsepower@ 6100rpm and 292Nm torque@3600rpm

(values at engine)


wow...i´m impressed....

[Mike]

Re: today i visited a rolling road....rover v8 powered ...

today i visited a local car show where some guys had a mobile rolling road.

we tested my Rover V8 powered sportster:

3.5L, Rover SD1 engine running on SU carbs, the engine is featured in des hamills book "how to powertune a rover v8"

when i had the heads down i couldnt see any "big" improvements...standard pistons, no porting...standard SU manifold with carbs, even the valves are standard size...but the engine rev´s easily up to 7000rpm


what i have been told from the former owner: the camshaft has been re-profiled and the SU carbs have been modified (no damping oil, updated needle) and the engine was thourougly balanced.

214horsepower@ 6100rpm and 292Nm torque@3600rpm

(values at engine)


wow...i´m impressed....

A factory standard 3 litre BMW M54 straight 6 will effortlessly deliver 228 BHP @ 5900rpm, and 300Nm @3500rpm, with a superflat torque curve from 1800rpm

........and achieve 35mpg!

[Michael Turpin]

Re: today i visited a rolling road....rover v8 powered ...

Your point being!
But Its still not a V8 is it?

Regards
STV8C - (Save the V8 Club)

[cameronfurnival]

Re: today i visited a rolling road....rover v8 powered ...

when selecting my latest eurobox (an audi of course) they told me I could have one which was a diesel but had artificial V8 noises pumped through the Bose speaker system - what do you think of that???

[b_caswell]

Re: today i visited a rolling road....rover v8 powered ...

Cameron : I hope its an AUDI model that's had the Euro N Cap test!! don't believe everything they tell you.

[Mike]

Re: today i visited a rolling road....rover v8 powered ...

Your point being!
But Its still not a V8 is it?

Regards
STV8C - (Save the V8 Club)

The original post was talking up the performance of the Rover V8 3.5, which is a bit of a myth................

In standard tune it only achieves 150BHP, so this one is moderately tuned, but even cammed up, it does not achieve the performance of a standard tune family spec'd BMW 3.0 litre straight 6, which is:

Smoother
Quicker
Faster
Lighter
Has Bullet-proof reliability (200,000+ mile is common)
40 years newer technology
- ECU controlled Variable Valve Timing / Variable Inlet runners (extends power and torque curves)
Computer diagnostics simplifies fault finding
Very low emissions
Electronic fuel injection - far more accurate / fuel efficient


With petrol costing £7 per gallon, and the Rover V8 only achieving 18-20mpg, its performance is questionable against its efficiency when set against more modern engines offering almost twice the economy AND better performance?



But if you want to talk about a V8's glorious sound track? - who could put a price on it???

[Sportster-Green]

Re: today i visited a rolling road....rover v8 powered ...

rover v8 compared to rover v8 would be ok...but why should i compare it to a BMW engine?

am I interested how many miles i can drive per gallon? this is my hobby and if i start to calculate the fuel consumption for my "fun" car i will better sell the car.

[Sportster-Green]

Re: today i visited a rolling road....rover v8 powered ...

the above mentioned figures are DIN-PS ( DIN 70020)

1,014 DIN-PS = 1 bhp