E30 Zone

Hi all, first post here. Go easy on me.

Just picked up a 4 door e30 316, and i'm planning on shoehorning a 3.5 V8 Rover V8 or bigger in. Has this been done before and can anyone give any pointers on this?

Cheers, Tommy.

Rover V8 does fit mate and someone on here has done it i'm sure.

5.0L BMW M5 V8 has been put in and currently a V12 750i lump is being put it a touring.

Just do a search for Rover V8 and if should dig up some results mate.

Welcome mate

will do, cheers.

plannin a rover number as i'm doin this on a shoestring budget. Don't want to crack over 1k for the whole project, which so far leaves me with Ԛ£930 for the job!

welcome to the zone tommy.
rover v8 would be a nice project.
reasonably light and plenty of performance parts available, it makes
all the right noises too.
dips has a mega spec rover v8 in a e30, there's a pic of it here somewhere

here is my v8 4.6

hi ive got an e30 with a rover v8 which i bought from ebay it has a sd1 3.5 in it and apart from sounding amazing its not that fast, id say a 325 would be faster, but saying that there so many different spec rover engines and plenty of tuning potential. the main problem with the rover is the heads, good for torque but not for revs and aftermarket heads are very expensive. if your on a budget mate try and find an injection engine from an sd1 vitesse, there good for 190 bhp

Dips that is the craziest engine bay I have ever seen in an E30!!!
What sort of ponies are we talking in that beast?

440bhp with around 500 lb torque at the moment still want twin turbo or twin chargers big spec lots of tvr bits

dips346 wrote:500 lb torque

that's

Awesome you crazy mofo isn't that enough!!!!!!!!!!
I won't use the e c o n o m y word!!!!!

crazy, does anyone remember that yellow one from birmingham that was in max power about 5 years ago, someone a work with has a golf Mk1 with V8 fitted and mk 2 escort rear drive

WillG wrote:crazy, does anyone remember that yellow one from birmingham that was in max power about 5 years ago, someone a work with has a golf Mk1 with V8 fitted and mk 2 escort rear drive

the one you saw would have been this, belongs to clive aka prism motorsport, who also built dips engine
its changed a bit since then, this is how the car looks now (it on air jacks hence the 4x4 ride hight!!)

Nice idea mate, would be sweet to have another V8 powered E30.

Rover v8's cool, or a Small block chevy should fit, and theres endless parts available for them, more so than the rover Market.

Not sure what sort of money your looking to spend so it all depends?

unless you're dead determined to get the V8 noise, i'd consider the 3.5 M30 lump. it's 210 - 220 bhp in standard trim and will be a lot easier to fit.

a lot of knowledge on here about it.

if i was fitting a V8 i'd skip rover and head for some larger american stuff as the parts are also vastly cheaper.

My knowledge of Rover V8 stuff is basically zilch, but i know enough about yank V8's to say that a nice 383stroker small block shoehorned into an E30 would be an easy 400+ hp and similar torque figures once youve spent a couple of grand (depending on the engine you start with!)

precisey. the rover in basic form is less power than a 325i! 160bhp from a 3.5 isn't too impressive. it is a light engine though, i suspect lighter than the 2.5 M20.

the vitesse 190bhp version is respectable but rare.

gareth wrote:
the vitesse 190bhp version is respectable but rare.

Not that rare m8,theres thousands of them about because its the same engine in the 3.9 range rover (classic).
190 bhp and EFI.

OK so it's a bit more and the tuning options are limited but the 1UZ-FE 4.0V8 out of the Lexus LS400 (same engine in my chariot) can be had for about £350. 260bhp & torque out of the box, junk the 2 cats and fit an induction kit and you are getting nearer the magic 300bhp figure.

Standard bottom end can take 800bhp without modification. One of the most reliable and over-engineered V8 engines on the planet.

I've heard talk that these engines are starting to become popular with the kit car boys and people sticking them in MR2's also

would the 3.0 or 4.4 Bmw v8 fit?

gareth wrote:precisey. the rover in basic form is less power than a 325i! 160bhp from a 3.5 isn't too impressive. it is a light engine though, i suspect lighter than the 2.5 M20.

the vitesse 190bhp version is respectable but rare.

the vitesse used a rover t-series 2.0 turbo lump did it not ? same as the 220 coupe, 420 turbo gsi, 620 turbo gsi...

they are good for 190bhp in standard trim.

www.rovertech.net is a the forum i used when i had a rover

m-dtech wrote:

gareth wrote:precisey. the rover in basic form is less power than a 325i! 160bhp from a 3.5 isn't too impressive. it is a light engine though, i suspect lighter than the 2.5 M20.

the vitesse 190bhp version is respectable but rare.

the vitesse used a rover t-series 2.0 turbo lump did it not ? same as the 220 coupe, 420 turbo gsi, 620 turbo gsi...

they are good for 190bhp in standard trim.

www.rovertech.net is a the forum i used when i had a rover

later models yes

they are talking SD1 age i think

SpunkyE30nOk wrote:would the 3.0 or 4.4 Bmw v8 fit?

indeed they will, as will a bmw V12, there is a V12 being built on this forum now also there are a couple of V8 smoking around!!

i thought the vitesse had the twin plenum version? thinking about it, that may just have been a rare version for btcc homologation or something... (read about it years ago in a car mag). iirc it had a split plenum, two afm's and two TB's! all in the interest of tuning potential though.

if the vitesse lump is just single plenum then yes it'll be the same as the range rover version. the range rover version has up to 4.6 litres in later models i think...

oh, yes i was talking about the SD1 age vitesse. none of that silly fwd stuff!

gareth wrote:unless you're dead determined to get the V8 noise, i'd consider the 3.5 M30 lump. it's 210 - 220 bhp in standard trim and will be a lot easier to fit.

a lot of knowledge on here about it.

amen

if i was fitting a V8 i'd skip rover and head for some larger american stuff as the parts are also vastly cheaper.

Like an LS2 with 400bhp in standard form or about 450bhp with some basic mods like tubular exhaust headers/etc and a re-map.

great minds and all that!

how's yours doing andy? mine has so far been very reliable since the conversion... though the new PAS belt is now slipping (at the end of its adjustment) and there's a high pitched whistle that sounds like the alternator bearings are on the way out. other than that and some old re-used hoses playing up it's all been pretty good, it's just the 16mpg that hurts!!! (though it's better when i go on a run but so far that's been about 100 miles worth!!!)... oh, an i need some new rear tires!..... too many donuts in 2nd!!! a taller diff will definately be nice!

happy days!

Mines going fine mate, i've got to get a second hand lap top so i can carry on tweeking the fuel map.

I might even get around to fitting that twin 60mm TB soon

sounds cool!

i'm leaving the engine well alone for a while. i have to now sort the suspension out as it coil binds on even the smallest bumps as it's too low and the springs are too soft. then the brakes need looking at (really poor at the moment and the ABS has packed up), not the best time now i have stupid power!!!! i also have to replace both drivers side doors after some prat drive into it one night, then replace the tailgate as it's looking really bad, then replace both thr ripply front wings, the wonky bonnet and the wonky front panel...... luckily i have all of the panels i need in the right colour and in original BMW paint! lets just hope it matches!

gareth wrote:i thought the vitesse had the twin plenum version? thinking about it, that may just have been a rare version for btcc homologation or something... (read about it years ago in a car mag). iirc it had a split plenum, two afm's and two TB's! all in the interest of tuning potential though.

if the vitesse lump is just single plenum then yes it'll be the same as the range rover version. the range rover version has up to 4.6 litres in later models i think...

oh, yes i was talking about the SD1 age vitesse. none of that silly fwd stuff!

you're right - they made limited numbers of the twin plenum SD1 vitesses but other than that the engines are essentially the same as range rover units which, as you rightly said go up to 4.6 litre (as made for the factory by JE Engineering). RPi Engineering also make a version of this 'thor' V8 with displacements up to 5.2 litres (see http://www.rpiv8.com).

If you're after a Rover V8 with loads of horsies, why not try and source one out of a TVR wedge - the 420SEAC had 360bhp at the flywheel out of the box if i remember correctly? (probably not!) Then you're talking near on yank-V8 power with a franction of the weight..

Russ (ex-e30 owner )[/url]

i had a rover v8 e30.easy conversion sounds great.to make it fast you will need to spend a lot of money.

Yeh i bet it sounded awesome. Thing is, from my point of view its a waste of cash.Yeh yank motors are heavier, but for a couple of grand nowadays you can get a crate motor with near enough 300hp, or if u know anything about engines build a better one for cheaper. Theres just so many yank parts to chose from its ridiculous

Bin the Rover V8 idea, too expensive to mod and doesnt give that much power. Id be wanting a Chevy small block v8. Steel crank, and Corillo rods. With matched headers, ported and polished head and running 48mm IDA carbs you'll see about 450bhp and can rev to nigh on 8k.

(not all day though!)

Parts from America are very cheap too and there are untolds of people out there to speak to to help you out.

Agreed !

small block all the way but with a Tpi kit from a mid 90's camaro on top and some proper headers.

I live next to a corvette specialists, the engines are cheap and plentiful, indeed he has about 10 crated 5.7's in stock all the time due to demand from kit builders and petrol heads alike.

HTH

Ant, fancy giving me the exact adress of this place, could do with nabbing a new 5.7 for my camaro

Hi, just a few pointers about the RV8 engines.

The SD1 3.5l engine running on carbs(twin SU's) and 9.35CR gives (officially) 150bhp
The SD1 Vitesse 3.5l running the flapper fuel injection and 9.75 (officially) gives 190bhp
The 3.9/4litre Landrover engines run the later hotwire fuel injection but the CR can be either 8.13 or 9.35, they also have a much torquier cam in a the expense of power and revs. Full hotwire or flapper systems can be had for £50 including ECU i you look around, I just keep an eye on ebay and snap up ones no-one bids on to keep as spares.

From then on in you pay's your money and takes your choice, to give you an idea of whats possible my Chimaera 4l race engine is basically standard save for a Real Steel Typhoon cam and produces 227hp at 5100rpm, which isnt too much to shout about, however it is above 220lb/ft torque from 2000 rpm until past peak power and above 250lb/ft from 2750rpm until 4500rpm. Effectively this means instead of reving the engine to make progress I shift between 4500 and 5k and use the torque to pull me through the next gear.

Whatever you do don't use a pre SD1 road engine or pre hotwire 4x4 engine, the ports in the heads are like drinking straws and really really restrictive, eg a mid 80's Landie 3.5l only gives 123hp. Pitiful.

For a budget engine my money would be on a 9.35CR Discovery/Rangerover engine from the mid 90's, skim the heads which will help up the CR, put in a cam either something like a Typhoon or for a bit more money the new V8Developments "Stealth" cam and enjoy the laziness of the engine.

If you have a bit more money pull an engine out of a a TVR or other RV8 powered sports car, a good 5l engine will give 300hp and knocking on 400lb/ft torque. A friend took me out in his Griff 500 thats just had the V8D Stealth cam put in and it pulled like a train in 5th from 30mph to **** knows how fast.

Sorry for waffling
Regards
Iain

Geoff wrote:Bin the Rover V8 idea, too expensive to mod and doesnt give that much power. Id be wanting a Chevy small block v8. Steel crank, and Corillo rods. With matched headers, ported and polished head and running 48mm IDA carbs you'll see about 450bhp and can rev to nigh on 8k.

(not all day though!)

Parts from America are very cheap too and there are untolds of people out there to speak to to help you out.

rover V8 must be one of the most tuneable engine in the UK, and it will cost a lot less than tuning an m20, thats a fact

yoiu can pick up a 3.9 engine from a breakers for a £200, some head work, up th CR, a cam to make it rev and a four barrel holly carb and you will have 250hp and a huge wedge of tourqe. and it can be done using new parts for around £2000, and you could use second hand parts for a lot less.

parts from america have a fair amount of duty on them, but if you go to real steel in uxbridge you can get a good deal on most things for rover and yank V8's