V8 engine
Moderator: martauto
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Andy335Touring
- Married to the E30 Zone

- Posts: 7144
- Joined: Sun Jan 09, 2005 11:00 pm
- Location: Long Eaton,Nottingham
- Contact:
Look or search in the engine swap section 
id get an american V8
I have thought before that a V8 would sit in there nicely,
A good choice me thinks!
A good choice me thinks!
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Turbo-Brown
- Boost Junkie
- Posts: 4705
- Joined: Tue Feb 15, 2005 11:00 pm
- Location: Aldershot, Hants
- Contact:
How about an LS1 or whatever they're called?
Nice and light, and more powerful than the M20 it's replacing
Nice and light, and more powerful than the M20 it's replacing
The LS series of engines is a stonking selection, starting at a reliable 350bhp and going up to about 700bhp before you need to start getting "serious" about tuning, however even if you get a lift out engine you're looking at £3k before you even start looking at putting it into a car, plus I would suspect the standard gearbox would mate up and wouldn't take the torque, so that's an extra £1k for the box.
If you want more info on LS engines in the UK http://www.chevroletls1.com/ is a good place to start, Mike Johnson is a very knowledgeable chap on most things to do with Rover V8's and Chevy engines, and turbo charging!!!
However...the Rover engine is somewhat cheaper, and slightly smaller (its narrower across the heads, and for instant plug and play V8 burble it's the way to go. Unless you want a Weber 500/Holley carb, go for a fuel injected engine. Both the "flapper" system from SD1's and the "hotwire" system from late RR Classics and series 1 discos (and late 80's onwards RV8 engined TVR's) need literally a power and an earth feeding into their loom and you can run them to your hearts content. I wouldn't suggest anything earlier than one of these engines because the earlier engines have very small ports on the heads, and breathing is the achilles heel of the RV8. There is really very little difference between a 3.9 Discovery engine and a 4l TVR engine, other than the cam being the obvious one. If going the RV8 route, I'd get a cheap eBay engine and throw that in to start with, then build yourself a nice 3.9/4, 4.6, or 5+ litre beast as and when you have the time and the cash. The difference between a 3.9 and a 4 litre is the 4l has bigger diameter crank bearings (unless its a TVR engines then who knows), theyre both the same capacity, just labelled differently
Regards
Iain
If you want more info on LS engines in the UK http://www.chevroletls1.com/ is a good place to start, Mike Johnson is a very knowledgeable chap on most things to do with Rover V8's and Chevy engines, and turbo charging!!!
However...the Rover engine is somewhat cheaper, and slightly smaller (its narrower across the heads, and for instant plug and play V8 burble it's the way to go. Unless you want a Weber 500/Holley carb, go for a fuel injected engine. Both the "flapper" system from SD1's and the "hotwire" system from late RR Classics and series 1 discos (and late 80's onwards RV8 engined TVR's) need literally a power and an earth feeding into their loom and you can run them to your hearts content. I wouldn't suggest anything earlier than one of these engines because the earlier engines have very small ports on the heads, and breathing is the achilles heel of the RV8. There is really very little difference between a 3.9 Discovery engine and a 4l TVR engine, other than the cam being the obvious one. If going the RV8 route, I'd get a cheap eBay engine and throw that in to start with, then build yourself a nice 3.9/4, 4.6, or 5+ litre beast as and when you have the time and the cash. The difference between a 3.9 and a 4 litre is the 4l has bigger diameter crank bearings (unless its a TVR engines then who knows), theyre both the same capacity, just labelled differently
Regards
Iain

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Simon
- E30 Zone Team Member

- Posts: 14936
- Joined: Sun Jan 09, 2005 11:00 pm
- Location: South Wales
- Contact:
Yes, quite a few of us!moya wrote:sorry essbee for having caps lock on-i am a quiet fella.
thanks to all for replies to the v8 question.
are there any zone members in South Wales
Glenn, our resident engine conversion nutter is in South Wales too, was last seen tickling a V12 into an E30 touring, and is now putting a V8 E39 M5 engine into his E30 M3.




