V8 questions and opinions??

[jongould]

Hi guys,

Im new here and was after a few opinions from the more experienced viva enthusiasts. Basically I have had a fair few classics now and have gone between fast cars, customs, OG classics and so on but one style and engine I have yet to experience is hot rod and V8. Not wanting an american car I have kinda decided a Viva would be a good base car due to the size of the engine bay and the fact they are cool cars. I am not after a perfect custom hot rod here, its cheap speed, a true hot rod, rough but fun.

I am going to use a 3.9 rover V8 as these are the best of the rover bunch and cheap, I will figure the gearbox out, LT77's and R380's are cheap in land rover form but not sure whats needed for conversion (had a few landrovers and a few mates break them so very cheap). The standard 3.9 is near on 200bhp and can be chipped and few other cheap mods for a good 250bhp, wiring is no issue as I run a garage. I have searched and seen about moving the engine back for better handling, moving the pedal box and also the standard axles are rubbish

The questions I have are:

Is it worth moving the engine back? I am not after superb handling and is a V8 really that much heavier than an original 2.3?

What rear axles fit across? I cant picture a viva rear end, is it axle over leaf spring or struts/wishbones? any ideas what other axles fit, bmw, jaguar e.t.c?

Is the engine a simple brackets welded on chassis legs mounting or am I going to be making subframes/fancy mounts?

Anything else I should be knowing about Vivas or V8 conversion in one? Any links to guides e.t.c.? I have searched the web and am getting little results for solid information

Cheers

Jon

[hbpeter]

Best bet is to get in touch with Guy Turner of the Viva Outlaws. http://www.vivaoutlaws.co.uk/index.html

Viva axles dont have leaf springs, they have trailing arms and coil springs. For about 200bhp an axle of an OHC engined(1800,2300) Magnum will do.

Peter

[ian24ian]

Rovers are notoriously expensive to build, You are right the 3.9 is the best of the basic bunch, 250hp from an unopened engine is slightly optimistic, A GOOD tubular exhaust helps, The choice of engine. none are particularly weak, The later X-bolted blocks 4.0 & 4.6 do suffer from leaking liners, which will leave you short of about 1k to fix, Go for the earlier 3.9 engine, choice of 2,the 3.9 with a dissy and the original type gear oil pump next to the filter, and the intermediate engine, still dissy, but has the better annular pump on the crank, uses the X bolted block but not normally drilled for the bolts, Sumps from the x bolted engines will not directly swap to the earlier engine due to the front cover being different.
Length of the engine can vary, the later engines are the shortest by far as the timing case does not need to deep as there is no dissy, the other engines can be shortened by using the Rover P5 or 6 water pump, alternator bracket and balancer, thats about as short as it will go without making mods to the water pump, best not to use the earlier pump housing as the pumps have smaller rotors, The pumps are not High pressure and give problems when boosting the oil pressure, they rely on volume, Timing gear is plastic and is best changed for a good steel one, If you intend using high revs I would recommend using ARP mains studs and rod bolts, especially as the mains do have a tendency to walk.
TBH 300hp is a realistic max using top quality bits,
Gearboxes, No 4wd gearbox is worth the effort to convert to 2wd, they are substantially different and you would need a 2wd box as a donor. The 4wd clutch, flywheel and bellhousing are not any good for the 2wd.
LT77, Found in SD1s, Morgans, TVRs, XJ6s, TR7s, Sherpas, etc, good box, I never broke one, they do suffer with bearing play due to the box using taper roller bearings, There were 3 basic types, which was the majority of were, the injection/vitesse, Jag box with bigger bearings and peened gears, and the sherpa, with the very long first gear and a cast iron short remote, Jags had a similar short remote but in alloy,
R380s Car based boxes are quite hard to find, found in MGRV8s and Morgans, and the sherpa ones too, again with rubbish ratios, 1st is 4.1:1 !!! far too long for fun, reverse is on the other side to the LT77.
TVR T5s are a good option, you can use a mustang T5 but they are canted over to the Left, Real Steel do a conversion bell housing to correct this, worth bearing in mind if buying a T5, check its pedigree, there are over 250 variants including 4wd ones.
Back axles, OHC magnum axles will cope with with rovers as long as the tire is not too sticky/wide ,a Lsd will help as it spreads the load between both shafts in most situations, alternatively there is the Sailsbury 4HA from a scimitar, you will need to fab the brackets, built like a brick outhouse and will take a Jag Lsd with slight mods,
Have a pic of my old 3.9 RV8 in my Mk2 Cortina.

[looneytune]

Never seen plastic timing gears on rover engine. I fitted a rover v8 into a hc. It was a lot of effort and I wasn't happy with it. I swapped it for a Chevy 350 and have never looked back. Rear axle, go for a Volvo and 5 link it.

[pbottomley]

Have a look and email some of the guys on the outlaws who have undertaken this conversion, that Large engine bay you talk of ain't that big ...

You're going to need to make custom engine mounts, home made sump, home make exhaust system and home made manifolds, custom steering (as the engine is very wide) cut the bulkhead to make room for rad, deal with a custom pedal box as the LT77 is not cable, the list is almost endless...

[MattyE]

I'd agree with the above, that engine bay really isnt that big! yes you can fit a v8 but its a squeeze..

Personally I'd go with a Victor if I wanted to put a V8 in a 70's vauxhall.. much bigger engine bay as was designed to take the slant four or a straight six

I've been having dirty thoughts about a VX2300 GLS with a 1UZ-FE

[looneytune]

20 years ago it would have been worth it but there's so many modern engines today that are more powerful and economical that will fit in a lot easier

[GTpete]

But only V8s give you that burble!!!!!

[martin-reyland]

20 years ago it would have been worth it but there's so many modern engines today that are more powerful and economical that will fit in a lot easier

20 years later and its still worth it, like everything else V8's have moved on too you know What's your alternative out of interest?