Aluminum Buick/Rover V-8 info request

It just hit me today that a project I'm planning for the future just begs for an aluminum Buick V-8. I ***ume they're impossible to find these days, so here is my question:
What Brittish cars/SUVs came with their version of the motor? How similar are they? Could I just buy a totalled Range Rover and use the drivetrain? (Do they look about the same?)

 

Actually they ARE available and still used by many folks. www.aluminumv8.com is one source of parts, service and/or I think you can get a complete engine from them. I've done business with Dan years ago when I had a 215 in my 37 Ford. He was great. Stu

 

Thanks for the link, Stu!

 

They are on e bay from time to time. Usually they are West of the Mississippi and to far for me to go get.

 

Ah! I never even thought of looking for a whole motor on eBay. Nice tip. Thanks!

 

Great motors with lots of potential!!

http://www.jrv8.co.uk/

http://www.v-8.org.uk/tuneup.htm

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Power-Rover-Engines-SpeedPro-Speedpro/dp/1903706173/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_b

 

I have a 4.6 Rover v8 in my Pop , there in Range rovers as you have already said they also fitted them in TVR cars most being 5.0 litre...We have a fair few on this side of the pond as you have alot of what we want on your side .....

 

I have a Rover V8 and 4 stage auto in my truck.
They go great.
Mine has twin SU carbs, but I think that is standard for most of them...

.

 

i have been searching for one for a while. they can get pretty pricey. it all started when i saw one at the local swap meet, it was the 63 buick hp version, 4 brl, 205hp 11:1, complete, carb to pan, still had belts and the 2 spd ******. 500. i didnt want the ******, and really i wanted it for a little better price than that considering how much stuff i wasnt going to use. i started doing some research and it really looks like you should go for a later, rover motor instead of the gm version. ive seen some of the gm ones that had some pretty bad corosion in the cooling system. i cant remember all the numbers and such, but there there were years and certain sizes that had cross bolted mains, which is great if you want to stroke one. some years have higher compresion. they look very similar, a lot of stuff will interchange but a trained eye will be able to tell what you have with a quick glance. if you get a 96ish rover you will have to convert to distributor, i think thats the year they went to coil pack. to do that you have to change the cam, front cover and oil pump. you really need to do your homework. i bought a 3.9 out of a range rover, with a distirbutor, thinking i was doing the right thing, turns out i cant just stick a buick distributor in it, the drive is different. so id have to change the front cover and oil pump anyway. if i wanted to do that. i was told a mallory unilite is the only one that will fit both. i am probably just going to figure out a way to run the factory distributor. if you can find a motor for under 400 you are doing good. the guys on ebay want big bucks for them. they seem to like head gaskets from what ive been seeing in used land rovers and range rovers.

 

Heres a very useful site I found...

http://www.v8engines.com/engine-4.htm

Shows how to cope with a head gasket problem should it arise {weird head bolt pattern..}, plus lots of other rebuild tips!

 

I have 2 Buicks and 2 Olds motors at the moment. In is still in the '63 Skylark the other 3 I bought from a guy in MI, If I remember right I payed less than $300 for the 3 motors. You just kinda have to look for the deals to pop up.

 

I remember the early Olds version came with an air cleaner that covered the carb all the way down to the manifold and looked like a big Red Shriner's FEZ!

 

This whole thing is still in the "what if?" stage of planning, but it seems like I might be on the right track. I'm liking the small physical size, the light weight, and the "not a small block Chevy" factor.
Hypothetically speaking, if someone were thinking of putting one of these into a racy 1940s/1950s-style car, would that be a bad idea since they didn't actually come out with the motor until 1961? I'm not aiming for "period correct," but I am aiming for "cool."

 

You could go for a car that was built in the '50's and updated in the '60's when the old motor blew.

 

One thing to be careful about, especially in the early British imports, is that they had sand still in them from casting. Most, if not all, have been fixed or replaced under warranty (in the early days).

That all said, they are fantastic engines with a lot of potential. TVRs would go like a scared cat, and there were some MGs with those stuffed in them too. You should be able to get tuning parts from the UK and elsewhere, as they were in many British cars. And there are a bunch of vintage guys there hot rodding their cars with them too.

Good Luck

 

Be warned that some of the engines had very low compression ratios and as such would probably be out dragged by a 1200 VW...

Not a problem if you are going to rebuild it though.

For an off the shelf performance Rover V8 try and find a wrecked TVR Chimera.

Speaking from personal experiance... There are a lot of wrecked ones about. Very Very fast and an engime note to die for.

Good luck with your quest.

P.

 

The casting sand disaster usualy only affected the V8 that was fitted to the Triumph Stag, this motor isn't related to the Rover V8.
It was Trumph's own in house madness...

A British Layland.... them were the days... not.

Here's a vid of a Morris Minor with a TVR 5-liter Rover V8!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZqsxkDbphQ

 

Good point, except that it's "Triumph" and "Leyland"

 

Ooops...

Me no speel so gud when tying @ high speed...

 

If you go over to www.v8buick.com and post your question in the small block forum, someone can give you very good answers.

I'v heard tale of people using a crank from a 300 cid buick iron v8 to stroke a 215. SBC rods can be machined to work, pistons are available, and wildcat engineering based in the U.K. sells some WICKED heads that flow ~290 cfm.

Crower, Comp, Lunati, etc, still sell cams in any flavor you could desire. Shorty headers, F.I., 2X4V, and single 4V intakes are sold.

It's my understanding that the british version of this engine with press in cylinder liners is slightly better than the USA version with cast in liners.

Problems you might run into are ****** adaptors. They are available, but $$$. [as in $500-ish]

 

There are still a good number of outfits building performance parts for these motors. I am putting one in my 28 A pick up, with an Offy 2x2 intake with 2G Rochesters, Mallory dizzy, Isky cam and T10 4 speed. Offenhauser and O'brian Truckers can supply valve covers. I am running chromed Buick valve covers and the whole thing looks a lot like a nailhead. I have got a bit of **** from some guys but I reckon if they were good enough for Roth to use in the 60's then they must rate as a trad engine !

 

Does anyone know if there is a 3 carb intake in current production? I don't make it to many (any usually) of the bigger swap meets, so a new one would be more realistic for me.

FWIW I think the efi intake looks cool minus it's top (looks like caliopy stack injection). If I could afford to have shafts and ****erflies installed I would (if the runners line up that well, hard to tell with it still on the engine). Or maybe a see through plenum (top).

 

My other half Sue has a 3.5 (215ci) in her 29A RP, We used it as she use's her car a lot and needed good gas mileage, Its got a decent cam in it along with a Edelbrock 500 carb and intake, It gets 30mpg and reasonable performance but it ain't no tyre burner.




Range Rovers are low compression.

 

All the 'big' Rover sedans from the late 60's until Rover died as a marque used them, plus MGBV8's, Triumph TR8's, and a few other British sporting type cars. Probably the most common one you'll find in wrecking yards these days will be the Land Rover/Range Rover V8's which used different upgrades of the original Buick motor up until about 2002 or 3 I think. It's available in everything from 3.5 to 4.6 litre capacity, and late top of the line Rangie engines had 4 bolt mains. Over here you can get a stroker kit that brings it up to 5 litres (307ci) and produces about 350hp.

Check for adaptablity of manifolds etc, and as you said, distributors. If you can get away from the early Lucas electrical stuff, do it!

Cheers, Glen.

 

Forgot to say that although the engines are cheap the aftermarket parts ain't.

 

We had one of those Triumph TR8s for a while. A freebie come get it out of my yard deal; got swapped to a guy up north. I've run into Buicks and Oldsmobiles with them in the car yet once in a while, too. I think one sold at an auction I was at last fall for under $200 for the whole car. The car was all there, but I think it would have broken in half to pull it out of there.

 

One of the guys here at work does a lot of Land Rover work on the side. He has several of these engines and has offered them to me at a decent price but the kicker has always been the transmission.

The bellhousing pattern is unique, so nothing from any other engine bolts up. You need an adapter to use a later transmission. Original Buick/Olds bells are hard to find and the aftermarket ones are pricey ($400!). Same with flywheels.

Other than that the Rover stuff is easy to find and adapt. These engines look great when dressed up with early valve covers and manifolds.

 

I have 2 62 Buick's with 215s, great runnin little motors and if you spend big bucks you can make them fly! I am building a custom out of the one car and am going to use the other 215 in another project, I have a 2X2 intake and offy valve covers. I think that motor would look great in an early coupe or roadster W/O a hood.

 

Dave,

Of course the 215 was available in all those early Specials and Skylarks as well as the rope-drive Tempests. The Olds version used in the F-85 and '61-'63 Cutl*** had different heads and they also had their turbo version in the Jetfire sport coupe. 215 horses out of 215 inches!

Rovers are pretty rare in the States, but later P-models had them as well as the 3500 sedan. Triumph TR-8s used them and so did Triumph Stags. Range Rovers used them for decades in different displacements and with EFI on the later stuff.

Bart

 

What those Rocker cover are for Rover or Chevy?
Thanks.
Eric<O</O