Rover V8 engine

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Rover V8

Manufacturer	General Motors Rover Land Rover MG TVR
Also called	Buick 215 V8
Production	1961–2006
Predecessor	BMC C-Series engine
Successor	Jaguar AJ-V8 TVR AJP8
Related	Buick 215 V8

See also Buick V8 engine

The Rover V8 engine is a compact V8 internal combustion engine with aluminium cylinder heads and cylinder block, originally designed by General Motors and later re-designed and produced by Rover in the United Kingdom.

1 History
2 Racing
3 3.5 L
4 3.9/4.0
5 4.2
6 4.4
7 4.6
8 5.0
9 References
10 External links

[edit] History

The Rover V8 began life as the Buick 215, an all-aluminium engine introduced for the 1961 model year. The compact engine was extremely lightweight, at just 144 kg (318 lb), and capable of high power outputs: the strongest Buick version of this engine rated 200 hp (149 kW), and the very similar Oldsmobile "Jetfire" turbocharged version made 215 hp (160 kW) (both numbers SAE gross). Based on sales volume and press reports, the engine was a success. Buick produced 376,799 cars with this engine in just three years. A comparable number of Oldsmobile 215s were produced. The aluminium engine was relatively expensive to produce, however, and it suffered problems with oil and coolant sealing, as well as with radiator clogging from use of antifreeze incompatible with aluminium. As a result, GM ceased production of the all-aluminium engine after 1963, although Buick retained a similar iron engine as well as a V6 that would prove to have a very long and successful life.

In January 1964 Rover gave American operations head J. Bruce McWilliams permission to investigate the possible purchase of an American V8 engine for Rover cars. It is usually said that McWilliams first saw the Buick V8 at the works of Mercury Marine, where he was discussing the sale of Rover gas turbines and diesel engines to the company (Mercury did indeed use the Land Rover diesel engine in marinsed form). However, it seems unlikely that McWilliams was unaware of the Buick engine before this. In any case, McWilliams realised that the lightweight Buick V8 would be ideal for smaller British cars (indeed, it weighed less than many straight-4 engines it would replace). McWilliams and William Martin-Hurst began an aggressive campaign to convince GM to sell the tooling, which they finally agreed to do in January 1965. Retiring Buick engineer Joe Turley also moved to the UK to act as a consultant.

The demise of the MG Rover Group in 2005 led to a halt in production of the famed "name" Rover V8 after 40 years (The last Rover to have a real Rover V8 was the Rover SD1 Vitesse which was replaced by the Rover 827 Vitesse with a 2.7 Honda V6 unit, The Rover V8 remained with Land Rover until being sold to Ford by BMW; ironic how it started life with GM and ended up with Ford). However, Land Rover desired for production of the engine to continue, and they arranged for production to restart in Weston-super-Mare under MCT, an engineering and manufacturing company. Although Land Rover has switched to the Jaguar AJ-V8 engine for new applications, MCT will continue limited production of the engine for the indeterminate future, supplying engines for aftermarket and replacement use.^[1]

As well as appearing in Rover cars, the engine was widely sold by Rover to small car builders, and has appeared in a wide variety of vehicles. Rover V8s feature in some models from Morgan, TVR, Triumph, Land Rover and MG, among many others.

The Rover V8 has long been virtually the standard engine for hot rod use in Britain, much as the Chevrolet small-block V8 is for American builders. Even in the US there is a strong contingent of builders who select the Buick or Rover aluminum V8 engine for use in small sporty cars like the MG MGB and the Chevy Vega. (Note also that the 1964 Buick iron-block 300cid engine had aluminum cylinder heads and a longer stroke crankshaft which with minor modifications can be used with the Buick 215 or Rover engine blocks to produce a high output, very light weight V8 with displacement of up to about 300cid.)

[edit] Racing

As the aluminium block made this engine one of the lightest stock V8s built, it was an obvious choice for use in racing. Mickey Thompson entered a car powered by this engine in the 1962 Indianapolis 500. From 1946 to 1962 there hadn't been a single stock-block car entered in this famous race. In 1962 the Buick 215 was the only non-Offenhauser powered entry in the field of 33 cars. Rookie driver Dan Gurney qualified eighth and raced well for 92 laps before retiring with transmission problems.

The Australian firm Repco converted this engine for Formula One by reducing it to 3 L and fitting a single overhead camshaft per bank rather than the shared pushrod arrangement. Repco-powered Brabhams won the F1 championship twice, in 1966 and 1967.^[2] For the 1968 season, the Repco engine was fitted with new four-valve, dual overhead camshaft heads. This made the engine roughly as powerful as the Cosworth DFV, but proved to be too much for the stock block, which broke on many occasions. Repco also experimented with 4.2 L derivatives of the Rover V8, to some success despite problems with massive vibration.^[3]

The Rover version of this engine was extensively developed and used for rally racing, especially in Triumph TR8 sports cars.

[edit] 3.5 L

The initial Rover version of the engine had a displacement of 3528 cc. It used a sand-cast (rather than pressure die-cast) block, pressed-in iron cylinder liners, and a new intake manifold with two SU carburetors. The Rover engine was heavier but stronger than the Buick engine, with a dry weight of about 170 kg (375 lb). It was first offered in the 1965 Rover P5B saloon, initially making 160 hp (DIN) (118 kW) @ 5200 rpm and 210 ft·lbf (285 N·m) of torque @ 2600 rpm on 10.5:1 compression.

Rover V8 (file info) — play in browser (beta)
- Sound clip of a 3.5 L Rover V8 engine, as fitted to a 1979 Range Rover.
- Problems listening to the file? See media help.

Applications:

1967-1973 Rover P5
1968-2003 Morgan Plus 8
1968-1976 Rover P6
1970-1989 Land Rover Range Rover
1973-1976 MGB GT V8
1975-1978 Land Rover 101 Forward Control military vehicle
1979-1981/2 Triumph TR8
1978-1985 Land Rover Series III "Stage One"
1976-1987 Rover SD1
1976-1990 Argyll
1980-1990 TVR 350i
1989-2004 Land Rover Discovery
1983-1994 Land Rover 90/110/Defender

[edit] 3.9/4.0

Land Rover used a 3.9 L (3946 cc) version of the Rover V8 through the 1990s. Revised in 1995 (and thereafter referred to as a 4.0 to differentiate it from the earlier version, although displacement remained the same at 3946cc) with a new intake and exhaust system, extra block ribbing, revised pistons, and larger cross-bolted main-bearings. The 1995 4.0 produced 190 hp (142 kW) and 236 ft·lbf (320 N·m).

Production of the 4.0 ended in 2001. The final version of the engine, used in the Land Rover Discovery, produced 188 hp (140 kW) at 4750 rpm and 250 ft·lbf (339 N·m) at 2600 rpm.

Applications:

1992-1996 MG RV8
1986-1993 TVR S Series
1989-1995 Land Rover Range Rover (known as a 3.9 in this application)
1992-2001 TVR Chimaera
1992-2000 TVR Griffith
1995-2002 Land Rover Range Rover in SE trim
1994-1998 Land Rover Defender (only used as standard on USA-spec vehicles- available only to special order in other markets.)

[edit] 4.2

Land Rover extended the 3946cc engine for the top LSE^[4] specification of the Classic Range Rover. The 4.2 L engine had a displacement of 4197 cc, and used the crankshaft castings from the failed "Iceberg" diesel engine project.^[5]

Applications:

1992-1995 Land Rover Range Rover

[edit] 4.4

Leyland of Australia produced a special 4.4 L (4416 cc) version of the aluminum V8 for their down under-only 1973 Leyland P76. This rare engine produced 200 hp (149 kW) and 280 ft·lbf (380 N·m) and although export (to the UK) versions were planned, the failure of British Leyland's Australian operations in 1975 doomed the widespread application of this engine.

Applications:

1973-1975 Leyland P76
Leyland Terrier truck

[edit] 4.6

In 1996, Land Rover enlarged the Rover V8 to 4.6 L (4552 cc or 281 in³). The bore remained the same size as the previous 4.0, but the engine was stroked by 10.9 mm. Output was 225 hp (168 kW) and 280 ft·lbf (380 N·m).

Production of the 4.6 ended at Solihull, UK, in 2002. The final version, used in the Range Rover, produced 222 hp (166 kW) at 4750 rpm and 300 ft·lbf (407 N·m) at 2600 rpm.

The last mass-produced application of the Rover V8 was the Land Rover Discovery, up until the vehicle was redesigned in 2005. It is still used by some hand-built sports cars built by some independent manufacturers.

Applications:

1995-2002 Land Rover Range Rover in the HSE trim
2003-2004 Land Rover Discovery

[edit] 5.0

A 5 litre variant of the Rover V8 was used in two models by British sportscar manufacturer TVR. These models, the TVR Griffith and TVR Chimaera used the 5 litre unit in their top-end specifications. The factory quotes up to 340 bhp and 350 ft·lbf of torque.

Applications:

1992-2001 TVR Chimaera
1992-2000 TVR Griffith
2002-2006 Bowler Wildcat- this used a hybrid 5.0-litre V8 with Land Rover cylinder heads and a TVR block and piston assembly.

[edit] References

^ The Rover V8 Will Burble Again: Famous torquey powerplant rumbles on. Pistonheads.com. Retrieved on February 23, 2006.
^ Hammill, Des (2004). How to Power Tune Rover V8 Engines for Road and Track. Veloce Publishing. ISBN 1-903-706-173.
^ Hammill, p. 13.
^ Or "County LWB" in the United States.
^ Hammill, p. 12.