Rover V8 section
If you've been to my 'What the previous owner had done' page, you'll see that a V8 has already been attached to this car. It looked good and I was feeling particularly frustrated one day....I adored the 2.0 Litre rev-happy engine, I really did. Lotus mullered the Vauxhall based engine and the 4 valves per cylinder didn't half kick in at 4 000 r.p.m. The trouble was that the engine I'd bought, as has been previously explained, was not exactly in pristine condition. Every now and again 'interesting' noises would emanate from the engine - you know, the kind of noises that make you sweat. The kind of noises that, when you take it in to your friendly mechanic, elicit a pursed lip, shake of the head and the comment "Well I can do it, but it'll be 25 hours labour, plus the parts - and there's the V.A.T. on top. 'Course I can do it cheaper for cash, but I'd need it up front. Tell you what, I've got a nice cheap reliable runner out back if you trade this one in for a pound - and I'm robbin' meself at that....guaranteed for 5 miles or 5 minutes, whichever comes first"
Anyway, I don't trust garages and I didn't have the cash to rebuild the Lotus engine, but a friend knew where a Rover V8 was in a barn for 50 quid. Well the offer was too good, so I hired a small van, drove to Wales and returned with a bale of hay. Inside which was an engine. This is what it looked like....
Of course when you first embark on this kind of project, everything looks rosy and bright. You don't anticipate all the problems you're going to encounter (at least I didn't - this was shiny, gleaming, bright white virgin territory for me). So what if the engine had hay all over (and in) it? A quick rebuild and it would slot into the Lotus just fine. After all, I'd read up on it all, asked some advice; I'd even seen a few conversions at places like Donington and it didn't look that hard. I mean, come on, it's only nuts and bolts isn't it?
The timetable looked like this:
Day 1 - Strip engine
Day 2 - Rebuild engine (allow 1 day for possible problems)
Days 4 & 5 - Disconnect and drop Lotus 907 engine
Days 6 & 7 - Fit Rover engine
Day 8 - Allow for any unforeseen problems.
Ah, blissful ignorance!
Page 2
Page 3
Page 4
Page 5
Page 6 (Rover-Lotus mating setup; flywheel; bell housing; spigot bearing)
Page 7 (engine mounts)
Page 8 (ignition; exhausts)
Page 9 (clutch problem)
Final thoughts
Pictures of other modified V8 engine bays (Elite/Eclats and an Esprit)
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