Wanted : Rover SD1 V8.

But do you try London traffic jams on a hot summer's day?

First time I had it was in a MK I 3500 auto - on the Exeter bypass on my way to Torbay. I hadn't a clue what it was, and after trying all the usual things for a dead engine, we went off for a cup of tea. And, of course, it started easily when we came back.

I would never dream of driving in London. Hot day or otherwise.:-) I gave up doing that over 20 years ago, because of the traffic. It's far less frustrating to use the train, then tube, or taxi. But the few times I have been in jams on hot days, I've seen other drivers pushing their car to the side of the road, presumably because of a fuel vapour lock, and waited for it to happen to mine, but fortunately it never has.

I had 1 P6 2000, and 2 P6 2000 TC''s, before I went on to SD1's, so maybe it was more likely on the P6 V8's. Mike.

In news:407c3959 snipped-for-privacy@mk-nntp-2.news.uk.tiscali.com, Mike G decided to enlighten our sheltered souls with a rant as follows

I grew up with P6 3500s, my dad owned a large garage and about the only cars he ever used when I was a kid were either P6 V8s, E-types, BMW 2500 / 3.0 Si, Jag XJ's or occasionally a TR6.

Most of my memories of holidays as a child were spent sitting on grass verges watching my dad turn purple with rage at the "F**king Rover" as fuel vapourisation combined with the boat he used to tow at highly unadviseable speeds caused another 15 minute "break"..

Strangely enough, the P6 V8 I owned a few years ago (JUE 183N where are you now?) never suffered from it.

Suffered from plenty of other "characterful" maladies though. The exploding rear brake disc being my favourite.

Shame - the eBay P6 looks in terrific nick.

Don't let individual stories put you off - they're one of the most practical genuine classics to own, and easy to DIY service and fettle - apart from the rear brakes. ;-)

But it's all too easy to make one look good on the outside since all the panels are bolt on. And since most are now 30 years old plus, the condition of the body base unit should be checked carefully - it's not an easy job to fix properly.

In article , Dave Plowman writes

"One of the most practical genuine classics to own" - what would people suggest are the others?

I should really qualify that statement so as not to upset others. I meant that it's an unusual design - far removed from the common or garden cars of the time, so would IMHO have a place in a museum of car mechanical design.

Triumph Stag. 4 seats, hard top, power steering, lecky windows, reasonable boot, reasonable fuel economy, very well supported (parts, clubs etc).

In news: snipped-for-privacy@news.teranews.com, The Blue Max decided to enlighten our sheltered souls with a rant as follows

shame about the bloody tragic engine though isn't it?

It's a super engine - when properly built. Same as the car, really.

The engine was properly built - just not maintained properly.

That's an easy one to sort (I'll be strung up for this, though).... Rover V8 fits without too much trouble.

I suppose if you *must* fit a different engine, that at least would be what Triumph - or Leyland - might have done. Better than those crappy Ford V-6s anyway.

The Stag engine is a different beast to the standard Rover one though. You'd need a Vitesse one to equal it in characteristics, and even it doesn't rev as high. I'm not sure the plenum would clear the bonnet, either.

Is it true that Triumph deliberately designed the car so it wouldn't (on paper, at least) take a Rover V8? - I'm sure I read something along those lines.

It is something that has been done (probably not the twin-plenum, though) - back in the days when a Stag was just another s**te old Leyland banger, it was a common swap when the Triumph V8 blew it's head for the 6th time that year ;-)

"Pete M" wrote

A myth. I've absolutely thrashed my Stag including doing 1,000 miles through Germany in 24 hours at up to 115mph and then driving it aorund the Alps for

"SteveH" wrote

Nothing wrong with doing that if you want some really serious power, like you'll never get out of a standard Stag V8. I've never heard of anyone getting more than about 200bhp out of one. Twice that is easily possible with the Rover engine so if that's what you want, why not.

It is generally the case now though that Rovered Stags aren't worth much, and that those who want 400bhp under the bonnet don't buy Stags either.

"SteveH"

Almost but not quite. They intended the V8 to be one of a family of V6s, V4s (see Saab 99), and slant 4s (TR7). When the 3-litre started playing up, Triumph engineers supposedly looked into putting the Rover engine in but claimed that it wouldn't fit because the Rover engine was too tall. The real reason was probably that abandoning the Stag engine would have totally nobbed their whole engine strategy.

Of course ways round have since been found. It was probably the case though that even if the then-standard Rover engine *had* fit, there wouldn't have been enough of them to go round.

In news: snipped-for-privacy@news.teranews.com, The Blue Max decided to enlighten our sheltered souls with a rant as follows

Not really a myth. In the late '80s when the Stag was worth having a bloke I know spent *huge* amounts of money restoring one, I'm not talking about just giving it a repaint and making it look a bit shiny, this was a full on nut and bolt job. Everything was made as perfect as it could be. He went as far as getting 3 ex Triumph engineers in (This is Liverpool, they're pretty easy to find) to make sure the car was as original as it could be. IIRC he spent over £20000 and three years making sure it was the nicest Stag in the country, totally concours. Total engine rebuild, blueprinted from top to bottom. Every part of the car got the same treatment, it was gorgeous to look at, Mimosa yellow with tan leather, sounded lovely and was impossible to find fault with (as Stags go). 17 miles later it overheated and warped one of the heads.. Got the RAC to tow it back to his house, parked it up the drive, and it stayed there until about a year ago.

Needless to say, it'd made the traditional Triumph trip across the periodic table quite some time ago.

I've got two twin plenum Vitesses. One has a number of new panels and a complete respray (targa red), and a new 4.2 engine. The other is a black TP with air con, with no body panel work ever done on it except what looked like an old repair of a medium-sized dent in the rear quarter. I had both sides resprayed and the engine reconditioned (retaining all original castings and engine capacity) when I got it last year. Externally it is immaculate, except for scuffing on the plastic of the bumpers. All the reconditioning and painting cost over £3500, and I bought it for £2200 for it.

I think I have each of them insured for £7500, and that was based on a written valuation provided by V8 Developments: their suggested figures.

Michael