Rover V8's on 95 unleaded.

These engines do suffer badly from fuel evaporation - even the EFI version I've got.

Retarding the ignition to run on lower octane petrol will result in even heavier petrol consumption - which at a best of 24 already seems very poor. My SD1 EFI auto will better 30mpg at legal speeds on a motorway, so I'd assume the lighter manual TR to match that even on carbs.

Ah, it has a Holley 390 carb :-) I will keep it on the heavy stuff for now, until I can do some more economy testing.

Cheers,

Ah. Well, if you're worried about running costs, put it back on SUs. Or far better still, fit Vitesse injection - if there's room. Complete kits for the conversion seem to go for about 200 quid. Genuine 190 BHP and good fuel consumption.

To be honest, not that worried, and there's always some VSP in the boot for emergencies now. The last dyno reading was 220bhp, which might also explain things (although that was about 18 months ago [1]). Who figured a big fat yankee carb might be thirstier?!

[1] I'm curious about having some readings done myself, but know nothing about it - what is involved?

Cheers,

I had an S&S TR7v8, aside from the engine always burning oil (it was never right, even after new unit replacement) the economy on twin SUs was 33mpg touring, and never lower than 24mpg urban.

A recent kit car of mine (Rover V8, lighter car, Weber quadruple downdraught) ran at 18-25mpg with 245bhp at the flywheel. S&S maintain that Holleys are the nuts but plenty other "experts" disagree.

Super unleaded - I've done the sums and AFAIR using Millers VSP with regular

95ron is slightly more expensive, but I think you get a better octane boost. I always ran my TR7v8 on 95ron with slightly retarded ignition and never once experienced any fuel vapourisation or overheating problems (once I ditched the crappy through-the-rad electric fan).

With the power you're getting, and the carb you're running I'd've thought

24mpg overall was about right, and something that "goes with the territory". If you want a better engine experience just spend more money - I recommend trying Shell Optimax (98.5ron) for a bit, and tweaking the ignition for a wee bit more advance. Better still, add some VSP to that too!!! ;-))

Oh, interesting - mine doesn't burn oil, but the Offenhauser manifold weeps it ever so slightly.

I've heard the same, but sources I trust are with S&S on this. (Ex TWR tech, now at Aston developing the DB9/AML350 v8)

I see - mine's got a Kenlowe on the front of the radiator, with a thermostat you can adjust in the engine bay. I've got it set to come on slightler earlier than when I bought it. Is this the kind of thing you mean? What's good to replace it with?

Yes - buggrit! Sounds too good to mess with much, as James May just cottoned on to in last sunday's TG.

Don't tempt me. I'll be going after M3's next.....

Cheers,

The two V8s I eventually had (£3500 conversion package) burnt oil from day one. One was even fitted with a secondhand (cruddy) fuel filter upon delivery - draw your own conclusions. Suffice to say it's a long story. There're a couple of guys on the uk.rec.cars.classic with similar stories...I'd like to think that things have moved on / improved.

The V8 I had in the kitcar was from RPI, never used a lick of oil, and yielded 245bhp flywheel from 3.5 litres, yet idled smoothly and was tractable. Cracking engine, and surely an example of how good they can get.

Yeah, the only thing I'd heard was that they (Holleys) can suffer from terrible fuel delivery flat spots under everthing but full pelt conditions. Rejetting can smooth this out but it'd never be perfect. Having said that, the big Weber on my kit car had a snag at 1500rpm that was difficult to cure: final solution? Drive faster! Mr Plowman had an opinion on this a while back something along the lines of "he'd never seen a V8

*carburretored* special that didn't have flat spots".

Yes, it was standard S&S fit with the thermostat. You *can* set it to come on quicker as per Simon's advice but that only delays the inevitable if the cooling system is already maxed out. You can also fit a 74deg water thermostat but again this only adds a period of delay into the equation. Unfortunately the assumption that your car will not be used in rush hour traffic is a trifle inappropriate these days. In the summer, in a slow moving queue I'd always be on tenterhooks. The fan would always get to a point where it'd lose the race.

A secondhand unit from a 92 Vauxhall Senator with main fan and secondary fan. I had the main fan on the thermostat and the smaller secondary on manual - from that point onward I *never* had to use the secondary fan. The suction from the main fan just showed up the Kenlowe for the piece of underspecced junk it was. The unit fitted may have been okay for smaller engines with bigger rads - I don't know.

Possible, but it'll cuff you in the long run - you'll empty your fuel tank miles before the race has finished! Then Mr Beemer will switch his aircon back on and drive off smiling :-((

Nice to see (imagine) the surprise on their faces at the old traffic light sprint though.

Cheers

In article , snipped-for-privacy@thehomeofnospam.org came forth with pure genius...

Interestingly, the conversion was done in 1980something by Ian Lines motorsport in Bristol of which the Holley was a part.

Ahhhh - I get one between 3500-4000 rpm when it's getting too warm, but nothing very noticeable at normal temps.

Genius - I'll be down the scrapper's post haste!

There's a 53 plate Audi S3 somewhere in Oxford that got a surprise.

While we're on the subject, I've got the Tuning Rover V8's book, but is there some publication that lists all the useful figures, fluids and whatnot, similar to a Haynes manual? I can't for the life of me find the Rover SD1 3500 haynes manual anywhere (the 2300/2600 is common) - even Amazon is out of stock....

Thanks very much for the useful info!

FYI Dave Plowman is your local neighboorhood SD1 guru here! I got my Haynes SD1 3500 book from a charity shop a few years ago. I suspect that any Haynes type manual for other Rover V8 3.5 cars of the SD1 era might also help - like the Range Rover et al.

might be worth a look every now and then.

themselves appear to have it on sale online for alofty £25...

Cheers

Found one in Amazon's used section. Still £21, but likely to be better than the Landy Disco version I found, which appears to be mostly devoted to the 3.9/Efi. And is about the same thickness as the yellow pages.

Cheers,

They come up on Ebay all the time.

There's a genuine factory one

and a Haynes one