‘ The amalgamation the British car industry meant there were more engine bays for the V8 to be installed in’
It could be argued that the Range Rover wouldn’ t have been the success it was without the all-aluminium V8
Not only was the engine a proven unit from the experts in V8s, but the deal guaranteed to keep development times and costs low. Much, much lower than building a V8 from scratch. It was certainly a good deal for Rover, but some work was needed to make it suitable for UK shores and cost-effective to produce. Its capacity remained at 3528cc, but the two-barrel carburettor was exchanged for twin SUs. The most significant alteration was how the cast iron liners were installed in the block. GM had cast the aluminium block around a set of cylinder liners that had been created first. Rover adapted the design to make it work with a more conventional production process. The blocks were cast by Birmingham Aluminium Casting Company Limited, in a purpose-built foundry, and then centrifugal cast cylinder liners were pressed in.
The P5 was Rover’ s first car to come with the new engine. Called the P5B,‘ B’ for Buick, the stately Rover was launched in 1967 with 160hp at 5200rpm and 280Nm of torque at 2600rpm, a significant leap from the 115hp that the early six-cylinder version had. The P6 then received the V8 and was rebadged the 3500. It was slightly down on power, with 152hp at 5000rpm and 275Nm at 2750rpm. A manual version came along in 1971 called the 3500S, which was still faster.
The V8 cars came at the same time that Rover’ s parent company, Leyland Motors, was merged with British Motor
‘ The amalgamation the British car industry meant there were more engine bays for the V8 to be installed in’
Holdings to create British Leyland( BL). Another multivolume epic could be written about that era of the British motor industry, but in short, it wasn’ t a great success. However, one constant ray of light throughout the whole debacle was the Rover V8. In 1976, almost ten years after the V8 had entered production, BL decided it was still the right engine for its new flagship version of the SD1 Rover, the 3500. Mild tweaks were made to the engine, such as new exhaust manifolds, and the SD1’ s V8 produced 155hp at 5250rpm and maximum torque of 268Nm at 2500rpm.
In 1982, Rover made a performance version of the SD1, the Vitesse. New Bosch Lucas L-Jetronic fuel injection replaced the SU carburettors and power went up to 190hp at 5280rpm, torque went up to 298Nm at 4000rpm. A dual throttle intake, known as the twin-plenum, was created with the help of Lotus for later versions of the Vitesse. Officially, the twin-plenum made no improvements to the V8’ s performance, but Rover employees have admitted that this engine produced closer to 210hp.
The amalgamation of so much of the British car industry meant that there were more possible engine bays for the V8 to be installed in. Most significantly, and arguably the most successful application of the Rover V8, was the Range Rover in 1970. The torquey, relaxed V8 was the perfect engine to help elevate Land Rover’ s luxury 4x4 above the bare, basic agricultural and military machinery it was known for. The V8 didn’ t just make the Range Rover but, by the early Eighties, Land Rover actually made the V8 – production of the engine was moved from Acocks Green to Land Rover’ s Solihull facilities.
22 The Engine Rebuilder Issue 04