New V8s - 4.0L EFi V8 for the P6B?

G

Guy Engelsman

New Member
Has anyone out there fitted a modern EFi V8 to their P6B?
I am keen to fit a modern engine to my 1973 P6B along with a 4 speed auto. I am interested to hear from anyone that has had similar rash ideas, or has been silly enough to actually do it.
I have a handle on a near new 4.0 V8, along with a 4 speed ZF out of a pranged Discovery, but as per my question in the gearbox section the gearbox has a sodding great transfer case on it!
So if anyone has done a similar thing I would be delighted to hear of your experiences.
 
No response to this post but a few looks. So for those who are interested I will give you all an update.
I managed to secure a near new 4.0L V8 for a reasonable sum ($6500Aus) plus all the asociated stuff that goes with it, ie the manifold, ecu, and all the bits to make it go. To this I have added a 1991 Jag XJ12 4 Speed auto using a Range Rover bellhousing.
All this is now in the car along with the shortened propshaft and the new gearbox mounts. Wonder of wonders the thing actually runs! :D One of the major problems of the swap is that the new engine has all the acsessories on a serpentine belt, and the layout is such that the fan will no longer fit in the standard position. Problem solved by moving the radiator back about 6" and fitting a pair of slimline electric fans in front of the rad. I have also taken the precaution of fitting a transmission oil cooler in a deeper chin cowl with a bigger frontal area along with an engine oil cooler. I do live in Australia and it gets damn hot at times!
The engine required a set of custom exhaust manifolds to clear the inner wings and make it all tidy, these now run to dual tailpipes, with an outlet on each side of the car under the rear bumper. The car now sounds like a muscle car at idle, and a Spitfire at speed, so I may have to have the pipes made a little quieter!
:angry:
My last hassle was the height of the plenum chamber. This has required a hump in the bonnet about 7" high to clear. Due to the bonnet being damaged already I decided to use a bonnet offf ascrap 2000 that I had lying about (as you do), this looks great and adds a real presence to the car, it just needs finishing and painting to look magic!
Overall the performance of the car is really impressive, highway speeds (110-120 KPH) are comfortable with the engine spinning at 2400 RPM as opposed to the old engine doing 3200 at the same speed. I have now finished the test program and the old girl is due to be stripped to a shell and repainted, rewired, new brakes and pipes etc to produce what I hope will be accepted by all who see her as the NEW Rover 4000.
:p
I will let you all know when she is done and I will attempt to get some photos of her in her new glory, rather than as the gotty mess she is now. Fell free to let the world know if you cannot leave anything standard like me. :)
 
Way to go Guy !! (to quote our American cousins).

If nobodies commenting on this thread, I'm sure there are some very interested parties who were wondering how it was all going to work, but have not got round to it themselfs yet.
Have you got any pictures to put on the site ?

As for me, I've just got a modified Berekley 3 wheeler to keep my speed freek modified tendencies occupied. BUT, I will be putting a dual pipe system on Ron when the old system drops off, how did you get the pipes past the rear suspension ?. The standard systen squeezes through that small gap between the suspension arm mounts. Do you still use this route, if not how do you avoid catching the suspension or the the ground ??
 
As noted on the suspension and handling page I'm doing something similer except with a 4.6. You might be interested with the enquiry I sent RPI:


I am in the process of rebuilding a 1975 Rover P6 3500 Auto. The objective is to update it to modern equivalent technology and specs with a view to a further 20 yrs front line service. I have little interest in detail ”rivet counting” to match original specs. (why a Rover P6 then?, you may ask. Well my family is ex Rover motor co – from the 1920’s – and my best childhood memories are of P6’s. I still respect their fundamental design, but I am not blind to the shortcomings in execution of a 40 yr old design. I’m an engineer by trade so the rebuild represents a fun challenge as well)

My objective is to have the engine and transmission ready for installation from about end of February 2005. I should like to use a Turnkey 4.6 plus ZF 4 speed transmission. More about the transmission later. From reading your web site and using my own knowledge of the engine, cam profile design etc, I should like to spec the engine as follows:

Turnkey 4.6, stage 1 heads with RP4 cam, dual fuel LPG & 92 octane petrol (95 octane available if essential). Exhaust will be by stainless steel 4 into 1’s and low back pressure system by P D Gough at Nottingham (unless you have any better ideas). I have no view on which ignition / injection / engine management system to use – I presume you would like to use Gems. Note that I have no engine management system currently so this will need to be sourced to match.

Objective of the spec is to produce an engine having output in the range 240 bhp to 260 bhp, highly reliable with very good fuel economy and stonking torque. It needs to be free enough at the top end to happily sustain high speed cruising at say 3500 rpm.

On completion the car will be exported to Thailand where I have my principle home. I expect the car to be used for very long distance high speed journeys on their excellent road system, so there are certain engineering constraints associated.

First, temperature, – I expect to cruise at 90mph (3200 rpm) plus for long periods in up to 44°C (norm 36 to 38) – and to idle in Bangkok traffic jams – arguably the more severe test. Because of this I shall be specifying an electric water pump with the primary objective of maintaining maximum flow at low revs. This requires omission of the water pump rotor and thermostat. Since the rad fans will be electric also, we could reroute the front belts to omit the water pump pulley altogether.

Since A/C is essential as well I am extremely concerned to have a very high capacity alternator.

A/C is being provided by using the heater matrix and vent arrangements from an American export model. (Nothing to touch factory designed dashboards!) This determines the cooling matrix. I’m not sure as yet whether that necessarily commits me to the original compressor, but best to assume it does for now. (I have one as pattern, but not yet overhauled)

Final item in the front end equipment is the power steering pump, again I have one as pattern not yet overhauled.

I have only a couple of further queries on engine spec. Is there any need with this spec to fit (slightly) larger valve sizes to free up the top end with this camshaft? Does the turnkey spec come with integral air cleaner? If so what? Bearing in mind the high temperature operation, what should we do to oil spec, oil cooler, oil pump? Does this spec come with the duplex cam drive?

Now to the transmission. Thailand is a very American style driving experience, albeit on the left and with no speed limits. An auto box is ideal. The BW 65 normally used with the P6 is hopeless. I am looking for a multi gear (4 minimum) with convertor lock up and an overdrive top. My reasoning goes that the seris 2 Range Rover uses the 4 speed ZF and hence there is a suitable bell housing available. But the rear end of this box is basterdised to suit the 4WD transfer box. I believe the Jag XJ40 uses the same box in RWD format. It also has a very suitable selector. If this is true this seems the most practical route to follow. I presume as suppliers of the R/R box you would have no problem overhauling a second hand jag box. My only concern is the set up of the box’s brain. Is the jag a thrashy engine (by comparison) and hence all the change points set too high? If so what could be done about it? Given all of the above and a suitable discussion could you overhaul the box and mate to the engine please? Or would you recommend a different route?

As far as the LPG goes, I presume the engine end of this is simple. Tank location also seems to present no problems. With all extraneous junk removed the boot space presents a central well – the normal boot space plus the spare wheel well, flanked by a pair of shallow shelves. I propose to fill this well with the tanks and then floor over at the level of the side shelves. Combined with a boot mounted spare wheel this gives a wide shallow boot instead of a narrow deep one.

A couple of questions on the LPG. How is change over from petrol to LPG arranged? Is there an LPG tank contents gauge anywhere – how do you know your running out? Primary concern is achieving a professional dashboard layout.

I recognise this is going to be a big bill! Whilst I think my body and suspension contractor (XXXXX copy e mailed above) and I are easily up to the physical installation of the power unit, I should very much appreciate being able to ship the completed car to yourselves for installation of the LPG kit, 1st start up and necessary setting up of engine management etc. What do you think?

Sounds like (great?) minds think alike!

Can we have a photo of your plenum chamber hump please?

I'll keep you posted into 2005 as the job gets going.

web site for the (Australian) water pump referred to http://www.daviescraig.com.au In the UK Demon Tweeks sell them.
 
:D Great minds think alike while fools seldom differ! You are taking my original plan to even madder heights!!! I have used a new 4.0L from a pranged Disco mated to a New 5 speed auto from a Holden Commodore SS. This used the Disco bell housing with an adapter to take the Holden (actually a ZF I think) gearbox.
The engine has been rebuilt with a stage one head, flowed and with bigger valves but the cam is a reprofiled standard since I am after smooth power rather than all out grunt. With 4 into 2 into 1 dual exhausts, 1.5" primaries and 3" outlets, she showed an easy 220hp at 5500rpm. We are having a bit of a head scratch over the shift points for the gearbox, since it was originally off a 5.7L V8 putting 380+hp to the road. Still once sorted I expect to be able to cruise at 120kph at about 2300rpm. The new box is a bit longer than the old one but is much thinnner so the mods to mount it are limited to moving the mounts further aft, and putting a new shifter linkage in.
One thing that I highly recommend is fitting stronger universal joints all round. I have had a half shaft come off at speed and it scared 10 years growth out of me, not to mention lightening my wallet by $2800 to fix the damage!
Brakes are also up for fettling with more power, I have now got bigger grooved and drilled discs all round with 4 pot calipers from a Disco on the front (thank you EBC). Unfortunatly I am still trying to get the ABS/ETC system in my test car ("Mule") to work, but see my comments in the brake links and you will see how frustrated I have got with the horrible complicated and expensive thing.
Otherwise I too have been asked why I am bothering with an old car. The simple answer is that the car in question was purchased by my Father 2 weeks before I was born, and has been his every day car ever since until middle of last year when he took delivery of his new MG ZT 180+, since this is practically a Rover it shows how strong product loyalty can be. Its now my turn to care for the old beast and after 480000 MILES without a problem she needs lots of love. So that is what she is getting.
Must stop waffling on and let my wife on the computer, keep us all updated as to have the mods are going and I will endevour to keep progressing when work allows.
Guy.

;)
 
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