110 Defender v8 options??

He didn't say anything juicy.... Just that he's not interested in it. Yes I'd rather pay 3.5k for him to do it properly tbh.... I'd only balls something crucial up and have to rebuild it 5 times!

3.5k!!! For a Rover?! Dude i like RV8's because they give you V8 goodness for not a lot of money - if you do the work yourself. But for that sort of money id be looking at a Chevy LS that will give you double the power of an RV8...

I know even less about yank engines...

Edit. In all honesty the RV8 is a REALLY simple engine. Some machine shop work for the heads/block but apart from that its a doddle. I could talk you through the build for free and you could spend that money on drivetrain/other mods.

Single cam pushrod v8s are indeed simple engines, but you are right not to attempt without the knowledge or mentoring to do so. The savings could be quickly outweighed if it all has to come apart again

Don't get me wrong... I value MQ's insight and opinion here, but I've spent most of the afternoon trying to weight all of it up. At the end of it all, I come to the fact that I'm trying to build my perfect defender..... Not my perfect engine.

Tdv8 ... :d

Derv has had it's day...

well...this is interesting...

i run about 450hp in sally..( 2 door 1972 rangie)
and about 400hp in ruby ..(2 door 1971 rangie)

i like boost...sally is a manual..running supercharged toyota quad cam v8 4l..very refined indeed, abit too refined really..runs though lt85 box..

ruby is a 4.6 rv8, kent cam, supercharged too + nitros...she is auto, but with a difference, zf hp24eh controlled by a megshift ecu, so flappy padels, fully programable etc..now before fitting this i HATED autos..

BOTH RUN MEGASQUIRT engine ecu's..love them!


so...if i was to do again..i would go yankie ls power or toyota again.....

https://www.google.ie/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&ei=sg_yVILyFcGd7Aa5hIEo&url=http://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DZmj_y8M9jgs&ved=0CC0QtwIwBA&usg=AFQjCNEr2WMR6jMmf0u8a9OKErCKu7V_yg&sig2=lZUH4EA3qCkJZh3cDtKN6g

Cleveland's nutty professor Darren Peart does Santa pod with his rover v8.
He's not using an r380

Small block chevy all the way, am fairly sure the conversion is relatively simple and cheap, reliable power is a given....................

LS or lexus would get my vote for petrol V8

I did suggest a chev already. Of the LS flavour...

Ok lads... Given I've not got the right experience myself... Which alternative v8 fits this bill:

Must give at least 250bhp
Must mate to a known good manual box (r380 for instance)
Must sound like a proper burbling v8 (stag style)...

I'm really not into the f1 style v10 or 12 engine noises... The noise is one of the most important factors here. Burble burble burble.

A rebuilt 3.9 / 4.2 on Holley carbs and manifold, high lift cam, ported heads, headers and a proper from the headers down twin 3 inch exhaust, preferably with glass pack cherry bomb rear boxes. Simples, or if you can get an adaptor plate made, a 350 Chevy small bloc would suffice if only 250hp is what you want.

farmershort said:

Ok lads... Given I've not got the right experience myself... Which alternative v8 fits this bill:

Must give at least 250bhp
Must mate to a known good manual box (r380 for instance)
Must sound like a proper burbling v8 (stag style)...

I'm really not into the f1 style v10 or 12 engine noises... The noise is one of the most important factors here. Burble burble burble.

Click to expand...

Having driven a V12 aston and V10 audi this week I can assure you they dont sound at all F1'y and completely awesome, rediculous power too

My RV8 sounds awesome but theyre poor on power, unbalanced, drinks fuel like an irish and upgrade parts are fairly £££ to get big power

ChevY small blocks are good power and burble but drink like russians

Lexus are really powerful and good on fuel but smooth revving which doesnt burble

Of course if your clever with exhausts you can make them sound conpletely different

The V10 in the audi is the same one as in a galliardo but has a completely different low grunt tone to the exhaust

MrNasty said:

A rebuilt 3.9 / 4.2 on Holley carbs and manifold, high lift cam, ported heads, headers and a proper from the headers down twin 3 inch exhaust, preferably with glass pack cherry bomb rear boxes. Simples, or if you can get an adaptor plate made, a 350 Chevy small bloc would suffice if only 250hp is what you want.

Click to expand...

3.9 or 4.2 is pointless on carbs. Megasquirt all the way !

V10 and V12 just don't sound as musical to my ear I'm afraid. The exhaust on the old jag sv8 was a little too refined for my taste, but when you gave it the beans, you knew what it was.

I've been told that the r380 is good up to 300bhp. After that, I'm not sure what my manual gearbox options are, but as a general rule people seem to opt for autos above that.... Ergo, 300bhp is probably my upper limit.

As much as I would like to make a super powerful g wagon style fendy, I do actually need this landy to do some good honest work. I think that means I need keep the power levels sensible, always with half an eye on useability.

RPI in Norwich do some good work with carbs, was looking at a conversion for my TVR Chimaera a couple of years ago, as the 5.0, apart from wearing the bores oval also suffers from weak fuel mixture, and a Holley and manifold is the way forward.

Sold the plastic nail before it caught fire/ fell apart/ cracked the block

how much cash do you have???

if you want a reliable 250hp for a couple of grand then a tophat 4.6 with decent cam and headers will do the trick..lt85 will fit straight in 110(think thats what you have?)but get dave ashcroft to build it..(the gearbox that is)

if you want proper power..summit racing sell blue printed ls's with ecu to run on 91 ron for £5000..thats 625hp.565 torques..but then you WILL have to use yankie gearbox..

(above is my next project..)