Engine Change Cost

Less than 200 though without head porting and cam. The 4.6 will beat this as standard. I'd like to be certain this engine did not suffer from water loss before committing. The later land rover castings were poor.

zen said:

sorry, but dreaming...(not meaning to put you down..)

its sooooooooo not useable on a shagged 3.5..really for strip use only..(and on a bigger engine, carb way to big for a 3,5)

your best bet is to fit new cam and lifters and a good tune up..

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+Fitting hotwire efi off a late 80s 3.5 range rover would sort your choke problems and up the power too. or better still buy a rotten 3.9 and swap the lot pump ignition and all.

How many miles have you got on your 3.5 engine?

Thanks, its all news to me, so I appreciate the comments on the thread

you have to bear in mind..power costs...soo how much £ do you have to spend??

enough to do this ?

http://www.landyzone.co.uk/lz/f42/well-its-out-now-248043-23.html

also diy saves £1000's..unless you feck it up of course!

So i am thinking about a 1k to throw at this engine, its a 3.5 rebuilt 13k ago. Currently thinking about starting with a hotwire EFI kit, so i should be able to DIY that (or maybe find someone to fit, should be no more than a few hours labour right?), as no lambdas and cats etc.

I've fitted the optronic ignition to my 3.5 V8 a good few years ago. Excellent piece of kit, unaffected by damp etc. big juicy spark every time. The engine has been recently rebuilt, so for extra power an uprated cam is an easy option. And of course (wait for explosion of other opinions), the 3.9 and other bored options can have sleeve movement problems, especially if you're buying an unknown unit. :flame2:

The biggest power gains were to be had in the rebuild process really. Cam and head porting. Hotwire would be a good upgrade. You need one with 3.5 fuelling chip, most were 3.9. You'll have good cold starting automatic choke and better power band and fit electronic ignition with it. There are easy to follow articles on the web. See mez and I think the other is an mg or Britishv8 site. It isn't difficult, that's what I have in place of the holley and huffaker and it started first time. You'll never feather the throttle again. Next I'd get a larger throttle butterfly in the plenum for quicker uptake.
Alternatively buy a weber 500 and inlet, retain existing fuel pump and fuel lines. It is an easier job to complete. You should have it done in a day and then take it to be fine tuned.
Real steel sell them so do RPI. Try not to get too sucked into their site. It has some useful info and a sales agenda

Hotwire took me longer than a few hours. Fuel lines and head scratching on pump location (but I wasnt fitting it in a rover). It is about 42psi at idle so your carb lines need replacing. Probably spent 12 hours over 3 weekends. Don't expect just take it off the road for a weekend, you'll be ordering lots of bits and pieces you didn't realise you needed on Monday.

or for £400. megasquirt, if you can get your head around the tuning its brillent..dual maps, fan control, nitros control..fully tuneable spark and fuel...worth many hp..

oh and foe £1k you will have to diy..cos at min £50 an hour garage will eat that pretty quick!ie 2 days!

oh and re slippy sleaves..nothing a wee bit of drilling and tapping wont sort..AND some nerve!

Or just spend a few squid on a straight through exhaust, enjoy the noise and accept your not going very quickly in something designed to crawl over muddy fields not rag around roads.

i think for me its less about the power (but more is always good ), but more about the ease of starting etc. I use it all through the winter, and want to make sure its always goes
So i guess the efi upgrade is the way to go, i already have an external fuel pump so that part is easy (just swap for the high pressure one), but i am tempted to get someone todo it all for me, that way i know its all A ok...

i took the dizzy cap off earlier its looking pretty rusty inside, what do you guys think, could that be the cause of the starting taking a while? looks like it is electronic rather than points??

Not electronic and looking shabby.

feckin hell...

prehaps scrub all before and just do a proper service with genuine LR parts..(except plugs and leads, but re leads use DECENT ones, ie not halfords, but bosch, etc, use ngk plugs cos they are good, plain copper ones, nothing fancy)

setup carbs proper too..

and yes ..they are ment to be ragged on the road..just to see look on porsche owner face if nothing else!lol

Should I replace like for like or go for an electronic setup??

forever said:

Should I replace like for like or go for an electronic setup??

Click to expand...

Not essential, if you have the budget then go for it. As zen said, service it first! You dont need efi for a reliable setup either but again, it helps!

So it must have got upset, would not start at all today, popping from the exhaust, took a look and the rotor arm had become brital and had a part around the clip broken, so this might have been the cause of my issues, can anyone help from the picture about what rotor arm I need to buy, is it just a standard one? Cheers all

go to your local iddy or main dealer and ask for genuine LR dizzy cap, rotor arm and points for your particular model and year..buy a decent set of leads, ie bosch etc and a set of ngk plugs..start there, though i expect that will help a whole load..

Thanks Zen, will be doing that and also looking at electronic ignition...

NGK bp6es for your application. Powersparks on eBay sells Bosch leads at £26.11 FYI.
If you do decide to go electronic I can't comment on the cheap aftermarket setups, never used them. If you went OE avoid cheap coils, ive binned a few over the years. You would need complete distributor with amplifier and a Bosch coil so not cheap _ guessing > £200.

Maybe someone else here could recommend a reliable and cheaper alternative