Rover V8 Replacement!

[chumley-warner]

Have thought of a number of routes the best seems to be an Eaton blower for up to about 400bhp or complete replace with an LS1 which is pretty much 400bhp out of the box and then start stuffing more air in as required......trouble is you starting running out of grip at about 1/2 throttle.....so there is more than just power to consider - thbe other thing is running 400 bhp through a RV8 could end up with many rebuilds or some very expensive bits of kit to fly around inside the engine...

All told LS1 is probably a better bet...or just stay where I am .....

[hilux]

Ahem.....

There is power and there is `useable power`

Large amounts of power/torque in a light car become unuseable after a point.

300 bhp in a westy is fine in the dry and on slicks but totally pointless on road tires.

Why cack your pants when feeding in power on a wet greasy bend IMHO

Maybe I`m getting old but a useful power band and useable torque `will` make you much quicker around the twisty bits. Far more so than basic brute BHP.

Torque is king....................makes the power more useable....

[Martin Keene]

if anybody cares i now have a 4.6ltr block assy (block, bearing caps, liners,) stashed under the desk to assit with the quote...

[tr mike]

The LS1 will fit into an Seight chassis and somebody is doing this already.  It can be mated to a t5 box or a 3550.  I have an engine here if anybody wants to measure one.  In most respects it's more compact then a rover.

[Pepi]

How about this little baby in a Westy?  

http://www.cyclonepowerltd.co.uk/products.htm

[Buzz Billsberry]

Hmmm two bike engines welded together and £10k instead of a winding wasp noise it would sound like a bumble be on speed.

LS1 or LS6 is the way to go 400Bhp straight out of the box

Buzz

[Graham]

300 bhp in a westy is fine in the dry and on slicks but totally pointless on road tires.

Hmmm, you've never driven a 300bhp Westfield on road tyres then.

[Bazzer]

Just out of interest, why do people go for a SEIGHT rather than a 4 pot.

From what I have seen the 4 pots are faster round a track than the V8 powered cars. Maybe fewer people are developing them for track use, but on the whole they seem slower.

I have seen the Bewinged sprint car that has done well, but on the hole they just seem like drag cars and slightly miss the point of a 7 type car.

Is it just the pose value of saying you have a V8 with 250BHP and the noise assoiated with it ?

Cheers

Bazzer

[Adrian Percival]

Hmmm, you've never driven a 300bhp Westfield on road tyres then.

LOL

[mud]

the LS1 is the way to go , i have been in the dyno cell next to one doing 4000rpm and when it was sent to 8000 rpm i had to leave having soiled my pants looking at the tourqe readout! ,and that was only breathing through a 51mm restrictor for both banks that the race series uses.!!!!!!!!!

[felters]

Just out of interest, why do people go for a SEIGHT rather than a 4 pot.

From what I have seen the 4 pots are faster round a track than the V8 powered cars. Maybe fewer people are developing them for track use, but on the whole they seem slower.

I have seen the Bewinged sprint car that has done well, but on the hole they just seem like drag cars and slightly miss the point of a 7 type car.

Is it just the pose value of saying you have a V8 with 250BHP and the noise assoiated with it ?

Cheers

Bazzer

Personally I'm with you on this one... but there are people who savour the engineering challenge of making it fit and/or want a more relaxed drive. The number of Westies that ever see a racetrack are relatively small IMO, so I guess that isn't an issue for many owners

[S8ight]

Just out of interest, why do people go for a SEIGHT rather than a 4 pot.

because people are different

[Pepi]

Just out of interest, why do people go for a SEIGHT rather than a 4 pot.

From what I have seen the 4 pots are faster round a track than the V8 powered cars. Maybe fewer people are developing them for track use, but on the whole they seem slower.

I have seen the Bewinged sprint car that has done well, but on the hole they just seem like drag cars and slightly miss the point of a 7 type car.

Is it just the pose value of saying you have a V8 with 250BHP and the noise assoiated with it ?

Cheers

Bazzer

I too have a Seight and find it superb to drive on the road it will tootle around just using tickover revs or she will pick up her skirts if asked to!!  On the other hand I have been in several other Westies with 1.8 or 2.0 ltr engines in them, which have been tuned uo to probably the same power as my car and yes they really go but try and drive them under about 3000rpm and it was most uncomfortable!!

I can tune up my Seight by just advancing the ignition which gives great high rev performance but then its horrible to drive in town etc.

So you see its not all blast and brake, blast and brake (or break as the case might be) there are those of us who want an allrounder of a car.

Incidentally I've never driven a highly tuned four pot in the wet, what are they like? ........The Seight is very well behaved!!

OK Rant over

[Bazzer]

I appreciate that people are different and have different requirements from there cars. It was the requirements people had I was interested in.

I don't think sevens of whatever type are that good as road cars. I think there are quite a few sports cars do this better. But they do make really good track cars.

But if they give you that happy feeling I am all for it

Bazzer

[Mike H]

Hmmm, well I built a SpeedSport first time round which was: 1800 Zetec with throttle body injection, supposed to put out 155bhp.  Although it was quick compared to most cars I'd had before it never really blew my socks off and to get the best from it you had to cane it within a gnats c*ck of it's life.

Hence I'm now building (althought it's taking a while) a 4.3 ltr V8 with performance cam and 'stage 3' heads etc etc. I've been in a couple of V8s, normal and modified and you 4 potters don't know what you're missing.

Mike