Project Journals

Owner: Chad McNeely
City: Kirksville, MO
Car Model: Sunbeam Alpine S4
Engine: Rover V8


Engine: Rover V8 w/ Buick 300 crank and heads; re-sleeved for Chevy 305 pistons; Ferrea 6000-series valves, 1.775 & 1.5"; TA (T&D) roller rockers; Erson hydraulic roller cam (from Woody); Wiseco circle track pistons, Scat forged rods; ARE dry sump pan. The parts are here, but it's been a slow process to get the machining done. It took ~10 months to get the crank ground 10 under, and now a different shop is doing the balancing, then the block work.

Cooling: Pierburg CWA200 electric water pump & Tecomotive controller

Exhaust: eBay, Mustang 1 5/8" long tube header, with pipes "adjusted" to align to new custom flange, new collector

Transmission: T5 with 2.95 (1st) gear set, S10 tailpiece (forward shift location), D&D bell housing, Tilton throw out bearing, ACT clutch

Rear Axle & Suspension: Mazda RX8 IRS subframe; MX5-ND diff w/ JDM 3.63 gear, OS Giken LSD

Front Susp.: V8 Roadsters RX8 tubular subframe/K-member, with RX8 A-arms, uprights

Brakes: stock RX8 discs, calipers
(master) Tilton or Wilwood pedal box
(front)
(rear)

Wheels/Tires: 17" (the Sunbeam crowd won't be happy!)

Body Mods: Raised wheel arches, vented hood

Interior: race car

Electrical: Megasquirt MS3x

I've been on hold with car work, so I've done some engine things while machinists do machining things. The waiting time has allowed time to accumulate parts, which is nice.

I've embraced the 3d scan, draw, 3d print design method where feasible, and prototyped and begun to make a handful of engine parts, from the water pump blanking plate, to the oil pump and alternator brackets (tucked under), the lifter valley baffle, the crank scraper, and the cross-flow/bike ITB intake.

Here's a couple photos of the intake, so far.



Oil baffle 3d print:


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A big part of my taking this project on is getting to learn stuff. I've done wood stuff most of my life, done some composite stuff for boats, but my engine and metal skills have always been lacking - but I spent a few years racing karts in the 90's, and I've always enjoyed the mix of 'figuring out' versus on-track application. So, starting from not much, I hope you'll see things improve as this page is updated, and I (hopefully!) figure things out better.

Here's the motor mounts I designed, had the parts water jetted, and recently tig welded. I think I'm going to grow to like the word 'linishing'...



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If I fabricate an intake, I need to do something about the water. Looking around, there's a handful of ways this seems to get done on fabricated intakes - most guys weld up some tube and sheet aluminum and slap a water neck on it. Since my tig'ing isn't the awesomest yet, I looked for some other options. I have a cad model of a Rover engine that is helpful if not always completely accurate, so I first tried to take the Rover intake and slice away the air parts and leave just the water passage. On the computer, it looked like it wouldn't work, but it looked close. I bought an eBay intake and went through the process with a Sawsall, cutting away everything I didn't need. It was fun, but it won't work.

I'm left with the choice of either an assembled water passage with hardline and -12an fittings, or just spending the time to figure out how to weld 1/8" aluminum good enough to hold water.





Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 03/24/2023 06:13PM by Roverbeam.