Engine and Transmission Tech

I agree with retarding the cam. The LBC doesn't need all that stump pulling torque. Move it up the rpm range & stand on it. :)

Ditto.

Would need pin locks for floating pistons, a further complication. Buttons don't work with slipper style. Anybody have experience with reaming piston pin bores? I don't. But that seems to me like a good solution. Is it a 0.040" increase in bore diameter Jim?

I think this is a good alternative to building a big Rover as the expense of the top hats and bellhousing/flywheel could be used to buy TA Rover bare heads. I just made the call. Bare heads with seats and guides are $1500. If you want CNC porting, Mike handles that through a 3rd party and the cost is $1000. According to Sandy that would be a maximum porting effort as there would be no other reason to do it. So add the cost of a standard valve job with upgraded springs and new valves and you are there. Brand new ported TA heads for the extra cost of building a Rover. Not a bad trade I think. You still need to sort out your intake manifold but as we've seen that challenge is not so great. Then there is the extra height and width but again, doable. Can anybody confirm that the late Rover is 30 lbs heavier than the 215? That seems like a lot to me. It would mean the block is 90 lbs instead of 60, or 50% heavier. It's hard to see where the extra metal is. But if true it would mean only a 50 lb penalty, for which you get quite a lot.

Jim



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/12/2016 02:30PM by BlownMGB-V8.

Buick 300/340/350 V8 piston pin is .940, Ford is .912. .028 difference. The weight of the Rover block probably increased slightly with the crossbolted block and engine weight went up again with the larger journal crank.

Regarding the extra weight of the Rover engine. I think that two sources of the extra weight are the larger journal diameters on the crankshaft as well as the longer connecting rods. I wonder if the flywheel and balancer are also sources of the extra weight. Then there's the EFI intake.

Yeah but that surely wouldn't account for 30 lbs. The 215, 300, and 340 cranks all are within a pound or two of each other. That's not to say the Rover crank isn't heavier, but until we know it remains uncertain.

Jim

Here are accurate weights of Rover 4.0 and Buick 215 blocks (with main bearing caps, etc.). (Note: there shouldn't be a significant weight difference between a 4.0 block and a 4.6 block.)

So that is interesting. And I'm not saying your numbers are off, but I have shipped a couple of 215 blocks with a 60 lb weight limit so I'm just saying there is a weight discrepancy somewhere. I got the following weights:

215 block with cam bearings, main caps and bolts: 60 lbs
300 : 140 lbs
340 : 142 lbs
216 crank : 60 lbs
The 300 and 340 cranks were within a pound or two of being the same

It's been quite awhile since I weighed these but the numbers shouldn't have changed. Unfortunately I no longer have the parts so I'm not able to double check. I noticed Glen was thinking " sixty few pounds" Anybody else? Is it possible that "215" block could have been a Rover 3.5L? That could account for the difference.

If so, 16 lbs difference in the blocks, 3 in the heads, another lb here and there, it *might* be possible to add it all up to a 30 lb difference. I don't know. I guess it wouldn't be that much of a stretch.

Jim

No.

Putting the iron caps in a separate box would have given you and Glen the number you remember.

Doesn't seem right Curtis, but it's been awhile. I believe caps and bolts were 8 lbs. I'm pretty sure I posted the weights and conditions on this forum though so it should be possible to find them, though maybe time consuming.

Jim

The more I think about it, the more you might be right. There's no way I'll ever find the original post where I gave the weights that I had gotten, I know there was once a way to do a custom search but that seems to be gone, there's no way to access the posts or threads I started, so it's hopeless. Too bad. It might have supported what you say. After all, 68 lbs or so would just allow enough for a cardboard box with a shipping weight limit of 70lbs and that might have been it.

Jim