If you want old and simple then go with a 302 Ford. It's a bit of a relic and needs lots of mods to wake up, but it'll gladly turn large amounts of gas into 250ish hp all day in stock form with no drama.
If you want old and simple then go with a 302 Ford. It's a bit of a relic and needs lots of mods to wake up, but it'll gladly turn large amounts of gas into 250ish hp all day in stock form with no drama.
What decent manual will bolt to the Rover motor?
FYI,
You should check with your particular states registration and inspection laws before you make your decision. Some states have very friendly laws and some are very restrictive.
The Buick/Olds/Rover aluminum V8 is a nice engine but parts are not as cheap as you'd think.
You may want to look at the 2.0 Ford / Mazda aluminim V6 from the MX6 / Probe. It's very light, very compact, readily available, available in both OBD1 & 2 versions, and has a great sound.
Chet
PS - My personal favorite would be a Hayabusa engine!
No one said Turbo Zetec. The bottom end will need upgrading, but the motors are practically free. And Locosts should have Zetecs.
edit oops you said NA
Kreb's pretty familiar with CA registration, I suspect.
You can bolt a T5 to the Rover engine.
Get an 96-98 ford explorer 302 with a simple cam change you will be at 250 whp or a little better.
Plus if you get a later model engine you get GT40P heads and the engine is set up with a 36-1 trigger and CPS from the factory so using sequential injection with megasquirt would be extremely easy
a bit more expensive, but you can dress up a Quad 4 to look like an old Offenhauser engine. Check out quads4rods or something like that.
I just sold a Rover 3.5 and a 5 speed in the for sale section for $1200. You are about three days late. It's going into a MGBGT. The engines are easy to come by and fairly cheap. All the bolt on pieces are what's expensive. A 4.0 with a four barrel and a good cam will get you close to the 250HP you want, but sourcing all the necessary parts is where it gets expensive. Remember all the Land Rovers in the junk yard are automatic, 4 wheel drive, fuel injected, truck cammed engines. Converting them to sports car 5 speed specs takes some serious cash. Better off with something else unless you got a bunch or Rover stuff laying around. Throw in a BMW m10 with a turbo or something similar and don't look back.
This is always fun. If I could get and build a Toyota Hemi for a reasonable price, I'd scrap the American theme. I'll have to check for a crashed 3.7 i-5. Unfortunately engines that new usually demand a premium, and it's not a pretty motor with the factory intake and valve cover. Doing a little more rersearch, it looks like Rover mainly increased stroke to get the larger displacement from their V8, so even with a better cam, it probably resists quick reving. Ford V8s, even with Aluminum heads are still a bit heavy.
singleslammer wrote: In reply to kreb: I think for the money, a top swapped 3800 NA is hard to beat. Have you thought about the Ford SHO motor (v6 or V8, both are 60 degree). Both are "Fords" and the V8 sounds wicked, do your research before buying one though. WELD THE CAMS
What's a "top swap" on a 3800?
kreb wrote: What's a "top swap" on a 3800?
Take the NA 3800 short block and bolt on the SC'd top half from the head gaskets up.
If you want a short stroke carb'd Rover engine, look at the Range Rover Classic. Doesn't make the power, though.
The Rover is the engine used in the Westfield SEight.
Chevy 4.3 is about 200hp. 250 should be easy. Lots of them out there.
Joey
ford 2.3 turbo? kind of heavy. but otherwise interesting. large power potential, 250 is easily obtainable. Even an NA ford 2.3 can make over 160 hp with pretty budget friendly components. 200 is possible. not really budget friendly at that point. They sound pretty cool at 7k rpm though.
In reply to joey48442:
But they sound like E36 M3. The 3800s don't sound great either but rarely do they have a decent exhaust. The 3500 LX9(?) is 60 degree and sounds ok. Those start at 200 hp and are pretty easy to get to over 250. There is a guy doing an NA build in his 3rd gen F body that is well over 300 hp last I checked. He has ITBs though. However, 250 is totally doable.
I'm a big fan of the Rover V-8 since we put one in our Challenge car. They are much, much lighter than a 302 or 350, and we found our 4.2 Litre for $200. (Most people were asking $600 -$650) We had a TR8 donor which gave us a ton of parts from the oil pan to the carb. (plus transmission, headers, distrib, etc., etc.)
Love the motor, but we got real lucky with the swap as far as keeping costs low.
My favorite parts: the sound and the torque.
Oh, we added a wet shot of Nitrous. :) The drag time dropped 0.8 seconds right away.
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