Tuning a 3.5 V8 Carby engine

[Jay]

Looking to improve the iginition on my 1983 Rangie stock engine it s a carby.

Would like to upgrade the ignition coil and spark wires. I have Jacobs elctronics in mind.
Is it worth the money ?
Who are good suppliers out there and will the 1983 model use the same wires as later Vogue model (1990-1994)?

Also considering a new hi performance crank shaft ? Appreciate your feedback about availability and price.

[F'n_Rover]

imo - bling coils and leads are a waste of money, unless you are going forced induction. money better spent getting the dizzi regraphed.

did you mean hi performance camshaft?

[Loanrangie]

Jay, for availabilty and price, i think you will be better off buying from the UK as its just a bit closer for you to import from.

[Jay]

Popeye

Yes I meant a hi performance cam shaft....

Sorry for the question but I did not understand what you meant by dizzy?

Loan Rangie

any good sources in the UK you would recommend

[RaginRover]

I would certainly invest in an electronic ignition and a good set of leads. My '76 Rangie was really down by the points ignition which in the end was more to do with the coil I installed but I believe good leads and a suitable coil are a good start in not betting bailed up by a broken down car.

I think it was to blame the times I broke down

Tom

[Jay]

I would certainly invest in an electronic ignition and a good set of leads. My '76 Rangie was really down by the points ignition which in the end was more to do with the coil I installed but I believe good leads and a suitable coil are a good start in not betting bailed up by a broken down car.

I think it was to blame the times I broke down

Tom

I agree when I changed mine to an electronic ignition I saw a mojor improvement.

What i need is better leads and coils I guess.
Anyone has upgraded the camshafts on these models...

[F'n_Rover]

dizzi = distributer

what sort of performance do you want?

don't know what its like in lebanon but around here there are plenty of cam grinding workshops. I'd go and see one of these joints- let them know what you want, they'll do it. Keep the cam specs - the dizzi place will need them to work off.

[Jay]

dizzi = distributer

what sort of performance do you want?

don't know what its like in lebanon but around here there are plenty of cam grinding workshops. I'd go and see one of these joints- let them know what you want, they'll do it. Keep the cam specs - the dizzi place will need them to work off.

I want a little more power in the performance. Have a feeling the truck has become more slowish lately.

We do have shops for cam grinding but I am looking at the aftermarket cams available.

[RaginRover]

dizzi = distributer

what sort of performance do you want?

don't know what its like in lebanon but around here there are plenty of cam grinding workshops. I'd go and see one of these joints- let them know what you want, they'll do it. Keep the cam specs - the dizzi place will need them to work off.

I want a little more power in the performance. Have a feeling the truck has become more slowish lately.

We do have shops for cam grinding but I am looking at the aftermarket cams available.

Probably just needs a new cam - the lobes wear and performance suffers
you might be suprised what a new standard cam would do

I don't think any of us owned one when it was new

Tom

[Jay]

Tom

Is your camshaft fairly new??

The Rangie i ve got was bought by my father in 1983 straight form the dealer.
Yeah we owned it for all these times and I woulf like to keep it stock. I like the reliability of this carby engine especially after I replaced the dizzy.

Anty particular camshats you would recommend

Jay

[RaginRover]

Tom

Is your camshaft fairly new??


Jay

No it isn't which is what I meant by that post, I rekcon all of has have owned our rangies when they were at least 10 years old - I have been told that the pushrod engines are heavy on camshafts especially if the cars have sat in storage or idle for a period of time, the impurities in the oil can break down the hardening on the cam and cause premature wear.

I had a '76 2 door that was silky smooth but a bit of a slug which I put down to the fact that it was all original and had never had the head off.
The previous owner said to me that in the last 10 years after he stopped driving it all the time he really noticed it slowly lose power.

A mate of mine (Chuck) who is the other third of outerlimits used to say to me to make sure I buy a standard cam and put it in as per factory spec and it should make a world of difference.

I never got a chance to do that I ended up getting another rangie. My '91 4 door 3.9 has 189,000K on it and I believe its cam would be fairly worn - another bloke in our club has a '92 3.9 with 235,000k and reckons he had a bloke check the top end and pull the cam out and said it was fine - I found that really hard to believe I mean if a bloke was going to pull all that down for an inspection I would have got him to put a new one in !

Tom

[Jay]

Tom

Same story for this Rangie my father bought in 1983 from the factory drove for the 10 years and then sat around since 1998 without being driven much....
It is sluggish especially going uphills...

I would like to keep the engine as is....but will 3.9 cam shaft fit in for this 3.5 and will it cause any premature harms to the pistons

[RaginRover]

Tom

Same story for this Rangie my father bought in 1983 from the factory drove for the 10 years and then sat around since 1998 without being driven much....
It is sluggish especially going uphills...

I would like to keep the engine as is....but will 3.9 cam shaft fit in for this 3.5 and will it cause any premature harms to the pistons

Not sure mate but I am sure someone here will know the answer

Tom

[Loanrangie]

Tom

Same story for this Rangie my father bought in 1983 from the factory drove for the 10 years and then sat around since 1998 without being driven much....
It is sluggish especially going uphills...

I would like to keep the engine as is....but will 3.9 cam shaft fit in for this 3.5 and will it cause any premature harms to the pistons

Cam wont hurt pistons, 3.9 cam will work but there is not point really in specifying a 3.9 cam over a 3.5 cam, just a new one ground for low to mid range torque increase is what you need.