Outer Limits 4x4 Board

I am the prowd owner of a 1984 2 door range rover but am a bit inexperienced in cars so i was wondering what i can do to give the 3.5 litre v8 more power and better fuel economy?? Can somone help me please

For starters you could replace the cam and do the heads up - that would take it back to factory power ?

Tom

Put a bigger motor in.

But seriously Tom said, have the heads reco'd and a new cam will help heaps.
Not sure what state you are in but when I replaced my block I found a guy in Melbourne who cleaned up and shaved my heads and ground back all the valves for just $300.
I got sick of the lack of power in my 3.5 and bought a 2nd hand 4.6l block and just put my 3.5 heads on it. Now I have power to burn.

I will be putting a 5.0 (carby) holden engine in mine, for not a great deal more than the cost of rebuilding the 3.5. It should have nearly double the hp and in normal (sedate) driving hopefully wont use much if any more fuel. However if your compression is OK, you should be able to do heads/cam/lifters/timing chain for less than $1k if you do the spanner work yourself or get a friend to help.

You will soon get more 'experienced' with cars owning a Rover.......

Beware of fuel economy, i used to get between 30-36l/100klm (10mpg?) with a holden stroked out to 336, auto and 32's. And that wasn't wheeling, thats general driving

burn it.... it will produce enough power (heat wise) to keep half of africa insulated for a week

6.5 rangie wrote:Beware of fuel economy, i used to get between 30-36l/100klm (10mpg?) with a holden stroked out to 336, auto and 32's. And that wasn't wheeling, thats general driving

Bad tune, unsuited camshaft or heavy ass right foot, can't just blame the motor,

RockyBlue wrote:I am the prowd owner of a 1984 2 door range rover but am a bit inexperienced in cars so i was wondering what i can do to give the 3.5 litre v8 more power and better fuel economy?? Can somone help me please

Alot of people will tell that flogging a dead horse is ok BUT the only answer is to fit a Holden or Ford motor. This not only has the benefit of giving double the power but is heaps more reliable and parts are cheaper and ersier to get.
Fuel ecomomy and rover don't co-exist. My Rover is a supercharged 253(engine was free or would be 308) puts out in the area of 400 Hp at 12lb boost , it uses heaps less fuel then my 3.5 did.

So around how much am i lookin at for an engine replacement???

Bad tune, unsuited camshaft or heavy ass right foot, can't just blame the motor

Mototr was well tuned, the cam was suited for low down torque, so it must have been the right foot, but i thought i drove conservatively

6.5 rangie wrote:Beware of fuel economy, i used to get between 30-36l/100klm (10mpg?) with a holden stroked out to 336,

30 l/100km = 9.42 mpg (Imperial)
36 l/100km = 7.85 mpg (Imperial)

My 4.6 litre P38A RR gives 13 litres/100km highway (21.73 mpg)

The 4.6 seems to work easier than the 3.5

Ron

Oh, i f'd up it was 26l/100klm, it was around 300 - 340 k's a tank. thought it sounded a bit high. Sorry i'm a dick

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/INLET-MANIFOLD-R ... dZViewItem

If its a complete setup as in the photo - a bargain, should get the 3.5 moooving.

RockyBlue wrote:So around how much am i lookin at for an engine replacement???

Depends on how much you do yourself. If you give it to a workshop to do, the labor cost will be very high due to the time consuming work required to sort out all the fiddly issues associated with a conversion.

P76 4.4 and Rover 4.6 dont require adaptor plates but still involve other changes to manifiolds etc

Holden/Ford/Chev conversions require adaptor plates and new engine mounts, say $1000, plus a motor - $250 - $3000++ depending on what you choose and whether it needs rebuilding, allow another $2000+ for exhaust, clutch, flywheel, radiator mods etc etc, another $1000 + if using a fuel injected motor for wiring, fuel pumps etc etc, more for an LPG conversion so you can afford to run it.............

6.5 rangie wrote:Oh, i f'd up it was 26l/100klm, it was around 300 - 340 k's a tank. thought it sounded a bit high. Sorry i'm a dick

Sounds more in the ball park, you'll only get 16-18L/100 from your 6.5 if the 6.2 is anything to go by, but it'll do 18-22/L100 in the bush all day and that's not conservative driving

I just can't see why you would want to put a big heavy iron brick in your Rover when the Rover engines are so light and work well.

As an indication of cost I upgraded my 3.5 to a 4.6 at christmas. I did keep it on Carby though which kept the price down and made the changeover a bit easier.

4.6 Short motor - $2500
All cam, lifters, chain & gaskets and clutch - $1100
Head reconditioned - $250

I did all the work myself so i had it all for $3850

RockyBlue wrote:So around how much am i lookin at for an engine replacement???

I did it myself and it cost $190 for clutch(uses Holden), $15 to copy the adaptor(thanks Sam and sorry for taking so long to get it back).
Engine mounts were a piece of off-cut RHS, exhaust was block huggers that were on motor.
Yes there were other small bits but the whole conversion cost about $500 to do myself.
So if you add $1000 for a half tidy 308 $1500.
For all the boys who are scared of a cast block !!!! It handles the same, goes heaps harder and uses half the fuel.
For carbies Holley makes the Truck Averger for off road use and so does Barry Grant. Both are desined to run on extreme angles.
Carl.

All the here say about extra weight is quite simply BULLSHIT! and is forged by rover purists for every one to believe, do you have a winch and a bar, cause if you do you farked up your handling more than an iron block replacement, and quite honestly even a 4.6 is still underpowered and yes i've driven quite a few

All the here say about extra weight is quite simply BULLSHIT!

I agree, mines 100kg heavier due to the motor, so i just put the fat people in the back to counter balance it

My 4BD1 is closer to 200kg heavier plus a winch bar and high mount, plus 2 batts. It still handles fine.

But not as well as my other one with the 350 chev in it

As for carbies, I wouldn't bother with a Holley, if you go a Holden of Chev I would go a Rochester.

What about a 5.0L Merc motor with the Merc ZF?

Or a 318 or 360 Hemi with a TF727?

318 and 360's aren't HEMI's just mopar, but yea only reason to use a holley is if your on LPG, cause they are crap on steep stuff

As Maggot says, I have a 4BD1 aswell, and it is HEAVY. And I couldn't be happier with the handling and performance and fuel economy. ( I just wish the 'box would last longer than 6 months...I think I'm onto the cause and possible remedy, so I'll keep you all posted.)

I drive Defenders, Disco's and RR's every day, and I repair and modify them. I would agree that unless you drive a racetrack (!) or wish to traverse the thin crust of a salt lake every day, then REASONABLE weight increases to a RR are not really noticeable. More importantly is the selection of good shocks and springs to CONTROL the weight, and not going for the highest body lift and heaviest roof rack etc.
A steel winch bar and a 8274 High mount winch would weigh about the same as the addition of a big diesel over the V8.

JC

back to the original post!

for smoother rev's and a slightly nicer feelin car without going as far as engine conversions and rebuilds like everyone else is spruking....

aftermarket/electronic ignition, better plugs leads n coil, extractors and exhaust and a better flowing/bigger jetted carb (do a search plenty of info on all around here)

wont triple your power but for small increase in power there the 4 easiest bang for your buck things you can do to almost any car, and the beauty of all three is if you do rebuild the motor, drop a larger on in you can usually bring them over. they only thing that will give you better econemy is sticking it on gas more power = more fuel

popeye wrote:http://cgi.ebay.com.au/INLET-MANIFOLD-R ... dZViewItem

If its a complete setup as in the photo - a bargain, should get the 3.5 moooving.

Sorry for this dumbarse question but how would it get the 3.5 moving? Is it an EFI conversion? Mine's a 3.5l carbie with gas. How would it suit?

Cheers
Stu

looks like a d2 set up modded to fit the 3.5 if its all there,
price is good.

Michael.

A 3.5 with auto will always be a slug but some simple budget improvements will go a long way. An aftermarket dizzy (holden, HEI, electronic conversion) a decent exhaust, a carb conversion etc. I have an 81 4spd 2door (now ute) and an 85' auto, the auto is a t/f 727 which is a bit of a slug but still gets along ok. Depending on how many k's your motor has done, it may be due for a top end rebuild . I think you would be better off spending $1000 on your engine than spending double that on a conversion. The 2 best mods i did to my rangie were fitting a scorcher (bosch) dizzy and a holley carb ( YES I DID SAY HOLLEY) along with a mild port of the heads it transformed it into capable machine that could blow pajies and cruiser's off at the lights - there is nothing like the sight of seeing a sour faced driver of a 4by worth 10 times more than yours out the back window as you accelerate past him !

AnthonyP wrote:burn it.... it will produce enough power (heat wise) to keep half of africa insulated for a week

Grimace... Why haven't you burnt yours yet ?

mu-stu wrote:

popeye wrote:http://cgi.ebay.com.au/INLET-MANIFOLD-R ... dZViewItem

If its a complete setup as in the photo - a bargain, should get the 3.5 moooving.

Sorry for this dumbarse question but how would it get the 3.5 moving? Is it an EFI conversion? Mine's a 3.5l carbie with gas. How would it suit?

Cheers
Stu

Stu - If you don't mind going straight gas or don't mind doing an efi conversion, jump on that manifold setup. EFI tuned length manifolds + LPG = The tuned length intake runners will shit all over any carb manifold setup. Regraph you dizzy for sure - on gas this is good for a fair few horses.
Also to get the most out of a efi manifold you really need a matching cam - not a big deal.

If you are in Melb i am just about to start wrecking my Schuler, 308, T/Flite, LT230 These were originally done by ritters in melb Could just all bolt in.

schuler wrote:If you are in Melb i am just about to start wrecking my Schuler, 308, T/Flite, LT230 These were originally done by ritters in melb Could just all bolt in.

Got any diff locks, i got plenty myself but i have a queue of blocks after some secong handys