Hi,
In case there are others out there considering fitting a Rover V8 in their Locost I just wanted to direct you to my website at http://www.craig.chamberlain.name as I now have some pictures showing my engine in place.

There are others who have accomplished this (and more) but you may not be aware of this. Check out the photo archive for "Simon" for another example.

My chassis is McSorely 7+4" and it fits pretty well. Ideally a slightly longer (2" engine bay would be better but not essential as long as you get the engine as far back as possible while still maintaining enough footroom for the pedals. I had to disassemble the crank pulley and remove the oil filter but apart from that it went in a treat. I used the SD1 engine mounts with my own chassis mods and I think this will prove to be a good solution.

Let me know if you want me to take any measurements (of the car that is ) or any photos which may be of interest. I will be posting more photo's on my website over the next week.

Cheers,
Craig.

your site seems to be bruk.. timing out for me.

site downloads, but can only access the March 2003 of the build diary, the rest do not seem to work.

cheers

Dave

worked ok for me, little bit slow loading the images....

Ned.

Thanks for the feedback, it works okay for me from my place of work. I'll check my logs tonight and sort it out. Maybe just an internet glitch but I'll check it out anyway.
Cheers,
Craig.

Hi again,
I just checked all my logs and everything seems fine. There is a smaller number of hits than I would normally expect though so this may indicate a general connectivity issue on the internet. The fact that some of you could connect and others couldn't would also indicate a problem with network routing. I'll keep an eye on it in the meantime.

Thanks again for letting me know.
Cheers,
Craig.

Just out of interest I saw a Rover V8 powered Westy at the place my mate works at the weekend. But its not just any old V8, its come out of a TVR. Its supposed to have 400 bhp. My mate hasn't had chance to drive it, but has been in the passenger seat a couple of times. He reports the first three gears as been a waste of time, and the acceleration when it finally stops wheel spinning in forth as unbelievable (and he has driven some seriously fast cars). Hes says it has too much power, and up until his this Westy experience, he didn't think there was such a thing!

Anyway, I've got some piccies if your interested?

Cheers

Northy,
Most interested Piccies welcome!!

Yes 400BHP does sound a bit OTT but I'd love to have that problem to be honest as long as I didn't have to pay for the tyres!

I'll be happy with a nice torquey 200BHP from my 3.5 although it will be more like 170BHP initially.

Cheers,
Craig.

You beaut.
Planning on doing a similar, something like a "7+431" which should give me the extra space in the engine bay.

You concerned at all about the difference in the diff ratio? SD1 was around 3.00, and the sierra is... not? 3.6? anyone?

- Greg H

Northy,

Agree with Craig - pics would be appreciated (any of the engine installation/exhaust/steering column/radiator - you get the pic (so to speak) - thanks

Greg

SD1 diff ratios (according to Rimmers w/site) are:

3.90
3.45
3.08
2.84

No idea which went on which model though. I'll check Haynes tonight.

ATB

Simon

We worked it out, 70mph comes up at about 2800rpm in top with an LT77 and Sierra LSD on 14 inch wheels with 60 series tyres. Not that lazy but not screaming along either. Top whack is about 130 @ 5500rpm.
Thinking about it, 70mph in 5th should stick it right in the fat bit of the torque curve so overtaking should be pretty effortless but rather vivid.

[Edited on 25/11/03 by mackie]

Simon,
The most common diff ratio on the SD1 was 3.08 I believe. I did work out the likely speeds in gears and I was quite happy with the outcome. My Dad's SD1 could do something like 43MPH in 1st gear, 68MPH in 2nd, 105MPH in 3rd, 143MPH in 4th and a "theoretical" 180MPH in 5th.

5th is clearly an "overdrive" gear designed for cruising so by lowering the diff ratio we can get more use of 5th albeit 1st will probably not be much use anymore except for trundling along in traffic without dipping the clutch...

In any event I don't see the different diff ratio as a big problem for a Locost, especially as I don't plan on doing much more than 120MPH even on a track as I'd be scared of the car disintegrating. I have done 120MPH in a 250cc go-kart and that was wicked fun but then I didn't build the kart...

Cheers,
Craig.

Nice Site.

I recon there isnt a lot in a car disintegrating at 120 or 150mph - I recon they both have the same outcome




atb

steve

quote:

---

Originally posted by craig1410
Simon,
The most common diff ratio on the SD1 was 3.08 I believe. I did work out the likely speeds in gears and I was quite happy with the outcome. My Dad's SD1 could do something like 43MPH in 1st gear, 68MPH in 2nd, 105MPH in 3rd, 143MPH in 4th and a "theoretical" 180MPH in 5th.

5th is clearly an "overdrive" gear designed for cruising so by lowering the diff ratio we can get more use of 5th albeit 1st will probably not be much use anymore except for trundling along in traffic without dipping the clutch...

In any event I don't see the different diff ratio as a big problem for a Locost, especially as I don't plan on doing much more than 120MPH even on a track as I'd be scared of the car disintegrating. I have done 120MPH in a 250cc go-kart and that was wicked fun but then I didn't build the kart...

Cheers,
Craig.

---

Craig,

I've had two SD1 V8's - 1 auto and 1 manual.

Interesting thing about the auto was you could do approx 65mph

BACKWARDS

I tried - very scary!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well I was 18 at the time, what would you expect

Just found this:

Model Gear ratio
2000/2400SD 3.9:1
2300/2600 3.45:1
2600 auto/3500
Vitesse 3.08:1
3500 VdP EFI 2.85:1

Steve,

F/drive on my car will give a top speed of 117mph, but more the the point, it should get there quite quickly

ATB

Simon

[Edited on 25/11/03 by Simon]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Simon
F/drive on my car will give a top speed of 117mph, but more the the point, it should get there quite quickly
[Edited on 25/11/03 by Simon]

---

Ned,

Agreed

Need a 3.38 diff - would give a more reasonable 135ish

ATB

Simon

Our setup look like this in Quaife gearcalc:
Gearbox:- Locost with LT77 and XR4x4 LSD
Tyre:- Michelin all patterns 195/60 x 14
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Top Gear gives 24.077 MPH/1000 RPM and a top speed of 132.425 MPH at 5500 RPM

Engine speeds in top gear:-
30 MPH = 1246 RPM 40 MPH = 1661 RPM 50 MPH = 2077 RPM 60 MPH = 2492 RPM
70 MPH = 2907 RPM 80 MPH = 3323 RPM 90 MPH = 3738 RPM 100 MPH = 4153 RPM

Top Speed in 1 gear = 30.704 MPH
And changes into 2 gear at 3531 RPM dropping 1969 RPM
Top Speed in 2 gear = 47.827 MPH
And changes into 3 gear at 3604 RPM dropping 1896 RPM
Top Speed in 3 gear = 72.990 MPH
And changes into 4 gear at 3937 RPM dropping 1563 RPM
Top Speed in 4 gear = 101.967 MPH
And changes into 5 gear at 4235 RPM dropping 1265 RPM
Top Speed in 5 gear = 132.425 MPH
******************************************************************************************