cliftyhanger
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| posted on 13/5/20 at 07:06 PM |
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Rover 820 turbo engine and stuff....
Been offered a dolomite sprint (decent shell) fitted with a 820 turbo engine and lt77 gearbox. Needs finishing..... (ie prop, intercooler, wire in the
original ECU, exhaust etc.)
A well known engine builder/racer/resto chap is selling it, a project he started as a paid job, and he knows the engine having had it in his own Rover
from new, and only 65k with a refresh 5k ago. So should be a good one.
Downside that I can see is the inlet manifold exits at the rear, so can these be cut/welded to relocate the throttle body at the front? Will that
cause an issue with the turbo pipework/inlet etc layout? (bear with me, not played with turbos before)
The shell is available without the engine/box for £750 less, again tempting and fit a zetec...
but does the rover engine sound viable? I am tempted, although the sensible side of me says I have enough car stuff already.
What shall I do?
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Simon
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| posted on 13/5/20 at 09:11 PM |
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Buy the lot and finish it - if you can weld and use an angle grinder anything is possible 
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will121
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| posted on 13/5/20 at 09:34 PM |
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Inlet manifolds easy to modify I just cut off the throttle body end and the blank end flipped them round and got them rewelded back on, shape was
exactly the same would add photos if I could remember how.
Just added some photos in my archive
And if the right price sounds a nice retro project
[Edited on 13/5/20 by will121]
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steve m
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| posted on 14/5/20 at 07:00 AM |
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I had a rover 820 a good few years ago, the electrics and ecu were pants, and I had at least two ecus at £500 a go,
and then there was the engine fire, that started at the throttle body, apparently from the assessor, a very common fire
just saying
steve
Thats was probably spelt wrong, or had some grammer, that the "grammer police have to have a moan at
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cliftyhanger
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| posted on 14/5/20 at 09:53 AM |
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So the inlet should be a simple enough job, and I can just farm the welding out.
Uses the std ECU, so failure a worry as not exactly common thesedays.
Not keep on fires either.
If I could persuade him to sell the rolling shell I would be more comfortable fitting a zetec (I have the required front bowl sump somewhere, and an
MT75 box that would be ideal, plus a weber alpa ignition box, but the idiot owner chopped the loom off, luckily left the plug) just needing a carb of
some description. A simple weber 36/32 would be adequate. And a really simple, reliable setup.
I need to think about it, in between sorting out other life stuff which is extremely complicated at the moment.
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cliftyhanger
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| posted on 15/5/20 at 12:17 PM |
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I called the seller yesterday, he had just sold it q few minutes before.
Guess it is what happens when you faff a bit and other stuff slows you down. Ho hum. But inspired me to rethink my collection of cars.
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will121
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| posted on 15/5/20 at 07:24 PM |
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Either buy quickly with the heart or slowly with the head
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big_wasa
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| posted on 15/5/20 at 07:46 PM |
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My mum would have a saying that it just wasn’t meant to be. 
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cliftyhanger
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| posted on 16/5/20 at 04:19 AM |
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To be fair, I had spent the day sorting my dad and taking him into a care/nursing home, something not even considered until last Saturday, so a bit of
a shock.
And yes, it just wasn't meant to be, but I took a peek at my Triumph Toledo (poverty spec dolomite) yesterday, gave it a wash and decided I must
do the few bits to get it back on the road. A quick assessment showed a few days with the mig and a respray would do no harm, and ideally a couple of
doors would be good, but getting hard to find. A few years ago good ones were £25, should have bought them up when I saw them.
It did occur to me that using a vauxhall turbo engine would be a reasonable idea, mated to an omega box or possibly RX8 via an adaptor plate.
Otherwise the spare st170 engine I have, along with the MT75 box sitting here.... lock the cam, I have a set of GSXR bodies and a simple ECU could be
bought, I see microsquirt or the speeduino are about.. could be an idea though a turbo sounds fun.
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