Jono\'s drift project..... Truckin sideways

[Jono FD3]

Just thought I\'d put up a few pics of the motor as I\'ve said what is going in her
As I got the engine:



Then I broke her down to find a milder cam in it than I was told but still it\'s a cam!!


then took the heads to work to give them a clean up and a bit of porting


Engine block built, cleaned and painted:


And all in one piece ready to go in


In the bay, and things are a bit tight, so mods were needed!


Right hand bank headder needed to be alot closer to the block, so cut and shut that (hopefully it will fit now!)


and then a heatshield to protect the clutch and starter:


Jono

[shaunwil]

Looking awesome, but that engine bay needs a darn good clean and paint

Shaun

[Jono FD3]

Engine in it\'s new home, does need a little tweek to get it straight, but space looks prety tight in there! LOL


Engine and box need to drop back about 20mm driver side and 40mm passenger side to square things up, but should sit prety sweet... even the bulkhead has got a recess the correct size


Engine mount needs to be cut and the plate welded to the original rover unit


and the lack of space on the headder driver side..... passenger side isn\'t going to be mutch better eather! LOL




and the view I love, the front wheel well...... It\'s kind of noughty, but feels like looking up a stunning girls skirt! LOL


and the best thing is..... I can peek the other side and see the same view


Jono

[Will66]

Good choice of motor, my second favourite after the various rotaries.  Should give it plenty of umph to get some gnarly smoke.

[Jono FD3]

cheers matey, lots of mixed comments about the rover v8..... majority of them bad! LOL

anyway, her it is all set, bolted down and ready for pipes and wires!


Jono

[Grant Monkhouse]

People can\'t criticise using a rover v8 considering that it has been used in a huge variety of vehicles, and has been a popular choice for many sleeper cars. It is light weight and produces more than enough power than you need to smoke wheels.

I say it a good choice mate, should smoke the wheels as soon as you set off.

[Will66]

What he said!

They\'re very light and make good power, also they\'re simple and there are loads of upgraded parts for them.  If you can jury rig an oil cooler into your set up and go for regular oil changes or upmarket oil then they\'ll run longer and harder.  I\'d think a baffled sump would be worth while too, just to prevent oil starvation on those reverse entries!

Even if it lunches itself though you can get good ones for beer money, imagine finding a nice 5.0 TVR long block from a crashed Griffith for a few hundred notes, re-jet your carb, beefy fuel pump and you\'ve got an easy 320 bhp + and more torque than you could shake a dirty stick at.  No shortage of smoke then!

[Jono FD3]

I thought they were a decent engine, granted not massive power for the displacement they have, but plenty enough torque for what I want! LOL

set up right, my 3.5 should make 200ish... guy on the v8 forum has the same engine with a slightly bigger carb and is making 220 at the wheels which I thought was prety good!

Jono

[Jono FD3]

well slight update on this.... not too much as I\'m on the water at the mo! LOL

Forgot to put in that the box is all in place complete with gear stick in the cab


Carb spacer all sorted as throttle linkage was hitting the manifold
and been restyling the helmet so the colour matches the truck





Jono

[Grant Monkhouse]

Hmmm nice looking helmet. Is it now a fire risk?

[Jono FD3]

it\'s a pull over cover, and made of cotton, so no more flamable than the interior lining of the lid

[Jono FD3]

woop woop, got a full day on the truck today, all the oils are in, cooling fans wired up, starter hooked up, oil warning lights hooked up, all that\'s left is a switched live to the coil and the fuel lines.... then I can stick the dash back in and see if she sparks in to life on the weekend all going well

Also changed the rear shock towers as they were running too upright and the shocks were topping out with the weight of the truck on them.... now they compress about 20mm and I\'ve still got to fit the bed, so they should be running about half way in their travel!



Battery all mounted up:


Fuel pressure gauge (isolator)


And the new prop


Also swaped the oil cooler to the drivers side headlight as the oil lines were running over the water pump pully, and didn\'t realy want to risk chewing through them!!




That is all for the mo, got to pick up the pipe on friday to finish the exhaust on Saturday then I\'m hopeing that I can take her for the first drive in 12 months!!

Jono

[Jono FD3]

Exhaust all finished






Jono

[Jono FD3]

bit of an update on this now.... haven\'t been here for a while!!

once I dropped it back on it\'s feet I realised I had a slight ground clearance issue with the lower suspension brace..... so this needed to be removed and modified!!


ended up cutting it out and welding an inch box section between the lower arms about 40mm higher so it now has some ground clearance! Also had to order new springs for the front as they were prety much compressing fully!! so she is now going to be running 550lb springs on the front with no anti roll bar to help steering clearance!

Also fitted the dash back in and got all the lights to work as they should.... just hope th gauges work properly now!




Then it was on to tub repairs!! only worried about the visable panels, so they got sorted and braced up:


then fitted to the chassis..... looks prety sweet now


Love the look of the rear now..... something nascar about it?!


The final stance of the truck on the floor:




Little bit of wheel poke now the rear has the 30mm spacers fitted to bring the front/rear track inline:


and the last bit I did before coming back out to work was the bonnet..... can\'t run a V8 an a std bonnet!!





That\'s where we are at as of today..... but back on land tomoz so hope to get it all finished off by the weekend as I\'m suposed to be doing drift taxi with it on Sunday!! just hope the engine runs well from the get go!!

Jono

[Will66]

It looks cool as hell, I hope it drifts as well as it looks!  Bet it\'ll sound nice down those big pipes too.