Manky's Pop.

[kapri]

stick those SUs on cant go wrong easy to setup and adjust 
could be any thing on that Holly. did you find out what the vacuum was and what power valve is in there

Trust me , it's the tired engine Cam lobes have metal fatigue all along them and concave lifters ,probably losing a good 30% power simply through not breathing.

[terry t]

stick those SUs on cant go wrong easy to setup and adjust 
could be any thing on that Holly. did you find out what the vacuum was and what power valve is in there

Trust me , it's the tired engine Cam lobes have metal fatigue all along them and concave lifters ,probably losing a good 30% power simply through not breathing.

Even more reason for putting the SUs on they will still run ok on a worn engine. 

[dobber]

got to be worth a try mm. you never know.

[Manky Monkey]

I bought a pair of SUs from Ebay, but on closer inspection, the core plug underneath the inlet manifold had rotted away, so would need replacing. Also, it'd mean a longer throttle cable & gearbox kick-down cable. That one's not so easy to fix cos it means dropping the pan off the bottom of the gearbox to change it. Several pairs of SUs at Loony's workshop cos he, Chris & I are all using SD1 engines in our rods, but they all need rebuilding. As I said, I leant mine to someone & haven't got them back yet.
I'll stick with what I've got for now. Planning to run with the engine I've got for the Summer, (if we ever get one), to sort out any teething problems, then either rebuild it, or replace it over the Winter.

[spanners]

re--SU,s send me a reminder towards the end of the week, as i,m at ,,wonderland,, clearing out from tuesday untill about friday/saturday, and i,m trying to get to ,shakey, sunday 

[Manky Monkey]

Will do Mike.
No progress today cos the workshop mob have been helping load the Charger up & saying Goodbye to it over in Guildford.
Found this snap from a couple of days ago -this is the motor running before I changed the oil. You can see how much water there was in it, by the steam coming from the rocker cover breather hoses, (normally fed into the carb air cleaner, but here laying against the bulkhead).
Steamrod anyone?

[cunningplan]

Trust me, you don't want to stick the SUs back on, that's not what your problem is, as Kev said "Your Engines Knackered" If I was you, I would finish rebuilding what you have already started and run it to the end of the season and rebuild the spare engine over the winter. Was the engine tapperty?? when it was running?? there is a small amount of preload on the tappets and if the wear on the bottoms were that bad you would know about it. (I know you should not do it, but get all the tappets out of the spare engine and use all the good ones to make up a set.) They say not to re use head gaskets, but when stuck, I have and never had a problem (and that was when I was using the Rover in the Mini on the road) I just bang then down a extra 5 lb.
Unless you rebuild the SUs and get them set up, you will be in the same boat as you are now, and its not just a matter of turning a few screws. (I have a carb balancer up the track (Its in the Motoshack truck) if you do decide to use the SUs. 

[Manky Monkey]

It's driving again now Tony, just not 100% at low speeds.
The bottoms of the hydraulic lifters are only slightly worn, (dished in a hemispherical pattern as they're supposed to be). It's not excessive -the guys at Real Steel showed me one that was 3 times as deeply dished as mine.
There's a little general mechanical engine noise, but probably only cos I'm listening for it -as I said, my daily driver probably makes more, but I'm not listening out for it every time I turn the key.
The cylinder head I've cleaned up has a new head gasket & rocker cover gasket.
To be honest, I'd rather rebuild the motor I've got at the end of the year, fitting a new cam & lifters as well as checking the crank bearings etc, than start again with another engine which may have more problems than this one.
I picked up the SUs as a quick fix cos we were having problems with the Holley, but it's very nearly sorted now & the SUs would mean new cables etc. The other guys at the workshop are building SU equipped Rover engined cars, so they'll get used somewhere along the line, if only for spare parts. I leant them to a mate of Brock's & haven't heard from him since!
Plodding on, tweakin' & tunin'. 

[cunningplan]

It's driving again now Tony, just not 100% at low speeds.
The bottoms of the hydraulic lifters are only slightly worn, (dished in a hemispherical pattern as they're supposed to be). It's not excessive -the guys at Real Steel showed me one that was 3 times as deeply dished as mine.
There's a little general mechanical engine noise, but probably only cos I'm listening for it -as I said, my daily driver probably makes more, but I'm not listening out for it every time I turn the key.
The cylinder head I've cleaned up has a new head gasket & rocker cover gasket.
To be honest, I'd rather rebuild the motor I've got at the end of the year, fitting a new cam & lifters as well as checking the crank bearings etc, than start again with another engine which may have more problems than this one.
I picked up the SUs as a quick fix cos we were having problems with the Holley, but it's very nearly sorted now & the SUs would mean new cables etc. The other guys at the workshop are building SU equipped Rover engined cars, so they'll get used somewhere along the line, if only for spare parts. I leant them to a mate of Brock's & haven't heard from him since!
Plodding on, tweakin' & tunin'. 

Does it still clunk into gear and pull off without touching the throttle?

[kapri]

They should be flat bottomed NOT dished Andy . The depth of that dish is coming off your cam lift hence the loss of power . Standard lift is 0.39".

"Standard RV8: 285". 0.39". 5000-5400 rp"

I normally use a Hurricane cam with an auto for street use

"Hurricane: 262' 0.433" 1000-6000rpm. Better than standard RV8, but a bit soft. A good choice for auto boxes "

Look at the difference in lift as the Hurricane gives just on 20 bhp improvement.

Almost all high torque cams increase lift with minimal changes to duration. It follows that loss of lift will affect torque primarily ( what gets you moving).

[kapri]

Don't stick with your current engine  just on the fact it's known. It may require reboring rather than being able to get away with fresh rings . If you need a rebore then a different engine means that at least you can stay mobile for longer . You could be pulling the other engine apart and assessing what's needed now  rather than pulling the current one later. That's what 'spare' engines are for , nor decoration !!  Just had this discussion with Anton recently  re his 'spare V6 , he was going to buy a new crank rather than utilise his spare ??


Re mechanical noise , a ( well silenced ) rebuilt Rover can be so quiet you struggle to know if it's running or not

[Manky Monkey]

  I spoke to Real Steel about cams last time I was there. Standard Rover one was about 70 quid, with the next one up, (the extra 20bhp one you mentioned), not very much more. That'll run with no other mods needed. I'm open to all options & nothing's really decided, but for now ...I just want to drive the thing! 

[cunningplan]

Re mechanical noise , a ( well silenced ) rebuilt Rover can be so quiet you struggle to know if it's running or not

It was a pain in the a**s sometimes at shows with mine, no one would move out of the way until I was right behind them, I had two silencers each side and while ticking over you could hardly hear it. (The only problem I had was the generator would not work too well at low revs and the light would flash on) 

[Manky Monkey]

Yeah I get that too Tony.
Yes, it still jumps as I put it into gear. Holding it hard on the brakes as I do helps.

[kapri]

I spoke to Real Steel about cams last time I was there. Standard Rover one was about 70 quid, with the next one up, (the extra 20bhp one you mentioned), not very much more. That'll run with no other mods needed. I'm open to all options & nothing's really decided, but for now ...I just want to drive the thing! 

Rebuilt engine with a Hurricane cam ( plus a rejet) and the other mods you have there will really liven it up. My old blue A , same weight and almost same gearing as yours , used to do 0-60 in 5.5 secs and return 30mpg if driven sensibly. Never changed the accelerator cam or vac spring either !  There's light at the end of the tunnel , you've got the biggest hurdles out of the way.

Banging into gear can also be torque convertor wanting to start driving immediately rather than slipping as it would in a heavier car.