The V8 Owners Forum -

Hi gents, I have been meaning to register for a while on the advice of fellow landrover/rover and BMW v8 owners.

I have all the above and am a long time v8 owner with 3 range rovers and a rover v8 in my past and currently owning a 72 range rover and a bmw m60 v8 tuned to 330 bhp.

However this is not why I am here, I am here because I am currently re-building a leyland p76 4.4 v8 engine which for those who have not heard of it (and fair enough as it was only made for 2 years in Australia) is an 88.9 mm bore rover v8 which runs a square set up.

it was made between 73 and 75 to go in the p76 car and is 200 bhp and 285 ftlbs as standard.

the engine has been stripped and I am waiting on some parts from Aus which should be here soon, I have had it bored .20 and I am running landrover 8.13:1 pistons which will take it up to 9.5:1 in this engine, maybe more according to rumours.

I have had the crank polished an it was at .10 anyway. new cam bearings have been fitted and its now on the stand waiting for my parts , here is just a few pics of this latest stage of things :

http://s1189.beta.photobucket.com/user/ ... one?page=1

anyway my question, thats is what cam to use?

I do not want to have to adjust the cam timing with a vernier set up etc although I do want to invest in a duplex roller chain and billet gears and would like a recommend on those too.

Re the cam, I am a bit lost! its going in a range rover so obviously torque is needed but the standard 285 ftlbs will be plenty to break the ageing driveline so I dont need more than that so I would like to keep that level low down and then gain some more horses in the mid range and top end. I also do not want to risk hitting valves with my higher comp pistons fitted.

Real steel have not had much to do with these engines for 20 years or so but they say they only sell one rv8 cam that does not require mods and that is a fedral mogul (made in mexico? ) early p5 cam. I have a new old stock standard 3.5 landrover 8.13/8.25:1 cam from the 80's I could use (although one snapped in the post which worried me a bit about quality).

if I look on an Aussie motor-factors site they say about fitting another cam if its going in a range rover, here: http://www.roverparts.com.au/inc/sdetail/11007

if I look on the Crow cams site they give this info, and the specs look very different from the last: http://www.crowcams.com.au/media/catalo ... 0Rover.pdf

One bloke fitted a a dynatech stage two cam (not heard of them) which is about halfway down this page : http://www.precisionintl.com/engine.asp ... 5&EID=2090 but I have had no answer from them about if the engine needs mods to fit this cam, and he was putting the engine in a p6.

I did think about getting a new old stock p5 cam if that would be better than a made in mexico one from real steel but I am not sure why real steel think that was the best of the 16 or so rover v8 cams fitted as standard over the years, as it must have been the first UK one and technology was not as advanced then? I would be glad if anyone can answer that as it would be an easy fix!

there is also one from turner engineering which at least is chilled iron for good wear and is the only one they sell, but its not cheap either, and will it give me the power where I want it in this engine? (they dont know) : http://www.turnerengineering.co.uk/acatalog/3.5V8.html

Sorry for the long and linked first post, but I have to say even being a v8 man for so many years I am lost!

Hi
Without knowing the rest of the engine mods it is very hard to say what is best, however if the rest of the engine is standard on period cast exhaust manifolds and stock SUs and standard heads I would go with a 3.9 EFI cam, it is generally thought of as a good compromise for a stock or near stock engine and even with 10% extra capacity it should be fine.
If you have used RR 4:2:1 cast manifolds and stage 1 heads and generally tidied things up on injection or SUs I would go up to the 37771 cam of the second site, you would need new valve springs and to check clearences, but I would do that after any modifications from standard.
With the above spec and long tubular 4:1 manifolds I would go with the 37776, in fact I think it probably would be as good as the 37771 on the RR manifolds, just not better.
Best regards
Mike

Hi, thanks.

its got tublar headers from rimmer bros, the compression is raised to 9.5:1 or more- apart from that it will be stock 4.4- including the two barrel bendix stromberg ww which will run on LPG for off road use to avoid flooding/starvation at extreme angles.

I dont want to have to change the valve springs, so with that in mind whats your recommend ?

Just to say its for a rrc so low end is important too, the stock p76 cam brings in power from 800 rpm , I wonder if the 1800 rpm on the crow 777 is low enough?

Wade Cams in Melbourne and Speco Cams and Waggot Cams in Sydney used to do a range of cams for this engine and probably still do. They were once a popular engine here for slotting into Range Rovers and MGBs, Triumph Stags, TR7s, etc, and there were lots of specialists around who carried out these sorts of conversions.

The long stroke gave good torque although you couldn't rev them too high. But the introduction of the 4.6 blocks made them a bit redundant, and P76 engines can be picked up here very cheaply now (although they are becoming scarcer these days).

You should also post your enquiry on the Australian Land Rover Owners Forum as there are many guys on there who have done exactly the same thing you're intending. There's also a good local P76 owners forum, but that is more about the cars than transplanting the 4.4 into other vehicles.

Hi
Stock springs will mean a cam with no more lift than standard, 3.9 EFI is probably the most suitable without going to a P76 specialist. Follow Robs recomended contacts.
Best reegards
Mike

yeah thats quite a list of cam manufactures I have never heard of lol!

I shall do my best to get hold of them from the UK and see what advice they have as they should know if any of the old blokes still work there anyway lol.

can you guys say if I would be better off fitting a rv8 low comp 8.13:1 cam (which I belive was standard in the p76 engine in the car orginally ?) in to this engine to go in my range rover as it does about 25 percent of its work off road and 75 round town and highway mixed driving or if it would be better going for a standard range rover cam "ETC6849 CAMSHAFT, WHICH HAS SLIGHTLY LESS LIFT AND OVERLAP RESULTING IN MORE POWER AT LOWER RPM" ?

or finally the p5 cam real steel are selling as standard? I wish I knew the specs on that one but I cant find them?

Thats my easy options you see, if none of the others pan out.

I just want to make best use of the higher compression I am running at 9.5:1 or more

PS I am on the aussie landy site, under the same name- I asked with mixed results lol, I may try again.

ok I am thinking of the second one on here:

http://www.camtechcams.com.au/rover_range_hyd.html

what do you reckon and are this brand any good?

Have a look at these Leyland cams - the 259 is popular one used here in RR installs

http://www.wadecams.com/PoProf/Leyland-P76-RoverV8.htm

I used Wade cams for years in my Minis and they were very good.

cheers

thanks, yeah I did look at the wade stuff and tried to find the other two brands which dont seem to be making cams now, or if they do there is no website with them on.

I found the camtech place while looking for waggot cams and the bloke running it used to manage waggot for 20 years.

the wade stuff just didnt seem to have a good match for me, either too mild and for an auto or too high up the rev band or needing mods.

that why I liked the look of the 2nd one down on the camtech link I posted.

suits a manual good low and midrange and a lope on idle, what more could a v8 man want

I would be glad of your opinions on the specs and the company itself and any horror stories.

Also it seems like its may be hard to get non third world mate lifters for this (and most) american style v8 engines as now eaton and all the ones uder the fedral mogul umbrella seem to be farmed out for production.

Any ideas where I could get johnson lifters (or those few brands made by them) for the 4.4?

This makes an interesting read for those of us who like v8s


http://theamcforum.com/forum/johnson-li ... 41348.html