The V8 Owners Forum -

been seeing more and more v8 conversions running jaguar rear axles. is this possible if so what gear box and what jaguar can i use?
cheers
Dan

mmm, My opinion if Jag XJ/XK indi axles, Big heavy hard to set up correctly and fooking expensive to rebuild and narrow, Brakes are not good either, especially the handbrake, but they are reasonably strong, and there are a good selection of ratios as well, BTW the Rover flanges fit the jag diff,
I have talked over indi suspensions with people who do know what they are talking about, and several hybred options do seem to be feasable, both are based around the sierra axle, one uses the jag indi diff and custom flanges and shafts, or the sierra shafts and arms and BMW a diff,
Im against the sierra diff as I have seen numerous destroy thenselves without much effort, and from what I felt when driving a Cosworth quite hard the viscous diff is not as predictable as I would like,

cheers for that so if not the jag axle what axle would be best as i am now coverting it to a rover coupe rather than the cabriolet
cheers
Dan

the obvious would be keep the rover axle, its a long time since I have seen under a P5B, I think its on leaf springs, I dont see any reason to remove it if you are not putting loads of power thru it , I think Winston Sewells P5B ran a Cleveland 351 thru a stock axle untill he pro streeted it, you may find out more about the car on either the Dutch House SS web site if it still exists, or you may fid out more on the Taz Racing site,
I suppose you could use a jag solid axle from a Mk2 jag, that may even be near the right width,

http://www.uk-hotrods.co.uk/v2/tech/jag ... ch_jag.php
all the info is there if u go that way, john

ian.stewart wrote: Im against the sierra diff as I have seen numerous destroy thenselves without much effort, and from what I felt when driving a Cosworth quite hard the viscous diff is not as predictable as I would like,

Didn't Mark wotsisname put a Sierra back end into the Cobra he built on 'A car is born'? That seemed to take a tuned 350 motor well enough on the track, with a pro driver at the helm.

Cobras dont weigh much compared to P5Bs, the fact is by fords own admission as they have several upgrades for the Sierra diff, go for a full Grp A diff as with a 9" ring and pinion dont expect much change from 4k and they are not Viscious diffs, but plate or ATB diffs, add a few more grand if you want an electronic diff.

This is just general thinking, but why do people not look at BMW or mercadies diffs for indipendent set ups (or perhaps they do and I have missed them all)? just a bid heavy tank like a BMW 7 series with a 3.5 straight six or a 5 litre V8 on an auto box must put a fair strain on a diff so should be up to a RV8 or a smaller SB ford or chevy, same goes for the Merc. Just thinking aloud so to speak.
Mike

It says in his first post he is building a Rover 220 Coupe. Why are we going on about P5Bs?

The IRS from a Granada V6 Cosworth would be the best choice for this build imo. It comes with an LSD and is lighter and less complex than many other IRS set ups. The weight of the unit could be got down still further by junking the large factory wishbones and fabbing up something yourself. Nice project by the way, I love the rover coupes and a 4.6 V8 RWD version would make a lovely phantom UK 90's muscle car! If only rover had built 'em that way..

If you dont mind a live axle, the Salisbury unit that is fitted to later MGB's will take a shed load of power. And they are cheap as chips.
The stock 1800 axle has a ratio of 3.9:1 But you can buy a new V8 CW&P set that will take it to 3.07:1 ratio. The only mod for the upgrade is to take about 4mm off the diff cage mounting ring to move the crown wheel over a bit for the bigger pinion.
I run a stock MGB axle in mine and its been fine for 4 years of ragging.