chas@ihuxe.UUCP (Charles Lambert) (05/21/85)
By the way, I believe that the 3.5 liter Rover engine is a very close relative of an Oldsmobile unit. Anybody got the full story? Charlie @ the Death Star, IL.
bhs@siemens.UUCP (05/21/85)
Buick designed the actual 3.5l engine way back, oh, I think in the sixties, but decided that it was too small for american engines. They thus sold the design to Rover, who have done a splendid job building it, it is very smooth. Now, I am sure, Buick would give anything to have a small fuel efficient eight in that size range. Bernard H. Schwab Siemens RTL, Princeton, NJ
dbp@dataio.UUCP (Dave Pellerin) (05/21/85)
>By the way, I believe that the 3.5 liter Rover engine is a very close relative >of an Oldsmobile unit. Anybody got the full story? > >Charlie @ the Death Star, IL. I don't have the full story, but it goes something like this: GM developed the 215 CID V-8 in 1960 (or therabouts) to install as an option in the Pontiac Tempest, Oldsmobile F-85, and Buick Skylark. The Buick and Olds versions are virtually identical (the Olds has five head bolts per cyl, the Buick has four, other minor diffs). A factory turbo-charger was available on one of these models (I think it was the Tempest?) and even without turocharging, these engines could be coaxed to well over 200 HP (with bolt-ons like headers, funny cam, etc.) For some reason, GM stopped producing the engine in 1963 and sold the rights to British Leyland. The engine has since been used in the Land Rovers, Rover TC3500 sedans and the Triumph TR8. The engine is very light (all aluminum with sleel cylinder sleeves) and is a natural for engine swap projects. I put one in a Chevy Vega and I have seen them put in TR6's, a Sunbeam, an MGB and a Ferrari Marretti. There is also a very fast homebuilt aircraft design that uses it. - Dave (...uw-beaver!teltone!dataio!dbp)
tron@fluke.UUCP (Peter Barbee) (05/22/85)
>By the way, I believe that the 3.5 liter Rover engine is a very close relative >of an Oldsmobile unit. Anybody got the full story? I think this is the whole story, but it is possible I'm wrong. The 3.5 liter V8 that appears in the Rovers (and in TR8s, and couple of other English cars I think) was bought by BMC from Buick in the late-middle '60s. It was used in middle of the road sedans but Buick didn't really need to put a aluminum V8 in sedans and with the advent of pollution requirements they decided to not update the engine and instead sold the tooling to BMC. Peter Barbee
jeepcj2a@fluke.UUCP (Dale Chaudiere) (05/23/85)
> By the way, I believe that the 3.5 liter Rover engine is a very close relative > of an Oldsmobile unit. Anybody got the full story? > > Charlie @ the Death Star, IL. The aluminum 215 cu in V8 used in Rover cars was sold to Rover by Buick in the early 60s. I did not convert 3.5 liter to cu in, so I don't know if this the same engine. By the way this was the makings of the first Buick V6. Buick lopped off two cylinders and cast the block in iron rather than alumimum. They increased the bore but the values were the same (small).