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Threeonthetree's Rover SD1 2600SE


Threeonthetree

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  • 3 weeks later...
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The factory headers do look kinda rubbish and they have been welded up in the past. But to be honest I'm a while away from mods - everything depends on what I find when I work up the courage to disassemble the engine.

If the current motor can be fixed with a head gasket, then I will pursue a WOF, which will involve getting some more front suspension play fixed. Then I have a leaving gift of some Repco and Supercheap gift cards to throw at the car, and after this I'll get it a tune so it idles higher. And I'll do something about the rear suspension. The air shocks that somebody fitted aren't ideal - they leak, they didn't ride well and now the air pump has thrown a rod so I can't inflate them.

If the current motor has a cracked head or something, I dunno what I'll do.

No idea what the size of the carbs is. I think this motor is known to be restricted by its cam, which incidentally has one lobe per cylinder.. :?

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Very stoked for you on the whole house purchasing front. Welcome to the world of mortgages. :D

Enjoy reading this project thread too, so looking forward to more well articulated updates. Even if it does involve Rovers lack of ability to seal between the block and the head.

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Very stoked for you on the whole house purchasing front. Welcome to the world of mortgages. :D

Thanks... I think!

The financial reality will hit me later. I haven't seen my first bill yet, and paying the deposit was painless because the savings were somehow just numbers on a screen / never felt real.

It feels like this first house has been a long time coming, but that's been due to wanting what I can hardly afford on one income:

* a garage

* a free-standing house (for music practice reasons)

* potential (a pre-makeover house of the right construction and in the right location)

* to get the above and still be in Auckland!

It will be ironic if I now can't afford to fix my cars any more. :doubt:

There's a Rover 2600 motor that's been on TradeMe for ages, advertised at about $150. I might need that if my block is cracked / cylinder liners have shifted / dreadful stuff.

I'll have to have an Oldschool housewarming at some stage, perhaps once I own furniture.

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congrats on entering the property market bud.

also hope your motor isn't too fucked. she'll be swet if it's only slowly blown the headgastket, unless it's down to corrosion or some shit.

either way, I rolle dmy crown with ever so slightly blown headgasket for like 8 months before it let go. head was perfect, as was block, so you might be lucky.

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are you gonna keep the straight 6?

Yes, provided it can be fixed easily.

what are options for those motors with regards to mods?

Put a V8 in it! :lol:

Or this: "LJK Setright’s thorough and incisive analysis of the engine in CAR November 1997 observes the extent to which the engine was de-tuned relative to its power potential: 'There is plenty scope for tuning it for high performance: for production ease, the bore of the inlet manifold is appreciably less than the mating bore in the cylinder head, and the same step-up can be seen on the other face where the exhaust ports lead into the inlet manifold. Cleaning up these passages and blending their junctions would be an easy first step on the road to more power, which could be followed by more conventional tricks such as a better ignition system (an electronic one would be far more welcome than the cheap Kettering distributor that is fitted as standard.) and a more adventurous camshaft than the present one which only gives valve openings of 238 degrees.

'The fact that the Rover’s performance figures are pro rata less impressive (Compared with the Porsche 928 V8) has nothing to do with its head design, but is due entirely to the obvious and deliberate de-tuning of the engine to modest levels, consistent with a desire to set running economies above other aspects of performance. We have only to see how sharply the BMEP falls off above 5000rpm in the 2600 and above 4000 in the 2600 to see how restrictive the timing and carburation must be.'"

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  • 2 months later...

I don't know if I'd get tooo carried away and remove the head yet. What is the factory compression ratio? have you really truely given it a proper italian tune up yet? i.e. 20 min of really hard fanging. or a couple of minutes at or near redline on the motorway is another one apparantly, although I've never used that, usually just a really good fang or a trackday. has it got mechanical or hydraulic lifters/tappets? if its mechanical check all the valve clearances too that could cause uneven compression.

and lastly how bad does it go? it could be opening a can of worms you don't want if you find it's pistons/rings/bores and not valve seating. if it still goes acceptably I would be pretty wary unless you are prepared to rebuild the thing/throw it away and put a v8/rotor in it.

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Compression ratio is 9.25:1, and cylinder compressions should be 165 - 175 psi. It uses mechanical tappets and adjusting them requires taking the camshaft and its carrier off the head.

I haven't given it a proper thrash - I've used full throttle for short periods but haven't taken it above 4000rpm (peak power is 5000rpm, redline 5500)

Once the car's warm it drives fine and only sounds a bit off at idle, like it needs a tune and the idle speed raised. But my problem isn't low compression, it's the fact that there's too much bubbling in the radiator expansion tank to ignore. I don't think I'll fix that with a thrashing.

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  • 4 weeks later...

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