couple of questins about engine height and sump
 

Right i have just spent the morning playing with my engine trying to get it in the correct position. there is really no room to move it!

first question is, what is the maximum hight the the engine can be above the top rails in order to allow for the bonnet? it currently sits about 15 inches above the top rail. this is without the sump being modified.

my next question is, my sump is 5.5 inches deep, if i have to modify it for the bonnet will i have make the sump wider to increase its volume to match the existing volume? im planning on fitting a oil cooler/ oil catch tank will it be ok to have these or will i still need to increase the sumps volume?

oh yeah, my engine is 3.5 ltr rover v8.

i will probably be using the saturn grp body if it helps.

thanks.

I’m not going to be much help with your questions however might I say what a beast of an engine.:eek:

That cant have been easy to have shoe horned in there looking good:D

Cheers Ginge

it was a mission to get it in there, knew that it would be tight but wasnt expecting to to be that tight! had to install the gearbox first and then the engine would only fit in with the oil filter removed!

Not looking forward to removing and re installing it after i paiont the chassis next week!

Good luck Dan, it will be a beast and something to behold once finished:eek: :D

Cheers Ginge

WTF?

What engine is it? Seems to be all hoses and pulleys from the photos.

D.

its a 3.5 ltr rover v8 which is injected rather than carbed ......

Apparently you can get a "winged" sump for these engines which lowers the depth but keeps the volume.
Not sure who makes them (only remember as a friend put the 4.6 in a Mini pick up years ago :eek: )

thanks headshot ill have a look on the net, hopefully someone will come along and spill the beans on how high the engine can be so that i dont buy/make one that is still too tall

Hi dan, what a lump, that should a nice ride. Although I am nowhere near seeing a engine in mine, but you probably need to mock up the scuttle height and also the nosecone and then run some masking tape bewteen them and that will give a line to work around. You will then see what clearance you have and whether you need to cut bonnet! If you dont have these yet you will need dimensions of someone and maybe mock up in wood .
tony

Dan,

Check out this post the PDF should have the info you are after, if not give us a shout and I will search some more.:D

Hope it helps

Cheers Ginge

This may help,set the ground clearance from chassis to floor at the front on some blocks at about 5 ins and the rear at about 6 1/2ins,see what sump clearance you have and possibly fit wings to sump to increase capacity lost through cutting the bottom off. Adding 25 mm brackets to top chassis rails and adding the same to panel/scuttle/noscone height etc will give you more under bonnet clearance.

And replace the exhaust manifold bolts with studs as they always failed on the SD1 of a million years ago.

Good luck.

thanks Ginge that post was exactly what i was after. using this and flyerncle's idear ill chop the sump next week. am i correct in thinking the sump should be about 25mm below the chassis?

Dan

Dan,

Here to help mate(cheesy grin smilly)

Try a serch using the key word 'sump'.

I can't at the moment as I am on my mobile.

Cheers Ginge

Consider keeping it level with bottom of the gearbox Dan,you could always fit a bash plate to bottom of it to help if hit.

Should go pretty well when finished !!:eek:

Just be aware,
if you raise the height of the upper chassis rails to increase height of the bonnet...........

If you decide to use GRP side panels then they are designed to fit the standard chassis height of 355mm,
and also the nosecone is shaped to also fit the same dimensions,
yes you can raise the position of the scuttle but just wanted to highlight that the GRP sides & nose are made to be a snug fit ;)

hope this helps in some way.

By the way, mighty impressive engine bay :cool:

cheers
andy

Hey Dan, what gearbox are you using?

I've got the same engine but it came from a Landy and the gearbox is 4wd, which after some discussions on hear I have come to the conclusion I can't easily convert to the 2wd version.

Also, are you using the stock chassis, or a McSorley 442?

Cheers,
KEv.

i am using the standard haynes chassis the only modification that i have done is use 2mm thick box not the 1.6mm and i havent put the diagnal support in the engine bay (because as you can see from the photos there is not alot of room). i would also advise that you make the tranny tunnel about 20mm wider, its a squeeze to fit the gearbox in.

The gearbox i am using is an lt77 from a tr7. im using this mainly because 5th gear is a better ratio (its an overdrive gear really) compared to the other lt77 boxes.

hi, that looks good but alittle too high to me.
im sure you can get it lower i think theres people on locostbuilders that have rv8's in locost chassis so it is possible, but if you leave it that high youll run into allsorts of problems.
Ray:)

i agree that its too high, currently i havent chopped the sump. I wanted to get the engine in so i was clear on how much i need to take off the sump thanks to Ginge i can now see that i need to chop about 1.5 - 2 inches off of the sump which will bring it down.