1980 Triumph TR7/ V8 (Dont Laugh)

[fleetus macmullitz]

Originally Posted by FETorino

Huh, I always thought he 215 Rover was actually a Buick v6 with 2 additional cylinders. If I remember correctly didn't Buick actually build that v8 and put it in some of their cars at one time? In their day the Buick V6 was a motor to beat so I am surprised to hear about dependability issues with the Rover. I guess Rover can screw anything up if they are given the chance

The Buick 215 had it's own problems long before Rover bought the rights to it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buick_V...Small-Block.22

[Mad Tiki Customs]

Originally Posted by SSLance

We had this car show up and race with us at our third SCCA autocross this year. I didn't pay much attention to it until it took off from the start of the course. It had a V8 in it and sounded awesome!



I guess they put V8s in them for a year or two from the factory, who knew?

Anyway, welcome to the site, cool project...can't wait to see how it turns out.

80 and 81. Last two years of production got the V8. The car was actually designed for the V8 and convertible top from day one. Since it was targeted for the US as the main market they were concerned about the pendng ban on convertible tops on production cars. They were also introducing the car in the midst of the gas shortage of the early 70's and used the same 4 cyl as the saab. The sad part is there was a much more powerful and reliable dolemite twin overhead cam engine available to Triumph and they opted not to use it.

Originally Posted by FETorino

Huh, I always thought he 215 Rover was actually a Buick v6 with 2 additional cylinders. If I remember correctly didn't Buick actually build that v8 and put it in some of their cars at one time? In their day the Buick V6 was a motor to beat so I am surprised to hear about dependability issues with the Rover. I guess Rover can screw anything up if they are given the chance

You are correct about the 215. GM had cooling issues with the entire engine being aluminum it was tempermental and warped easily. It also wasnt very powerful (133 HP, 155 less US emissions).
The other problem is the cylinder sleeves tend to loosen in time. It gets much worst as the later models got bigger cubic inches.
The other down side is cost and availability. I picked up my 91 5.0 with aprox 80k miles for $550. Complete with accesories harness and computer.
For just about 2k i'll be just a tad under 400HP. I would have been more than happy with about 250 but the swap to the AFR aluminum heads add almost 100 HP.
I read up on them from a car craft article online.
The 215 is pretty hard to come by here in the states. At a fair price anyway.
A rebuilt rover motor is in the 5-7k range. A used one with almost 100k miles is about 1500-2000.
So. I guess if a ford V8 in a british car was good enough for Caroll Shelby, it'll have to be good enough for me