Re: Warning: coolant temp. and cracking in Rover blocks

[Barrie Robinson <barrie@look.ca>]

I think the GM casting would have had the same problem - The block was 
never meant to be bored out any more than 3.5 litres.  I read something 
somewhere that GM could not get quality castings as no one around had 
sufficient experience in aluminium engine castings.

At 11:38 AM 7/30/2005, Carl Floyd wrote:
> About friggin' time! That book has been delayed since before the 2004 V8
> meet!
>
> Did they mention what the delay was about? I just checked, I first ordered
> that book June 14, 2004.
>
> Sounds like GM's investment casting process was superior even if more
> costly.
>
> Carl
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "James Jewell" <m1garand@speakeasy.net>
> To: <mgb-v8@autox.team.net>
> Sent: Saturday, July 30, 2005 11:43 AM
> Subject: Warning: coolant temp. and cracking in Rover blocks
>
>
> > All,
> >     Veloce just sent me a copy of their latest book for review: Power
> > Tuning the Rover V8 by Des Hammil.  It's a fantastic book, and should be
> > on the shelves soon.  However, it brings up some frightening points
> > about the big-bore (3.9,4.0, 4.2, 4.6L) blocks.  Many of us know that
> > when Rover upped the size of the bore, that the thickness of the
> > aluminum surrounding the sleeves actually got thinner, which led to a
> > cracking problem, with commensurate water loss into the cylinder, and
> > sleeve drop.  What I didn't realize was how bad the problem was:  Fully
> > 25% of the big-bore blocks will develop a crack.  But it gets worse:
> > For a few models, Rover installed a higher temp. thermometer in the
> > engines (opening at around 185 DegF).  On those models, the cracking
> > rate goes over 50%.  So the book recommends that all Rover engines run
> > with the lowest temp Thermometer one can find.  The problem is that,
> > with the small radiators that fit into our beloved MGBs, it's hard to
> > keep the engine that cool regardless of the thermometer setting.
> >     Anyhow, lets do a survey:
> > Who is running a big-bore Rover, what is your thermometer setting, and
> > are you mysteriously losing coolant?
> > Thanks,
> > JJJ
Regards
Barrie

Barrie Robinson
(705) 721-9060 
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