Randall Young wrote:
>
> As Michael said, the basic casting was shared by Buick, Olds and
> Pontiac. The design was later sold by GM to Leyland, and it eventually
> wound up not only in the TR8, but in various Land Rovers (maybe other
> Rovers too). I believe it's descendant remains an option in the LR
> Discovery today.
>
> However, the different GM divisions built the motor differently, the
> parts are not identical and only interchange in certain places. There
> are also substantial differences between the TR8/LR versions and the BOP
> versions.
Mounting flanges, etc., seem to be common to all... Delco starters can
still be used on TR8 engines, as others assert. The single biggest
difference between the domestic engines and the Rover/TR versions is in
the intake manifolds--the domestic engines used manifolds for, I think,
Carter or Rochester carburetors, in stock trim, while the English
variants had manifolds for dual Strombergs or Lucas EFI.
The interesting thing about this engine is that it is far from dead or
dying.... TVR has recently created a 4.3 liter version of it for a
couple of their latest models. And it is even more remarkable that the
design is still useful after almost 38 years. Even more remarkable
because the engine got some very bad press about corrosion-related
failures early on which were later corrected by, in part, adjusting the
glycol/water ratio.
Cheers.
--
Michael D. Porter
Roswell, NM
[mailto: mporter@zianet.com]
`70 GT6+ (being refurbished, slowly)
`71 GT6 Mk. III (organ donor)
`72 GT6 Mk. III (daily driver)
`64 TR4 (awaiting intensive care)
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