Rebuilding a Rover V8

Get the lot done , as he V8s are also notorious for coking the exhaust valves.
Did the composite gaskets have the extra row of bolts to match the heads?
I have never seen composites with the extra bolts. If they do not then they have been changed before , and badly by the looks.

Now here is where it gets tricky. If the heads are tin gasket heads it is probably worth milling 35Thou from them to restore the correct CR.

If it is a tin head the volume of the combustion chamber will be 34CC with plug in and a composite head 28CC. Maybe the head place can measure.

Regards Philip A

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Originally Posted by PhilipA

Get the lot done , as he V8s are also notorious for coking the exhaust valves.
Did the composite gaskets have the extra row of bolts to match the heads?
I have never seen composites with the extra bolts. If they do not then they have been changed before , and badly by the looks.

Now here is where it gets tricky. If the heads are tin gasket heads it is probably worth milling 35Thou from them to restore the correct CR.

If it is a tin head the volume of the combustion chamber will be 34CC with plug in and a composite head 28CC. Maybe the head place can measure.

Regards Philip A

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thanks, i think i will get the lot done even if it means saving up, us its very reliable to start and run.

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Did the composite gaskets have the extra row of bolts to match the heads?

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do you mean if my head was the sort with 14 bolts ? if so it did.



i believe either 1 or both head gaskets have been done before. (b4 i bought it)

well i just had the talk with the partner and the full head/valve job is out of the question. we're pretty tight on money, have spent too much on it allready and dont have a great deal of use for it now we have a d2.

looks like ill have to settle for just the face machine for $125.

how can i work out what to tell the machine shop and what gasket to use ?

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Originally Posted by haydent

well i just had the talk with the partner and the full head/valve job is out of the question. we're pretty tight on money, have spent too much on it allready and dont have a great deal of use for it now we have a d2.

looks like ill have to settle for just the face machine for $125.

how can i work out what to tell the machine shop and what gasket to use ?

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Do the job properly, tight ass pays twice;)

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Originally Posted by rovercare

Do the job properly, tight ass pays twice;)

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yeah but its been running ok apart from the water loss, so theres good chance i could put it back together with new gaskets and not even machine it and it'd be fine.

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Originally Posted by haydent

yeah but its been running ok apart from the water loss, so theres good chance i could put it back together with new gaskets and not even machine it and it'd be fine.

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Like I said:)

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Originally Posted by haydent

how can i work out what to tell the machine shop and what gasket to use ?

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find out how far the pistons are down the bore at TDC.
if they are 0 - 25 thou use a comp gasket. 0 - 5thou is good (assuming comp gasket is 25 - 35'??

if they are 25 + thou down use a tin

borderline between the two - shave the deck and go composite.

measure them all, and ideally get the deck milled to suit the slope , if there's any

The less gap the better but you dont want to go below 25 thou ( unless you really know what you are doing with the build. even 25 could be borderline pushing things, 40+ is a major waste of combustion space - read someware that it could mean up to 20% of the charge is doing no work other that producing polution and wasting fuel.

thanks for the help 'hardchina' do i make the measurement at the edge of the piston or the center ?

and when you say thou you mean thousandths of an inch ?

Haydent , measure twice , the inner and the outer will change with piston rock ,ring wear/clearance , average them .
What HardChina is Trying to say , that the Quench Zone or squish area is less than good if the Piston is down the Bore at all ! Usually its only down the bore when the cheap asses manufacturer wants to get a static compression of what ever and cant be bothered using another piston with out dish or rod length .. (Typical Rover/Buick idiot head design !!!)
We actually machined them down .060 , added Singh grooves , comp 11:00:1 . Regraph dizzy , and a 3.5 will eat a 3.9 !!!

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Originally Posted by haydent

thanks for the help 'hardchina' do i make the measurement at the edge of the piston or the center ?

and when you say thou you mean thousandths of an inch ?

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Hi, at the edge - do them all, write the measurements on the block in texta. Pretty unusual to get consistant readings, they might get more or less from front of block to rear. but if you know the measurements the deck can be shaved to fix it. It's a pretty important thing to check.
just watch out for funny individual readings that are way out.


400HP - do they grooves really work that well? sounds like a pretty easy thing to do. How come you machine to .060

cheers