I arrived at V8 Developments at about 8:30 on a brisk Thursday morning. As I wasn’t sure what was needed and what wasn’t, I took everything I could think of.

I asked Rob to fit new bolts to the flywheel and torque them down; he also tightened the front pulley bolt for me.

We then fitted the exhaust manifolds

This is the engine waiting to go on the dyno.

 We removed the engine mounts, header tank and alternator and used a hoist to lift the engine onto the Dyno cradle.

On The Dyno	Bolted to the dyno.
Primed and ready	Rob then primed the oil pump and connected all the cables and fuel lines. The oil pressure gauge is bolted to the front of the engine so it can be seen from the control room.

There were some problems with the wiring loom that was preventing the injectors from firing. Rob traced the fault to a broken wire and repaired it.

Once this was done the engine started almost straight away, but it was pretty obvious I had a problem.

The exhaust headers were glowing red hot up to the point of the pre-cats, Rob was pretty convince the pre-cats were blocked.

After running for only a short time.  

The only solution was to remove the manifolds and fit a set of V8D’s with the pre-cats removed.
We let the engine cool and did just that.

After some setting up of the ignition timing and, running the new cam in, Rob did a full power run.

The end result was just over 300 bhp and over 325 ft/lbs of torque. As seen on the graph below.

Dyno Read Out

It wasn’t all rosy though, the engine was very lean at the top end, so before I put it back into the car I’m going to fit new injectors. But for now that’s all I can do until the car is repaired.

So all that remained was to put the engine back into the boot of my Jeep and take it home.

DID I MEET MY OBJECTIVES?

Well almost, at the beginning I said I was aiming for around 300 bhp with a nice smooth delivery, and I’m pretty sure I’ve got this.

BUT:

I also said I had a budget of around £1800.

• Cylinder Honing    £20.00       
• Main bearings    £58.75       
• Big end bearings    £41.13       
• Cam bearings    £35.25       
• Cam bearings    £15.13       
• X bolts & washers    £29.38       
• Bottom end gasket set    £58.75       
• Camshaft & Followers    £276.13       
• Core plugs    £14.10       
• Head bolts    £47.00       
• Piston rings    £58.75       
• Mains studs    £47.00       
• Timing chain and gears    £135.13       
• Plastigauge    £4.00       
• Clutch    £346.63       
• Exhaust manifolds    £270.25       
• Exhaust manifolds bolts    £25.39       
• Inlet manifold bolts    £17.50       
• ACT Trumpet base    £223.25       
• Spark plugs    £27.73       
• Magnacor leads    £86.36       
• Plug caps    £31.49       
• Cam & distributor drive gear    £111.63       
• Rocker shims    £28.16       
• Engine build lube    £11.75       
• Oil Filter    £7.05       
• Distributor cap    £19.38       
• Rotor arm    £8.23       
• Dyno Time    £350.00       
• Bits & Pieces Tools Etc    £150.00       

           
  Total =  £2,405.30       
        

As you can see I’ve gone over it by a good few hundred £’s.

Would I do it again?

Probably, but the reality of the situation is that off the shelf engines bought directly from the well known suppliers out there offer tremendous value for money.

For not much more than I’ve spent you could get an engine built by very experienced people, and with a guarantee.

In saying that I’ve really enjoyed this project and putting together this info, it’s been a very satisfying way of spending my time whilst the car is being repaired.

I hope those of you who take the time to read this info, enjoy it and find it useful in some small way.
If that happens I’ll be a very happy man.

Andy Quinn