PLEASE DELETE Abandoning project

[Rick-Manta]

I am in some serious financial embarrassment at present and I need to sell nearly everything I've collected and worked on over the past couple of years. If anyone would like pretty much all the bits you need to fit a Rover V8 into a Manta B please see the Parts for sale section. Thanks.

[opel2000]

Rick mate, a bit of hindsight here.

When I done my V8 I winged the sump as you have.

Unfortunately I wished to god I hadn't done it when it cam to fitting the exhaust, as it all became very very tight where I had put the wing onto the sump.

You also mentioned cooling issues with your old V8, I used a Manta Rad except it had been recored to make a 3 core Rad and indeed I used an oil cooler and not a particularly big one at that. I also fitted an oil temp gauge, you could observe the engine oil getting hot and determine when the oil cooler thermostat opened, and you could see the temp going back down after hard driving.

I also used a slimline 14" Summit Racing fan (approx £70.00 delivered)

The whole lot caused no cooling issues whatsoever Rick, in fact if anything it all ran a bit too much on the cool side of things.

You say you have already re-built your V8 Rick....

If there would be any one singular item I would recommend on building a Rover V8 it would be the use of ARP Mains Studs, rather than the original Mains Bolts, as they do fall out of the block due to not being able to torque them down enough into the soft aluminium block, main cause of Rover V8 engine failure are the mains bolts, coupled with torqueing down the heads incorrectly when using the Tin Gaskets, which are a damn good gasket when used properly.

look forward to seeing this progress mate

[Rick-Manta]

Thanks for the pointers Clive. I didn't think about the exhaust header clearance actually and I don't have a set as yet to replace my old ones which have now rotted to death! I'll think of something.. I hope

I have now got a 3 cored manta rad and have ditched the Rover one, I'll also be using the expansion tank you made for me with it. I've determined that the overheating was caused by the poor oil circulation and capacity over the water cooling. The fact that the old engine oil would scald your skin off to the touch should have been a clue. I also had no oil cooler previously but this time I've got one which is overkill big!

I've been trying to buy some ARP studs for the inlet and exhaust manifolds for when I get them, but yes I have used them in the mains and heads. Apparently they can be a trick to remove as the steel reacts with the alloy and sticks in, but hey at least they won't losen and fall out.

Even though the block is rebuilt I can't see it getting fitted to a manta any time soon, so I can at least make the odd changes as and when I have the time and money. I spending most of my time with the 1.9 B to have it 'usable' by Billing.

[Christ]

good luck with the project, i like stuff like this

I've been trying to buy some ARP studs for the inlet and exhaust manifolds for when I get them, but yes I have used them in the mains and heads. .

that's a coincidence as i've been tidying up in the attic today and found a bag containing some ARP inlet and exhaust manifold bolts for a RV8

[Rick-Manta]

Cor that's handy, PM me if you want to sell them. You wouldn't happen to have an Edelbrock carb and inlet manifold in you loft too?

[Rick-Manta]

Flywheel

A bit of a pain in the arse if you're converting an automatic setup to manual. I would recommend getting an engine and manual gearbox together unless the engine itself is seriously cheap as you'll be looking at paying £500 for the gearbox and all the parts you need. Another mistake I made which you can avoid was a bit of a school boy error. I bought a flywheel off of ebay which

although I couldn't tell in the pictures, is cracked and seriously worn, even with a skim I don't think it would have had much life left in it so I wrote it off as £60 down the drain! I ended up buying a better one which I could see before paying for but even this one was so dirty I couldn't see the small cracks it has, but at least this one is flat and with a skim should outlive most of the other parts. I was also thinking of having the flywheel lightened but having heard so many different opinions on the various forums I decided it was not worth even getting quotes for.

Engine Mounts and Brackets

On my previous V8-erfied manta, the engine mounting brackets were standard Rover SD1 with new fixing points welded to the manta crossmember. I didn't have any issues with that setup other than it was ugly and looked very bodged and I was told that the overhanging fixing points which can only be welded one side are a weak point and can potentially break should a bit of corrosion set in. This project, I am using custom made mounting brackets which use standard SD1 rubber mounts which bolt into the manta crossmemember which needs no modification. I'm glad to say, these brackets were made by someone else as I bought it with the LT77 gearbox I'm getting to later, but it should be noted that you need to know where the gearbox needs to be to avoid having to modify the bulkhead and transmission tunnel more than is necessary. This will dictate where the engine will be positioned. This saved me a lot of time and effort having found a manta ready 'box sold with the brackets, technically it's cheating but I really did have to pay a premium.

LT77 Manual 5 speed gearbox

For some strange reason, despite being as common as muck LT77 gearboxes seem to sell for a bloody fortune! Forget how much Manta 1.8 Getrag 'boxes cost you'll be paying double that for a good one of these. In fact I think the bellhousing makes the price up since I saw one sell for £150 on its own. The gearbox itself needs a fabricated mounting bracket as unlike the automatic you can't use the manta one, like I did previously. What surprised me was the size of the gearbox in comparison to the GM180 auto which is quite a bit smaller. Ideally the remote linkage needs shortening so that the stick will poke up through the mantas original opening (five speed and auto position, the four speed is too far forward) I have seen some V8 mantas with the stick poking out just ahead of the handbrake, with some nasty looking solutions to the centre console. Again and as I have mentioned, this LT77 I bought manta ready and it has an alloy remote fitted from a Jaguar XK8 or something similar that used the LT77s at some point. This with the engine mounts and a custom made gearbox bracket is where the convienience for me ends. I will still need to modify the transmission tunnel as I'm to fit this to an early B with a 4 speed and I have a later type centre console to swap with the original to make the interior look more factory fit. I am also yet to clean-up and change the gearbox oil as I need to find out what grade the one I have uses as the Haynes says that some of the manual 'boxes use automatic transmission fluid, which seems a bit bizarre!! Others use normal manual gearbox oil. If I can't find out for certain I'll just have to hope the pissy smelly old stuff in the box was correct.

Something you should consider as being part of the gearbox is the clutch release lever which can be quite pricey to buy on its own and that's if you can find one. Also the speedo cable is not as straight forward as the autobox (which can use a standard manta one) The one I have is from a company called 'speedy cables'.

The budget so far

Gearbox with short Jaguar remote, gearstick, release fork, mounting bracket - £350

(for a standard gearbox you should be about £200)

Engine mountings and custom made brackets - £50

Flywheel 1 (rubbish, was ripped off here) - £60

Flywhhel 2 - £50

Speedo cable - £35

Transmission tunnel cover/centre console - FREE (already had one spare)

Remote oil filter and oil cooler

The position of the oil filer on the V8 pokes right into the mantas anti-roll bar which is a good excuse to increase the oil capacity a bit more from all that sump chopping. The mocal remote oil filters are readily available new and secondhand and you will also need an oil cooler. I was running the last manta without one and I was having some over heating issues which I was

originally blaming the coolant system. Turns out it was the oil getting too hot and when initially stripping the engine down there was burnt on oil varnishing everywhere so it's really a false economy not to use one. I shall be mounting the oil filter housing onto the bit of box section that the ARB passes and this will keep it close to the oil pump as well as make it very accessible to change the filter. The oil cooler I will have mounted on the crossmember that passes along in front of the radiator.

Mocal Oil Cooler (second hand) - £50

Fram Oil filter for SD1 V8 - £6

Mocal remote oil filler housing - FREE (from previous project, about £35 second hand)

[Rick-Manta]

Hmmmm! Have you ever got to a point and had second thoughts? I was looking at the engine block thats sat in my parents garage and I've gone off the Chevy Orange colour (the colour of the sump in picture 1). It does just look a bit too much and the finish isn't that American Hotrod/Overhaulin' look I was going for. I wish now that I had just used a cheaper brush on engine enamel in a shiny black I'm using a lot of polished alloy feature parts (from Clive) and various chrome bits such as the rocker covers and airfilter housing. I will be having the Manta in black and I initially thought the orange would be a nice contrast, but now I think black would show all the shiny bits off to full effect. The worst areas are the heads, typically in full view, the orange finish looks uneven and all the bumps and lumps in the alloy cast look unattractive and black would have taken the edge of that a bit.

Decisions, decisions. I'm very financially embarrassed at present so I have plenty of time to think about it...

[CamInHead]

Keep it simple Rick. Don't add too many different colours and let the Bling do the talkin'

Martins 400 Pick-Up:

That V8 again:

And the LET. Can't remember the name of the guys that did this. "A&M Conversions" ?

[Rick-Manta]

Steady on mate, I'm on the slowest dial-up in existence, but thanks for the pics. I think the A&M guy's name is Antonio Lamero or something like that.

Clive's V8 does still have a red accent colour which works well, but the heads are black and the block from what I can tell looks unpainted, it's certainly not red so I don't think my orange is going to work at all.

I do really like the stripped out look of both Martin's and Antonio's engine bays and I will have a heater less setup myself, but the amount of necessary pipework and cables the V8 will need it won't have that look.

It maybe worth me keeping the orange as it was my idea and would be more original than looking at what other people do and outright copying that. Whatever I go for, I don't want a repeat of this:-

Just too many colours and it's too cluttered. The engine is the same and I will be keeping the chrome rocker covers, the alloy brake fluid reservoir, washer bottle and mirrored bulkhead cover. Pretty much everything else will change, no strut brace, relocate battery, the SU's poking up will be replaced with a flat airfilter atop a quad barrel carb, a manta rad will rid me of having to cover up the SD1 rad and the bright wiring will all be more subtle and black.

Thanks again, Pete.

Any other tips on engine bay styling would be appreciated.

[paulmanta]

How are you coping with the clutch pedal ? i did mine today and have the simplest system using rover master and slave cyls and a bracket that bolts straight up next to the steering column. If you want the part numbers and the pattern i can probably send/email them to you.

I might even be able to make another bracket if you are interested, its so simple and works so well i am thinking of doing it as a kit.

I am going to take a load of pics of it and will post them in my V8 thread soon.

[Rick-Manta]

I'm not that far in mate. I have pretty much finished the engine build but other that I just have a pile of bits just itching to be bolted onto a manta shell.

The pedal box I have actually just bought that was advertised in the classifieds and I wish I hadn't to be honest. It was £95 posted and I didn't realise quite how much I was out of pocket I am thanks to the scumbag temp agency I'm working for. I'm yet to see the pedal box but I know the slave cyl sticks inwards inside the car and if that looks pig ugly I may have to do something else, like buy a bracket kit I'll look forward to seeing your setup in your project thread.