Suggestions on basic Rover V8 EFi tuning, from mild to wild!

[LewisK]

Hello there!

Just picked up my 3.5 EFi engined Sprint and so was looking for some recommendations on basic tuning, from little things such as the best plugs and leads, up to what options there is for filtration, injector swaps and so on.

I'm in the process of getting a few books, but I wondered if there was anything you would recommend in specific. For the mean time I'm more interested in bolt on things such as uprated coils, you get the drift - but recommendations for fast road cams would also be appreciated. Any other tips and tricks would be cool too!

The engine is a 3.5 fuel injected, out of a Range Rover - 165bhp @ 4750rpm 206lb ft @ 3200rpm as standard. It's got a performance single system (well, I think the bore's a bit small...) and a K&N filter.







Any input appreciated

Edited by LewisK on Tuesday 28th November 14:56

Edited by LewisK on Tuesday 28th November 14:57

[rev-erend]

It's a flapper

Perhaps you should let us know you budget and we can have fun spending your money

Edited by rev-erend on Tuesday 28th November 15:05

[LewisK]

Hmm, say I've got 300GBP to warm it over with - nothing OTT but I'd like a bit more noise. A full service is due first, going to use Halfords Classic 20/50. Anyone recommend decent plugs for it?

It seems very refined at the moment, especially from in the cab (well, all I can hear is the gearbox!). I expected a bit more V8-ness to it at idle, or is this just down to the EFi? It does have a nice growl when you put your foot down so it is all there - just when you rev it when stationary, it sounds a little too turbine smooth (inside).

I quite like the EFi so would quite like to keep that for the mean time - I expect picking the loom apart again would do my head in, to revert to carbs

www.youtube.com/watch?v=kSQobrcjVo8

Sounds like that from outside. I might take my calipers to the exhaust system and measure it, as I think the bore is a little mean

www.youtube.com/watch?v=cs2Erxnc30U

That's on the move from inside!

Being a flapper good or bad

Edited by LewisK on Tuesday 28th November 15:29

Edited by LewisK on Tuesday 28th November 15:31

[rev-erend]

Flappers are best for pops and bangs in a TVR but TVR's tend to have fairly straight thru silencers..

I don't think changing the bore of the exhaust will produce more ponies but swapping a silencer for a cherry bomp of big internal diameter will help the noise and one or 2 extra ponies (maybe ? )..

Plugs - NCS B7 ECS : as used by all TVR's are best.

£300 - not much of a budget to go wild with ..

you could modify the inlet : bore / change throttle butterfly to 71 mm and have the inlet trumpets bored to 45mm with alloy trumpets :

www.actproducts.co.uk/inductioncomponents.php
or
www.v8developments.co.uk/
or RPI etc..

But that is already around £200 for each..

Plus as more air is going in you now need a tuneable ECU (£300) and a re-map (£300).. as the amount of air entering the engine
could be beyond what the ECU was programmed to fuel for....

[LewisK]

OK, thanks a lot for that! Gives me some prices and places to start with which is fantastic - will be picking up the power tune book soon (Hamill one, I think) so no doubt I'll be back soon with some ker-azy ideas!

Is the twin plenum system really worth the salt or is it a bit of smoke and mirrors, not really doing much? See a few on eBay now and then and do wonder? I guess it's a combination of upgrades that makes it more useful, if at all

Do the 4.0s, 4.6s etc have bigger throttle bodies? Just wondering

Also, can I use Mallory Dual Point Distributors and High-output coils with the EFi engine? I have this weird fetish about getting the best spark out of a motor......

Edited by LewisK on Tuesday 28th November 16:29

Edited by LewisK on Tuesday 28th November 16:34

[rev-erend]

It's got electronic ignition that if working OK - should be much better than twin contact ignition. Big coils are just a waste of money - I bought one - it looks like but does nothing.

The BL twin alloy inlet plenum is reputed to be not much good - people tend to 'treasure' them because they were used on the works SD1 racers..

If you used one - you could still end up running lean as the map may not be programmed for that much air and indeed the injectors could run out of duration.