'87 RRC - Dead to Daily Driver
Sweet Jesus that is rough. I would pull the heads and refresh them. It will also give you a chance to look everything over and give more insight on the way forward with that motor. Check over the pistons, cam etc I would probably plan on a rebuild
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Mudding
Joined: Apr 2016
Posts: 101
Likes: 10
From: South Carolina
What do you mean by ‘refresh’ the heads? Replace all moving internal parts? I’m debating a rebuild vs a cheap running engine. Down the road (1-2 years) I plan on either a Cummins r2.8 or a rebuilt rover v8 from someone like Congleton Service. I really don’t want to spend too much time or money on the ‘temporary’ engine, but I absolutely want to get it running so I can drive it and give the rest of the rolling parts a try to see what needs help there.
It was nice way of saying pull the heads and wrap yourself around the idea that the motor needs a full rebuild.
Seems like you already know that so find a running dizzy 3.9 swap it and move on with life
Seems like you already know that so find a running dizzy 3.9 swap it and move on with life
Camel Trophy
Joined: Jan 2010
Posts: 4,245
Likes: 402
From: Traverse City MI
You have a $1000 shell on tires....from 87... that seriously needs front floors and a respray. I'd pull the heads just because I'm the curious type. Besides bent valves might be looking at bent rods as well. I'd wanna know for certain if I should be saving up for the 2.8. What makes any Rover worth a few bucks is how original it is. Tossing the 3.5 would nick collector value. By the time your done you'll have a $10,000 vehicle either way. Pull the heads, what do you have to loose but the time while waiting on clearer thoughts and a fatter bank account. You never know until you know.....
Bent pushrods usually indicates further internals are bent too. I’ve even seen a bent piston rod that was near invisible to the naked eye. We couldn’t tell it was bent until we mic’d it
If it’s not a daily, then pull that motor and tear it down to see. Otherwise, I’d just buy another motor and rebuild it
If it’s not a daily, then pull that motor and tear it down to see. Otherwise, I’d just buy another motor and rebuild it
Camel Trophy
Joined: Oct 2016
Posts: 4,867
Likes: 1,410
From: Michigan
Looking at the inside of that engine, l'd not be surprised if the cam was wiped out (and a lot of other things). Anyhow. Stick a couple straight push rods in the two holes where the bent ones came out of and turn the engine over by hand, measuring the lift on each push rod, helps if you have a dial indicator...but a rough measurement will give you an idea, then do the same in another set of push rod holes and measure them. Compare measurements. Cam lopes could be gone, which lead to the bent push rods.
Brian.
Brian.
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Mudding
Joined: Apr 2016
Posts: 101
Likes: 10
From: South Carolina
My current thought is that to achieve a balance of money invested, reliability, originality, and knowledge gained, I’ll pull the engine and rebuild it on a stand myself. I believe I can get all new internals for $1000 or so, including rods etc? Does anyone have a good resource for rebuilding the 3.5? I would plan on minor performance improvements, like a slightly more aggressive camshaft. Is there any reason I shouldn’t go this route? Would I need to have the block pressure tested or anything of that nature? This would be a huge learning process for me, but I would really like to understand the inner workings of these things by experience.
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Mudding
Joined: Apr 2016
Posts: 101
Likes: 10
From: South Carolina