Rover V8 engine
The Rover V8 engine is a compact, aluminium block V8 internal combustion engine produced by Rover in the United Kingdom.
The engine's design was sourced from the United States. In the late 1950s, General Motors' Oldsmobile division developed a very small cast-aluminium V8 with the very small (for the US market of the time) capacity of 3.5 litres (215 cubic inches), a size that was normally the province of a straight-6. It appeared in production in 1961 fitted to compact models from Oldsmobile, Buick and Pontiac, but proved to be underpowered for the increasing size of the American car of the period. It was soon dropped for more conventional, larger-displacement iron blocked units.
As the aluminium block made this engine one of the lightest stock V8s built there was some attempts to use it in racing, including at Indianapolis. The Australian firm Repco converted this engine for Formula One by reducing it to 3 litres and fitting a single overhead camshaft per bank rather than the shared pushrod arrangement. Repco-powered Brabhams won the F1 championship twice, in 1966 and 1967.
Rover were in need of a new, more powerful engine in the mid 1960s, and became aware of this small, lightweight V8. After some negotiation they acquired rights to it and have produced it ever since, its first appearances being in Rover saloons in the late 1960s.
As well as appearing in Rover cars, the engine was widely sold to small car builders, and has appeared in all kinds of vehicles. Rover V8s feature in some models from Morgan, TVR , Triumph and MG, among many others. They're also the standard British engine in hot rods, much like the Chevrolet 350 small-block is to American builders.
