The earlier period of the Rover V8 engine started its lifetime in America in 1961 as the Buick 215. The engine block itself was casted of an all-aluminum. The chief advantage was it was small and lightweight, weighing only 144 kg (318 lb). figure of Oldsmobile 215 engines were also made . Not as cheap to build as its iron comparable the aluminum block also suffered from oil and coolant problems if incorrect anti freeze was used. For this reason the engine was pulled from production by Buick and Oldsmobile. Buick then made a like for like engine produced out of iron which was based on the alloy block. A V6 was also produced from the same cast.
The head of Rover engineering J Mc Williams went to the USA in 1964 to see about bringing the Buick engine back to the UK. The potential was seen for the very light weight engine to be used in some of the British motors of the day. After many talks with GM, Mc Williams eventually persuaded GM to sell its tooling to Rover so they produce the engine. The Buick engineer who was about to retire moved to the UK to help Rover get set up. The Rover engine became a hit in the UK.
Starting life in the P5 model, it was then used in the P6 model and then went on to the Rover SD1 where it was tuned to nearly 200bhp. Range Rover also put the Rover engine in their 4x4s . The engine was also put into smaller car builder’s cars. Bigger firms such as TVR, Triumph and Morgan also made use of the V8 engine.
First tested in the Warick 350GT, this car never made it into production. The engine became an icon on the custom scene and was also used in light aircraft. The Rover V8 was even utilized in the US for a number of their sporting vehicles , such as the Chevy Vega and MGs.
Buick themselves started using the same aluminum heads on their 300 cubic inch engine with a longer crankshaft to lighten and increase power of their engine back in 1964. To create more horsepower out of the Rover engine, the Buick heads could be bolted on to the Rover engine with certain mods to develop even more power. The Rover SD1 was the last Rover made car to have the V8 engine in it.
The Rover V8 remained with Land Rover and was used in their Range Rovers and Discovery’s until they were sold to Ford by BMW. However, Land Rover desired the production of the V8 engine to remain , and they arranged for production to restart under a new license with MCT, an engineering and manufacturing company. Although Land Rover then switched to using Jaguar AJ-V8 engines for their newer cars, MCT continued limited supply of the engine for the indeterminate future, supplying engines for aftermarket and replacement use.
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