‘There's 3.5-litre Rover V8 under the bonnet!’
1990 Volvo 740 V8 Chris Thompson
This has to be the ultimate Q-car.
'You could say it has a little more grunt, yes! I bought it 23 years ago and covered 200,000 miles in it but… I’ve recently fitted a 3.5-litre Rover V8 from an SD1. The usual method is to fit a Rover V8 engine and gearbox as one unit. Because my Volvo was automatic and has an integral overdrive, this would have meant that the replacement gearbox with 1-to-1 top gear would have been too low for relaxed motorway cruising. I don't think anybody has ever coupled a Rover V8 to a Volvo AW automatic gearbox before and so there are no adapter kits to buy.'
Yet you managed it?
'I found an article on the internet which mentioned a company in Kent that had made an adapter to fit a Rover V8 into a Transit. They said they could do it, but needed my Volvo engine as a template.
The adapters are comprised of three sandwich plates. The first two 10mm plates are to fully enclose the Rover flywheel, which is bigger than the Volvo bellhousing, and the final 6mm plate mirrors the Volvo engine pattern. An extension is also manufactured to couple the crankshaft to the torque converter.'
Presumably there were more hurdles to overcome…
'There was no way the sump was going to clear the crossmember.
I had to install the engine briefly with the sump and pick-up pipe removed and take some measurements. I then had to cut 30mm from the leading edge of the sump pan and also trim part of the pick-up pipe strainer.
Next job was to scratch-build engine mountings, the exhaust and cooling systems and, of course, the wiring. The fuel system involved converting it from K-jetronic to twin SUS. I made the mountings using cardboard templates and then cut the shapes out of 1.5mm steel. Once they were welded together, figuring out the exhaust was probably the hardest task. I bought stainless steel mandrels and set about cutting the pipes individually until the torturous route around the starter and steering column was achieved. There was no way that tubular manifolds would fit, so the cast iron units were retained.'
What’s it like to drive?
'Despite being much larger than the Volvo unit, the Rover engine is actually no heavier and, because no suspension modifications were required, the car handles just as before. It pulls well and makes a fantastic sound. My evergreen wardrobe shifter burbles along beautifully and leaves me with a big smile on my face!'
‘My evergreen wardrobe shifter burbles along beautifully'