V8 from California

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bastian

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Question: Are V8 Defenders from the US worth the money?
Hi Landy experts,
I have moved to the US (California) half a year ago and have been snooping around on the car web pages for Defenders. I read about the limited series in the 90ies etc and understood that there are no TD4/5 or any Diesels for that matter in the US. The Defender has a cult status here and this is reflected in the outrageous prices (between 30 K and 70 K USD). I am no car expert but had a 2006 TD5 in Europe and loved it.
Here are my questions:
- is the V8 engine (with low mileage) a decent engine or high maintainance?
- is the price at all justified or is one paying for the fact that the numbers sold in the US were so limited?
- is it worth thinking about re-importing a Defender from the US to Europe, in other words, would I ever be able to sell it in Europe or is there no market for US cars with V8 engines?
Thanks for any help.
Keep truckin'
Bastian
 
Thanks! I'll do some more reading on the forum to better understand the pitfalls of the engines. Bastian
 
The v8 isn't really any more unreliable than a diesel tbh. The 3.5 is a sturdy motor but not very powerful, any of the bigger motors are more powerful but can have head gasket problems sometimes. Sometimes quite often!
 
thanks for the info. how much is it roughly to replace head gaskets? Is there a list of maintenance items one should be aware of that have been done at a certain mileage, 100.000 miles for instance?
 
Still beat that stick fett!
Me 4.6 every time.
Or my soon to be done p76 block bored and stroked and cross bolted 4.4 or 6.8?
 
I agree on the p76 cos the bores the right size they are good , but the 94mm bore engines are ****e and just not worth the hassel. lots on here have been there done that and agree.

stu , you just dont mind cos you rebuild engines for a living :p
 
fett said:
I agree on the p76 cos the bores the right size they are good , but the 94mm bore engines are ****e and just not worth the hassel. lots on here have been there done that and agree.

stu , you just dont mind cos you rebuild engines for a living :p
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Fett; would the a small block chevy fit the bell housing as they are both based as GM motors?
 
not sure mate, to be honest if I was state side I would not be ****in about with crappy range rovers or there unreliable v8's.

I would be driving an 8ltr v8, probably modified mopar :D
 
fett said:
I agree on the p76 cos the bores the right size they are good , but the 94mm bore engines are ****e and just not worth the hassel. lots on here have been there done that and agree.

stu , you just dont mind cos you rebuild engines for a living :p
Click to expand...


Reread my post take a 4.4 block bore it out to 94.9 bore and stoked by a 4.6 crank Now we get yank power from a British v8
 
I was ignoring that bit as you mean ruin a bloody good engine! I like the p76 motor. it needs nothing and as a period engine makes good power so I would leave well alone.

Not worth spending thousands to make and out of date 4.6 an extra couple of hp for a few thousand miles either. may as well spend the money fitting a decent engine in the first place.
 
But that ain't the point if I can make a reliable rover v8 with the power of the yank v8 for less than a yank then it is a viable proposition.
Can only see from you narrow view point of only a 3.5 will do ain't going to give you better power and better mpg!
Ok put it another way you have spent quite a lot on a clapped out 2 door getting it to what you want in the same way I have spent on my classic now what it comes down to is getting a motor to befit the product rather than a under powered worn out 3.5 ok 4.6 has issues but can be made reliable that is fact but many don't want to pay and foolishly buy another clapped out 4.6 wasting more money and I do quite a lot of engines because of that so if I can offer a reliable much more powerfull engine plants will want it even upgrade to it!

Now if I'm willing to put the money in to help others and do the hard reliability work testing then pass the rewarded on to others then it will be worth it
 
fett said:
not sure mate, to be honest if I was state side I would not be ****in about with crappy range rovers or there unreliable v8's.

I would be driving an 8ltr v8, probably modified mopar :D
Click to expand...


I know you like Mopar I like the 426hemi also. But if the bell housing are the same then the small block chevy would be a good motor for a swap,and solve the slipped liner/overheating problems that the aluminum LR motors have. Foe the extra weight which is not much shocks and spring could solve that. As the rest of the fronted can handle the weight
 
Fur Trapper said:
I know you like Mopar I like the 426hemi also. But if the bell housing are the same then the small block chevy would be a good motor for a swap,and solve the slipped liner/overheating problems that the aluminum LR motors have. Foe the extra weight which is not much shocks and spring could solve that. As the rest of the fronted can handle the weight
Click to expand...

I dont know about the bolt pattern, they did fit an a727 torqueflite to the 3.5 so if they didnt use an adaptor plate for that job then maybe it is the same although that is a chrysler box. do all yank motors of the era share the same bolt pattern?
 
vougese39 said:
But that ain't the point if I can make a reliable rover v8 with the power of the yank v8 for less than a yank then it is a viable proposition.
Can only see from you narrow view point of only a 3.5 will do ain't going to give you better power and better mpg!
Ok put it another way you have spent quite a lot on a clapped out 2 door getting it to what you want in the same way I have spent on my classic now what it comes down to is getting a motor to befit the product rather than a under powered worn out 3.5 ok 4.6 has issues but can be made reliable that is fact but many don't want to pay and foolishly buy another clapped out 4.6 wasting more money and I do quite a lot of engines because of that so if I can offer a reliable much more powerfull engine plants will want it even upgrade to it!

Now if I'm willing to put the money in to help others and do the hard reliability work testing then pass the rewarded on to others then it will be worth it
Click to expand...

Stu , do you really want to get in to what I have spent on the car and with whom on here regarding value for money?

My orginal point was that you want 7k plus for a built 4.6 motor fitted, many of your options go higher than that. you also stated on this forum that you are irontiting your top hat linered engines as even that isnt a guarenteed way of avoiding the block liner issues. now if the 94mm bore engines are at that point even after all that money and still only giving less than 100kmiles service and maybe 300-400 hp with the very top 10k plus spec you would be better off spending the cash making a lexus or bmw or jag engine fit in there in more or less stardard form which will make good power all day long , be reliable, modern and not make you worried about being left at the side of the road.

none of my previous posts were directed at you or your products just a comment on the rv8 which many on here agree with.

Regarding my own personal car which is nothing to do with you now I am now trying to keep it as orginal as possible, you also said it was the quietest rv8 you had ever heard which I have on video, not bad coming from someone who rebuids rv8s for a living regarding my 40 year old engine.

Regarding the O/P and my answer was saying is that its not always as simple as HGF as a worst case scenario with 94mm bore engines, it can be block liner issues too.

I understard of course that you make your living rebuilding rv8 with these problems so would rather people kept throwing money in the rv8 hole but this guy is in the usa so probably not a potential customer to you.
 
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fett said:
stu , do you really want to get in to what i have spent on the car and with whom on here regarding value for money?

My orginal point was that you want 7k plus for a built 4.6 motor fitted, many of your options go higher than that. You also stated on this forum that you are irontiting your top hat linered engines as even that isnt a guarenteed way of avoiding the block liner issues. Now if the 94mm bore engines are at that point even after all that money and still only giving less than 100kmiles service and maybe 300-400 hp with the very top 10k plus spec you would be better off spending the cash making a lexus or bmw or jag engine fit in there in more or less stardard form which will make good power all day long , be reliable, modern and not make you worried about being left at the side of the road.

None of my previous posts were directed at you or your products just a comment on the rv8 which many on here agree with.

Regarding my own personal car which is nothing to do with you now i am now trying to keep it as orginal as possible, you also said it was the quietest rv8 you had ever heard which i have on video, not bad coming from someone who rebuids rv8s for a living regarding my 40 year old engine.

Regarding the o/p and my answer was saying is that its not always as simple as hgf as a worst case scenario with 94mm bore engines, it can be block liner issues too.

I understard of course that you make your living rebuilding rv8 with these problems so would rather people kept throwing money in the rv8 hole but this guy is in the usa so probably not a potential customer to you.
Click to expand...


i am not taking a dig at you but trying to put into context that money you have spent on repairing it why scrimp on the engine?!

the options of the sealer is give what others are not a near 100% cure as we are aware the top hat liner is not a cure.

im not going to go over well worn ground to justifie what i do or why!
 
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well in my case the engines perfect and period correct so why would I change it?

but thats not really the point I was making , and neither is the whole rebuild budget question of 94mm bore rv8's with regard to the O/P

i was simply saying that with 94mm bore engines (and others) its not always as simple as HGF.

BTW I think most on here, inlcuding those who have done it agree that spending thousands trying to get big power and reliability from the rv8 is a waste of money which would be better spent on make a modern standard engine fit which already has the big HP and reliability. its just a question of making that leap in the first place.
 
Like fett says, it takes a certain amount of balls to change to a different engine, whereas you can spend bit by bit on your rover v8.

You could buy a scrap BMW e39 540 for probably less than a grand, even a good runner for that these days maybe, plonk that in, job done something like 280 waterproof bhp and no hassle.

OK SERIOUS amount of effort getting the motor in there but considerably more useable once finished.

Engine swaps are lots of hard work at the start, keeping onto the RV8 is fair amount of work throughout the engine's placement in the vehicle.

I can see what fett is saying, but also see the fact that sometimes its just too much of a job to fit a different motor.

If you're gonna end up putting 10k into a RV8, you could easily get a 4.4 in there if you can find someone who knows what to do.

What's better at the end of the day, a 280 bhp boring reliable BMW or a 300 bhp classic motor that belongs in a land rover?

That's personal choice I guess.
 
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