THE ROVER SD1 FORUM

ramon alban · Posted: Fri Aug 03, 2007 8:09 pm Post subject:

Hankers wrote:

Hello all, finally got round to this forum lark. This is my Vitesse which I have owned for nearly two years now. She has been fully rebuilt and is in pretty good nick. Engine is standard but other mods include - Spax all round: Quaife LSD: Rimmers exhaust: XJS front brakes.
Steve Very Happy

Hi Steve, Nice car! I see a few other mods on the engine too.

# No overrun valve on the rear of the plenum and the local pipes removed. Has any alternative provision been made to correct the problem of unburned fuel collecting in the exhaust on overrun and igniting in the exhaust system giving popping and banging on overrun?

# The extra air valve plumbed into the plenum breather intake, presumably to take metered air from the air intake on that side? Does it work OK, and did you introduce this mod yourself?

# The crankcase breather venting to atmosphere! Or perhaps not? Any problems with MOT?

# Water heating pipe to the plenum intake area disconnected and bypassed to the water inlet on top of the intake manifold. Lots of people are doing this on the basis that the UK climate does not need it. Any comments?

# Centre pull throttle!. This plus all the linkages and air pipes removed makes things a lot less cluttered at the rear of the plenum! Your mods or previous owners?

# Electric fans replacing the viscous fan coupling! Any problems with cooling?

# Not a mod, but you still got the original type throttle pot! Still going OK or has it been repaired?

# There appears to be a welded extention to the branched air intake before the AFM! Is that because the engine has been moved backwards to accomodate the electric fans, also leading to the other mods at the rear of the engine too?

# If the engine was moved backwards was the propshaft shortened?

# No vacuum advance for the distributor! I'm a dummy, please explain?

# Some sort of water or fuel pipe going towards the LH rocker cover below the rear air intake tube! What does that do?

Intriguing, and some of it completely new to me?

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Ramon

Hankers · SD1 User Joined: 03 Aug 2007 Posts: 21 Location: Leeds

Wow, so many questions Ramon. I wondered how you could see such detail until I realised how big the photos were!

I'll try to answer as best I can. First of all to generalise - I haven't done any mods to the car at all. They were either done by the previous owner or the owner before him.

Overrun valve - I don't believe there is any other provision because there is the popping on overrun that you describe. It's not excessive though and I have to say I thought it was normal.

Extra air valve - I have no idea about this one but the car starts first time hot or cold and runs like a dream.

The crankcase breather is fitted with a filter.

The water heating pipe - hands up, I hadn't been aware of this!! But I'm not aware of any problems. The difficulty is that I've no experience of any other EFI that hasn't got the mod so I've nothing to compare it with.

Centre pull throttle works well and I know I've seen quite a few other cars with this mod

The cooling is absolutely rock steady in any weather or any traffic.

Don't know any history on the throttle pot

The engine has been moved backwards by about 2'' so I guess the welded extension was done so the AFM/filter remained in their stock locations

I do know that the propshaft is a bespoke item as I have the invoice for it

Vacuum advance - I'm afraid to say that I didn't notice this when I bought the car and it's just been left as it is.

The pipe you refer to is the fuel supply. (if you mean the yellow coloured one)

Steve Smile

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1986 Twin Plenum Vitesse

Hankers · SD1 User Joined: 03 Aug 2007 Posts: 21 Location: Leeds

An update - I've just been an checked the car. there does appear to be something in place of the overun valve although it's difficult to see. There is definitely a tube at the rear of the plenum which seems to go into either a filter or some kind of vacuum unit. I can't see anything after that though.

The crankcase does indeed vent to atmosphere but it's never been mentioned in the mot. As the pipe from the extra air valve has been routed to the plenum intake instead of the crankcase vent, where would the air valve pipe usually go to?

Regards

Steve Confused

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1986 Twin Plenum Vitesse

Chris P · Posted: Sat Aug 04, 2007 12:09 am Post subject:

Hankers wrote:

The crankcase does indeed vent to atmosphere but it's never been mentioned in the mot. As the pipe from the extra air valve has been routed to the plenum intake instead of the crankcase vent, where would the air valve pipe usually go to?

The extra air valve pipe normally connects to a steel air rail which sits
under the throttles. This 'T' pieces near where the throttle quadrant
normally resides to the overrun valve and to the air intake ahead of
the throttles (i.e. metered, but unthrottled air).

Did the previous owner say why the engine was moved back 2"? I
don't believe even racing SD1s had this mod? Interesting Shocked

kerosene · SD1 Regular Joined: 21 Dec 2006 Posts: 266 Location: IRL

Welcome!

Sweet car! Very Happy

What BHP is she?Has it had any internal engine mods?

ramon alban · Posted: Sat Aug 04, 2007 2:34 am Post subject:

Steve

In essence most of the modifications would NOT seem to be counter productive as far as the normal running of the engine is concerned so whom-ever made them certainly knew what he was doing.

There are I think, a couple of exceptions.

Venting crankcase gasses to atmosphere might be considered to increase carbon footprint et al. Its a polution thing rather than an efficiency problem I believe.

I'm not sure that running without vacuum advance is OK unless the dizzy does something clever/different to normal.

The overrun banging is petrol/air ignition on the wrong side of the exhaust valves and would eventually cause problems but probably over a long period of time. However if the mysterious black pipe (not the yellow one) with writing on it is connected to the intake manifold then you may well have the alternative type of overrun control consisting of a vacuum switch that cuts off the fuel.

The purpose of my queries was not to cause worry but to enlighten myself, never having seen such a combination before.

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Ramon

Hankers · SD1 User Joined: 03 Aug 2007 Posts: 21 Location: Leeds

Thanks for all your interest guys, hopefully we will all be at gaydon in September to continue discussions.

For now though - The engine has been completely rebuilt, i have the invoices for it. To the best of my knowledge it is to standard spec though.

The previous owner said he had moved the engine back for better weight distribution. To me it seems like a lot of effort and money for no real benefit in every day driving

Ramon, the black pipe at the top left of the picture is the fuel supply pipe. It goes into the filter just out of the frame. The yellow pipe is the fuel return although on closer inspection it is the 'overrun' pipe that attaches to it behind the plenum.

Finally, I'm off on holiday in a couple of hours so I won't be around for a couple of weeks. I will of course get back to any questions on my return.

Steve Very Happy

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1986 Twin Plenum Vitesse

K5 · Posted: Mon Aug 06, 2007 11:20 am Post subject:

Hello and welcome! Very Happy

Nice car. I have seen this car for sale a few times at spares days etc. Was that you or previous owner?

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Drives a 4.6 300 BHP TP Vitesse! Wink

SD1 Club Member. Car of the Month Dec 06, winner of Car of the year 2007!

Hankers · SD1 User Joined: 03 Aug 2007 Posts: 21 Location: Leeds

Thanks. It must haver been the previous owner (s). I spotted it on ebay nearly two years ago and it's not been for sale since then.

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1986 Twin Plenum Vitesse

savagewidearch · Posted: Thu Aug 16, 2007 6:32 pm Post subject:

Nice looking motor mate Cool

How does it handle with the Spax? I am thinking of using Spax on mine,what springs are you running??

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The original Monster wide arch-

Hankers · SD1 User Joined: 03 Aug 2007 Posts: 21 Location: Leeds

It handles really well, the whole lot is the spax kit from Rimmers with
-60mm springs. It looks good too although to be honest its a bit on the low side. I struggle with speed bumps etc.

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1986 Twin Plenum Vitesse

K5 · Posted: Tue Aug 21, 2007 3:07 pm Post subject:

Hankers wrote:

It handles really well, the whole lot is the spax kit from Rimmers with
-60mm springs. It looks good too although to be honest its a bit on the low side. I struggle with speed bumps etc.

Don´t we all? Rolling Eyes

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Drives a 4.6 300 BHP TP Vitesse! Wink

SD1 Club Member. Car of the Month Dec 06, winner of Car of the year 2007!

roverone · Posted: Tue Aug 21, 2007 3:17 pm Post subject:

tommosredone wrote:

Hello all!
I've recently bought a 1985 Vitesse TP in Targa red. I use it daily. It replaces a Toyota Lucida (don't ask).
I've had in the past the following SD1's:
1977 3500 Turmeric
1981 3500 Persian Aqua
1980 V8-S (well, I persuaded my Mum to ditch her Marina for it)
1981 Vanden Plas (series 1.5)Black

And now the Vitesse!
It has a bit to do, but it's pretty good. Worst areas are panels of different shades, but no real grot. boot leaks, fumes are horrific, and there's no stereo, but the thing makes it's own music anyway!

This all started by me standing next to Tony Pond at the start of the 1984 RAC Rally in Chester. I was an impressionable 14 year old at the time, and man, did that car sound good. By the time I was 18 I had a TR7V8 works replica rally car and the yellow SD1!
It's in the system, you just can't get rid of it!
Alll the best from sunny North Wales,
Tommo

Hello Tommo, seen your cars, and was thar you in a TR7 once coming out of your drive......could have been a TR8 Very Happy

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Keep smiling

JohnnyK · SD1 User Joined: 03 Aug 2007 Posts: 7

hello, I'm now the proud owner of B266 VVM - Anyone know any of the history of this car please get in touch!

It is a 1984 2600 auto VDP. My dream car (except it is oporto red and I wanted bright red with blue velour... apparently a series 1 combination)

looking forward to any advice / meets

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JayDeeVDP · Posted: Wed Aug 22, 2007 12:10 pm Post subject: Welcome

Hi Johnny and welcome....

Nice to see a cherished six-cylinder car, and Oporto Red too, it's not such a bad colour Wink

Enjoy the car and the forum

Jay

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Lifelong SD1 fan - 1983 Rover 3500 Vanden Plas