The engine bay is massive...and could accomodate even a merc V12 from the top of the range ..or a supercharged V8 from the exremely popular and relatively cheap Ford Pick up sold in america that the engine from the new GT40 is 99% derived....I like the 7-8 litre big block crate motors too...you just need a garage willing and able to do the stuff if you are not going to roll your own sleeves up...for me the 3.5/3.9 motor power outputs are slightly ordinary next to some of the TVR bigger valved head Rover derived engines and the other modern day V8`s...

This has to be the only engine swap I'd condone:

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Some serious body mods there too

Hmm whatvere floas your boat! another chopped about vitesse!

I can understand that you guys want to keep the parts pretty much british in your rovers but as Im finnish I dont have such ideas inside my head and Im open to anything that doesnt say german or russian. Northstar would still be my choise of engine.

The 3.5 looks like somekind of midget engine inside the SD1 engine bay. It kinda reminds me of my morris marina... the engine there looked like it was undersized for the car. I've seen some people in england put 3.9 range rover engines into those cars. Those V8 marinas looked more the way they should have been. My dad says one of his english friends has droven one of those V8 powered marinas... and he said that the car flew compared to a 1.8TC like it was powered by jet-engine

Not sure it's just keeping the car British. If I had an old Holden, I'd source original
Aussie parts for that. If I had an old Renault, it'd be original French parts. If i had
an old BMW, it'd be original German parts.

Classic Car ownership is keeping the car original. Modding cars is something
different. Taking the SD1 and putting a Jaguar V8 in it would still be modding the car.

Will a day come when the Saxo or Corsa is classic car, and there are none left as
they've all been chavved up?

Mods are not Chavvy, it is all down to what mods are done etc. Have none of you read Retro car Magazine, this is all old cars modified and nothing remotly chavvy. Maybe some of you should visit

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Some of you are thinking mods and then Saxo! The Bastos Race cars were modified cars.

Classic cars theoretically are cars 20+yrs old if they are completely original then great , if they are modded using mods that would have been done at the time then great , if they are modded to keep up with modern traffic or just for performance then isn't it better that the owner likes his car enough even with different mechanics possibly body mods .
We are members of the humber club and they are very snobby about keeping their cars as close to original but for a 40 year old car if you use it everyday then you need to make some upgrades and quite often the period upgrades might not be practical . It certainly does not make it a chav car .

Plenty of P76 4.4 litre engines have found their way into SD1s here, and this is no big issue as the Leyland motor was a long stroke version of the RV8 anyway. On the other hand, so too have a few Holden 253 and 308 ci V8s and I know of at least one Lexus 32v quad cam V8 mated to a Supra manual gearbox that has been fitted to a VDP, the latter using Haltec ecu. Not sure if I like that idea myself.

Now... if the Jag V8 only came with manual transmission and the engine management would be easier to sort out....

A Company Atliss engineering do carb conversions using custom made intake manifolds and use superbike carbs from a CBR 600 or Suzuki GSXR 1100 (depending on your needs)...they perform superbly and look very special with 8 gaping trumpets shooting up from the top of the Rover V8 engine...a good solution to injected engines and ECU issues....

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They look very very

I really cant see how people can compare a 'chavved' up Saxo to a modified SD1
There is such a huuuge difference in style and class.

Being a 'young un' i guess people may think i want to 'chav' an SD1.
But any mod i would carry out to an SD1 would be to improve its performance.
No silly grills stuck here and there,no silly spoilers bigger than the car itself etc.
Only mods that are needed to improve the performance

As much as i love the SD1 in standard trim and can really appreciate a mint example.
I believe it does not live upto its looks and needs many upgrades to make it the car i believe it always should of been.
Much better handling,stoping and pulling power
Much like the Bastos SD1's

No 'chavved' up SD1's thank you