Either somebody mega-farted in this thing with the windows rolled up or the yard's forklift driver doesn't dig British cars. Check out the bubbling rust on the steel body panels while the aluminum hood, though bent, is clean. And speaking of the hood, what's up with all those holes?Either somebody mega-farted in this thing with the windows rolled up or the yard's forklif Don't know about you, but we think of old British cars as prissy little things that are slow and rusty. The only one that stands out is the V-8-powered Rover 3500 saloon. No, it doesn't serve drinks on the fly, the term saloon is Brit-speak for a four-door sedan. Produced between 1968 and 1976, these little critters were imported here in fairly large numbers. The big surprise is under the hood, where motivation comes from the former Buick/Olds all-aluminum 215 V-8. Weighing less than 300 pounds, the alloy 215 was designed for the '61-'63 Buick Special, Olds F-85 and Pontiac Tempest senior compact cars. When GM realized the aluminum engine cost too much to make and most customers were indifferent to its technological significance, they shuffled the tooling and manufacturing rights overseas to British Leyland, which stuffed them in these Rover 3500s-and Range Rover SUVs-right up until 2004. We spotted this derelict example in a New England junkyard and had to take a peek. Looking like some exotic ram-air system, the missing scoops reveal an elaborate system of vents. Alas, it isn't about performance, it's an emissions thing. The Rover's fussy SU sidedraft carbs were emissions calibrated and required inlet air at 100 degrees F. The middle scoop fed air to an exhaust-heated stove to assure the required minimum temperature. The outer scoops were for summer only, to make sure the heated air wasn't too hot. Owners had to juggle these wacky summer and winter block-off plates. Weird, huh?Looking like some exotic ram-air system, the missing scoops reveal an elaborate system of The Rover's Buick-sourced V-8 has been stripped of its dual SU carburetors and inlet-air heat stove. Though they shared a common block, the Oldsmobile used Wedge-type combustion chambers versus Buick's semihemispherical shape. The big external clue is the Buick's four-valve cover bolts (as shown). The Olds head has five. Also, the Olds version uses six head bolts to the Buick's five. The blocks were machined to accept either head.The Rover's Buick-sourced V-8 has been stripped of its dual SU carburetors and inlet-air h The rocker assemblies for the two versions are also different. The Buick rockers (front) are aluminum, with stands that bolt directly to the head. Oldsmobile used steel rockers and long stand bolts that extended through the head and into the block. Both designs share the same 1.6:1 rocker ratio.The rocker assemblies for the two versions are also different. The Buick rockers (front) a Groovy FactoidsAustralian racing great Jack Brabham drove his Olds 215-powered Repco-Brabham race car to victory at the French, British, Dutch, and German Grand Prix races making him the '66 Grand Prix World Champion. In 1962, the 215 aluminum V-8 was standard equipment in the Olds F-85 but cost V-6 Buick Special customers $166.78 for the extra two cylinders. Pontiac Tempest buyers shelled out a whopping $261.36 to step from slant-four to 215 V-8 power. Enjoyed this Post? Subscribe to our RSS Feed, or use your favorite social media to recommend us to friends and colleagues!
