has anyone done a rover/buick 3500 v8 engine swap?i've got a good 3500 in the corner of my garage and i've been lookin for something to do with it.maybe when the duke motor blows?

My dad wants one of them engines to try swapping into a Fiero. I dont know anything about them, but he used to have a Rover with that engine in it, he said they are a good motor, all aluminum, and not very high.

If there is one of them motors over here, I think my dad will get it.

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Details on my Fiero here
Member of the Edmonto Fiero Club Please rate me if I helped you!

Kewl motors, descendants of the Buick 215, last variations I saw were up to 4 liters in Rovers. I don't know what the bellhousing pattern is, I do know they are pretty damned expensive to rebuild.

Nice lightweight, good power to weight ratio, should weigh quite a bit less than the 2.8l v-6, and they are pretty cool looking engines. The fuel injected ones have a neat plenum.

Pretty sure you'll need an adapter plate for the tranny or adapt a FWD motor/tranny combo if one is available.

Nice motors after Rover got the bugs out of it. This is the kind of swap you UK guys should be all working on.

318 lbs. Mods were aviaible to get 300 cubes.

Nah don't do it, I am still working on the one for my TR8. After GM sold the motor to the Triumph it was never the same. It is a neat motor bieng all alum and all, but part are har to come by and I would be preformance parts are even worse.

The only reason I am working on the one for the TR8 is becuase the car will be a stock classic. Otherwise I would put something else in there.

There are people looking for those motors mabe you could trade for something better or more useful for the Fiero.

Pat 86 SEV6

TR8, I had a TR7 with the dual carbs and a five speed. I HATED working on that thing but it was the funnest car to drive.
The BOP V8 had some problems, the 4.9 is a better engine. Just my opinion though.

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Rickady88GT QuadCam 3.5 V6

My Family has several 62/63 Buick skylarks all with the 215ci engine. It's a great motor. I've had lots of experience with it and my only complaint is that there expansive to work with. Why you ask? The main reason would be that the blocks themselves are rare but also you can't find the parts for them. You would have to custom make a bellhousing adapter to mate it to a fiero tranny cause I don't think there standard pattern, I would have to check on that to be sure though. If you have time, money, and knowledge this could be a powerful interesting swap. Might just do it myself one day.

z28redline

I even considered this engone myself as they are cheap here. Ther eis heaps of aftermarket performance parts. You just have to know where to look.

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back in the 80's hot rod had an article where they described how to mix and match more available parts and build one up from the original 215ci up as far as 305ci. being an 80's article though, maybe those parts might again be as hard to find as the 60's parts were in the 80's.

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Phil T.

start where you are,
use what you have,
do what you can. arthur ashe

i suspect this motor was the one used to power the "leyland p76" an aussie made car of the 70,s wasnt very successful and was only produced for a few years.i think leyland was bought out by another company..not sure....but anyway the motor was good even though the car was a flop.the motors ended up in a lot of custom cars here.i nearly put one in one of my cars...but decided to use a worked straight six instead.

Steve,

Try a search for 'BOP' or 'Rover V8' here on PFF, there is quite a bit of info.

I think you need an adapter plate as mentioned already and need to move the alternator. I spoke to Steve Gill about it once and he said there was one ot two knocking around the UK a few years back.

As for parts, we have a vast array of cheap aftermarket bits for the Rover V8, its used in a huge range of vehicles. US 4.9 and 3800 sc's are not available in the UK, so thats a good incentive to come up with something more practical....and, if you just happen to have on sat in the garage

Cheers
PK

About a year or two ago I got real interested in this swap. I liked it because it was lighter than the Duke and made more power the the V6 with technology that is thrity years old. There is a post that has a tremendous amount of research on links for the engine. Unfortunately I lost my archve email and lost all the links, back to the thread. You do need an adapter, and you would have to move the starter or modify bellhousing on the trans to use its stock position. Like most engine swaps, motor mounts would have to be fabricated. The motor can be stroked, but the parts you are using are 30 years old so finding good ones can be a problem. Your source of parts are either from swap meets, England through Rover, or there is a company in Michigan that supports these engines and has a pretty good supply, but again the price is high. I still would like to do this swap but I have other pressing projects to finish first.

I suppose you could 'steal' Archies' basic design but change the motor side to match the Rover. I have no idea what UK motors are like. You need to chase down the other Steve in England with a Fiero; BVMotorsports on this forum and see if he has any ideas.