Is there really that little difference between the RV8 and the pinto? I heard this suggested elsewhere and then a load of people claimed this was not the case in reality.Kev Rooney wrote:As you are looking for the best choice of engine ready installed in the car, much as I love a high revving four cylinder , I have built several Rover V8's and even a standard unit will give the most power for your money and weighs the same as a Pinto 2000 ( which is only marginally heavier than a Kent unit ) as it features an aluminium block ,heads , timing cover and water pump. Tuning parts are considerably dearer than an equivalent American V8 but the lack of weight is a huge advantage.
I'm not really sure a V8 is really suited to the chassis, but it's only supposed to be a fun car, rather than a competition vehicle, so I don't mind admitting a V8 sound track would be rather fun.
The idea is not to 'attempt a project' - it's supposed to be a turn-key car for that price. Obviously the key difference in the build specs of these cars is what engine the owner slots in and effectively I'm trying to gauge whether say, a Leader with a twin cam is worth more to me than a Leader with a cross flow. My available time and budget doesn't really stretch to a self build and if it did, I certainly wouldn't be using one of these 1980s chassis designs, however that's all I've got to play with - a few thousand pounds and no space for major work - the question is what to go for within those constraints.
The rarity of these cars may make that a bit academic to be honest. I've been looking speculatively for a couple of months and only just seen my first usable condition Sylva Leader for sale. It might be foolish to turn down a good deal on the grounds of it having a x-flow not a twin cam or whatever, but would like to gte an idea of what they're worth to me.