SilverSaloon's Rover SD1 Vitesse 4.0 V8

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John

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I have always had an interest in these since I saw them around in the 80s in civilian and Police form.

What are they like to own and run in real life? I was only looking at one on Pistonheads at lunchtime today...

Also how comes yours is a 4.0 - has it had the bore increased?
 
We has 3 SD1s in the mid-1990s.
A 2300 straight-6
A 3500 V8
A 3500 V8 Vitesse with the fuel injection

Had quite a bit of fun with them.
They had a reputation as "troublesome" cars.
They were a bit troublesome, but no worse than many other UK cars of that era.

Didn't have a lot of luck with them in other ways.
The 2300 was written off in a rear end shunt on the M1 ... Two other cars up my rear end.
At least my brakes were good, which is more than could be said for those behind.
I drove away.
The two behind were taken away in pieces and their occupants carried off to hospital.

My second one (the 3500) was wrecked by a very-large fork-lift truck hitting it in a steel stock yard ... Not a pretty sight !

The third one (the Vitesse) just died of body rot.
Shame really.
It had great poke and was fun to drive.
It was a bit thirsty if you put your foot down.
 
Sussex plod used to run an SDi Vitesse on the M23 as a pursuit vehicle. It had been fitted with a large motor from a TVR - I think it was from the 450SEAC.

They took the Chief Constable out in it one day to show what it did, it scared the living daylights out of him and was decommissioned shortly afterwards as a result.
 
I used to have a Twin Plenum SD1 Vitesse.

Moonraker Blue :cool:

D186 VCF

Wonder where it is now?

They rust quite a bit and the electrics were flakey, but mechanically pretty solid and easy to work on.

Quick cars in there day.

Will
 
We took the Vitesse over at Dover ... All the way thru France ... Over the Pyrrenees into Spain and on to Santander.
The ... All the way back.
It actually made it without a single break-down (which is bloody amazing).
Got a bit hot going over the mountains, but managed it OK.

It drank rather more of the petroleum spirit than we had bagained for.
An expensive trip.
Good fun, though !!
 
Wonder where it is now?

In the car park in the sky from 01/04/2003 I would guess - unless it is a WIP project...

The vehicle details for D186 VCF are:
Date of Liability 01 04 2003
Date of First Registration 04 08 1986
Year of Manufacture 1986
Cylinder Capacity (cc) 3500CC
CO2 Emissions Not Available
Fuel Type Petrol
Export Marker Not Applicable
Vehicle Status Unlicensed
Vehicle Colour BLUE

if you like the v8 rover check this out,its a bit long but worth watching,
they used 2 3.5 litre v8s.



‪Police Camera Action - The Liver Run *complete episode*‬‏ - YouTube

This clip went through my mind as I wrote 'Police' in my initial post.

Every time I catch it on Dave or whatever - ITV4 maybe, I watch it through. The misses thinks I am a nutter but I love it.

It's better than a lot of films I've seen...
 
its a nice car but thirsty!

its got a land rover engine in it.

its a 3.9 v8
 
its a nice car but thirsty!

its got a land rover engine in it.

its a 3.9 v8

It's the ex buick all alloy V8 as used in Land rovers, range rovers, triumphs etc etc.

The engines in the land rovers were low compression version if I remember rightly.

I found the SD1 power steering to be laughably light causing you to over steer all the time...
 
its a nice car but thirsty!

its got a land rover engine in it.

its a 3.9 v8

Superb motor.

And just to remind you - look how low it is! :rock:

22858d1301847004-2011-meets-scotland-151-ratho-030411.jpg


BTW, Derek, why you not comin' to Tinto?
 
It's the ex buick all alloy V8 as used in Land rovers, range rovers, triumphs etc etc.
Only Triumph was the TR8 I think?

SD1 Vitesse is a great car, I remember them racing BMWs etc. in the touring cars :)
 

That is proper low and indeed, Chief Width. That is exactly the kind example I would want. Right model, right colour, right condition.

That, although not exclusively, is what I call a proper Rover.
 
I used to work for a company in the last 80,s

Here the Race car
 
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Only Triumph was the TR8 I think?

:)

Yep, I had two TR7 V8's and one TR8

They were fitted to stags by owners fed up with the original stag engine overheating (as mentioned on wheeler dealers).
 
it won SD1 2nd place at recent Scottish Rover Rally.
 
The V8 engine can be a bit tricky to work on.
If you strip the engine, the oil pump doesn't self-prime.
You can fire it up and wreck a good engine.

Rover had some wacky way of packing the oil pump with vaseline to prime it.
Always sounded very risky to me.

I used to over-fill them and then spin the oil pump with an electric drill and a special long adaptor I had made.
When the oil was clearly flowing OK, I used to drop the oil to the required level.

There were occasions of rebuilt engines being supplied and then wrecked because the oil pumps did not prime.
:eek:
 
I spotted this in Battersea Park returning from my weekly exercise session at some yout event, in which de yout were not there:

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And Job-Black-Rat's current high speed patrol car too:

photo-10.jpg
 

Proper 80s cop car. :thumb:

Interesting they chose auto boxes for them.

I can't imagine the manuals were much cop (no pun intended).
 

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