Marcos Maniacs

I think you will find that the engine bay in the earlier Marcos 1600 is much smaller than the engine bay in the 3 litre cars. I have a 3 litre Volvo Marcos and my car is noticeably longer than the 1600 version. Also, in order to fit a Rover V8 in the later cars, there were substantial mods required to the chassis. I doubt that engine would fit the earlier cars. Just make sure the option you prefer will actually fit in the space available.

Regards,

Paul Dransfield
3 litre Volvo






-----Original Message-----
From: Donny Lang <indigo@...>
To: MarcosManiacs@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Tue, Jun 1, 2010 9:56 pm
Subject: Re: [MarcosManiacs] modern engines for 1600/1800GT


 


In my opinion, the Rover alloy V8 is the best choice of V8s for the Marcos. As you mentioned, this is the engine that Marcos used starting in the mid-1980s. It is one of the lighter V8s out there at about 320 lbs and makes decent power, but is still relatively small displacement at 215 ci to 282 ci (3.5 liter to 4.6 liter). The engines are plentiful and cheap to purchase at U-Pull junkyards coming from mid 1990 Land Rover Discovery and Range Rovers. The bigger headache and expense comes in mating a suitable flywheel/bellhousing/transmission. Probably the best match is the Leyland LT77 out of the Triumph TR8 and Morgan+8. I think there are also T5 transmissions that can be mated with custom bellhousings.
I expect the heaviest engines used in the Marcos cars were the 3.0 V6 Ford and the 3.0 Volvo. My car came with a 2.0 V4 Ford that weighs at least 100lbs more than the Rover V8 I am replacing it with. I would consider the small block Fords and Chevys mentioned as too heavy unless you came across an all alloy version.
-Donny

----- Original Message ----- 
From: chinojuan2 
To: MarcosManiacs@yahoogroups.com 
Sent: Tuesday, June 01, 2010 9:11 AM
Subject: [MarcosManiacs] modern engines for 1600/1800GT


  
Read some old Wiki articles saying certain engines made the 1600/1800GT a bit nose heavy (perhaps iron block engine). As later Marcos had Rover 8 cylinder, did this make it evebn worse---or were Rover 8 cylinder cars not the same as 1600/1800?
I bring up these questions because I wondered if anyone had a experience or thoughts on placing a Ford or Chevy V-8 into a 1600/1800GT (something like a 289/302 Ford or a 305/350 Chevy). Would these engines make the car too nose heavy and ruin the handling? 

I was dreaming about a way to make the 1600/1800 GT more powerful, sound great, have a modern engine anyone can work on....but not at the expense of handling.....

Figured some MArcos had Ford as well as GM engines, so thsi idea shouldn't be too blasphamous :)