Welp haven't sold the wagon yet so figured I would throw more money at it... Called TA the other day looking to buy a set of Rover heads and no dice. On backorder and not sure of a date. Does anyone have a set of TA Rover/Buick heads that they would like to part with?... Or you could buy my wagon Or it might be getting a Tesla swap :0
Tesla swap??? JK, to each his own! You may have better luck posting this in the Parts Wanted section.
OK this could mean a couple of things. One, they finally sold all of the first run of castings (I have no idea what their sales volume for those is) or two, there was a problem in the production run that had to be corrected. I suggest you call Tim and ask him if this has anything to do with the intake threads. If you can live with inserts there, mention to him that you would accept thread inserts at those locations and see if that suddenly makes a set of heads available. Jim
I wasn't aware there was an issue with the intake threads. What did you do to fix your heads? Timecerts? Sean, the car is very much still for sale... maybe even after I finish it, unless I get addicted again... IF I can find a set of heads :/ Just don't want to throw a set of stock irons on it, nor am I interested in porting/paying to port irons.
I believe so. They were the solid inserts. Talking to Mike Sr it sounded like he still had plenty of heads at the time. Tim would know. Jim
Spoke to Tim. They have no Rover heads of any kind in stock and no timeline for when they will. I have iron heads but would rather not sink money into them and would rather sell the thing... Somebody buy this wagon before I bastardize it with electrickery.
I think it was only one or two sets with the issue Jim experienced from what I gathered from Tim. Not a whole run. In regards to the first 'run' I'm assuming it went to the folks in Australia that helped fund the development. Assuming that's how it was funded, at least partially... But we know what they say about assumptions....
You wouldn't want to source those heads from Australia unless the cost isn't that much of a concern. I believe the company name was TRS (Triumph Rover Spares) and they were asking about 7 grand a set but it's been awhile since I looked. Worth it if you are in certain racing classes or are wealthy but a bit of a stretch for the average guy. The production run would have been the same quantity as the recent run of 350 heads since these things are set up on a minimum quantity so I'd say several pallet loads. The fact that there would have been that many and that TRS's price was so high yet TA sold out their share of the production run does say something about the demand. The heads were not available through TA for something like a year after they were shipped to TRS to allow them to recoup their investment. Less demanding or well heeled buyers obviously waited for TA to make them available, so whether or not TRS has any left is an open question. Chances are reasonably good that they do, but now that the TA source has dried up the remaining sets will gradually be sold off since TA has no immediate plans to produce more and they have therefore become scarce, and by now their desirability is established. It's quite possible the agreement requires TA to wait until both parties have sold their initial allotment before a second casting is authorized. Hard to say just how long that will take, but I'm sure glad I got my set during the window when they were available from TA, since I'm in the category of not being able to afford the price from TRS. Looks like the price has come down to $5900.00, and that includes some porting work on the exhaust side. Here's the link: https://triumphroverspares.com.au/product/new-rover-v8-cylinder-heads/ Jim
For the record, the issue I had with intake threads somehow slipped through QC and would never have normally made it out the door. It was machining related, for some unknown reason the tap drill cut oversized. Usually this happens because the machinist didn't change out the drill bit when it became dull and these were probably the last set of heads drilled before the change out. Maybe break time was coming up, who knows. They use what's called a roll tap which produces a stronger thread by forming the metal into the peaks and valleys and thereby partially work hardening the threads. This is one of those places where TA goes the extra mile in their production methods. But if the hole is oversized instead of the threads fully forming they take the shape of a double thread with a small valley where the peak should be and this is what I had. Now it's possible those threads might have held up, but it was a gamble I wasn't willing to take. Mike graciously accepted responsibility and reimbursed my machinist to install the inserts and I'm quite satisfied with the results. Like I said, this was a fluke both in happening in the first place and then in getting past inspection. Sometimes these things just happen and it's no reflection on the quality of TA parts. Jim
Those are ported Rover heads. Merlin heads are even more expensive than the ones I mention above at $5800 US. The Wildcat are the best deal. They use 350 Buick valve cover pattern and are higher port so they may need port alignment to intake and longer headers. The Wedgeshop has a special intake for those heads on a 215/Rover. You would need a valley pan and spacers for the 300. Cylinder Heads – Rover V8 Wildcat Heads & Racing Components (home.blog) Wildcat Rover V8 Intake Manifold (thewedgeshopstore.com)
