A bloke near here put an 8V 2.0L into a Herald. He had both lying around, & decided to have some fun.
He had heaps of fun, & I’m waiting for him to get tired of it, so I can buy it, & have some of the same fun.
I don’t know why so many people, even TR7/8 people knock the 8V engine. It really isn’t such a bad thing, [apart from being a bit heavier than it should] particularly compared to the things you find in other British lower priced sports cars of the period.
You only have to look to Sweden to see what it could have become, if the UK unions of the time had been a bit more sensible.
The sprint engine is probably the worst thing that happened to the 8V. With that available as a straight simple replacement, the 8V was never given the same aftermarket development that most other sports car engines got.
It’s hard to see the BMC A & B series engines as a better bit of kit, despite the massive development the A received due to it’s spot up front in the mini & all that followed. Their C engine, in the much revered Healy is really pretty dreadful.
The Hillman thing, in the Alpine doesn’t get anyone excited, & the Daimler engine was killed off by Jag, perhaps because it was too good. If the SP250 had been less ugly, & expensive, who knows?
That leaves Triumph. The little 4 kept growing, but never really grew into anything to write home about, even when it got another couple of cylinders, & turned into the 6. Then we have the Vanguard wet sleeve thing in the early TRs. It really did make a better Ferguson tractor engine, than sports car power pack.
Having lived with one of them, in my Morgan +4, for a couple of years, I feel fully qualified to say it was the most unsuitable of them all.
The most likely mass produced engines of the period, our beloved RV8 never got into a suitable car, until the TR8, & the ideal Ford 105, & 115E engines only got into some low volume stuff like the Turners & Morgans.
If Lotus & Healey had used the reliable pushrod engine, while the fragile twin cams were developed, what a different story we may have seen. But they didn’t, so our much maligned 8V becomes really quite suitable to use in a Spit, particularly if you want a Torquey fun car, rather than a buss box.
Hasbeen
