We have a weakness here at Hooniverse for British sports cars. And British convertibles. Oh, and British sport-utes. And British humour. Oh, and sexy British women. Courtesy of our good friend Syrax comes a random photograph that should get everyone here tingly in their naughty bits. This is the engine from the new 2010 Land Rover Range Rover. And gawdamn, ain’t she purdy? [Photo credit to SeriousWheels.com]
Kamil Kaluski
It is just too bad that most new cars come with the engine buried under some stupid plastic cladding. The shining power plant above normally looks like this:
<img src="http://www.carcollery.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/2010-land-rover-range-rover-engine.jpg" style="width: 400px; border: 0" alt="imgTag" />
Agreed… Does the plastic serve ANY purpose?
If you look at most reviews or ad copy for the Range Rover, they make a point of how "exceptionally quiet" the Range Rover is. There's a bunch of foam and insulation crap on the backside of that plastic cover that acts as a sound deadener. If you want a loud Landie you need to get it Overfinch'd.
[youtube CFB-yfMb6ZAhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CFB-yfMb6ZA youtube]
If you look at most reviews or ad copy for the Range Rover, they make a point of how "exceptionally quiet" the Range Rover is. There's a bunch of foam and insulation crap on the backside of that plastic cover that acts as a sound deadener. If you want a loud Landie you need to get it Overfinch'd.
[youtube CFB-yfMb6ZAhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CFB-yfMb6ZA youtube]
Nothing some fireproof Dynamat won't help, and you get to see your engine.
Plastic is a helluva lot cheaper than painting and shining every engine. That's the main reason automakers use it. In today's cars, the average driver never even opens the hood. Especially the people that can afford Range Rovers. They are far from the "field serviceable" Rovers of yesteryear.
Hell, most of the upscale cars don't even have a dipstick anymore. They check the oil level electronically.
I think a Sprite could receive that engine. Oh yes, I believe it could.
It sure could! Although I'm thinking a Big Healey would be even more appealing with one of these stuffed under the bonnet, don't you?
I guess I'd prefer it in an MGB GT. Or a Stag.
Funny, I read the title as "Some Random Engine Pornography…"
I guess that would have been equally applicable.
I read it as "pornography" too.
I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if Dearthair wasn't counting on that sort of a visual double-take…!
thirded… must not have strong enough coffee yet…
Lately I've been having a little obsession with taking engine shots at Cars and Coffee…
I find it pointless how some owners of late model cars make it a point to open up their hoods when all you see is a sea of black plastic with bunch of plastics describing what's underneath it all…
A chrome flywheel? Really? Now, that's something. I guess this doesn't have much in common with the Buick 215 V8 that is this engine's ancestor. Sure is pretty, though.
This is the Gen III AJ-V8, which is a modern (DOHC, direct-injected) Jaguar design, not the classic Rover/Buick V8. Also, this engine's going in a new Range Rover, so it's going to be backed up by a slushbox, which mean's that's a flexplate, not a flywheel. It doesn't really matter what finish is on a flexplate, since it's transferring power to the torque converter that's bolted to it. The chrome's probably all for show anyway.
I wonder if the trailer queens that usually win the Ridler/AMBR have chrome flywheels to match there chrome brakes.
Yeah, I know the difference between a flexplate and a flywheel, and now that you mention it, there's really no surface there for a clutch's friction plate to mate to this particular one. The pads would just eat up all the pretty chrome, anyway.
Flywheels should not be chromed, they should be sent to a proper machine shop and resurfaced. When I rebuilt the engine in my F100, I of course bought a new clutch, but ran low on money. I resurfaced the flywheel myself in my living room while drinking beer and watching TV (only single guys like me get away with this). I held the thing in my lap, scrubbing the old clutch marks down with emery cloth until they disappeared. I thought that I had polished the surface down pretty well, but the clutch rumbled and chattered like mad until it seated itself. Works fine to this day. I'll have to spring for a new flywheel whenever it finally goes out, though.
I'll see your living room flywheel resurfacing and raise you one. I resurfaced the flywheel in my ElCamino on a lift with 80 grit and a sanding block, with the engine running. Worked awesome!
I just found some engine photography from Tom Ford's (UK car hack), twitter page:http://twitpic.com/1as2rv