S series engine swap

[davidh1041]

A few years ago I bought a Unipart recon engine from a yard in Birmingham who had a bought up a load of Rover stock when they shut down for my 1986 Maestro. It's been sat in my garage ever since mine has been running well. I have now decided to fit it and opened up the packaging and was a bit disappointed to find the engine is different. It is definitely an S series, but it has an oil filler cap on top of one of the cam covers and therefore a different breather system. Three small inlet pipes on the sump, no hole for the flame arrester, the adapter plate is different, no holes for the strengthening plate from sump to it and the oil filler neck inlet is at the back of the engine not the front of the adapter plate.
My plan is to swap the sump, adapter plate over from my old engine and put it in. Is there any other problems I may encounter and what is this engine originally for?
Any advice and thoughts very mush appreciated.
Thanks David

[digital efi]

Various changes were made to the S-series during its production life, the oil filler arrangement being one of them. An immediate solution to the problem of mayonnaise in the filler tube of earlier versions!

You have mentioned a different adaptor plate, so this makes me think that your new engine was configured for a PG1 gearbox. So it was originally intended for either a Rover 216 or a 1989-onwards Montego.

[davidh1041]

Thank you digital efi for your reply. That is good news that it's probably a later engine. The engine number has been changed to, i persume a Unipart number which i can't make any semse of, so was worried it might be a low compression unit for a van or something. I will go ahead and fit it in the next few days, i need to get some RTV sealant for the adapter plate swap and report back on how i get on. i have already removed the old engine.
When i removed the drive shafts from the flanges on the gearbox a lot of gearbox fluid came out, i think i need to replace the plastic caps over the nut that holds the flange onto the diff, i am hoping they are the same as a Golf?
Thanks again, David

[Doctordiesel77]

The one I got turned out to be from an automatic, it might be worth checking the engine numbers on your one, I suspect tht it could be an unleaded one? Pretty sure the plastic caps are the same on a golf.

[davidh1041]

I have searched on line and found pictures of 1991 onwards Montego's with this engine in, so yes I think it will be leadfree. Unfortunately I will have to swap over the adapter plate to fit my VW gearbox, I have found on ebay a diff flange kit, seal, ciclip and new cap for less than a tenner so that's good. As I don't have the breather pipes and oil separator for the later engine I am going to swap the sump over to retain the original breather set up. That's a shame as it would have been nice to not have to disturb the new engine's spotlessly clean sump.
The replacement engine number is :- LBB10230E312208. I have no idea how to decode this?
Doctordiesel77, how did you get on with your automatic engine? Were you able to use it. Thanks for the reply.
Regards David

[Doctordiesel77]

I have searched on line and found pictures of 1991 onwards Montego's with this engine in, so yes I think it will be leadfree. Unfortunately I will have to swap over the adapter plate to fit my VW gearbox, I have found on ebay a diff flange kit, seal, ciclip and new cap for less than a tenner so that's good. As I don't have the breather pipes and oil separator for the later engine I am going to swap the sump over to retain the original breather set up. That's a shame as it would have been nice to not have to disturb the new engine's spotlessly clean sump.
The replacement engine number is :- LBB10230E312208. I have no idea how to decode this?
Doctordiesel77, how did you get on with your automatic engine? Were you able to use it. Thanks for the reply.
Regards David

I haven't used mine yet, but will one day! According to parts list yours is a high compression unleaded stripped engine for a later manual Montego, so you have been quite lucky (apart from the sump and adaptor plate)...

[davidh1041]

Just a quick update. Swapping the sump over I found that the original sump had a baffle welded in it , the later one did’nt but instead had a baffle bolted onto the main bearing caps. I had to remove this and swap the main bearing bolts over to allow the original sump to fit. The adapter plate was fitted with a new seal and gasket plus RTV sealer and fitted no problem. The dip stick tube was a slightly smaller diameter so had to swap that over. New diff flange seals and plastic caps were fitted to the gearbox and a new rubber gasket that goes under the speedo drive retaining plate.
The engine and gearbox are now fitted back in the car and connected back up. I am now in the process of replacing the complete exhaust system, radiator and break master cylinder with NOS Parts. I also need to sort out the heater matrix pipes and then I can get it going.
The weather has been too cold and damp for me, so slow progress! Will let you know how the engine turns out once I get it started.
Cheers David

[Jeff Turbo]

Just a quick update. Swapping the sump over I found that the original sump had a baffle welded in it , the later one did’nt but instead had a baffle bolted onto the main bearing caps. I had to remove this and swap the main bearing bolts over to allow the original sump to fit. The adapter plate was fitted with a new seal and gasket plus RTV sealer and fitted no problem. The dip stick tube was a slightly smaller diameter so had to swap that over. New diff flange seals and plastic caps were fitted to the gearbox and a new rubber gasket that goes under the speedo drive retaining plate.
The engine and gearbox are now fitted back in the car and connected back up. I am now in the process of replacing the complete exhaust system, radiator and break master cylinder with NOS Parts. I also need to sort out the heater matrix pipes and then I can get it going.
The weather has been too cold and damp for me, so slow progress! Will let you know how the engine turns out once I get it started.
Cheers David

Good progress so far though