The following seems to be true for all MG RV8's imported back into UK.

Take a look at the two pictures you will see the distributor vacuum coming from the T-piece on the side of the plenum chamber, and the correct port (arrowed) is blanked off.

This is seriously bad because the ignition takes up full vacuum advance as soon as the vehicle is started. This means the vacuum advance system that is supposed to give throttle response is not working because it is fully advanced all the time. The vehicle runs with incorrect ignition timing all of the time.

You will see from the above pictures that it is a simple 5 minute job to put this pipe back where it belongs and to reset the base ignition timing, as now the vehicle will only pull vacuum advance in the distributor when throttle is applied, ie this vacuum port is not live all the time because it is the other side of the throttle butterfly, and this is also the correct place to put it.

Anyone carrying out this simple mod will find that the acceleration and throttle response from there RV8 is transformed and it is amazing to notice what such a small mistake can steal for the engines character and power.

When this vehicle was put on the Rollers it had 162 bhp, when we changed the ECU chip and re-calibrated the Air mass settings and throttle pot settings the vehicle took on another 20bhp, (in line with their claimed output). I can provide you with a graph of both before and after if it is of interest, as most if not all of these vehicle are well down on factory output claims and not only this the drivability of the vehicle is transformed.

Most would believe the BHP numbers are the most important, but this is not so, as the V8 responds with a high level of torque throughout the lower and mid rev range and its overall drivability can be transformed just by setting them up properly and by removing the Rover inherent compromises. What's more this upgrade didn't even need the oil filler cap or Spark plugs removing let alone any big engine bits removing or refitting,

We can calibrate and re-chip any RV8 for £250.00 for our optimax Chip (details below) and if required a rolling road session would normally cost around £50.00 for 1 hour. We can carry out this service in Uxbridge or Norwich.

3.9 & 4.2 Optimax Rebuild Kit

If you want to make some big improvements to the torque and horsepower, you can make improvement over the individual spec of the engine by using our (or parts off) Optimax 3.9 Kit.

This comprises of the following.

• High Torque Piper camshaft
• True roller timing chain set
• Standard lifters/tappets
• K/N 57i Air Filter Kit.
• Optimax chip for ECU. (see below)

New --- New ----New 3.9 and 4.2 optimax Chip. (only from Rpi)

Designed around our already proven & popular. 4.6 chip, the Optimax chip is the one that will eradicate all the standard compromises within the standard 3.9 & 4.2 ECU so even if you are not increasing capacity, you can gain up to 20bhp, smoother driving, more low, and mid range torque, all by increasing engine efficiency, so you fuel usage is also reduced, we can also supply a Piper cam that will find another 15 - 20 bhp.

The cost of this package is £495.00 (Chip only £250.00) and will give very significant power and efficiency gains over the stock new engine! More-so where your engine is older, due to its already diminished condition & performance.

Any components required to optimize your heads would be additional, as are all gaskets required.

With the above Kit, the power gains on a new 3.9 engine can be assessed as plus 30 - 40 Bhp (and more in some cases) however the real idea of the conversion is more targeted to the efficiency and torque of these engines, this will always give increased performance, efficiency and smoother power delivery.

Chris Crane <chris@rpi-engineering.co.uk>

Made in England