Breathe New Life Into Your Rover With a Remanufactured Engine From Atlantic British

There are very few sounds in the world as rich, resonant, and unambiguously enjoyable as those emitted from the tailpipe of a healthy V8-engine Land Rover. In good condition and proper tune, they are truly wonderful vehicles to own and drive. The high seating position and great expanses of glass provide a commanding view of the road. The rugged suspension and drivetrain can tackle almost any terrain or surface condition, and the luxurious interiors (errr, Defenders excepted) keep one comfortable and focused on arriving safely at one’s destination. Land Rover styling is timeless; they retain their charm, and in many cases, their value, for decades after production has ended. In all, Land Rovers, especially the earlier models, are truly “lifetime” vehicles that can be kept on the road long after warranties have lapsed and their appliance-like contemporaries have been scrapped and recycled. So much so that many of us give them names and speak of them as if they are members of the family.

Despite the ruggedness and overall appeal of Land Rovers, they still require attention and maintenance as much as any other vehicle. When it comes time to rebuild or replace your Land Rover’s V8 engine, the prospect can be a daunting one, and finding a good, reliable replacement engine can be difficult. If you intend to keep your beloved Rover in the family, there is little value in cutting corners at this juncture. Doing so can easily result in additional failures, leading to further expense and downtime.

Atlantic British has decades of experience with these engines, and that is why we are pleased to offer a complete lineup of fully remanufactured Land Rover engines to fit almost any need. From early Range Rover Classics all the way through to LR3, Range Rover, and Range Rover Sport models with or without the supercharger. The engines offered by Atlantic British are fully remanufactured in the USA, with many improvements over the factory engines. To get some details on the remanufacturing program we spoke with Steve Springer, co-owner of Atlantic British.

Says Steve, “We’ve seen so many of these engines, we know what makes them fail... we know what the wear points are. We put out an engine that is much more reliable than the original engine.”

The Rover V8 engines offered by Atlantic British use a flanged, or “top-hat” cylinder liner to prevent problems with liner slippage and pressure leakage that caused many failures of factory engines. The engine blocks are parallel-decked to ensure even compression in all cylinders and cam bearings are a modern design that improves oiling to the front of the camshaft.

For the newer 2005 and up vehicles that use the Jaguar 4.4 and 4.2 liter supercharged engine, the rebuild process is much more complex.

“It’s a modern engine,” Steve explains. “The tolerances are tiny compared to what tolerances on older traditional engines were. Bearing clearances are in a completely different realm. A traditional rebuild of one of these engines just isn’t practical. We’ll bring in a core engine, and when we disassemble it, that will cause warping in the parts of the engine that hold the crankshaft in. Then we have to re machine all those parts. These engines, from a factory viewpoint, were not really designed to be rebuildable. They weren’t looking for that. They were expecting these engines to last 150 - 200 thousand miles without problems. But a lot of these cars are lasting longer and there can be problems.”

In order to meet the challenge of providing a quality rebuild of these complex engines, built to their exacting specifications, Steve and the team at Atlantic British sought out the assistance of a established machine shop that had the capacity to build the quantity of engines we require, along with the technical expertise and professionalism to perform the specialized work of rebuilding the later more complex engines.

Says Steve, “We specialize in the remanufacture of these engines. So its worth it to us to get the machining set up to the proper specs. It’s not the kind of thing you do on a one-off, or five-off, or even ten or twenty-off basis. It took a lot of legwork, and significant investment. We go out of our way to make sure the machining is done correctly.”

When you buy a rebuilt engine from Atlantic British, you aren’t buying another factory engine. You are buying the product of our combined decades of experience and the expertise of our professional machine shop, along with the guarantee of quality under the Atlantic British name. Blocks and heads are machined perfectly flat and with surfaces parallel for even compression. Cylinders are fitted with flanged liners. All rings and bearings are replaced and all moving parts are checked and either machined to spec or replaced. Rocker parts are all replaced, oil pumps replaced, or new timing covers fitted, and the latest timing components fitted. Suffice it to say that every single component of the engine is checked and if it is out of spec, it is either reconditioned to be within spec or discarded.

Last but not least, your new engine will be shipped to you in a sealed, returnable container that makes returning your core easy. And our core refund program for the 4.2 and 4.4-liter engines allows for “a la carte” refunds, if some of your components aren’t reusable. Very rarely is the engine a total loss.

Any way you do the math, you’ll come up with the same result. Remanufactured engines by Atlantic British are the best value going when it comes to replacing the engine of your V8 Land Rover. Our engines are all backed by a 12-month warranty and our sales and technical support staff are always ready to answer any questions you may have.

“We’ve been doing this for a long time,” Steve added. “We do this for a living, and we’re serious about it. We want to have these cars out there. The D1’s, D2’s, the Range Rovers, are just great cars. We started with the enthusiast market, and that’s what we’re trying to do. You can do the work yourself, and end up with a serious off-road vehicle that will not only get you where you’re going, but get you back.”

Atlantic British engines are in stock ready to ship worldwide.