Differences Between Oil Pumps The oil pump of the Rover V8 engine, from its introduction in the 1960s until late 1994, comprises a pair of pump gears which rotate inside a housing in the timing cover. One gear – the idler – is driven by the other, which includes a shaft that is driven off the end of the distributor. The distributor, in turn, is driven by a skew gear on the end of the camshaft.
Pre SD1-era Rover V8 engines (including Rover P5, P6 and early Range Rover) feature a pair of
short oil pump gears, the driven shaft of which has a slot into which the tooth of the distributor shaft engages.
From 1976 (SD1-era), the oil pump is improved by longer gears, the driven shaft of which is now toothed to engage in a slot in the distributor shaft.
For two reasons, the two types are not interchangeable:
- The longer gears of a post-1976 engine will not fit into the housing of a pre-76 timing cover.
- The pre-76 distributor will not engage with the shaft of a later oil pump gear.
However, timing covers are fully interchangeable, which means that an early engine can benefit from the later oil pump arrangement as long as the whole timing cover, complete with distributor, is fitted.
Alternatively, we supply an oil pump uprating kit (RB7480), specifically for pre-76 engines, which features a spacer for the oil pump cover in order to accommodate the longer gears supplied in the kit. The gears also feature the early type of distributor engagement slot.
From late 1994, a redesigned timing cover, incorporating an integral crank-driven oil pump, is fitted to Land Rover V8 engines. This supersedes the earlier, distributor-driven oil pump. However, the later arrangement, while more efficient, is
not a straight swop for the earlier timing cover, as a longer crankshaft nose is required to drive the oil pump. In addition, ancillaries, such as water pump, alternator and power steering pump would have to be changed.