The Rover V8 began life as the Buick 215, an all-aluminium OHV pushrod engine introduced in 1960 for the 1961 US model year (it was on their drawing boards in the late 1950s).

The compact alloy engine was light, at just 144 kg (317 lb), and capable of high power outputs: the most powerful Buick version of this engine rated 200 hp (149 kW), and the very similar Oldsmobile "Jetfire" turbocharged version made 215 hp (160 kW), both numbers SAE gross.

History relates that McWilliams first saw the Buick V8 at the works of Mercury Marine, where he was discussing the sale of Rover gas turbines and diesel engines to the company (Mercury Marine did indeed use the Land Rover 2.25 L (137.3 cu in) diesel engine in marinised form)[citation needed].

In any case, McWilliams realised that the lightweight Buick V8 would be ideal for smaller British cars (indeed, it weighed less than many straight-4 engines it would replace).

McWilliams and William Martin-Hurst began an aggressive campaign to convince GM to sell the tooling, which they finally agreed to do in January 1965.

Retiring Buick engineer Joe Turlay moved to the UK to act as a consultant.

The Rover V8 has long been a relatively common engine for kit car use in Britain, much as the Chevrolet small-block V8 is for American hot rod builders (though many British hot rods have traditionally used four cylinder engines, like the Ford Pinto and Crossflow units).

Even in the US there is a strong contingent of builders who select the Buick or Rover aluminium V8 engine for use in small sporty cars like the MGB .

The 1964 Buick iron-block 4.9 L (300 cu in) engine had aluminium cylinder heads, 3.75 bore and a longer 3.4" stroke crankshaft, which with modification can be used with the Buick 215 or Rover engine blocks to produce a high-output, very light weight V8 with displacement of up to about 4.9 L (300 cu in).

As the aluminium block made this engine one of the lightest stock V8s built, it was an obvious choice for use in racing.

Rookie driver Dan Gurney qualified eighth and raced well for 92 laps before retiring with transmission problems.

The Repco V8 was based on the Oldsmobile 215 block of the same era, which was very similar in appearance, size and material, but used 6 cylinderhead studs per cylinder.

It used a sand-cast block with pressed-in iron cylinder liners, and a new intake manifold with two HS6 type SU Carburettors.

It was first offered in the 1967 Rover P5B saloon, initially making 184 PS (135 kW; 181 hp) (gross) / 160 PS (118 kW; 158 hp) (net) at 5,200 rpm and 226 lb⋅ft (306 N⋅m) (gross) / 210 lb⋅ft (285 N⋅m) (net) of torque at 2,600 rpm on 10.5:1 compression (5-star petrol was then still available in the UK).

It was decided that a new series of diesel engines powerful, refined and economical enough for use in BL cars was needed.

Both naturally aspirated and turbocharged versions were produced, both using a Stanadyne rotary mechanical fuel injection system.

Coupled to this, it was clear that the market for large diesel engined cars in North America had not developed as expected.

For a number of reasons (primarily cost) Rouse's version was not used, but the concept was passed to alternative engineering firms which resulted in a rare variant of the 3.9.

TVR 4.3 engines tended to have elaborately ported cylinder heads with minimized valve guide protrusion into the ports, and Duplex timing chain with timing adjustment by vernier gear were specified although in practice, not all engines received it.

British Leyland did import one complete P76 engine for assessment but it was never fitted to a vehicle and was sold off on the demise of the company.

Applications: Not to be confused with the later 4.6-litre engine which TVR badged as a '4.5' for the Chimaera, there also existed a version with an 80 mm (3.15 in) crank and 94 mm (3.7 in) bore giving 4,444 cc (4.4 L; 271.2 cu in) capacity, which was used by TVR in the low-volume special 450 SEAC, the race version thereof and the subsequent Tuscan Challenge racers.

A tiny number of Griffith and Chimaera road cars were built with a version of this engine, known as the '450 BV' (Big Valve).

Applications: A 5.0 L; 304.9 cu in (4,997 cc) variant of the Rover V8 was used in two models by British sportscar manufacturer TVR.

Applications: Moreover, in the mid-1980s, hot rodders discovered the 215 could be stretched to as much as 5.0 L (305 cu in), using the Buick 300 crankshaft, new cylinder sleeves, and an assortment of non-Buick parts.