There is more than just putting a sprint head on an 8V to complete the conversion. i'm finding out the hard way about converting my 7 to sprint power, and i bought the whole engine. Well 2 of them actually! have a read of my thread on the sprint forum.
The reason for my conversion to sprint power was its rarety really, don't get me wrong, there's nothing better sounding than a V8 but i like something a bit more different, something to shut up the know it all when he asks if it's still got the standard 2 litre or have i just stuck a V8 in it. To be honest, looking back at the amount of money i've piled into this car i think i'd of bought one of the many Lexus LS400s on ebay for £700 and gone about shoving that in instead. Hindsight is a wonderful thing!
The inlet and exhaust manifolds are different, the carb linkages and needles are different, you need the cast alloy end plate, the chain is duplex on the sprint engine so you'll need the relevant sprockets, tensioner and runners (although i think the tensioner and runners may be the same, you'll need to change them if they're worn), the pistons are different (and very, very expensive) and the sprint crank is also different, it's cross drilled to cope with the stresses the power hike will put on it. On the same note, your original one will have to be mint or the bottom end won't last very long at all! the sprint engine in TR7 form can potentially put out 150bhp, 50% increase on the standard 8V so there's the usual brake upgrades, suspension upgrades to fork out for unless you've already done that.
I think i've listed all the differences, i'm sure someone will add to them!
If only i could turn the clock back!
Rob.
