Advice from you seasoned owners
Discussion
Recently back to TVR ownership after 17 year break.
I've posted a couple of times recently with small niggles and have found this forum a great resource and the contributors very knowledgeable and helpful.
Autumn appears to be well and truly here and anticipating I won't be having my fix too regularly my thoughts are turning to potential jobs for the winter and small tweaks to what is a stock Chimaera 450 save for new Nitrons put on by the previous owner a year or so ago.
I want to keep her 'stock' or be able to return her to entirely stock with relative ease but ....
Q's ....
1.......should I take her to a local garage to have a dyno power run just to see how healthy she is, what she's putting out ..... or is this the slippery slope of disappointment ? I've been quoted £60 from a local tuning house for a simple power run. If it transpires that she's a bit down on power then it gives the specialist ( Topcats ?) something to look into and advise.
2. first sensible upgrade appears to be a smooth silicone plenum hose. Any benefit in going to a full set of silicone induction hoses and super flare trumpets or is this akin to buying snake oil ?
3. Pre cats .... drill out or new manifolds with no pre-cats. Do shiny SS manifolds give you anything or are they just eye candy
4. F piece ?
5 Stop...well other than looking into bigger disks when that time comes round !
I've posted a couple of times recently with small niggles and have found this forum a great resource and the contributors very knowledgeable and helpful.
Autumn appears to be well and truly here and anticipating I won't be having my fix too regularly my thoughts are turning to potential jobs for the winter and small tweaks to what is a stock Chimaera 450 save for new Nitrons put on by the previous owner a year or so ago.
I want to keep her 'stock' or be able to return her to entirely stock with relative ease but ....
Q's ....
1.......should I take her to a local garage to have a dyno power run just to see how healthy she is, what she's putting out ..... or is this the slippery slope of disappointment ? I've been quoted £60 from a local tuning house for a simple power run. If it transpires that she's a bit down on power then it gives the specialist ( Topcats ?) something to look into and advise.
2. first sensible upgrade appears to be a smooth silicone plenum hose. Any benefit in going to a full set of silicone induction hoses and super flare trumpets or is this akin to buying snake oil ?
3. Pre cats .... drill out or new manifolds with no pre-cats. Do shiny SS manifolds give you anything or are they just eye candy
4. F piece ?
5 Stop...well other than looking into bigger disks when that time comes round !
Dyno run, if done sympathetically is a good way to get an idea of the engines state.
I can't really answer about induction/cats on a rover engine, but on the Cerbera removing them takes heat out the cabin as they are in the center tunnel, but it does add 8-10db to the noise, something to be aware of. I put the cats back in for MOT time.
Bigger disks might not be needed - i'd look into pad material first. I found a huge improvement going to CL Pads.
I can't really answer about induction/cats on a rover engine, but on the Cerbera removing them takes heat out the cabin as they are in the center tunnel, but it does add 8-10db to the noise, something to be aware of. I put the cats back in for MOT time.
Bigger disks might not be needed - i'd look into pad material first. I found a huge improvement going to CL Pads.
Slippery slope.
I’d take it to a respected Tvr mechanic or firstly try and find a local Tvr meet.
Check out other owners cars and state of tune etc, talk about it, most things are placebo but all add a % or other improvement in some way but alone make little difference.
Ride outs in other owners cars and or a few experienced owners sampling your car can inform you of plenty.
Dyno runs are ok but not something you want to do too often imho so only do it if you have things you can tweek or are sure something’s wrong.
If your using the standard ignition and Ecu set up and you want someone who CAN effect change so making use of rolling road time call Joolz of Kits and Classics fame, he might be in Chesterfield but the only guy worth using for mapping on CUX TVR again all in my humble opinion.
Joolz won’t even use a rolling road until he’s checked the cars in good order, dyno’s are hard on engines.
Be careful.
Many Tvr owners have used Joolz, so hp figures are a known quantity, different dyno give different results.
I’d take it to a respected Tvr mechanic or firstly try and find a local Tvr meet.
Check out other owners cars and state of tune etc, talk about it, most things are placebo but all add a % or other improvement in some way but alone make little difference.
Ride outs in other owners cars and or a few experienced owners sampling your car can inform you of plenty.
Dyno runs are ok but not something you want to do too often imho so only do it if you have things you can tweek or are sure something’s wrong.
If your using the standard ignition and Ecu set up and you want someone who CAN effect change so making use of rolling road time call Joolz of Kits and Classics fame, he might be in Chesterfield but the only guy worth using for mapping on CUX TVR again all in my humble opinion.
Joolz won’t even use a rolling road until he’s checked the cars in good order, dyno’s are hard on engines.
Be careful.
Many Tvr owners have used Joolz, so hp figures are a known quantity, different dyno give different results.
Edited by Classic Chim on Thursday 3rd October 11:05
Edited by Classic Chim on Thursday 3rd October 11:05
When I buy a new TVR, I tend to run it for few months to identify and correct any obvious issues, then take it to Surrey Rolling Road to check where it is against other TVR's. Charlie has been measuring TVR's for years so has a large database of similar cars. He has organised TVR specific test days in the past too.
After that, identify what you want to achieve, e.g. improved acceleration, better braking, more bling in the engine bay, then look into how best to achieve it.
After that, identify what you want to achieve, e.g. improved acceleration, better braking, more bling in the engine bay, then look into how best to achieve it.
Thank you for all your comments. I've been to a couple of meets but being the new kid I haven't really asked too many comparison questions or sought comments on condition ( partly because it's a relatively young 2000 car with only 43k and because there were a couple of high mileage 96 97 cars and I didn't want to appear the smug new guy)
Performance wise I'm not overly concerned as it's equal if not a tad quicker that a friends Boxter gts (Jesus those things are loud when your chasing them from behind) and being in Milton Keynes we have the perfect track to drive responsibly up to the national speed limit!
I'm a little concerned about engine noise ( but I'm sure it's paranoia) the drivers side rocker cover is a bit more noisy than the passenger side( block of wood to ear) and there's a bit of a tick that appears to be coming from somewhere near the pas compressor, alternator, main crank?
Other than that she rides a bit low and bottoming out is occasionally a bit of a shock.
I'm interested to hear about what is considered to be 'normal' engine noise. Particularly at idle
Performance wise I'm not overly concerned as it's equal if not a tad quicker that a friends Boxter gts (Jesus those things are loud when your chasing them from behind) and being in Milton Keynes we have the perfect track to drive responsibly up to the national speed limit!
I'm a little concerned about engine noise ( but I'm sure it's paranoia) the drivers side rocker cover is a bit more noisy than the passenger side( block of wood to ear) and there's a bit of a tick that appears to be coming from somewhere near the pas compressor, alternator, main crank?
Other than that she rides a bit low and bottoming out is occasionally a bit of a shock.
I'm interested to hear about what is considered to be 'normal' engine noise. Particularly at idle
Shocks are soft/ worn or if height adjustable set too low if your scraping the pipes.
Standard ride height using a rough rule of thumb is 155mm from ground upto bottom of chassis rail on each front corner and 165mm rear using same measuring technique upto rear out rigger corners
You ideally need a flat floor to check this. There should be a slight rake in the car so front looks slightly lower than rear.
These engines make loads of noises and not always in the same place.
Don’t be shy, every Tvr owner I’ve ever met is a gent and happy to help. Just be honest and look at good cars as the owners will be straight up as hell, it’s not cheap owning a nice one
I had a rebuilt engine, makes noises, I now add a drop of 20/50 Classic mineral oil in, about 1/2-3/4 litres which really quietens it down, I don’t rev the engine too high so this just helps on cold starts or where I’m only driving 30 mins or so. More aggressive use I would only use quality 10/40 semi synth.
Mines a 2000 Chim, very posh aren’t they
Standard ride height using a rough rule of thumb is 155mm from ground upto bottom of chassis rail on each front corner and 165mm rear using same measuring technique upto rear out rigger corners
You ideally need a flat floor to check this. There should be a slight rake in the car so front looks slightly lower than rear.
These engines make loads of noises and not always in the same place.
Don’t be shy, every Tvr owner I’ve ever met is a gent and happy to help. Just be honest and look at good cars as the owners will be straight up as hell, it’s not cheap owning a nice one
I had a rebuilt engine, makes noises, I now add a drop of 20/50 Classic mineral oil in, about 1/2-3/4 litres which really quietens it down, I don’t rev the engine too high so this just helps on cold starts or where I’m only driving 30 mins or so. More aggressive use I would only use quality 10/40 semi synth.
Mines a 2000 Chim, very posh aren’t they
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