5 Litre Engines...

[Roobarb]

I've had one put in Roobarb...and quite frnakly I'm not impressed. 210 BH-poxy-P. Is this cruddy crap or what ? Does anyone else know what their *standard* 5L puts out ?

[Hughesie2]

Roobarb said:

I've had one put in Roobarb...and quite frnakly I'm not impressed. 210 BH-poxy-P. Is this cruddy crap or what ? Does anyone else know what their *standard* 5L puts out ?

Thats LOW, who installed the engine and did the set up for you ??

[Roobarb]

I'm not allowed to tell am I - I may be able to think of something though.
As we all know, official TVR figures were miles out for the V8s but surely it should be higher than 210 - oh, thats at the wheels BTW.
.....surely

[Hughesie2]

Roobarb said:

I'm not allowed to tell am I - I may be able to think of something though. As we all know, official TVR figures were miles out for the V8s but surely it should be higher than 210 - oh, thats at the wheels BTW. .....surely

Did the Rolling road it at that ??

Have a word with Vixpy, he may be able to give you better figures for the wheel figure...

[kevinday]

Roobarb said:

I'm not allowed to tell am I - I may be able to think of something though. As we all know, official TVR figures were miles out for the V8s but surely it should be higher than 210 - oh, thats at the wheels BTW. .....surely

That should equate to around 255-260 at the crank, which is the low end of normal for a standard 500 (IIRC 255-275 is normal).

[GreenV8S]

Rolling roads vary enormously, so you can't necessarily compare the figures directly with measurements taken elsewhere.

[Roobarb]

Quinny said:

The thing is, how does the car feel when you drive it? Does it feel quick? Has it got plenty of low down and mid range grunt? If so what are you worried about. Andy

Thats just the thing, its not. It has more torque than before, ( it was a 4.0HC previously ) so its mid range is improved, but I don't find it much quicker. I was out at the weekend with SE&NW Kent and I had to thrash the crap out of it to try and keep up. So maybe everyone was also thrashing about, I dunno. I just think its too slow for a 5L, and all I have to back it up is the BHP figure - thus the question.

[JonRB]

To be honest, if I had a Chimaera 400 and was considering an engine change for more power, I would either have

1) Sold the car and bought a Chimaera 500 or
2) Followed jellison's lead and dropped in a 5.7L LS1 rather than a 5.0L RV8

[GreenV8S]

JonRB said:

dropped in

I suspect there's just a teensy bit more work in the LSx route, compared to replacing one RV8 with another!

>> Edited by GreenV8S on Monday 5th September 12:27

[JonRB]

GreenV8S said:

I suspect there's just a teensy bit more work in the LSx route, compared to replacing one RV8 with another!

Yes, just a bit.

However, if I was going to all the effort and expense of an engine change, I would certainly look at putting more that just a standard 500 RV8 in, even if were a 5.3 RV8 rather than an LSx. Otherwise you may as well change the entire car for a stock Chimaera 500 and benefit from stronger resale value and cheaper insurance*.

(* - bearing in mind that a Chimaera 400 with a 500 engine in it will be treated by an insurer, and indeed a potential purchaser, as a highly-modified Chimaera 400 rather than a stock Chimaera 500)

>> Edited by JonRB on Monday 5th September 12:36

[VEG]

The 5 litre should outpace a 4.... but not by that much.

Try new leads, coil etc and let the Mr Mark Adams have a look. Worth the money.....

[GreenV8S]

Who mapped it for you? If it's still running on the 4.0 map it's perhaps no surprise that it isn't doing very well.

[chris watton]

I find it incredible that there's such a huge discrepancy in each of the dynos from different places- surely if they're that inaccurate, you're basing your car's bhp with something that has as much merit as a fortune teller!

[JonRB]

chris watton said:

I find it incredible that there's such a huge discrepancy in each of the dynos from different places- surely if they're that inaccurate, you're basing your car's bhp with something that has as much merit as a fortune teller!

Not at all. You have to rememember that, whilst the RRs are fairly well calibrated, ambient temperature, air density, etc. will make a big difference.

The thing a RR is best at is for comparisons - "before and after" whilst tuning etc. Anything else is just bragging rights down the pub anyway.

>> Edited by JonRB on Monday 5th September 13:33

[Roobarb]

JonRB said:

[quote=GreenV8S] However, if I was going to all the effort and expense of an engine change, I would certainly look at putting more that just a standard 500 RV8 in, even if were a 5.3 RV8 rather than an LSx. Otherwise you may as well change the entire car for a stock Chimaera 500 and benefit from stronger resale value and cheaper insurance*. (* - bearing in mind that a Chimaera 400 with a 500 engine in it will be treated by an insurer, and indeed a potential purchaser, as a highly-modified Chimaera 400 rather than a stock Chimaera 500) >> Edited by JonRB on Monday 5th September 12:36

I wanted to keep the car reasonably original...cough. Other than the engine there is no difference between a 4 and a 5. The reason I changed anything in the first place was because my 4.0L went pop so I was stuck with an engineless Roobarb. I did a little research and found that it would only cost me a grand more to buy a 5 than a 4, however as you quite rightly point out, resale value is higher and my insurance premium also went down so it was a bit of a no brainer really. Insurance wise I'm with Mannings and they see my modified 4.0HC as being a standard 5.0L. Their reasoning was that each car is hand built to order and as long as it was a standard TVR V8 they didn't care less what the original spec was, however if I had stuck in an LSx. Kkkerr-ching $$$$$.

[Roobarb]

GreenV8S said:

Who mapped it for you? If it's still running on the 4.0 map it's perhaps no surprise that it isn't doing very well.

It does have a standard 5.0L chip in it. The unit is brand new from V8 developments, note, not a recon.

[JonRB]

Roobarb said:

Other than the engine there is no difference between a 4 and a 5.

I was under the impression that the 500 had improved brakes and suspension plus a number of other improvements over the 400 and 450?

[GreenV8S]

JonRB said:

I was under the impression that the 500 had improved brakes and suspension plus a number of other improvements over the 400 and 450?

[Roobarb]

GreenV8S said:

JonRB said: I was under the impression that the 500 had improved brakes and suspension plus a number of other improvements over the 400 and 450?

[Roobarb]

May be those mods came out later on..
Roobarb is a 96, and as far as I can tell there is no difference between a 4 and a 5 of that age.. Of course unless they ran out of some part or other and were forced to go down the local scrap yard...