Griffith 500 v 500HC
Discussion
Hi Mac.
It’s good to hear from you brother. Still playing the six string ?
Hmm. I wonder what markings are on the HC cam assuming the 500 is just a 885 cam. 216 as it was once known… I think?
Oh I dunno I’m sure Dom could built at least one engine that had that power for “cough” demonstration purposes.
It’s good to hear from you brother. Still playing the six string ?
Hmm. I wonder what markings are on the HC cam assuming the 500 is just a 885 cam. 216 as it was once known… I think?
Oh I dunno I’m sure Dom could built at least one engine that had that power for “cough” demonstration purposes.
I'm not aware that there was a difference but perhaps the 'HC' was for the 340 bhp era?
The Griff 500 was advertised as having 320bhp in the early days and it was printed in the owner's manual. At some point (I'm unsure when, perhaps the mid 1990s when it went to the serpentine engine?), it was printed as 340bhp (we all know to take those figures with a pinch of stuff
).
I've read somewhere (apologies for vagueness, I think it's in the TVR club members pages but I can't access them) that it was dialled back to 320 bhp in abut '97 for smoother running.
The Griff 500 was advertised as having 320bhp in the early days and it was printed in the owner's manual. At some point (I'm unsure when, perhaps the mid 1990s when it went to the serpentine engine?), it was printed as 340bhp (we all know to take those figures with a pinch of stuff
).I've read somewhere (apologies for vagueness, I think it's in the TVR club members pages but I can't access them) that it was dialled back to 320 bhp in abut '97 for smoother running.
The figures appear to be derived from some calculations based on say 275 at the wheels with 17% percentage added to account for road train losses to come to a fly wheel figure of 321.75. The actual road train losses might not even be 10% but 15-17% has been a figure used for years!
Now on a dyno and vicious timing advance you might have got those numbers but the engine wouldn’t last long but it might last long enough to confirm the numbers before inevitably tuning it down to a safer level.
You only have to do it once and write it down for it to become Tvr fact.
Now on a dyno and vicious timing advance you might have got those numbers but the engine wouldn’t last long but it might last long enough to confirm the numbers before inevitably tuning it down to a safer level.
You only have to do it once and write it down for it to become Tvr fact.
Classic Chim said:
Hi Mac.
It’s good to hear from you brother. Still playing the six string ?
Hmm. I wonder what markings are on the HC cam assuming the 500 is just a 885 cam. 216 as it was once known… I think?
Oh I dunno I’m sure Dom could built at least one engine that had that power for “cough” demonstration purposes.
It’s good to hear from you brother. Still playing the six string ?
Hmm. I wonder what markings are on the HC cam assuming the 500 is just a 885 cam. 216 as it was once known… I think?
Oh I dunno I’m sure Dom could built at least one engine that had that power for “cough” demonstration purposes.
hiya bloke, yeah still playing, new songs, busy with gigs, all good. Must catch up this year 
macdeb said:
hiya bloke, yeah still playing, new songs, busy with gigs, all good. Must catch up this year Hey folks Macs got a great voice and star levels of stage presence.
Do you still own one of Woking’s finest cars Mac.
Brilliant brilliant cars.
Flash us a picture of it even if you haven’t got it anymore. I understand those cars way better now.
Edited by Classic Chim on Saturday 2nd March 14:26
LucyP said:
This was all discussed here, on various threads from 2004.
All the 500's were HC (High Compression), because they used the HC heads from the Morgan Plus 8.
Do some more research, its been discussed to death on here over the years and those that know say its always been High lift cam, the same as the Chimaera 400HC.All the 500's were HC (High Compression), because they used the HC heads from the Morgan Plus 8.
The confusion between the meaning of HC is the root cause of this debate.
As a youngster I was led to believe HC stood for High Compression ( rightly or wrongly)
Then came to the Tvr world and soon realised it meant High lift Cam and this was confirmed to me by the one that knows many moons ago.
I’m not sure what Morgan heads have to do with it so a link to a post referencing Morgan heads would be helpful to the community.
I presume Lucy means Tvr used the same development work that Morgan had taken advantage of which both John Eales, Tvr Power and others were doing at the time?
Early 500 cars might have had the most aggressive cam but in essence they were all HC High lift Cam
There is no real difference between a HC badged 500 engine and a non badged one and after 30 years or more, if it now has a Taraka cam or similar it has all the properties of the best cam available to maintain decent power and running character. Those old cams have been superseded and people have put more aggressive cams of their choice in these cars in for years now.
HC 400 was to identify 400 engines fitted with higher lift cams.
As a youngster I was led to believe HC stood for High Compression ( rightly or wrongly)
Then came to the Tvr world and soon realised it meant High lift Cam and this was confirmed to me by the one that knows many moons ago.
I’m not sure what Morgan heads have to do with it so a link to a post referencing Morgan heads would be helpful to the community.
I presume Lucy means Tvr used the same development work that Morgan had taken advantage of which both John Eales, Tvr Power and others were doing at the time?
Early 500 cars might have had the most aggressive cam but in essence they were all HC High lift Cam
There is no real difference between a HC badged 500 engine and a non badged one and after 30 years or more, if it now has a Taraka cam or similar it has all the properties of the best cam available to maintain decent power and running character. Those old cams have been superseded and people have put more aggressive cams of their choice in these cars in for years now.
HC 400 was to identify 400 engines fitted with higher lift cams.
Edited by Classic Chim on Sunday 3rd March 10:05
LucyP said:
This was all discussed here, on various threads from 2004.
All the 500's were HC (High Compression), because they used the HC heads from the Morgan Plus 8.
If you're trying to say that HC in TVR Rover V8 engine designations stands for High Compression, I think you're wrong. If you think differently, perhaps you could link to those authoritative threads you mention.All the 500's were HC (High Compression), because they used the HC heads from the Morgan Plus 8.
The TVR factory and dealers have consistently used HC to refer to High lift Cam as far as I'm aware.
Rover changed the cylinder head design around 1994 to allow the use of a thick composite gasket instead of the original thin tin one. This would have been during the original Griffith 500 production years. The later heads were made shorter to maintain the same overall chamber height, chamber volume and compression ratio. You can also deck the early heads to allow the thicker composite gaskets to be used without lowering the CR. Perhaps this is what you're thinking of. This is not the difference between HC and non-HC engines - the same CR was maintained before and after the change.
Classic Chim said:
macdeb said:
hiya bloke, yeah still playing, new songs, busy with gigs, all good. Must catch up this year Hey folks Macs got a great voice and star levels of stage presence.
Do you still own one of Woking’s finest cars Mac.
Brilliant brilliant cars.
Flash us a picture of it even if you haven’t got it anymore. I understand those cars way better now.
Edited by Classic Chim on Saturday 2nd March 14:26
Edited by macdeb on Sunday 3rd March 14:33
HC High Compression. If it stood for High Lift it would be HL, not HC. It's basic abbreviation stuff.
Here's your proof. Look at the Miscellaneous Engine List. Look at the 2nd entry. Look at the compression ratio. Compare it with the long list of other engines of various capacities, for various worldwide markets.
As I said. HC. High Compression
I suppose it could stand for Hydraulic Cam, but since all Rover V8 variants used a hydraulic cam, it would have been a bit of a pointless badge.
https://rimmerbros.com/c/Rover-V8-Engine-Numbers
Here's your proof. Look at the Miscellaneous Engine List. Look at the 2nd entry. Look at the compression ratio. Compare it with the long list of other engines of various capacities, for various worldwide markets.
As I said. HC. High Compression
I suppose it could stand for Hydraulic Cam, but since all Rover V8 variants used a hydraulic cam, it would have been a bit of a pointless badge.
https://rimmerbros.com/c/Rover-V8-Engine-Numbers
Edited by LucyP on Sunday 3rd March 15:53
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