Discussion
Looking at changing my Chimp (see profile) to a tuscan and just saw this advert for one at £26,500 00 year red rose, 5000 miles 18" wheels full leather FTVRSH
So what are the pitfalls of a tuscan and service cost/running cost etc.
And... has anyone changed from a Chimp to a tuscan, what are your views.
Cheers
So what are the pitfalls of a tuscan and service cost/running cost etc.
And... has anyone changed from a Chimp to a tuscan, what are your views.
Cheers
I changed from a 4L Chimaera over two years ago, missed the V8 sound for a while, but that’s about all, the Tuscan handles better, is more comfortable, is much quicker & IMO looks amazing. Dealer servicing is quiet expensive 6K about 700 GBP & 12K about 1K GBP,but the independents are (much) cheaper. If you join the Tuscan e-group (Yahoo site) there is a very comprehensive list of items to look out for when buying.
Nick
Nick
sorry just saw the year
i have a 01/51 rr and was advised to purchace a later one due to problamatic early cars but as i have seen over the last while cars that have been back to the garage regularly and checked up are seemidly ok..at the end of the day its a lot of car for the money and sooooo much fun to drive. I might be selling mine if you are interested in a more recent one.
i have a 01/51 rr and was advised to purchace a later one due to problamatic early cars but as i have seen over the last while cars that have been back to the garage regularly and checked up are seemidly ok..at the end of the day its a lot of car for the money and sooooo much fun to drive. I might be selling mine if you are interested in a more recent one.
Swapped an awesome '97 Chimp 500 for a 'std' 4.0 Tuscan 2001, end of Nov 02.
Definately miss the 5 litre V8 growl and pop, always will, and also the low down torque and the relaxed steering.
HOWEVER the new beast is faster, more comfortable, looks awesome and seems better put together. No rattles et al. A totally new generation car.
In the back of my mind is the worry of speed 6 engine publicity (all bad) but in reality they say that about all TVR's and mine have only ever needed a battery and of course fuel, (Much much much more in the 5L chimp that the Tuscan I'm pleased to say.). Still only done 3000 miles in the new Tuscan so fingers crossed.
Still, It cruises well and more quietly than the Chimp and goes like a bat out of hell when I feel like it. Amazing performance, and apparantly the sound grows on you too! My opinion .. DO IT. DO IT NOW!
PS - You can use Tuscans in the wet too! That's how I justified it to the wife!
BTW - Price sounds good! too good ???
>> Edited by darrel on Thursday 16th January 18:48
>> Edited by darrel on Thursday 16th January 18:48
Definately miss the 5 litre V8 growl and pop, always will, and also the low down torque and the relaxed steering.
HOWEVER the new beast is faster, more comfortable, looks awesome and seems better put together. No rattles et al. A totally new generation car.
In the back of my mind is the worry of speed 6 engine publicity (all bad) but in reality they say that about all TVR's and mine have only ever needed a battery and of course fuel, (Much much much more in the 5L chimp that the Tuscan I'm pleased to say.). Still only done 3000 miles in the new Tuscan so fingers crossed.
Still, It cruises well and more quietly than the Chimp and goes like a bat out of hell when I feel like it. Amazing performance, and apparantly the sound grows on you too! My opinion .. DO IT. DO IT NOW!
PS - You can use Tuscans in the wet too! That's how I justified it to the wife!
BTW - Price sounds good! too good ???
>> Edited by darrel on Thursday 16th January 18:48
>> Edited by darrel on Thursday 16th January 18:48
I agree with darrel, also swapped a very reliable 5.0l Chim for a new Tuscan. Only thing I really miss is the wonderful V8 sound. Should of taped that! The Tuscan is a completley different beast, doesn't have the torque of the Chim but when the revs build up it's like a rocket! What you will find very different is the handling and steering response, so much more positive which gives a lot more confidence.
Only other thing to say is BUY it, you really won't regret it.
Mick
Only other thing to say is BUY it, you really won't regret it.
Mick
Whatever temperature it is when I start the car. I never, ever, let the car idle when its cold - you'll wear the engine far more waiting for the oil to get hotter whilst it's idling for x minutes, rather that than setting straight off - the oil will warm up very quickly then. Just keep the revs down.
Here are John Ravenscrofts running in and engine warming up tips as posted on the TOG earlier this year.
"
JOHN RAVENSCROFT’S TIPS ON MECHANICAL SYMPATHY AND HIS ENGINES!
RUNNING IN
Most importantly, drive fairly normally. Being too gentle with an engine when running in can be as bad as being too rough.
Although it is important to avoid full throttle or over 4,000 rpm during the first 1,000 miles, occasional bursts (c.5 seconds) of 75% throttle up to 4,000 rpm, will help to bed the piston rings in.
FROM COLD
When starting, please be careful not to let it rev straight up so please make sure that you do not give it anything more than a tiny bit of throttle while cranking it over and then lift off as soon as it catches.
Then try to avoid more than 3,000 rpm until the oil (not water) temperature has exceeded 40°C, 4,000 rpm until 60°C and 7,000 rpm until 80°C. If it climbs above 110°C, please keep the revs below 5,000 rpm until the oil temperature returns to normal.
"
"
JOHN RAVENSCROFT’S TIPS ON MECHANICAL SYMPATHY AND HIS ENGINES!
RUNNING IN
Most importantly, drive fairly normally. Being too gentle with an engine when running in can be as bad as being too rough.
Although it is important to avoid full throttle or over 4,000 rpm during the first 1,000 miles, occasional bursts (c.5 seconds) of 75% throttle up to 4,000 rpm, will help to bed the piston rings in.
FROM COLD
When starting, please be careful not to let it rev straight up so please make sure that you do not give it anything more than a tiny bit of throttle while cranking it over and then lift off as soon as it catches.
Then try to avoid more than 3,000 rpm until the oil (not water) temperature has exceeded 40°C, 4,000 rpm until 60°C and 7,000 rpm until 80°C. If it climbs above 110°C, please keep the revs below 5,000 rpm until the oil temperature returns to normal.
"
Thanks all for your response,If you look on Autotrader online you will see the car there for sale, and its only 5 miles from my house etc.
Might have a look at the weekend to see if its what I like and get all the test done on it. The early cars seem to have trouble with finger followers, anyone had troube with these, and if so whats the cost of putting them right??
Again, thanks for your advice all
>> Edited by Mr Freefall on Friday 17th January 09:50
Might have a look at the weekend to see if its what I like and get all the test done on it. The early cars seem to have trouble with finger followers, anyone had troube with these, and if so whats the cost of putting them right??
Again, thanks for your advice all
>> Edited by Mr Freefall on Friday 17th January 09:50
andyvdg said: Whatever temperature it is when I start the car. I never, ever, let the car idle when its cold - you'll wear the engine far more waiting for the oil to get hotter whilst it's idling for x minutes, rather that than setting straight off - the oil will warm up very quickly then. Just keep the revs down.
Sh1t! I have always idled waiting for about 30C before setting off! Well normally the oil is between 8C and 12C so is this ok to set while keeping the revs low?
That should be fine. Remember you're also warming up the gearbox and diff at the same time by driving about. You don't want max acceleration when they are cold either.
Over the winter I was driving off with the oil at -2 degrees. It doesn't take very long before the oil is at 20 or 30 degrees. I've also followed John's advice below - no revs until the oil is above 50, and never max it until the oil is between 60 and 70.
Cheers,
Andy.
11250 miles and no rebuild (yet, touches wood etc.)
Over the winter I was driving off with the oil at -2 degrees. It doesn't take very long before the oil is at 20 or 30 degrees. I've also followed John's advice below - no revs until the oil is above 50, and never max it until the oil is between 60 and 70.
Cheers,
Andy.
11250 miles and no rebuild (yet, touches wood etc.)
The ‘idle or not to idle’ question always puzzled me 
.
andyvdg mentions that - “you'll wear the engine far more waiting for the oil to get hotter whilst it's idling for x minutes, rather that than setting straight off - rather that than setting straight off - the oil will warm up very quickly then. “
Strictly considering only the engine wear during warm up (ignoring diff/gearbox which, as mentioned, need warming too) I don’t understand why this would be, apart from the fact you are giving it twice the rpm and they are a bad thing until ready to rumble (lubrication and temperature being equal) ?
My assumption would be that the rate of temp increase of the key engine components is proportional to the number of revs - therefore the lower the rpm until operating temp the better. If you can achieve low rpm on the run then great, but I would have thought you get a better engine wear per revolution rate at idle because the temperature should actually increase faster when stationary because marginal airflow oil-cooling effects kicks in when travelling ??
I would expect that engine lubrication is probably not significantly worse at a stationary idle than when travelling at low speed because oil pressure is also mainly proportional to revs. 1500rpm is twice the idle speed so unless you have more than twice the lubrication benefits (from oil pumping/thermal efficiencies or somewhere) warming up whilst moving doesn’t sound like such a great deal !
The increased load pulling the car until the engine components are warmed through properly would induce its own stresses – maintaining a steady 1500 – 2000 rpm with little throttle means you need decent road conditions or lots of tidy gearchanges – otherwise the engine could labour.
As an urban dweller with an assault-course of manoeuvres to negotiate (e.g getting out of a sloping garage as tight as a gnat's chuff, several hill start/traffic lights combo’s etc) and traffic congestion at the start of my journey I figure it's more sympathetic for my engine to let the idle settle down, defrost the juices for 5 minutes or so on tickover (@700 rpm = 3500 revs, or the same as 2 minutes driving looking at it another way). Then take it as slow as practically possible without labouring the engine to warm her up properly and ease in the rest of the moving parts.
When out of the smoke I just start her up and go....Slowly.
I suspect that it's best to match your start-up routine to the conditions of the ride you expect during the warm up danger zone !
Probably a departure off thread, but if there is an engine nurse out there who knows if my theory is codswallop please shoot me down asap, wouldn’t want to advocate unnecessary idling.
And (Speed 6 Cerb - 18k miles, no probs)
. andyvdg mentions that - “you'll wear the engine far more waiting for the oil to get hotter whilst it's idling for x minutes, rather that than setting straight off - rather that than setting straight off - the oil will warm up very quickly then. “
Strictly considering only the engine wear during warm up (ignoring diff/gearbox which, as mentioned, need warming too) I don’t understand why this would be, apart from the fact you are giving it twice the rpm and they are a bad thing until ready to rumble (lubrication and temperature being equal) ?
My assumption would be that the rate of temp increase of the key engine components is proportional to the number of revs - therefore the lower the rpm until operating temp the better. If you can achieve low rpm on the run then great, but I would have thought you get a better engine wear per revolution rate at idle because the temperature should actually increase faster when stationary because marginal airflow oil-cooling effects kicks in when travelling ??
I would expect that engine lubrication is probably not significantly worse at a stationary idle than when travelling at low speed because oil pressure is also mainly proportional to revs. 1500rpm is twice the idle speed so unless you have more than twice the lubrication benefits (from oil pumping/thermal efficiencies or somewhere) warming up whilst moving doesn’t sound like such a great deal !
The increased load pulling the car until the engine components are warmed through properly would induce its own stresses – maintaining a steady 1500 – 2000 rpm with little throttle means you need decent road conditions or lots of tidy gearchanges – otherwise the engine could labour.
As an urban dweller with an assault-course of manoeuvres to negotiate (e.g getting out of a sloping garage as tight as a gnat's chuff, several hill start/traffic lights combo’s etc) and traffic congestion at the start of my journey I figure it's more sympathetic for my engine to let the idle settle down, defrost the juices for 5 minutes or so on tickover (@700 rpm = 3500 revs, or the same as 2 minutes driving looking at it another way). Then take it as slow as practically possible without labouring the engine to warm her up properly and ease in the rest of the moving parts.
When out of the smoke I just start her up and go....Slowly.
I suspect that it's best to match your start-up routine to the conditions of the ride you expect during the warm up danger zone !
Probably a departure off thread, but if there is an engine nurse out there who knows if my theory is codswallop please shoot me down asap, wouldn’t want to advocate unnecessary idling.
And (Speed 6 Cerb - 18k miles, no probs)
Having taken mine out several times over the "cold snap" (Nov to March ???) my oil temp after idling for a few mins and v. gentle driving managed a heady 42 degrees after about 10 - 15 mins. Should I
a) not go fast,
b) get the temp sensors looked at (although looks ok normally)
c) Drive for hours (until June?) to get it warm
d) or is 60 degs before giving it hell just a rule of thumb?
Any info much appreciated?
8.5 k no problems yet, and much in love.
a) not go fast,
b) get the temp sensors looked at (although looks ok normally)
c) Drive for hours (until June?) to get it warm
d) or is 60 degs before giving it hell just a rule of thumb?
Any info much appreciated?
8.5 k no problems yet, and much in love.
er...see my post below re warming up written by John Ravenscroft from TVR. FYI he is the guy that designed and built the Speed six engine...
I personally start mine up, let it idle for 3 or 4 minutes, reverse it out the garage, check tyre pressures/remove roof etc so maybe minimum of 5 minutes before I drive off gently. I normally wait until it says at least 30C before driving off. Then I normally wait for at least 20 minutes of driving and an oil temp of +80C before giving it some welly.
Traditionally lengthy idling at low rpm will cause wear to the top end of most older designed engines as not enough oil is being pumped around the engine when the oil is cold and thick by the oil pump at the low idle rpm.
I don't know if the dry sump design of the TVR engine is sophisticated enough to overcome this or not. Certainly the reason for the careful warming up process is because of the external dry sump tank which takes a lot longer for the oil to warm up.
If you visit any TVR dealer first thing in the morning you will see the sales guys starting up and letting the TVR designed engines in their demo cars idle away for ages so...
Cheers
Whitey
I personally start mine up, let it idle for 3 or 4 minutes, reverse it out the garage, check tyre pressures/remove roof etc so maybe minimum of 5 minutes before I drive off gently. I normally wait until it says at least 30C before driving off. Then I normally wait for at least 20 minutes of driving and an oil temp of +80C before giving it some welly.
Traditionally lengthy idling at low rpm will cause wear to the top end of most older designed engines as not enough oil is being pumped around the engine when the oil is cold and thick by the oil pump at the low idle rpm.
I don't know if the dry sump design of the TVR engine is sophisticated enough to overcome this or not. Certainly the reason for the careful warming up process is because of the external dry sump tank which takes a lot longer for the oil to warm up.
If you visit any TVR dealer first thing in the morning you will see the sales guys starting up and letting the TVR designed engines in their demo cars idle away for ages so...
Cheers
Whitey
darrel said: Having taken mine out several times over the "cold snap" (Nov to March ???) my oil temp after idling for a few mins and v. gentle driving managed a heady 42 degrees after about 10 - 15 mins. Should I
a) not go fast,
b) get the temp sensors looked at (although looks ok normally)
c) Drive for hours (until June?) to get it warm
d) or is 60 degs before giving it hell just a rule of thumb?
Any info much appreciated?
8.5 k no problems yet, and much in love.
When I was driving around last weekend the outside temperature never went above -3 Deg.C and oil temperature would not go above 45 Deg.C even after a one hour run on the motorway! The only way to get it higher is to drive through town so the only thing to do is keep the revs down or don't drive it, I know what I prefer to do.
Nick
And - don't know the technical details - but have been told this time and time again from for example car magazines "Ford engineers say an idling engine causes the most wear (EVO I think) - they also talked about urban /motorway cycles and the pensioner routine - starting the car, driving out the garage and turning the engine off", car operating manuals "drive away immediately to warm up" including my Fiat Coupe 20V Turbo where the turbo will spin at very high speed from the off.
I assume that it is more than twice as quick to raise the temperature of the oil when moving, and assuming that the wear is linearly proportional to the engine rpm, less wear would occur rather than leave it idle.
Car engine boffs to the rescue ?
Darrel - I'm glad your temperatures do the same thing as my car. I absolutely do not go over 2500rpm until the oil goes over 50 degrees and follow John's guidelines. So
a) Yes
b) They're OK
c) Yes
d) Absolutely don't break this rule
I find it better warming the car up on roads where regular gentle acceleration and braking is required. The only anomoly I've discovered is once up to temperature, if you hit a motorway and cruise using light throttle, the oil temperature can drop back down to about 40 on a very cold day. The water temperature stays constant at around 80. But when you pull off the motorway the oil temperature rises very quickly back to 60-70. I think it's the effect of where the oil temperature guage is and the fact the dry sump resevoir is at the front of the engine. All helps on hot days, but not on cold ones I guess.
Cheers,
Andy.
I assume that it is more than twice as quick to raise the temperature of the oil when moving, and assuming that the wear is linearly proportional to the engine rpm, less wear would occur rather than leave it idle.
Car engine boffs to the rescue ?
Darrel - I'm glad your temperatures do the same thing as my car. I absolutely do not go over 2500rpm until the oil goes over 50 degrees and follow John's guidelines. So
a) Yes
b) They're OK
c) Yes
d) Absolutely don't break this rule
I find it better warming the car up on roads where regular gentle acceleration and braking is required. The only anomoly I've discovered is once up to temperature, if you hit a motorway and cruise using light throttle, the oil temperature can drop back down to about 40 on a very cold day. The water temperature stays constant at around 80. But when you pull off the motorway the oil temperature rises very quickly back to 60-70. I think it's the effect of where the oil temperature guage is and the fact the dry sump resevoir is at the front of the engine. All helps on hot days, but not on cold ones I guess.
Cheers,
Andy.
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