Shall I go Red Rose
Discussion
Am having my Cerbera (4.5) engine whipped out soon to have one (or maybe two) heads overhauled (a couple of plugs have got some oil on them on one bank). Whilst the engine is out this will mean we will see if it could do with a 'refresh' elsewhere. (But it isnt smoking, burning oil, noisey etc).
This could get expensive so I am considering going the whole hog and getting it converted to Red Rose spec at the same time. This will only add about £500 to the overall bill.
Anyone else had theirs converted? Is it worth it? Will this refresh (and tune up) help resale later?
Cheers.
This could get expensive so I am considering going the whole hog and getting it converted to Red Rose spec at the same time. This will only add about £500 to the overall bill.
Anyone else had theirs converted? Is it worth it? Will this refresh (and tune up) help resale later?
Cheers.
If you can get the red rose upgrade for £500, it certainly can't hurt the resale value. Who in the factory gave you this number, and was it a firm quote? If so, bite their hand off!
The labour involved in porting the heads is more than £500, let alone all the different bits!
As for whether it's worth it... well, Martin Redwood's original Red Rose car was certainly quicker on the road than mine, which has the highest 4.5 dyno recorded bhp (350). I had my engine converted to red rose spec, but haven't finished running it in yet due to work commitments. After some misfiring due to dodgy HT leads, it now flies, but I won't be able to thrash it properly for another 1000 miles yet.
danny
PS If it's isn't noisy/rattly/burning oil, why bother with refreshing it at all? But if you have oil on plugs it MUST by using oil and smoking out the back. How much oil do you put in per 1000 miles? If significant, you'll need to rebuild for resale anyway.
>> Edited by dannylt on Tuesday 16th April 09:35
The labour involved in porting the heads is more than £500, let alone all the different bits!
As for whether it's worth it... well, Martin Redwood's original Red Rose car was certainly quicker on the road than mine, which has the highest 4.5 dyno recorded bhp (350). I had my engine converted to red rose spec, but haven't finished running it in yet due to work commitments. After some misfiring due to dodgy HT leads, it now flies, but I won't be able to thrash it properly for another 1000 miles yet.
danny
PS If it's isn't noisy/rattly/burning oil, why bother with refreshing it at all? But if you have oil on plugs it MUST by using oil and smoking out the back. How much oil do you put in per 1000 miles? If significant, you'll need to rebuild for resale anyway.
>> Edited by dannylt on Tuesday 16th April 09:35
The quote was from 'my' mechanic who spoke to the factory. The whole RR refresh is probably between 4 and 5 thousand. Depending on whats what.
The car uses hardly any oil and it takes about 2000 miles or so before the plug gets very oily. I probably top up the oil every 300 miles or so (about 1/4 of the dipstick inspection bit length to top her up).
The head(s) need to be fixed but I am only assuming that it will be best to give it a refresh but it depends what we find once the engine is out. I'd rather not fork out 5K or so but if I have to do that then it might be worth converting to RR. Did you get a button for advancing/retarding the timing ?
Gary
The car uses hardly any oil and it takes about 2000 miles or so before the plug gets very oily. I probably top up the oil every 300 miles or so (about 1/4 of the dipstick inspection bit length to top her up).
The head(s) need to be fixed but I am only assuming that it will be best to give it a refresh but it depends what we find once the engine is out. I'd rather not fork out 5K or so but if I have to do that then it might be worth converting to RR. Did you get a button for advancing/retarding the timing ?
Gary
If the heads have to come off, then it may as well have a refresh of the bottom end too. If the engine is coming out, you may as well get a new clutch too (mine was worn out anyway) - but then it all starts adding up!
I would definitely get them to confirm the quote for all the extra red rose work though - there's quite a bit of labour involved. Mine was the first retrospective one done (i.e. not on a new engine), and I think they're still happy to do others - I was going to report back once I've finished running it in. The list price is about 2500 on a new car, more on an old one (recover costs for engine out, strip down, and so on).
Yep, you get the advance/retard button. I can say it makes bugger all seat of the pants perceptible difference below 5k rpm part throttle though! It definitely changes the ignition advance though - not sure about fuelling.
danny
PS Mail me direct.
>> Edited by dannylt on Tuesday 16th April 10:23
I would definitely get them to confirm the quote for all the extra red rose work though - there's quite a bit of labour involved. Mine was the first retrospective one done (i.e. not on a new engine), and I think they're still happy to do others - I was going to report back once I've finished running it in. The list price is about 2500 on a new car, more on an old one (recover costs for engine out, strip down, and so on).
Yep, you get the advance/retard button. I can say it makes bugger all seat of the pants perceptible difference below 5k rpm part throttle though! It definitely changes the ignition advance though - not sure about fuelling.
danny
PS Mail me direct.
>> Edited by dannylt on Tuesday 16th April 10:23
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