How Much?

Author
Discussion

jeffgleed

Original Poster:

111 posts

277 months

Thursday 13th December 2001
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Just thought everyone could do with a laugh. My Griff has been getting more and more rattly recently so I decided to go for broke and replace the camshaft. As expected the rest of the top end is knackered as well. Total bill £1600. Bummer. Still it should sound a whole lot better when I get it back. This is worth nearly 2 grand ... isn't it?

MikeyT

16,926 posts

278 months

Friday 14th December 2001
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Some people will say it was – if it makes yer happy and yer car better. One question Jeff: what's your mileage?

TVR owner one day soon

JeffGleed

Original Poster:

111 posts

277 months

Friday 14th December 2001
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45K! It's 10 years old though and I have come across a few other people who have had camshafts fail at very low mileages. Something to do with poor lubrication for short journeys or something.

The price also includes replacing the ventilation fan (which is bizarrely located behind the headlight!)

apache

39,731 posts

291 months

Friday 14th December 2001
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jeff, when you say ratty, what do you mean

JeffGleed

Original Poster:

111 posts

277 months

Friday 14th December 2001
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I expect I meant to say rattly. You could hear the tappets rattling away when driving along on a constant throttle opening. With the bonnet open it all sounded very mechanical (Most other V8's e.g. Range Rovers and other TVR's are pretty quiet). It was more obvious with the roof up than down and had got worse after a few miles on the track. The garage have taken it apart and it's all pretty worn. The hardening on the camshaft and followers had gone, the timing gears and cam chain were also badly worn. The rockers and shafts were pretty bad but could have gone back on. The oil pressure was checked and is fine and everything is clean ... just knackered.

apache

39,731 posts

291 months

Saturday 15th December 2001
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kin ell, must have had a bit of abuse then (I hope) currently on 52k and as sweet as a nut

jeffgleed

Original Poster:

111 posts

277 months

Sunday 16th December 2001
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I found a bit about this on the V8 developments site. They reckoned it's quite a common problem with low mileage TVR's, not necessarily related to how much it's been hammered. The car came with all the receipts and has been through very few tyres for one that's had a hard life. Perhaps they prefer a good seeing to rather than chugging around. That's my theory anyway so it's in for a good thrashing when I get it back.

Jasper Gilder

2,166 posts

280 months

Wednesday 19th December 2001
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One cause may be thrashing it when its cold. Never a good idea with a Rover derived engine. I got a couple of Griff 500's up the high 50k's with no real cam problems but very little short journey work.