All Information on TVR 500 Engine.

[jarma001]

I have in my possession 2 complete turnkey TVR 500 engines. I'm a land rover person and was thinking of using one of the 500's for my rover. But, I have seen some specs that tell me that these TVR 500 engines are real tweaked up rover 4.6L engines. So my does anyone know how well built these 5.0L engines are and how many miles I can expect out of them compared to a new rover 4.6L? Hopefully you can help me make up my mind about these engines. If there not as reliable as a 4.6L then I will put them up for sale.

Thanks, Don Jarman.

[jasper gilder]

I had two Griffith 500's with 'serpentine' engines, both were sold at around 55,000 miles and the only problems I had had was one which had used too much oil for a while as a result of being set too rich and bore washing. Having said this a Land Rover is a bit heavier that a TVR so it will put more load on the engine...

[andy43]

No, no, no, the 500 engine is really rubbish compared to a 4.6... would £150 the pair be ok to take 'em off your hands???

[moschops_72]

andy43 said:

No, no, no, the 500 engine is really rubbish compared to a 4.6... would £150 the pair be ok to take 'em off your hands???

Auction started....

I'll give ya £200

[Apache]

he's right, these engines are dogs, I'll take em off your hands for £300

[wedg1e]

£301.72....

[RCA]

Balls!!!, As a pair I'll give you £500!!!!!!

[jarma001]

OK guys! I'm not dumb. I know what I have. These are (2) brand new TVR 500 "turnkey" engines. Just add a car and a computer and you're off to the races! Kill those damn Porsche's! But, you guys are right. I would have to beef up my trans just to cope with the 340 Hp that these things make. So lets sell these two then. I think that £3,000 pounds ($5,000 US dollars) is a good price for each complete engine. So who needs the best Damn V8 to come out of the UK? As I said these are complete engines with power steering pump, alternator, wiring harness and so on! Let me know if anyone wants pictures.

>> Edited by jarma001 on Wednesday 15th October 02:17

[j_s_g]

jarma001 said:

OK guys! I'm not dumb. I know what I have. These are (2) brand new TVR 500 "turnkey" engines. Just add a car and a computer and you're off to the races! Kill those damn Porsche's! But, you guys are right. I would have to beef up my trans just to cope with the 340 Hp that these things make. So lets sell these two then. I think that £3,000 pounds ($5,000 US dollars) is a good price for each complete engine. So who needs the best Damn V8 to come out of the UK? As I said these are complete engines with power steering pump, alternator, wiring harness and so on! Let me know if anyone wants pictures. >> Edited by jarma001 on Wednesday 15th October 02:17

So why not sell one & use the money to sort out everything needed to make use of the other in the 'Rover?

[zippy500]

Out of interest how many miles on average would a well cared for pre serp 500 engine do.i.e. no track days, FSH and ll that kind of stuff?

[jellison]

340bhp - in your dreams - if TVR engines and not some after market 5litre - 275 more like.

[davidd]

zippy500 said:

Out of interest how many miles on average would a well cared for pre serp 500 engine do.i.e. no track days, FSH and ll that kind of stuff?

many, many, many I would expect you could easily to over 100k

D.

[jellison]

150k easy - it is only making 55bhp per liter so is Hugely unstressed - my polo has done 130k and going strong so maybe 200k for big V8.

[andymadmak]

I might be in the market for one of these lumps. I would be realistic on the price too.
Where are they Jarma001? Your profile says you are USA based......
I suppose it would be rude to ask how you came to have 2 x new TVR 500 engines in your possession? This being the case I will add that any offer I make would be absolutley conditional on my being able to establish the authenticity/history of the unit.

Now, If I can just work out how to make it fit into my wedge............

Andy 400se

[spunagain]

Before buying them its worth checking an MG mag- the club can get new 4.6 with anciliaries for 2-3 grand with guarantees etc. I am not sure how much you need to do to make them 500 spec tho'

[shpub]

andymadmak said:

I Now, If I can just work out how to make it fit into my wedge............ Andy 400se

See the 520 story on www.t-v-r-services.co.uk

There was also the small matter of a computer that needed to be added...

>> Edited by shpub on Wednesday 15th October 12:46

[jarma001]

Ok. As "andymadmak" asked how did I get two new TVR 500 into the US. Well let's see. I have a friend that works for Mercury Marine(MM)here in the US. They were in the process of testing Land Rover engines as a lighter option to the heavy Ford and Chevy engines being used now. So MM bought new complete Rover and TVR turnkey engines to do dyno testing. Only a few Rover and one TVR engine ever got tested before the program was killed. So I bought only the new un-used engines (Rover & TVR). So you name it and I probably have it for sale, 4.0L, 4.6L, 4.5L, 5.0L! So to sum this up, new engines were bought from Rover and TVR by a US company and were or were not tested. Also, for the guy that said I was wrong about the TVR 500 producing 340 HP, let me explain. One of the TVR 500's had its fuel injection swapped for a carburetor and it did produce 340Hp on the dyno!

[Paul V]

jasper gilder said:

I had two Griffith 500's with 'serpentine' engines, both were sold at around 55,000 miles and the only problems I had had was one which had used too much oil for a while as a result of being set too rich and bore washing. Having said this a Land Rover is a bit heavier that a TVR so it will put more load on the engine...

Can I ask what any of the other symptoms were when you were getting bore wash? Mine is using lots of oil but also seems to be running very rich.

[davidd]

jarma001 said:

One of the TVR 500's had its fuel injection swapped for a carburetor and it did produce 340Hp on the dyno!

On a dyno with no ancillaries? Any details on the Carb?

D.