290S 2.9 modification's

[Ultimatequinoxe]

Customers asked me about tuning his colonge engined 290S. He is thinking about buying a cosworth engine to strip down and rebuild and fit in to it. But for now he asked for my thoughts which has me now asking questions I can't get answers to, can you help !!???

First place I looked was the air intake, seems like half the air is being sucked right off the radiator, has anyone made up a heat shield perhaps that can reduce the amount of hot air sucked in from there ? Or maybe ( and I personally feel ) has anyone redirected the intake to a nice fresh air vent either on top or in front ?

The latter part of the exhaust is a custom made jobby ( sounds oh so good ! ), but the pipes between the manifolds and the rest of the system are standard, has anyone found/made any stainless steel type pipes in there ?

Are there any other thoughts about upping BHP ( only a little ) and generally getting the most out of these engines ( in terms of performance and drivability ), IE ignition mods, plenum upgrades etc etc ?

I've not inspected the brakes or anything else yet, this is just a little curiosity to see if I can help this guy out at all. Thanks !

[Barkychoc]

V8S sucks air in from above the rad - thats where the air filter sits.
There's not loads of room under the bonnet so heat is always going to be a bit of a problem.

If you want some under bonnet pics to understand it let me know - the air flow meter is right near the bulkhead on the V8S and there's a long aluminium pipe (not an ideal material in my view) right to the front of the car.

[Gerald-TVR]

Ultimatequinoxe said:

but the pipes between the manifolds and the rest of the system are standard, has anyone found/made any stainless steel type pipes in there ?

TVR Car Parts, ACT Products, JP Exhausts

[techbotics]

I believe some have had good results from a cam change but you prob want to save the money for the cosworth engine.

2 best mods to mine were mx5 mirrors the bat wings are useless and a Granada cos rear LSD oh and gran cos breaks all round.

Your customer should prob buy a pre 95 gran cosworth and swap engine LSD and breaks IMHO.

LSD makes a huge difference you can actually use all the existing power to move forward rather than making loads of noise spinning one rear wheel.

Cheers Damian s3

[Ultimatequinoxe]

All great info, thanks ! I shall pass it on to the owner. I did mention to him that money is likely best put to a complete cosworth so that other bits can be stripped off it ( IE brakes and some switches, relays, diff etc etc. )

[chrischat]

I seem to remember someone on here moved the rad mounts to the offside slighly so it just cleared the inner wing.Then made an airbox to fit down the near side of the rad to collect the cooler air. Quite a bit of work for i dont know how much reward.

[NTEL]

Ultimatequinoxe said:

Are there any other thoughts about upping BHP ( only a little ) and generally getting the most out of these engines ( in terms of performance and drivability ), IE ignition mods, plenum upgrades etc etc ?

1. Bin the injection system
2. fit an inlet manifold
3. Fit a weber DFE 40 carb
4. 4" induction and K&N filter
5. Fit spicy cam from John Toovey of Cannock

Easy fit and 200 plus BHP with loads of torque. I've got an inlet manifold and carb if interested

[techbotics]

And what would the fuel economy be with that set up.. love getting 30Mpg+ in my S...

Carbs would sound sooo good though..

D

[The Lukas]

A fast road cam, port matching and a remap should see a noticeable increase. Probably the easier of many options.

[NTEL]

techbotics said:

And what would the fuel economy be with that set up.. love getting 30Mpg+ in my S...

Carbs would sound sooo good though..

D

fuel economy? It hasn't got any! Mind you, its not as bad as my current set up with triple weber DCNF carbs. At full chat it uses 1 litre per minute but it does rev to 7500rpm

[The Lukas]

NTEL said:

techbotics said:

And what would the fuel economy be with that set up.. love getting 30Mpg+ in my S...

Carbs would sound sooo good though..

D

fuel economy? It hasn't got any! Mind you, its not as bad as my current set up with triple weber DCNF carbs. At full chat it uses 1 litre per minute but it does rev to 7500rpm

For road use, I'd definatly stick to injection. And if I wanted more performance, I'd upgrade the management system to that of an Emerald or Mega Squirt.