RE: Chimaera LS6
Discussion
chevtrev said:
My engine (and not been fully Wortec'd) till wed is making > 300ft/l from virtually tickover (1800 to the redline). And LS1 red line is 6250, LS6 6600. An Rv8 500 as a long stroke older design is not safe for extended periods over 6 and power is all done by 57 in anycase.
And to think,Jons is the wee tiddler of all the tvr/chev transplants..
Tiddler! - We will see on Wednesday at least it is an lS6 Z06 and not the LS1 (they are great too!).
My RV8 needed a cam at 27k miles - FSH - daft cash to do it to just to get back to <270bhp!
jellison said:
THE ONLY DIFFERENCE between a chim and a tuscan is the suspension quality / spring / damper rates. (Tuscan chassis is virtually identical only in round tube vs square).
Can't comment on the suitability of the Chimaera chassis or not, but I think the on-the-road differences to a Tuscan are probably a bit more significant than just springs and dampers. Don't just overlook the Tuscan 'round tube' vs Chim's square tube - the round tube is CDS...I gather all square/rectangular sections are welded and also a fair bit weaker. Stand to be corrected on that one.
The Tuscan suspension is fully rose jointed - so more than just a difference in spring rates and dampers. Plus its fully adjustable for camber, caster, bump-steer etc., so there's a fair bit more you can change to accomodate the differences in weight (at least that's what I'm counting on
). ...and there's a roll cage. I gather this adds significantly to the stiffness of the chassis. IIRC it makes if 33% stiffer os something like that.
chevtrev said:
My engine (and not been fully Wortec'd) till wed is making > 300ft/l from virtually tickover (1800 to the redline).
And to think,Jons is the wee tiddler of all the tvr/chev transplants..
...and mine made 400ft/lb from 2700rpm onwards, with 485ft/lb max
But mine's also built on an oldish 4-bolt-mains iron block (although everything else bar the block is new). Don't forget that while the old iron blocks have a weight penalty, putting a 'new build' engine in the car with a 'old' block means emissions testing is limited to 'no visible smoke' only! It would be nice to get an alloy block at some point in the future, but the iron block is an easier way to get the car registered by sidestepping all the emmissions milarky.
Lots of suggestions of different motors...but I guess for everyone that suggests anything other than a Chevy (or maybe a Ford) then either they aren't doing it for real, or it ain't their money they're spending, or they have loads more cash than me. Sure you can get x00bhp out of loads of engines, but with a Chevy it's just so comparatively cheap!
Unless you've had a real look at what's available in Chevy circles you may be surprised. This is not where my engine was born, but just have a look at the options and prices on this one site alone www.amerspeed.com/scgi-bin/showenginetypes.cgi
I'm sure you can get 500+ bhp out a Toyocedesxusmw or whatever, but for less than $8000 'new'? OK there's duty if you import, but still serious HP per $ (or £). Quite simply, my engine budget would not have bought near-as-dammit 500bhp on any other engine rather than a Chevy.
Now thats not to say TVR should use Chevys - personally I think they should stick with their own engines as anything 'bought in' smacks of kit car to me. (So yes, I do think a Marcos or a Morgan is more 'kit car than a TVR). BUT, for after market folks who just want to drop in more power I think a SBC is hard to beat.
WB
jellison said:
Thirsty - they go forward same as in std car - but MUCH better than std rubbish system (all those Huge bore changes and goiing from 2 to 1 to 2 just murder the gas flow. And engine is only SLightly bigger (a tad a cross the heads).
I guess it just looks more crowded with the large red Corvette covers over the heads.
As for the BHP you mentioned in one of your other threads... My Chim 450 rated at 285 BHP was actually putting out 233 at the flywheel and 198 at the wheels. Still had lots of grunt, but always wondered why TVR fudged their numbers so badly.
vjj said:Mine is still original at 9 years old- but it does only have 26k miles. Still a baby!
vjj said:
At the rate Griff and Chimaera 500's go 'bang' that day may come sooner than we think.
What justification do you have for this statement - which I for one find hard to believe. In all my years of 500 Chim ownership I have no recollection of any reputation of fragility being attributed to the 500 engine. How many engines are you aware of "going bang"? Details, and justification, please.
Mr Meldrew
3 rebuilds of my own.....all less than 40000 miles.
I ran them as company cars for years before the baby came along in 2002, averaging 35000 miles per year.
Of the twenty or so 500's within my circle of friends,including my own vehicles, only six have not had either a major rebuild of the existing lump or a replacement from V8 Developments or John Eales.
The evidence is there. Ask mark Adams.
I don't dispute your personal experience, but it still comes as a surprise that you are aware of so many engine failures. Even more surprising, given human nature, that such failures have not been heralded on PH before now, expecially as the reliability or otherwise of the Speed 6 is an oft debated topic.
victormeldrew said:
victormeldrew said:
vjj said:
At the rate Griff and Chimaera 500's go 'bang' that day may come sooner than we think.
What justification do you have for this statement - which I for one find hard to believe. In all my years of 500 Chim ownership I have no recollection of any reputation of fragility being attributed to the 500 engine. How many engines are you aware of "going bang"? Details, and justification, please.
Mr Meldrew
3 rebuilds of my own.....all less than 40000 miles.
I ran them as company cars for years before the baby came along in 2002, averaging 35000 miles per year.
Of the twenty or so 500's within my circle of friends,including my own vehicles, only six have not had either a major rebuild of the existing lump or a replacement from V8 Developments or John Eales.
The evidence is there. Ask mark Adams.
Mine is still original at 9 years old- but it does only have 26k miles. Still a baby!
I don't dispute your personal experience, but it still comes as a surprise that you are aware of so many engine failures. Even more surprising, given human nature, that such failures have not been heralded on PH before now, expecially as the reliability or otherwise of the Speed 6 is an oft debated topic.
There was a tendency to accept unreliability, in whatever guise, as part of the ownership experience.
Whenever I meet any new tvr owners the first thing I ask is the provenance of the engine.
Experience, I suppose.
However, please don't misunderstand my motives.
I still have a griff 500 and would sell my granny into slavery in order to keep it. Despite my previous bad experiences I love chimaeras and griffs dearly, and always will.
The noise, the heady whiff of 98, the look of envy on every boy racer's face, making sash windows rattle as you drive past............these things cannot be easily replaced or have a value put upon them.
jellison said:
Ed - WILL BE MENTAL when I get it from Wortec / SRR on Wednesday!
It will be loads better. Those stand alone aftermarket ecu's aren't much cop and can't be mapped easily. I would advise anybody to use a stock ecu so it CAN be mapped or go for a DTA or similar and get launch and traction control.
Boosted.
Boosted,
Thanks goes to Jay GTi who got the right manufacturer. Keith Black did do some really neat stuff, including the alloy Hemi (old style). I remember he made engines like that but didn't really know the details. Thanks for the info, Jay.
lap_time,
You have some really cool ideas, even if they're not necessarily easy to implement. Anyway, here's some food for thought:
www.lextreme.com/
www.1uzquadcam.co.nz/
Enjoy.
Miguel
Thanks goes to Jay GTi who got the right manufacturer. Keith Black did do some really neat stuff, including the alloy Hemi (old style). I remember he made engines like that but didn't really know the details. Thanks for the info, Jay.
lap_time,
You have some really cool ideas, even if they're not necessarily easy to implement. Anyway, here's some food for thought:
www.lextreme.com/
www.1uzquadcam.co.nz/
Enjoy.
Miguel
Miguel said:
Boosted,
Thanks goes to Jay GTi who got the right manufacturer. Keith Black did do some really neat stuff, including the alloy Hemi (old style). I remember he made engines like that but didn't really know the details. Thanks for the info, Jay.
lap_time,
You have some really cool ideas, even if they're not necessarily easy to implement. Anyway, here's some food for thought:
www.lextreme.com/
www.1uzquadcam.co.nz/
Enjoy.
Miguel
Cheers for the sites. About the NZ site, have you seen Rod Millen's hot rod? Rod's a Kiwi living in LA, and he owns a Ford roadster replica powered by a 500hp blown 1UZ. And it's fairly easy to think of ideas if you don't have to think about how you're going to pay for them... even if that means you don't have any money to implement them at all...
If you look around on www.corvetteforum.com you will find quite a lot of soundclips of how this engines can sound. I have always loved the RV8 sound as well, but must admit that the idea of 400 real and reliable BHP's sounds very tempting. Besides, from the soundclips i have found i must say that they sound very nice too!
Are there any companies within the UK willing to do this conversion on a commercial base?
Are there any companies within the UK willing to do this conversion on a commercial base?
infinity said:
Are there any companies within the UK willing to do this conversion on a commercial base?
Tower View will be offering this service initially for Cerberas but other cars can be done based on the development work I'm doing at the moment for the LS transplant into my Cerbera. As for costs all depends on what you want replacing and what with.
Gassing Station | TVR Major Mods | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff