RE: Breaking News: AJP8 Relaunched

[dinkel]

My view: if you carefully maintain and care for your car it should be allright and deliver max durabillity.

I just heard a story about a '65 Vette driver choosing his co-driver because of care for the mechanics. If you want to race, you want to finish. Preferable with a lasting engine. Taking good care for it - even or just! in extreme situations - will give you max of everything.

The AJP8-owners I know - more than a handfull - (most have upgraded their machinery to 400+ brake) didn't suffer from 'strange' breakdown and quick rebuilts.

But then: they take good care for their cars.

[itsallyellow]

I believe an AJP could do a 24 hour....

Although i have heard the words blind optimism mentioned.
How can anyone say it can or cant if no one has tried?

[darren no 7]

i also think it would last if not over reved as long as it was built out of new parts and properly

Edited by darren no 7 on Saturday 14th February 15:38

[ridds]

What about all the engines in the Tuscan Challenge cars?

I'm sure none of them are rebuilt every race. Add up all the time they've been running and you'll be getting on for some serious hours.

It's hard to find out, as said, you'd need to put an engine out there to find out. With basic care and pre-engineering for the race I can't see why it would go bang.

Those that say it will go bang, what do they suspect would fail?

[plasticman]

If a speed six can do it then an AJP should walk it !

[Allandwf]

plasticman said:

If a speed six can do it then an AJP should walk it !

They were AJPs in them

[LordGrover]

^

[Graham]

Allandwf said:

plasticman said:

If a speed six can do it then an AJP should walk it !

They were AJPs in them

I expect he's referring to the T400's that ran at le mans iirc out of a total of 5 car over 3 years i think 4 finished but not particularly well. Running at LM though they will have had big budgets, and probably swapped motors out between qually and race..


I really would like to see an AJP do a 24 and finish well, but for me its too much of a risk, and endurance racing is all about minimizing risk whilst maximizing performance... The perceived wisdom from guys with experience is that it would be pushing it add to that its 1/3 - 1/2 as much again as an alternative to risky for me..


As for the failures... well in the challenge over the last couple of years there have been a couple of cranks let go and ( although they may have been road cranks) and about 4 head gaskets. not sure on the other issues..


Darren so are you going to stick a melling ajp in the sag then :-)

G

[Guillotine]

I heard that LNT spend over £100k per SP6 engine!

But they lasted AND were proper quick.

[trackcar]

Guillotine said:

I heard that LNT spend over £100k per SP6 engine!

But they lasted AND were proper quick.

Crikey that makes our SP6 race exploits seem cheap

[darren no 7]

not at that price if i can get all the parts to build a proper ajp i my go that way as i have tones of bits and it would go stright in

[dinkel]

I wonder if 'some over here' realise what the costs are for a proper racing engine . . . compared to a 'crate'.

Compared to a proper racing AJP8 / 6 / Wilder a yank V8 may seem peanut money, but I would not bet my money on one in a 24 hr race.

I've talked to a few racemechs and there's 'a bit' more to it than just choosing / buying / dropping an engine in a racing car to make it quick / last and win.

Anyways, I'm dead curious who will choose / buy / drop a Melling AJP8 in and go race it.

[Graham]

dinkel said:

I wonder if 'some over here' realise what the costs are for a proper racing engine . . . compared to a 'crate'.

YES I Do thanks :-) including some very specific experience with cars and costs running ls motors and rv8's I think you would be very surprised at the comparisons....


But just to make the Melling/ajp look good value the powertec v8's are around 22k for under 400 bhp..

Edited by Graham on Sunday 15th February 18:11

[chumleyuk]

Is it just me but are half the posts in this thread borderline unreadable?

[BountyHunter]

Mr Freefall said:

Harryw did 450 dyno's,

yes but rolling roads are notoriously innacurate and vary from site to site.

you would hope that the Melling figures would be genuine bench dyno ones.

PiB said:

the LS line does not have a flat plane crank so to me it doesn't sound as exotic and doesn't spin up as nice or as smoothly.

come off it

its only at high rpm that the flat plane sounds decent and even then its not as melodious as a proper v8

[JR]

Graham said:

As for the failures... well in the challenge over the last couple of years there have been a couple of cranks let go and ( although they may have been road cranks) and about 4 head gaskets. not sure on the other issues..

Darren so are you going to stick a melling ajp in the sag then :-)

In that case it's a good job that the Melling V8 runs with solid billet cranks and cams as well as redesigned and stronger pistons.
As for cost and racing it depends how much the weight saving means to you. 80+kg lighter than an LS?

[HPRulz]

wonder which size cranks actually failed? as the original crank journals were 63mm the later cranks were beefed up to 68mm so do you know which the failed ones were?

[cramorra]

franv8 said:

If I want pointless CNC billet work to add onto an engine, I'll be sure to pick up the American aftermarket parts catalogues.

...I've hankered after a Vette since being a teenager, and have now had my '86 for about 4 and a half years. Do all my own work, which probably helps as either a) I am unlucky or b) I'm just surprisingly good at breaking things. (Latest is, er, big end on the Vette...) In the lead up to finally joining the Vette ownership club, first three cars I had were all white Skoda Rapids, followed by a string of half a dozen Capris (I know, I know, now you all think I'm real born and bred upper class...) ...

Your profile makes you obviously a valid (lots of AJP 8 experience) and neutral (unbiased on US products)reporter on British high performance engines

Edited by cramorra on Wednesday 25th March 16:51

[Lutz]

Get a life, guys. I love the AJP8 in the Cerbs, but let is face it: TVR never won a major race and (as it looks) never will.


Reliability of the AJP8 was not an issue FOR A TVR, it would never have passed any established car manufacturer's quality control.

If AJ Melling says more powerful, more reliable....well, TVR did not exactly says their 6pot was unreliable when they brought it out, but it was. So do you really feel inclined to believe him? Well then go and get his engines, his Hell, Wild and other cats...
I still want my Cerb....

[TheOrangePeril]

hiltonig said:

trackcar said:

gb8888 said:

When are you people going to learn that Mr Melling is full of st. That includes Pistonheads by the way.

Oh go away and leave us to our romantic dreams

Yes I quite agree, in these doom and gloom times heres hoping for a bit British engineering ! Give the bloke a chance unless you have lots of money and do this yourself so shut up

+1