Speed Six Rebuild: Power 4.3 or 4.5?

[billynobrakes]

Don1 said:

billynobrakes said:

I have Doms 4.5 and it is awesome so much better then the 3.6, not as noisy and clattery, your not up and down the gears and no need to rev the nuts off it to get it going, you can plod around town in it and sit on a motorway and it just burbles along with ease but when you put your foot down it just takes off, my one is kicking out 414bhp and 368lbft of torque see graph,

I have just upgraded brakes to the 330mm grooved discs with Carbone Lorraine pads and so much better than the original set up, you can feel the brakes and they give you more confidence as well

You will not be disappointed in the 4.3

Nice results - I've updated the Modified wiki - hope you don't mind.

No problem

[chris watton]

Damn - why did I click on this thread and see those fantastic results - I have a house to modernise.......

[billynobrakes]

Stop fetling with diffs et, put the house on hold and just do it

[Incognegro]

billynobrakes said:

Personally I did not like the original brakes and when I got the 4.5 and went on track with it, it so quick that you need to be able to stop as well, so get the best brakes you can in my opinion to compliment the engine, I would love someone with more ability to take her round a track and see what she can really do
I have Gaz Monotubes on as well and they are outstanding as well

It cost me £15500 but I had other things done, silicone hoses, lightweight flywheel, plus loads of other bits

I would say you need to budget for £13000 as you need to get it back after 2500 miles for a re-map that takes a day

Hope that helps

Last thing , it exceeds what I expected from it and just love it so much more drivable at whatever speeds than the 3.6

Got me so excited! I'm already in the silicone hoses club and done just about every other upgrade needed. Lightweight flywheel hmmm maybe but in just thinking the 4.3 upgrade will be enough. The mapping will be fun after 2500m? Had a standard 4.0 rebuild done on dads Cerb and remap was done with tappets 1000m after does the 4.3/4.5 need a longer run in?

[billynobrakes]

Incognegro said:

Got me so excited! I'm already in the silicone hoses club and done just about every other upgrade needed. Lightweight flywheel hmmm maybe but in just thinking the 4.3 upgrade will be enough. The mapping will be fun after 2500m? Had a standard 4.0 rebuild done on dads Cerb and remap was done with tappets 1000m after does the 4.3/4.5 need a longer run in?

The 4.5 engine has to have the re-map to optimize it, I did not think the 4.3 had to have a re-map but I could be wrong,

The 4.5 gets the same 1000 mile run in period and service then you have to run it in for another 1500 before the re-map

[WolfyJones]

£15.5k is a lot of money, you can see why lots of owners want LS power, £5k for a new LS3 with more power and torque, I have always wondered how much of the cost is to cover the warranty, does seem very expensive to me, was speaking to a owner of a 4.3 the other day, he was disappointed with his 4.3 especially considering the cost.

You have to be a proper Tvr diehard to spend that money on a S6, respect

[chris watton]

WolfyJones said:

£15.5k is a lot of money, you can see why lots of owners want LS power, £5k for a new LS3 with more power and torque, I have always wondered how much of the cost is to cover the warranty, does seem very expensive to me, was speaking to a owner of a 4.3 the other day, he was disappointed with his 4.3 especially considering the cost.

You have to be a proper Tvr diehard to spend that money on a S6, respect

But it's still almost £10k cheaper than having the LS3 and new gearbox, clutch, looms etc. installed professionally.

If you're a dab-hand at this sort of stuff though, you're laughing.

For the rest of us, an LS3 conversion is around the £24k mark. I know this because I asked for a quote.

[billynobrakes]

£13,000 for the 4.5 I think £10,000 for 4.3

As you say how much for warranty but with 5 years unlimited mileage warranty if serviced by other TVR garages and 100,000 miles if serviced by powers no matter how many years it takes, I don't think you get that with an LS engine £5000 is only to buy as well and don't forget you have to adapt chassis to get the LS to fit and change clutch assembly to fit different exhaust to fit ,so cost of LS with fitting and all the adaptions the cost will soon start to go up

Plus I am a die hard TVR owner, must be I have a Griff, Cerb and T350

[WolfyJones]

chris watton said:

But it's still almost £10k cheaper than having the LS3 and new gearbox, clutch, looms etc. installed professionally.

If you're a dab-hand at this sort of stuff though, you're laughing.

For the rest of us, an LS3 conversion is around the £24k mark. I know this because I asked for a quote.

What I was trying to say is if LS had been fitted by TVR in first place and it went pop it would cost around £7k to fit a new engine that has more power and torque,

With that in mind you can see why the LS appeals to lots of owners.

[chris watton]

The 4.3, if you have just the upgrade, starter motor and the larger injectors, is more around the £9k mark - but I know many have a new clutch and perhaps rad at the same time, which makes sense while the engine's out.

[WolfyJones]

Prices have rocketed, I'm sure a remember a S spec rebuild being only around 4.5k, it seems power and St8six have a nice monopoly going,

[Incognegro]

All very interesting as I seem to have worked backwards, taken care of the clutch and smaller stuff and now just wanting more grunt from the engine.

Interesting to hear of a disappointed 4.3 owner, can we be more specific? In talking to Dom I hear the 4.3 is the happy medium in that the 4.5 extra over the 4.3 does need t be in the hands of a better driver as the 4.3 in the right hands is a match... Now you guys have rattled me, doI get the 4.3 done in April and see Le Mans, St Tropez & Monaco in the summer or do I hold out in the Standard 4L for another year and take a crazy jump into a 5Litre Cerbera rebuild?

Edited to say thanks for all the info...

Also £4.5k for an S engine upgrade thats cheap? I wonder how this monopoly is being rigged. I may have to take a large bag of cash and hold firm... lol

Edited by Incognegro on Sunday 10th August 15:07

[WolfyJones]

Incognegro said:

All very interesting as I seem to have worked backwards, taken care of the clutch and smaller stuff and now just wanting more grunt from the engine.

Interesting to hear of a disappointed 4.3 owner, can we be more specific? In talking to Dom I hear the 4.3 is the happy medium in that the 4.5 extra over the 4.3 does need t be in the hands of a better driver as the 4.3 in the right hands is a match... Now you guys have rattled me, doI get the 4.3 done in April and see Le Mans, St Tropez & Monaco in the summer or do I hold out in the Standard 4L for another year and take a crazy jump into a 5Litre Cerbera rebuild?

Problem is these guys won't say on a public forum and I don't blame them, he spent a lot more than the prices mentioned here and was just disappointed with the power and wish he had gone to Topcats instead.

[Incognegro]

WolfyJones said:

Problem is these guys won't say on a public forum and I don't blame them, he spent a lot more than the prices mentioned here and was just disappointed with the power and wish he had gone to Topcats instead.

Thanks for that, I hate the fact people cant be honest on here as surely thats all part of a good deal bad feedback is every bit as if not more important that good. Dont rip anyone but honesty is key.

Now im gonna research that more and check Topcats while there.

Thank you.

[WolfyJones]

Incognegro said:

Thanks for that, I hate the fact people cant be honest on here as surely thats all part of a good deal bad feedback is every bit as if not more important that good. Dont rip anyone but honesty is key.

Now im gonna research that more and check Topcats while there.

Thank you.

More likely to come on here and say how fantastic it is but will then try and flog it

And the other hand I've met a few owners who were very pleased with the 4.3 upgrade

[billynobrakes]

All I can say is I am more than happy with the power from the 4.5, I have been on 2 track days with it now and you have to be careful when hitting the loud pedal coming out of bends or you will be facing the wrong way

I will stop after this as I am more than happy with my 4.5 in fact it could do with traction control but then it would not be a TVR now there is an other argument which I will not be drawn into, you can put the biggest American engine you like in it and some have but the chassis will not cope, neither will the diff etc etc

[chris watton]

billynobrakes said:

All I can say is I am more than happy with the power from the 4.5, I have been on 2 track days with it now and you have to be careful when hitting the loud pedal coming out of bends or you will be facing the wrong way

I will stop after this as I am more than happy with my 4.5 in fact it could do with traction control but then it would not be a TVR now there is an other argument which I will not be drawn into, you can put the biggest American engine you like in it and some have but the chassis will not cope, neither will the diff etc etc

I am seemingly one of the few that prefers the linear power of the 3.6 and enjoy revving it, much more so than the Chim 450 I had. This is why I know I will love the 4.3 - that will have more than enough power for me, for driving along our twisty B-Roads.

For me, if there's too much power all at once in such a light car, then (and I am basing this on my own basic driving standards) it is only good for 'point and squirt' drag races. I personally didn't buy a 2-seater sports car for traffic light Grand Prix's, I bought it to drive it like a sports car. For this, and for me, the S6 is nigh on perfect.

A 430 BHP LS3 would have been nice, but the cost is over double the cost of a 4.3 rebuild - and I very much doubt I would get twice the buzz.

Edited by chris watton on Sunday 10th August 16:10

[Incognegro]

billynobrakes said:

All I can say is I am more than happy with the power from the 4.5, I have been on 2 track days with it now and you have to be careful when hitting the loud pedal coming out of bends or you will be facing the wrong way

I will stop after this as I am more than happy with my 4.5 in fact it could do with traction control but then it would not be a TVR now there is an other argument which I will not be drawn into, you can put the biggest American engine you like in it and some have but the chassis will not cope, neither will the diff etc etc

Now Im back to square 1. I really want the 4.3 and its like the above I love to hear! Dont want an LS but I find the standard 4.0 too much for the UK roads (due to other cars being around) but I still find myself being able to try and see its limits. Im hoping the 4.3 is just a Beast I dare not explore and everything is mad but well within tolerances.

4.3 its is again!

Thanks for all info again chaps.

[WolfyJones]

billynobrakes said:

All I can say is I am more than happy with the power from the 4.5, I have been on 2 track days with it now and you have to be careful when hitting the loud pedal coming out of bends or you will be facing the wrong way

I will stop after this as I am more than happy with my 4.5 in fact it could do with traction control but then it would not be a TVR now there is an other argument which I will not be drawn into, you can put the biggest American engine you like in it and some have but the chassis will not cope, neither will the diff etc etc

Your car has good power and great torque for a S6, some of the best figures I've seen posted

[WolfyJones]

chris watton said:

I am seemingly one of the few that prefers the linear power of the 3.6 and enjoy revving it, much more so than the Chim 450 I had. This is why I know I will love the 4.3 - that will have more than enough power for me, for driving along our twisty B-Roads.

For me, if there's too much power all at once in such a light car, then (and I am basing this on my own basic driving standards) it is only good for 'point and squirt' drag races. I personally didn't buy a 2-seater sports car for traffic light Grand Prix's, I bought it to drive it like a sports car. For this, and for me, the S6 is nigh on perfect.

A 430 BHP LS3 would have been nice, but the cost is over double the cost of a 4.3 rebuild - and I very much doubt I would get twice the buzz.

Edited by chris watton on Sunday 10th August 16:10

ls3 would cost £5k more than a 4.3 if the numbers I've been told are correct, did Topcats quote you £24k for a Ls3 install?