LS3 for the Tuscan

LS3 for the Tuscan

Author
Discussion

Ken Barlow

86 posts

164 months

Thursday 1st December 2011
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flyingdutchie said:
Keep us posted Don. I didn't know about Steve and Dave doing a Tamora. They did my Cerbera with that engine and they also did the Tuscan and T350. Quite some models by now.
Why wouldn't you use the T5 (strenghtened) and the MBE ECU, tinker?
Was told by MBE not to use Tuscan ecu on modern Chevy V8

,

Brummmie

5,284 posts

220 months

Thursday 1st December 2011
quotequote all
Ken Barlow said:
flyingdutchie said:
Keep us posted Don. I didn't know about Steve and Dave doing a Tamora. They did my Cerbera with that engine and they also did the Tuscan and T350. Quite some models by now.
Why wouldn't you use the T5 (strenghtened) and the MBE ECU, tinker?
Was told by MBE not to use Tuscan ecu on modern Chevy V8

,
We tried to use the MBE ECU, it was reconfigured by SBD developements (the MBE people) it didnt work for us, we spent two days trying to get it to run.
Plugged Emerald in and it fired straight away.
SBD didnt want to know, Took my money ok though...

Why spend the money on getting a T5 strengthened, it costs about the same as a TKO600, TKO600 is manufactured to handle 600lbs/ft.
If someone wants to be the guinea pig, and try a big torque one then do so, going to cost twice if it doesnt work.



Don1

15,928 posts

207 months

Thursday 1st December 2011
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For me (just like the Sag), this is going to be kept very much out in the open - what works, doesn't work, figures, costs etc. Therefore others can see what is happening, and make their own decision.

As for the ECU, we'll see what happens, but no doors are closed, let's put it that way!

shpub

8,507 posts

271 months

Thursday 1st December 2011
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I was that guinea pig... I have tested the strengthened T5 and a plain vanilla T5 on my supercharged Wedge which put out around the 550lbfit. It ran on slicks when hill climbing and sprinting.

The plain T5 lasted about a year and then broke. The CTS T5 hasn't broken at all despite my best efforts. They also have customers putting way more than I do through it, including a Cobra owner who broke the 600 on the strip but hasn't the CTS T5. So it is at least an equivalent to a TKO.

Either approach works. And yes if you want to do silly(or more accurately fun) things I agree that you need to consider doing something to the gearbox.

As for the MBE, it works fine but Dave Walker is helping me to provide an Emerald alternative if people want it.

Don1

15,928 posts

207 months

Thursday 1st December 2011
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Steve! How's mine going? biggrin

Bluebottle

3,498 posts

239 months

Thursday 1st December 2011
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Alexdaredevilz said:
Tinker- Would a T56 fit in a Chim?
Why the hell would you want to stick that Bloatware or even the TKO600 for that matter in there??
As Shpub says..and many i know including my myself with 450/450+ ish the T5 with a little upgrade works fine and is Significantly Lighter and doesn't overheat like the TKO,and a balanced & lightened RV8 with a blower is singnificantly my brutal than an LSxx for torque low down.

tinker-27

835 posts

223 months

Friday 2nd December 2011
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i have tried to deal with mbe and i find them very unhelpful to the point of being rude even after charging hundreds of pounds to do a job that after days of pissing about turns out they had done it wrong and didnt want to help , but i should ring here help line at £1 per minute or something like that . i use emeraldl because they are petrol heads who produce a good product that works, they have had a ls ecu running for eight years now , i use one on my twin turbo ls motor . i would only use theres or the oem ecu if you have it ,as for the gearbox the tko is strong and my experience with t5s is not good some people seem to make them last but i think they are weak. we tried to run one in danny winstanlys sagaris and it fell apart more than once and the tuscan challenge car had one in it which was not he best either . if you put one behind a std ls1 it might be ok but i would sell it and buy a new tko . my t56 is holding up to 700 + bhp - ftlb with no pobs at the moment . re using the mbe and t5 does keep the cost down and if it fits your build then go for it as it is easy enough to swap later .

7 TVR

2,589 posts

167 months

Saturday 3rd December 2011
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and a balanced & lightened RV8 with a blower is singnificantly my brutal than an LSxx for torque low down.
[/quote]

:scratchin: Well if we are talking breathed on engines it would be interesting to put a balanced and lightenedRV8 even with a blowjob against let say Brummie LS without a blower and see which is more brutal for torque low down? i think we are talking about a 150 BHP difference not sure on retrospective torque figures.[please correct me if i'm way out on the figures]
I seriously looked at the SC route and others as i loved the sound of the RV8, but kept seeing problems with cars that were running high BHP and T figures, plus there was a limit to how far things could be taken as opposed to the high BHP, good reliability of your standard LS3 with the possibility to take it 600+ with cams etc.

Horses for courses i suppose!

7 TVR

2,589 posts

167 months

Saturday 3rd December 2011
quotequote all
and a balanced & lightened RV8 with a blower is singnificantly my brutal than an LSxx for torque low down.
[/quote]

:scratchin: Well if we are talking breathed on engines it would be interesting to put a balanced and lightenedRV8 even with a blowjob against let say Brummie LS without a blower and see which is more brutal for torque low down? i think we are talking about a 150 BHP difference not sure on retrospective torque figures.[please correct me if i'm way out on the figures]
I seriously looked at the SC route and others as i loved the sound of the RV8, but kept seeing problems with cars that were running high BHP and T figures, plus there was a limit to how far things could be taken as opposed to the high BHP, good reliability of your standard LS3 with the possibility to take it 600+ with cams etc.

Horses for courses i suppose!

tinker-27

835 posts

223 months

Saturday 3rd December 2011
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how much torque are you making ?

macdeb

8,487 posts

254 months

Saturday 3rd December 2011
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Just the one answer will do hehe

7 TVR

2,589 posts

167 months

Saturday 3rd December 2011
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Got to stop taking those tablets!!!, too much xbox trying to learn the ring lol

Torque and bhp figures not yet in as the car is going up north for a re-trim but rest assured it will be on a rolling road asap, in fact who do you guys use in Birmingham??

Edited by 7 TVR on Saturday 3rd December 18:44

tinker-27

835 posts

223 months

Saturday 3rd December 2011
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We use tvr power alot as they can hold the power well , what you hopping for ?

flyingdutchie

857 posts

193 months

Saturday 3rd December 2011
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Shpub did my engineconversion and the ECU used is the MBE one. The only things that need to be done is idle speed and cold idle. It is (annoyingly) too high at 1000-1100rpm's and the cold idle needs a bit more fuel. When cruising at 3000rpm you can feel the lambdafunction doing it's work a bit. All in all my perception is that this can result in a good enginetune. What are the problems other converters had with the MBE? In what way would the emerald or gm ecu provide more?

Brummmie

5,284 posts

220 months

Saturday 3rd December 2011
quotequote all
Bluebottle said:
Why the hell would you want to stick that Bloatware or even the TKO600 for that matter in there??
As Shpub says..and many i know including my myself with 450/450+ ish the T5 with a little upgrade works fine and is Significantly Lighter and doesn't overheat like the TKO,and a balanced & lightened RV8 with a blower is singnificantly my brutal than an LSxx for torque low down.
I am making 532bhp and 502lbs/ft, and 80lbs/ft at idle, REAR WHEEL power, thats at 800-900rpm not even your toenail on the throttle, we measured it just for fun!
Got through 5 driveshafts and one Crown wheel and pinion so far, which has hopefully been beefed enough...

7 TVR

2,589 posts

167 months

Sunday 4th December 2011
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tinker-27 said:
We use tvr power alot as they can hold the power well , what you hopping for ?
I would be happy with anything over a crate LS3 believe thats around 430 been told it should be around 480 but i just get the giggles when i start thinking about it! More after TORQUE though, cars just been weighed at 1020Kg with all the cage in so whatever it makes it should be a smile a mile! I'm runnning the standard fly by wire throttle set up and standard cam etc, but plan to mod up once i;ve got use to the extra power and got it set up properly, so would be good to get your opinions on the various steps up the LS power ladder :]

tinker-27

835 posts

223 months

Sunday 4th December 2011
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What motor are you using ?

flyingdutchie

857 posts

193 months

Sunday 4th December 2011
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BTW, I saw on ebay.com that there are steel bellhousings on the market, to fit your T5 directly on to the ls engine. They are designed for the 11" GM flywheels. Does anyone know if the outputshaft fits into the GM flywheel? Or is this a silly question?

7 TVR

2,589 posts

167 months

Monday 5th December 2011
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LS3 with a TKO

flyingdutchie

857 posts

193 months

Monday 5th December 2011
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I know that there are TKO 600 fans, but for those who have a CTS T5 (or a normal T5) and you want to get rid of the "special" (expensive)TVR parts, like the belhousing, slave cilinder and AP clutch, this can be a way out.

The CTS box seems to be a good one. It is a light one and you do not need to make alterations to your chassis.