Twin Plenum Vitesse restoration
Discussion
Will do a proper update soon, in short I've managed to get hold of one of the seven Rovercraft twin turbo 4.5 engines. A whole load of bespoke parts including inlet and exhaust manifolds, Motec ECU, JE pistons & rods and a whole load of other nice bits.
Will have to use a TVR spec Tremec T5 and modified Costworth tail shaft, custom prop to the Quaife LSD.
Will have to use a TVR spec Tremec T5 and modified Costworth tail shaft, custom prop to the Quaife LSD.
Yamahadivvyrider said:
Stunning looking car.can that engine be supercharged?
Instead of turbo charging? Yes, it's got large combustion chambers and a CR of 8.5:1It'd not be a Rovercraft twin turbo though, so not as cool/rare.
Incidentally, the Rovercraft TT is not to be confused with the somewhat agricultural Janspeed draw-through SU carb setup, very different.
The nice thing about this (for me at least) is that it's one of the seven TT Rovercraft engines back into an original Rovercraft car.
Tremec T5 and Cosworth tail-shaft off to Competition Transmissions to have the housing machined to accept the larger bearing and output shafts.
Intercooler and pipework mocked up (I'll give the intercooler a clean and a coat of the special automotive radiator paint)
Not much space and I still need to fit the A/C condenser in:
Intercooler and pipework mocked up (I'll give the intercooler a clean and a coat of the special automotive radiator paint)
Not much space and I still need to fit the A/C condenser in:
Oil cooler (essential with the turbo's making so much heat)
New lines fitted:
Engine in
Not masses of space, but it does fit:
Still loads to do, all the intercooler and inlet pipework, I need to fabricate a gearbox mount, install the loom (which I've re-made already), pressure test the fuel lines and probably lots more.
New lines fitted:
Engine in
Not masses of space, but it does fit:
Still loads to do, all the intercooler and inlet pipework, I need to fabricate a gearbox mount, install the loom (which I've re-made already), pressure test the fuel lines and probably lots more.
ManOpener said:
Can you tell us a bit more about the Rovercraft twin turbo motors? I've had a bit of a search around but can't find much on the interwebs about them.
They're very rare and hence there's not much about them out there. From what I've managed to research there were up to 7 engines made, production was very short as Simon Law (one of the two brothers that owned Rovercraft) was killed at the Brighton Speed Trials in a single seater powered by one of the engines.One engine made it into a TR7, one into a GTD40 and one into an SD1, the others I'm not so sure about.
They used a completely bespoke twin plenum intake as well as exhaust manifolds which must have cost a fortune to cast. Rovercraft forged 4.5 crank, low compression forged JE pistons & rods, steel rockers, big injectors, MoTeC ecu, custom grind cam, custom intercooler etc etc.
Depending on boost they will produce from a very lazy 400 bhp to a frantic 700 bhp.
I've seen a couple of twin-turbo ebay jobs advertised as the Rovercraft system, but they've turned out to be home-brew specials, impressive nonetheless.
I made up the hybrid SD1/Cosworth gear leaver last night, as usual I forgot to take enough pictures. These bits used to be joined together until I cut them in half:
That was the SD1 stick.
Welded to the Cosworth base:
And then re-fitted along with all the trim:
It's offset to match the short-shift on the tail, the centre line of the stick/knob lines up perfectly to match that of the box.
I'm really pleased as it looks absolutely standard and not messed about with. All the effort with the tail housing on the big bearing T5 was so that I could get the gearstick to come up in the same place as the original.
That was the SD1 stick.
Welded to the Cosworth base:
And then re-fitted along with all the trim:
It's offset to match the short-shift on the tail, the centre line of the stick/knob lines up perfectly to match that of the box.
I'm really pleased as it looks absolutely standard and not messed about with. All the effort with the tail housing on the big bearing T5 was so that I could get the gearstick to come up in the same place as the original.
More pics:
Modified under-tray to fit the intercooler:
Like this at first:
Then this:
Intercooler in:
A/C Condenser:
Then radiator:
Plenum top:
All done (to a point):
So, things left to do, I still have to get the A/C compressor in which won't be an issue, plenty of space but I will probably need to have some custom hoses made up to clear the air pipes.
But, more immediate problem: The windscreen washer tank used to sit on the suspension turret, top middle-ish:
I don't think that tank will fit anywhere under the bonnet now, I'd like to not move it to the boot as it'd be a massive pain. Any suggestion for either a small tank from another car and where I could put it?
Modified under-tray to fit the intercooler:
Like this at first:
Then this:
Intercooler in:
A/C Condenser:
Then radiator:
Plenum top:
All done (to a point):
So, things left to do, I still have to get the A/C compressor in which won't be an issue, plenty of space but I will probably need to have some custom hoses made up to clear the air pipes.
But, more immediate problem: The windscreen washer tank used to sit on the suspension turret, top middle-ish:
I don't think that tank will fit anywhere under the bonnet now, I'd like to not move it to the boot as it'd be a massive pain. Any suggestion for either a small tank from another car and where I could put it?
Bag tank for the washer arrived, decided the best place was on the OSF wing under the intake pipes. There's now a redundant bracket where the resistor pack for the old injection system was mounted (and power steering fluid tank on series one cars).
Tack welded the bag tank bracket to this, easy to remove should I ever want to move it and gave it a quick lick of paint over the weld:
Bag in and filled. I had to move the fluid pipe and the wiring from the other side, but it's all hidden now so actually looks a little neater than standard:
Tack welded the bag tank bracket to this, easy to remove should I ever want to move it and gave it a quick lick of paint over the weld:
Bag in and filled. I had to move the fluid pipe and the wiring from the other side, but it's all hidden now so actually looks a little neater than standard:
dib851 said:
I was just having a little look about, reminiscing a little I guess, and I cam across this post. The weird thing is I used to work at Rovercraft (during the Tony Marsh / Phil Eaves twin turbo era) and I don't remember ever seeing these rocker covers with 'Rovercraft' cast into them??
They're quite a bit taller than standard covers, so I assume they're for high lift/solid lifters.I don't suppose you have any details or brochures from back in the day? (I'm interested on any Rovercraft TT info you have)
Thanks!
I though it was about time I updated this thread with my progress:
As part of fitting the new Omex 710 ECU I have to fit a trigger wheel so that the ECU can determine the current degree of rotation of the engine. This is accomplished by a 36-1 trigger wheel, each notch representing 10 degrees of a complete rotation.
Standard ones are pretty thick at around 6mm, I've fitted one at 2.5mm which keeps the power steering belt in alignment as it's sandwiched in the front pulley. (If anything it's improved the alignment slightly)
I also had to make a bracket to hold a VR sensor <0.5mm away from the wheel:
New air temp sensor fitted into the intercooler:
I've made the new ECU loom (from scratch):
As part of fitting the new Omex 710 ECU I have to fit a trigger wheel so that the ECU can determine the current degree of rotation of the engine. This is accomplished by a 36-1 trigger wheel, each notch representing 10 degrees of a complete rotation.
Standard ones are pretty thick at around 6mm, I've fitted one at 2.5mm which keeps the power steering belt in alignment as it's sandwiched in the front pulley. (If anything it's improved the alignment slightly)
I also had to make a bracket to hold a VR sensor <0.5mm away from the wheel:
New air temp sensor fitted into the intercooler:
I've made the new ECU loom (from scratch):
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