Chimaera variation How to spot the difference 500, 450, 400.

[BountyHunter]

Pratto said:

Hi folks,
How do I differentiate between the different models apart from the 500 badge, purple valve covers and the owners original book?
Is there an engine number reference to the size?
I am quite sure this is a 500 but it occured to me that if an owner destroyed an engine then it would not be hard to paint the covers of a 400 or 450.

its a good question - as it can and ive no doubt does happen.

for example.

a certain notorious TVR breaker from "oop norf" had a lightly damaged Chim 450 advertised.

they then got a heavily damaged 500 come in.

suddenly the 450 ad was removed
and a new advert with the same pics etc appeared, but now the car was a "rare Chim 500" and its price had risen by £2k.

oh and coincidentally the same day the 500 advert appeared the same breakers had a 450 engine for sale with the exact mileage as the previously advert.

[QBee]

james280779 said:

mine was a 400 hc and wore a set of estorils, after the accident it was put onto Imolas, now back on Estorils. it is now a 4.7 however.

having owned a few I would have to say the drive is the most obvious way of telling.

Edited by james280779 on Friday 26th April 00:56

That depends on the OP having driven both before.

The other way around.....my car is registered as a 400, has a 400 badge, rocker covers are plain, etc etc. Engine number is as per the logbook.
It has been a 500 for a couple of weeks now and the V5 is going off to the DVLA. It doesn't look any different,

The only way of telling the difference that I can imagine is to put the car on a rolling road. Not unreasonable with a performance car to want to know what bhp it makes. 260-320 = 5 litre, 200-240 = 4 litre.

You might also uncover engine issues, such as incorrect fuelling at high rpm. Worth the £50-100 I would have thought to save a broken engine later. Mine is such a good engine (340 ft lbs and heading for 320/330 bhp) it is maxing out some of the standard components and going very lean at high revs. Glad I found out in time.