How much oil does yours use?
Discussion
Glad there is some light at the end of the tunnel for you Mark.
A mate of mine completely rebuilt an old Ford some years ago and could probably have done the engine too. Wanting to ensure a good job was done, he decided to let a local engine builder do it. To put it politely, they made a right mess of it.
After much too-ing and fro-ing they rebuilt it again. It was still not as good as the original engine. Anyway, 2 years later he sold the car and within the 4 weeks the new owner was presenting him with a bill for a £4000 rebuild (his mechanic had discovered that inferior parts had been used in the build). He of course said nothing to do with me. After dragging my mate through small claims the magistrate awarded damages to the new owner to the tune of £3k and although he sympathised with my mate's plight he said he would have to make a counter claim against the original engine builder for the loss.
Just goes to show that even with your best intentions at heart and getting the pros in to build your engine, you can still get stung later down the line.
On the subject of oil use. Mine uses almost nothing when making dozens of say 50 mile drives, but if I do 400 miles on the motorway for a few days it will drink 1 litre every 1000 miles as previously stated by others.
A mate of mine completely rebuilt an old Ford some years ago and could probably have done the engine too. Wanting to ensure a good job was done, he decided to let a local engine builder do it. To put it politely, they made a right mess of it.
After much too-ing and fro-ing they rebuilt it again. It was still not as good as the original engine. Anyway, 2 years later he sold the car and within the 4 weeks the new owner was presenting him with a bill for a £4000 rebuild (his mechanic had discovered that inferior parts had been used in the build). He of course said nothing to do with me. After dragging my mate through small claims the magistrate awarded damages to the new owner to the tune of £3k and although he sympathised with my mate's plight he said he would have to make a counter claim against the original engine builder for the loss.
Just goes to show that even with your best intentions at heart and getting the pros in to build your engine, you can still get stung later down the line.
On the subject of oil use. Mine uses almost nothing when making dozens of say 50 mile drives, but if I do 400 miles on the motorway for a few days it will drink 1 litre every 1000 miles as previously stated by others.
phazed said:
Total can of worms.
My previous 4.6 was rebuilt under the umbrella of a well known name.
Wrong cam timing
Loose oil pick up pipe
Leaky heads
Loose head bolts,
on and on and on.......
No remorse from them and no refund/offer of anything.
Rebuilt myself, lesson learnt.
I feel quite strongly about this kind of thing and fMy previous 4.6 was rebuilt under the umbrella of a well known name.
Wrong cam timing
Loose oil pick up pipe
Leaky heads
Loose head bolts,
on and on and on.......
No remorse from them and no refund/offer of anything.
Rebuilt myself, lesson learnt.
king cowboys would of been my description Peter 
the fact they still continue to trade blagging of their so called expert skills etc with their glossy website makes my piss boil 
the only saving grace is that you know your way round the RV8 better than this idiot and learnt loads 
I was warned several years ago coming in to the TVR world that you need to be careful who you trust, it certainly does bring out the cynic in you once you've been let down. It's a learning curve and can be an expensive one, best thing to come out of it is a greater awareness of the pitfalls and hopefully a good car in the end.
Interesting reading all these horror stories. I think Powers is the place for me when the time is right..
When is the time right to consider an engine rebuild?
My 400 is running sweet, but want it to stay that way, the info I got with the car doesn't show any engine rebuilds and she's done 86k miles should I start to think about it or wait for issues?
When is the time right to consider an engine rebuild?
My 400 is running sweet, but want it to stay that way, the info I got with the car doesn't show any engine rebuilds and she's done 86k miles should I start to think about it or wait for issues?
I think the old adage of "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" applies in this case unless you want to go down the modifying route. The RV8 is a strong old thing and other than camshafts, it is really only abuse that causes problems - lack of proper oil changes with decent oil and not looking after the cooling system are the major causes.
In my particular case, I bought the car with 60k and at that mileage you don't know how it has been looked after. A full service history helps but made no difference in my case. Mine was showing signs of head gasket failure and when the engine was opened up, it was apparent that it had been abused severely in the past. It was filthy inside and there were signs of massive overheating and oil starvation in the past. It wasn't down on power surprisingly.
At this stage you may as well go the whole hog and rebuild it from the ground up. It's just a shame that the guy my specialist used made a pig's ear of it, which has not done his reputation amongst my local club members any good but he has held his hands up and sent it to Power at his expense.
In my particular case, I bought the car with 60k and at that mileage you don't know how it has been looked after. A full service history helps but made no difference in my case. Mine was showing signs of head gasket failure and when the engine was opened up, it was apparent that it had been abused severely in the past. It was filthy inside and there were signs of massive overheating and oil starvation in the past. It wasn't down on power surprisingly.
At this stage you may as well go the whole hog and rebuild it from the ground up. It's just a shame that the guy my specialist used made a pig's ear of it, which has not done his reputation amongst my local club members any good but he has held his hands up and sent it to Power at his expense.
Trevor450 said:
I think the old adage of "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" applies in this case unless you want to go down the modifying route. The RV8 is a strong old thing and other than camshafts, it is really only abuse that causes problems - lack of proper oil changes with decent oil and not looking after the cooling system are the major causes.
In my particular case, I bought the car with 60k and at that mileage you don't know how it has been looked after. A full service history helps but made no difference in my case. Mine was showing signs of head gasket failure and when the engine was opened up, it was apparent that it had been abused severely in the past. It was filthy inside and there were signs of massive overheating and oil starvation in the past. It wasn't down on power surprisingly.
At this stage you may as well go the whole hog and rebuild it from the ground up. It's just a shame that the guy my specialist used made a pig's ear of it, which has not done his reputation amongst my local club members any good but he has held his hands up and sent it to Power at his expense.
Well good news Mark that your TVR specialist has sent it down to power for rebuild. He is honouring a gentleman's agreement. In my particular case, I bought the car with 60k and at that mileage you don't know how it has been looked after. A full service history helps but made no difference in my case. Mine was showing signs of head gasket failure and when the engine was opened up, it was apparent that it had been abused severely in the past. It was filthy inside and there were signs of massive overheating and oil starvation in the past. It wasn't down on power surprisingly.
At this stage you may as well go the whole hog and rebuild it from the ground up. It's just a shame that the guy my specialist used made a pig's ear of it, which has not done his reputation amongst my local club members any good but he has held his hands up and sent it to Power at his expense.
Edited by portzi on Monday 3rd November 19:05
portzi said:
Well good news Mark that your TVR specialist has sent it down to power for rebuild. He is honouring a gentleman's agreement.
Yep, can't ask any more than that. It has been a frustrating year but once I have it back I can enjoy the car again. Edited by portzi on Monday 3rd November 19:05
Yes QBee it never ceases to amaze me how many people seem chuffed that their car has done 15k miles without a problem. I would be effing amazed if one of my engines gave trouble at such a ridiculously low mileage. I am convinced that a lot of troubles are simply through lack of use. I run both of ours at least once a week irrespective of the weather. Its designed to be used not left in a garage for bragging rights about how low the mileage is and then how large the rebuild costs are!
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