Is a Chimaera 4L Underpowered?

Is a Chimaera 4L Underpowered?

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Discussion

2 sheds

2,529 posts

283 months

Thursday 6th March 2003
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With reference to original post. 160 bhp @ wheels would suggest that engine is normal.

m12_nathan

5,138 posts

258 months

Thursday 6th March 2003
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"There's no replacement for displacement"


Except lightness, turbo charging, supercharging or the ability to rev to 10000rpm

magnus

Original Poster:

125 posts

257 months

Thursday 6th March 2003
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GreenV8S said:

magnus said: Thanks for the opinions guys. I think I have found the answer. A friend of mine is having his 4L upgraded to 5.1L by V8 Developments. Total cost with all the usual upgrading £5350 plus VAT. V8 assure him that this mod gives a GENUINE 320bhp at the wheels. So modify or upgrade. Upgrade I think as the 4L is such a responsive car.(:




Is that just to supply and fit the engine, or does it cover the clutch, strengthened gearbox, an uprated diff and half shafts, plus major work on the suspension and brakes? I would expect the total cost to work out roughly double the cost of the engine work.


Very good question. I have now seen the upgrade specification sent by V8. It covers clutch and brakes but no mention of suspension, gearbox or diff. but there is a little sting in the tail; the last item reads " road test and advise on handling" perhaps this is when the "suspension upgrade required" costing heaven knows what hits the customer. I know very little about all this but would a diff. gearbox and suspension upgrade be needed for ordinary road use. Is he really going to have pinions shattering etc the old rover gearbox seems to me to be the strongest part of the car. Trackdays of course are a different matter.

magnus

Original Poster:

125 posts

257 months

Thursday 6th March 2003
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shpub said: There is no substitute for cubic inches....


WGR I don't know. The design of the engine is surely important after all a GP car has limited capacity but churns out enormous power at the other end a classic 8L 12 pot RR moves like a milk churn. The V8 used in my Chim. seems to be a very old design and I imagine that a much smaller capacity engine as used say in a WRX would make rings around it.

GreenV8S

30,150 posts

283 months

Thursday 6th March 2003
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magnus said: I know very little about all this but would a diff. gearbox and suspension upgrade be needed for ordinary road use.


Only if he is planning to use the extra power.

magnus

Original Poster:

125 posts

257 months

Thursday 6th March 2003
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manek said:

magnus said: Thanks for the opinions guys. I think I have found the answer. A friend of mine is having his 4L upgraded to 5.1L by V8 Developments. Total cost with all the usual upgrading £5350 plus VAT. V8 assure him that this mod gives a GENUINE 320bhp at the wheels. So modify or upgrade. Upgrade I think as the 4L is such a responsive car.(:


Imagine how much cheaper it would be to sell the 4 litre and buy a 5 litre car...



Just that a good 5L low mileage Griff or Chim would cost about an extra 10k AND would actually be less powerful than the modified 4L. No way does a standard 5L churn out 320bhp at the wheels--more like 260

Graham

16,368 posts

283 months

Thursday 6th March 2003
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I've looked at the upgrade path loads of times,and im not convinced swapping for a 5ltr is the way to go as if your going to use the performance of the 5ltr the suspension and brakes will need upgrading anyway as their not even up to the standard needed for the 4ltr..

so if your after ultimate performance the options imho of course are:

1) upgrade engine suspension and brakes on a 4ltr

2) pay a premium for a 5ltr ( as they a a bit rare) take a hit on selling your 4ltr, then upgrade the suspension and brakes on the 5ltr to cope.

3) sod it and buy a T350c....

jamieheasman

823 posts

283 months

Thursday 6th March 2003
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Firstly, if this upgrade includes brakes and clutch mods, fitting and setting-up, I'd say it's a bargain!

Having said this, I'm interested by the comments to do with the mid-range characteristics of the 4.0litre. Sure it's never going to have the grunt of a 5.0litre but I think the main draw-back with all TVR Rover engined cars is the ignition system.

You have fitted a different intake system and camshaft and then had a chip-change. What you won't have changed is the timing as the curve is dictated by the distributor. Basically you can change the fuelling as much as you like but it's always going to be a compromise without being able to change the ignition curve as well. You've only got half a job done.

I bet with a mapped ignition you'd be happy with the 4.0litre.

An Emerald ECU for example(with fuel and ignition), is 500GBP. It's a very easy system to set-up and wouldn't cost much more than going the Mr Adams route. If I was considering an engine upgrade (any upgrade) this is the first thing I would do.

I think you'll be surprised by how much difference this makes.

shpub

8,507 posts

271 months

Thursday 6th March 2003
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Just that a good 5L low mileage Griff or Chim would cost about an extra 10k AND would actually be less powerful than the modified 4L. No way does a standard 5L churn out 320bhp at the wheels--more like 260




And neither does the V8 developments 5.1 churn out 320 at the wheels either - read the previous posts. It is at the flywheel!

shpub

8,507 posts

271 months

Thursday 6th March 2003
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If you want to see what it took to actually get 320 bhp+ at the wheels (400+ at the flywheel) go and look at the 520 story on www.t-v-r-services.co.uk and that will give you some idea of exactly what you are letting yourself in for.

Yes the gearbox will need sorting. Yes the transmission will need upgrading and yes your running costs will be high. You will need to look at cooling and suspension and expect rear tyres to last no more trhan 2000 miles. Also check that you can get the car insured as well as many insurers are refusing or increasing premiums to an extreme amount.

cockers

632 posts

280 months

Friday 7th March 2003
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Looking at the original question, I guess maybe a 5 litre is the way to go. Outright pace wasn't the issue - torque was, and the 5 litre has plenty of that!

I sometimes feel that my 4 litre isn't as quick as it should be, but then I remember that I have grown lazy since owning the Tiv and tend to waft around in 5th gear a lot.

Left home late this morning (bit of a hangy) and the roads were much quieter as a result, so I decided to have a bit of fun.

Stirred the gearstick a bit and reminded myself what it was all about. Car was so quick, I laughed out loud! I also spluttered "that's fcuking ridiculous" when I had to stand on the brakes to avoid piling into the back of normal traffic.

:sadgitfortalkingtomyself:

edited to acknowledge over-use of "a bit" in post. Hangover does nothing for vocab!

>> Edited by cockers on Friday 7th March 11:51

tantivy

160 posts

259 months

Friday 7th March 2003
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N17 TVR said:I'm not sure that I would trade in my sexy 4.0 HC Chimaera for some 8.0 Liter American Coupe de Ville, Wallowing Hippo Sedan



I'm with you, N17 - my 4.0 HC is likewise well planted and remains totally, utterly kwik (as a new Carrera 4 found out the other day) plus I get 330 miles to a tank if I really want. Simply no point in upping to a 5.0 IMHO. cheers, T.

magnus

Original Poster:

125 posts

257 months

Saturday 8th March 2003
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jamieheasman said: Firstly, if this upgrade includes brakes and clutch mods, fitting and setting-up, I'd say it's a bargain!

Having said this, I'm interested by the comments to do with the mid-range characteristics of the 4.0litre. Sure it's never going to have the grunt of a 5.0litre but I think the main draw-back with all TVR Rover engined cars is the ignition system.

You have fitted a different intake system and camshaft and then had a chip-change. What you won't have changed is the timing as the curve is dictated by the distributor. Basically you can change the fuelling as much as you like but it's always going to be a compromise without being able to change the ignition curve as well. You've only got half a job done.

I bet with a mapped ignition you'd be happy with the 4.0litre.

An Emerald ECU for example(with fuel and ignition), is 500GBP. It's a very easy system to set-up and wouldn't cost much more than going the Mr Adams route. If I was considering an engine upgrade (any upgrade) this is the first thing I would do.

I think you'll be surprised by how much difference this makes.

Emerald ECU??? Assuming that you are not taking the p**** where can I get this magical ECU?

Graham

16,368 posts

283 months

Saturday 8th March 2003
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joolz fitted my emerald ecu. and has a base map for a cat less 4ltr.

im currently still running a dizzy but that will go soon.

im not running an air flow meter at the moment, but there are some discussions on using that or a map sensor to improve torque.

G

Markh

2,781 posts

274 months

Saturday 8th March 2003
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Hi Graham how are you getting on with the ECU, is it better yiu think than the 'industry standard MA chip'

Mark

magnus

Original Poster:

125 posts

257 months

Monday 10th March 2003
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shpub said: If you want to see what it took to actually get 320 bhp+ at the wheels (400+ at the flywheel) go and look at the 520 story on www.t-v-r-services.co.uk and that will give you some idea of exactly what you are letting yourself in for.

Yes the gearbox will need sorting. Yes the transmission will need upgrading and yes your running costs will be high. You will need to look at cooling and suspension and expect rear tyres to last no more trhan 2000 miles. Also check that you can get the car insured as well as many insurers are refusing or increasing premiums to an extreme amount.

Thanks Steve!
I do get the message(I am afraid that I was misled on the 320 figure)so am looking for a 5L Chim or Griff. It does occur to me that even if 320bhp was achieved I do not see how you are going to put it down without traction control so what's the point.

jamieheasman

823 posts

283 months

Monday 10th March 2003
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Graham - have you noticed any difference in performance with the Emerald? Did Joolz get it mapped specifically for your engine?

I'll be interested to see what you think once you've upgraded the ignition as I believe there are big gains to be had. I think the next modified engine I have will benefit from the Emerald as it's cheap, reliable and had got some nice software with it for free!

spnracing

1,554 posts

270 months

Monday 10th March 2003
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magnus said: Emerald ECU??? Assuming that you are not taking the p**** where can I get this magical ECU?


Emerald Cams (Dave Walker) can be reached on 0207 7377114, they're still in Brixton at the moment but will be moving to Norfolk at the end of the month.

2 sheds

2,529 posts

283 months

Wednesday 12th March 2003
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Fully mapped ignition is a good idea, not convinced that changing to fully mapped fuelling would be a benefit for a road car, there are no gains in torque, in some cases top end BHP has been increased but at a cost, I've used CUX hotwire injection on full race spec 5.0L with 350 bhp & torque.
I'm not saying that fully mapped systems like DTA don't work but IMO not worth the all the effort of fitting & mapping on a standard TVR.
Tim

shadowninja

76,253 posts

281 months

Wednesday 12th March 2003
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sometimes I start thinking "my 4 litre is underpowered" and then it starts raining, the Avon ZZ1s start slipping, and I think... "maybe I should get this Chimaera detuned"

so if you wanna save several thousand just stick ZZ1s on and go for a drive in the wet!