Future of the Speed Six Engine
Discussion
What do you think of the future of the Speed Six engine?
Many cover stories in Sprint relate to Speed Six engine conversions.
Will there be a shortage of engines, say in 15 to 20 years?
The Speed Six cars will then certainly have great collectors status.
I'm pretty sure that then hardly anyone will accept a foreign
engine in it and original engines will be retrofitted.
Will it and the generally high demand of spare parts lead to a shortage
of Speed Six engines and engine parts?
Would it make sense to keep a spare engine?
What do you think?
Many cover stories in Sprint relate to Speed Six engine conversions.
Will there be a shortage of engines, say in 15 to 20 years?
The Speed Six cars will then certainly have great collectors status.
I'm pretty sure that then hardly anyone will accept a foreign
engine in it and original engines will be retrofitted.
Will it and the generally high demand of spare parts lead to a shortage
of Speed Six engines and engine parts?
Would it make sense to keep a spare engine?
What do you think?
Blocks are no longer cast and the cast's themselves lost.. therefore rebuilds where blocks have failed rely on another engine being canibalised...
Apart from the block and the head the rest of the components should be fairly easy to machine new, or refurb existing.
Is it worth keeping a spare engine... i have a spare block and head casting just in case.
In 15 to 20 years who knows.. as scanning technology becomes more readily available it may become more feasible to scan something like a block and cnc machine it in billet.
Apart from the block and the head the rest of the components should be fairly easy to machine new, or refurb existing.
Is it worth keeping a spare engine... i have a spare block and head casting just in case.
In 15 to 20 years who knows.. as scanning technology becomes more readily available it may become more feasible to scan something like a block and cnc machine it in billet.
Edited by m4tti on Monday 1st September 08:47
The tech is already here (we use 3D scanning regularly for CGI work stuff)... The scanning tools are getting quite affordable (about 12K), but for a one off you just hire the guys to come to you with the gear and do the scanning.
http://www.artec3d.com/hardware/artec-spider/
I guess the major costs are in cleaning up the resulting 3D model ready for cnc.
http://www.artec3d.com/hardware/artec-spider/
I guess the major costs are in cleaning up the resulting 3D model ready for cnc.
SergSC said:
The tech is already here (we use 3D scanning regularly for CGI work stuff)... The scanning tools are getting quite affordable (about 12K), but for a one off you just hire the guys to come to you with the gear and do the scanning.
http://www.artec3d.com/hardware/artec-spider/
I guess the major costs are in cleaning up the resulting 3D model ready for cnc.
Yep it is there, but like you say it's the tidying up then adding all the additions like the oil and coolant drillings, and other apertures like the half time shaft location. Ideally you want something like an MRI giving a full cross sectional type mapping. Not sure how feasible or coat effective that is at the moment. http://www.artec3d.com/hardware/artec-spider/
I guess the major costs are in cleaning up the resulting 3D model ready for cnc.
m4tti said:
Yep it is there, but like you say it's the tidying up then adding all the additions like the oil and coolant drillings, and other apertures like the half time shaft location. Ideally you want something like an MRI giving a full cross sectional type mapping. Not sure how feasible or coat effective that is at the moment.
The internal parts and galleries aren't rocket science. They can be easily added by a skilled CAD operator familiar with the principles of engine design. There's a lot of existing CAD out there.It's the demand to make it cost effective that's the obstacle, but it'll happen sooner rather than later I'd guess..
That's some pretty half-a
d work there for the flipping block castings to be lost. Hopefully technology will come to the rescue to make their reproduction possible. I have a feeling there will be a lot of people anxious to return their TVRs of all types to original condition in the coming years.
If the new TVR (remember them?) are a success maybe they will be of some help, heritage wise.
d work there for the flipping block castings to be lost. Hopefully technology will come to the rescue to make their reproduction possible. I have a feeling there will be a lot of people anxious to return their TVRs of all types to original condition in the coming years.If the new TVR (remember them?) are a success maybe they will be of some help, heritage wise.
robsco said:
I read over on another thread that Jason at Str8six provides new blocks with his rebuilds? How does this work?
It doesn't really. There's a very limited number of new blocks. Power and str8 six effectively bought the surplus. Think Dom said he had less than 10 when I was after one and they came at a significant cost. Although not unwarranted cost in the circumstances. V8 GRF said:
The internal parts and galleries aren't rocket science. They can be easily added by a skilled CAD operator familiar with the principles of engine design. There's a lot of existing CAD out there.
It's the demand to make it cost effective that's the obstacle, but it'll happen sooner rather than later I'd guess..
Would it not be possible for the club to facilitate such a project and assemble the necessary skills from the membership. They would then control the supply of new blocks, ensure the cars longevity and have a revenue stream ensuring long term existence. It's the demand to make it cost effective that's the obstacle, but it'll happen sooner rather than later I'd guess..
Maybe a bit of a sunny day scenario but not dissimilar to what has been done for MG etc.
m4tti said:
Will new tvr want to be involved with old Tvr or distance them self.
During the first conversation I had with Les Edgar, (he called me the day it was announced that they'd bought the company from the Russian) he assured me that their first priority was to ensure a constant and quality supply of all parts for 'the Heritage cars' as he referred to them. It would be foolish to ignore the thousands of cars already out there as they're a ready made income stream and they're all proper businessmen.
collectable cars with original engines will always deman a premium. Eventually the tuscan will be considered a collectable car since it ticks many of the right boxes. As an example a lotus 7 with its original low power engine is worth way more than an in period one with a converted engine.
If it's pure 'collector' status which is driving the retention of the Speed 6, replacing a block and it no longer being a 'matching numbers' car wouldn't do. If the original engine is destroyed, any replacement will compromise the investment value.
I don't share the worry about engine supplies and the future, sadly there will always be more cars getting written off in accidents than destroy the engine blocks which keeps the replacement engine business nicely serviced, albeit most are being sold from Ashington!
Paul
I don't share the worry about engine supplies and the future, sadly there will always be more cars getting written off in accidents than destroy the engine blocks which keeps the replacement engine business nicely serviced, albeit most are being sold from Ashington!
Paul
The Surveyor said:
If it's pure 'collector' status which is driving the retention of the Speed 6, replacing a block and it no longer being a 'matching numbers' car wouldn't do. If the original engine is destroyed, any replacement will compromise the investment value.
I don't share the worry about engine supplies and the future, sadly there will always be more cars getting written off in accidents than destroy the engine blocks which keeps the replacement engine business nicely serviced, albeit most are being sold from Ashington!
Paul
Yes Paul , it appears TVRGlen and the grim reaper would seem to be relatedI don't share the worry about engine supplies and the future, sadly there will always be more cars getting written off in accidents than destroy the engine blocks which keeps the replacement engine business nicely serviced, albeit most are being sold from Ashington!
Paul
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