ONLY 250hp on a Chimaera 500 ! !

[brem]

We had a Chimaera 500 from 1996 tested on a roller dynamometer and there is ONLY 250Hp and 377Nm on the engine!
Is this normal or whats wrong with this car? Engine should be ok as far as we know.
Did enyone test his car? Or is it a 4lt. engine in a 5lt. car?
cheers
Peter

[.Mark]

Brem,
Is it really, really quick?
Does it blow away all other cars - in any gear?
Does it make you grin like a mad man?

If the answer to all 3 above is yes you are probably OK.

Joking aside though the BHP figures on all Rover V8's are a little optomistic at best, it is unlikely for example that a standard 4.0 will pull 240BHP.

A search of these forums will provide you with a whole load of facts/stories/data on this topic.

[p7ulg]

No disrespect but the car is 7 year old and might just be out of tune! Also you don't mention if the reading is at the wheels or the fly wheel.

[timewind]

Hi Peter

I what area of Switzerland are you living and where was it tested. Since I have a 500 awell, maybe it would be worth to doublecheck with mine in order to have an accurate understanding if this a normal result or not.

[2 sheds]

Expect around 270 bhp and 300 lb ft, torque at the flywheel for most, the later ones are "softer" around 10 or so less,
Tim

>> Edited by 2 sheds on Monday 14th July 18:28

[joospeed]

does sound a little bit low .. common outputs are around 270 ish bhp from what I've seen .. had a 450 chim on the rollers last week, completely standard and that made 258bhp corrected so your's might be a little bit down... however this was the most powerful 450 I've seen to date.

[Mr2Mike]

brem said:

We had a Chimaera 500 from 1996 tested on a roller dynamometer and there is ONLY 250Hp and 377Nm on the engine!

You cannot rely on flywheel power figures taken from a rolling road dyno. They are simply an educated guess made by the computer after measuring the coast down time. It is very error prone and your rarely get the same number twice. The only figure of any importance is power at the wheels.

[Dr Chuff]

I had a 500 that measured 260 BHP on a RR. It was being fuel starved at higher revs. Mark Adams plus chip improved it to 275 BHP and lots more torque.
(Figures at flywheel).

BHP figures are a bit academic with TVRs, as said earlier, if can rearrange your guts, it's going okay.

Dr C

[shpub]

Mr2Mike said:

The only figure of any importance is power at the wheels.

Nope. It is power on a bar stool....

[jellison]

I is probably right - just the lower end of what is real flywheel (is it corrected - doubt that is at the wheels) figure for a 500 typical accoring to V* deveoplment on Engine dyno is 275 for a 500, I doubt a 450 make 240 and a 4.0 probably just over 200. But lots of Torque to make up for it. But really they are all pretty crap bhp / litre no.s - but ha the torque makes up for most of it in the REAL WORLD...

[IPAddis]

My engine makes 325bhp (ish) on the engine dyno, about 290-300bhp at Power Engineering and only 260bhp (ish) at Mech Engineering.

Rolling roads are dire at producing accurate power figures at the flywheel.

Ian A.

[philip_cooke]

My Chim 500 was set up at mech repairs with a Mark Adams chip and now produces 264 BHP at the wheels. I was told that this is an average 5 ltr power output and not to expect 340 BHP (pipe dreams!!) If you look (somewhere) on the PH site, you'll find an article where various Chim 400's were dyno'd and the power outputs were very low in comparison to what is expected (about 160BHP in a Chim 400)

[GreenV8S]

If you really mean at the wheels, I'd say that was a lot better than average. That doesn't sound far off a typical flywheel bhp figure.

[rmurray73]

philip_cooke said:

My Chim 500 was set up at mech repairs with a Mark Adams chip

What is a Mark Admas chip?
Where would I get one and who to fit it? eg: TVR dealer
And how much should one cost?

Would I still be covered under a TVR warranty??

Ross

Edited to say: I found a thread on the chip but I live in North East Scotland - Does anyone know if Dreadnought (Stirling) do a similar product?


>> Edited by rmurray73 on Tuesday 15th July 16:33

[danielson]

regulars correct me if im wrong but what ive gleaned from the threads already..

Mark Adams is a TVR chip wizard who will setup your TVR up on a rolling road and custom tune a new chip to suit your car/your own needs.
Cost depends on how long he needs on the rolling road and whether any other parts are needed in the process eg new oil filter and lots of petrol :-) but others have quoted circa £600 for a full day which is good value IMO.
As for the warranty i dont know whether he will coutner provide a warranty or not..im sure someone else can help on this bit..

[trefor]

You need to factor in the rolling road too, they're all different. Mark uses only one or two roads where he can then compare results between cars.

My Chimaera made 161hp at the wheels at a place in Maidstone a few years ago (without any further fettling). Then the same car made 209hp on another road a year or so later at Motorvation in Dorking (now moved I think). Since then it's made 241hp at Power Engineering with Mark's magic. Which is right? Who knows. It got faster the last time though

You need to compare several same spec cars on the same road in the same atmospheric conditions (this makes a big difference too).

[2 sheds]

160-165 at the wheels is average for a standard 4.0L, to achieve 200 at the wheels requires about 3 grand spent on the engine tuning, 4.5s should be around 190. and 500s around 220. these are road wheel figures and more reliable than flywheel figures.
Take a typical 500, Power engineering calculate losses to be around 55 bhp, Mech repairs claim around 30, so immediately you can see a large discrepancy in flywheel figures.
Don't forget the 500 has nearly as much torque as TVR claim (if you use the 320 figure)on a bench dyno (which means no ancillary losses)they often push past 300, so keep smiling
Tim