Cams & Headgaskets

[darreni]

Just got my beastie back from a main dealer 12K service & valve adjust ( though it now turns out the valves & setup WERN'T done due to some wear on the O/S cam.
While in discussion to get this sorted, the engine started to piss smoke /steam while on the way home on wednesday. It now turns out that one of the inner head bolts has snapped, creating a nice water feature/ fountain in the middle of the V.
the problem now is the avalibility of cams, paul at the factory says the cam makers have stopped making them! so it seems to be a case of wait & hope.
To say i'm pissed off is an understatement, how the Fcuk can the factory not have parts/alternative supply?
Anyone had this before? Any alternitives?
Darren.

[gazzab]

Is it worth ringing the factory yourself?
Also - have you spoken to someone outside of the factory who does engine work eg Castlesport?

[crazycats]

Darren,

I had some jaguar cams refaced, etc a few years ago at a place in Bristol, a fraction of the cost of new cams, and they came back looking the business, I'll see if i've got their number somewhere

[williamball]

I had an inner head bolt snap too. Driver's side, second from the back. Never heard of that before thay said - most unusual. Unfortunately, main dealer wouldn't even have a go at extracting the broken bit [it can't re rocket science] and the engine had to go back to Blackpool. Is yours to be a back-to-Blackpool job too?

No-one seems to know too much about the innards of AJP engines, and it was a surprise to me [and the dealer] that the head bolt actually went through the water jacket...or maybe the bolt holes act as water feeds? Anyway, not aware of too many other engines where the headbolts are 'wet'...but I'm sure others will know of lots.

I do have a st of cams that came out of mine in the garage, but they came out because they were worn [early clatter-cams]. But if they're re-grindable and yours are more than just plain worn, then I do have my old set.

WB

[Julian64]

I was speaking to a dealer yesterday about this. Apparently a real big crisis at TVR. cams usually sourced from the same guy that supplies Rover. For some reason Rover just changed for no good reason leaving the supplier in tatters with a very large cash flow problem. TVR currently scurrying about looking for an alternative supplier.

[joospeed]

then why don't TVR use the bloke who did the development for the ajp8 and sp6 cams then? .. dave newman at Newman cams .. he can regrind your existing cam back to profile on a smaller base circle or supply any of 5 other cam profiles from blanks from mild road to full race .. cost is prohibitive at 1200 pounds per pair, but if the option is no car what would you do? .. incidently if the cam is saveable then a regrind on it back to std profile will be about 300 pounds .. still expensive. i know all this cos I've just had it done at newmans .. get teh factory to rebuild their bridges with the man to cure their supply problem!!

Julian64 said:

I was speaking to a dealer yesterday about this. Apparently a real big crisis at TVR. cams usually sourced from the same guy that supplies Rover. For some reason Rover just changed for no good reason leaving the supplier in tatters with a very large cash flow problem. TVR currently scurrying about looking for an alternative supplier.

[darreni]

I was speaking to paul Giddings(?) at the factory yesterday he says the headbolt is the only thing stopping the coolant from pissing out, i.e the waterway is directly below the bolt, so when the bolt snaps out comes the coolant.
My dealer says he should have the cams next week.
They will be doing the cams & gaskets.
The car will be up for sale following the work as i don't think its gonna be practical ( with me being here in Guernsey) to have to ship the car cross channel n the event of a problem. I use it daily but cannot spend the time messing about like this.
A shame.
Darren.