V8S development

[kevin secker]

Hi Guys,

I'm looking to buy a V8S and thought that a read of the S "bible" would be a good idea. One question that has cropped up but not really been answered is that of model development. I used to think that the V8S hadn't changed during its' production life. The "bible" states that the early V8Ss had a different chassis to the later cars but no dates are mentioned. Does anyone know the rough changover dates? While I'm asking questions, were there any other changes of substance that happened from the start of production until the end of 1992 (I don't want CATs!)?

Cheers in advance.

Kevin

[GreenV8S]

V8S (and S4) chassis is different from the earlier V6 chassis, but I thought all V8S were the same chassis? The only significant difference is that the '93 ones have cats. Other than that, condition is far more important than any small changes in spec.

[stevegilroy]

I think that the later cars also had a 'chimaera-spec' engine didn't they? Check in the bible, i think i read it there. By the way, if you want photocopies of a couple of contemporary road-tests for the V8S at launch drop me an email.

[GreenV8S]

Yes, my '93 V8S started life with the Chimaera spec catted engine. I think all the catted cars ('93 onwards) were Chimaera engines, just with slightly different manifolds. Same chassis throughout though as far as I know.

[kevin secker]

Thanks for the replies. Like you Peter, I thought that the chassis didn't change through the production life of the V8S. The "Bible" says, however, that the early cars were built on the S3 chassis. It also says the difference is obvious. Having not seen the two side by side to see the difference, I am worried that I wouldn't spot which was which, hence the post. For a car that, more or less, had 2 year production life, define "early car".

Peter's point about condition is well made but I am now concerned that if I didn't know about changes in the chassis, what other major developments am I unaware of? The laugh is that I had a Dec '92 V8S from new that was "traded up" to a Chimaera 500 in'97 (should never have sold it - seemed like a good idea at the time!). Despite this I still don't seem to know what I'm talking about.

Kevin

[shpub]

I was reliably told by a factory source that the first 2 or 3 cars were built with a S chassis but I have never seen any and would not be surprised if they were modded at a later date or simply used as factory development mules.

Steve
www.tvrbooks.co.uk