The Growler - Update

[TvR Driver]

Hi All
Sorry for the lack of input - Its been a bloody busy year up here in Sunny ( Ahem ) Scotland and The Growler hasnt been used much at all.

The growler made it to le mans and back and did 1900 miles after a complete oil change which is at least 7 times more than covered in the previous five years !!!

As some may know some work is now needed !!!

Luckily the Central Scotland Car Club ( Great bunch of people ) meet at my hotel ( blatant plug lol ) and Big Dave showed me that she cleans up so a paint job cant wait a year or two.

However i now have an oil leak and am down on compression and have also lost fourth gear with second gear threatening to follow !!!

I am luckily away for a month in December just to see what the reputed yellow thing in the sky looks like and to remind myself why i never remember to put the roof in the boot and always leave it in the garage............

So while I am away i need to put the growler in the capable hands of a specialist and get teh following done :

1 - Gearbox out and either rebuilt or replaced

I would love thoughts on who has done what in this respect and wonder if it is worth uprating for the future and some hopeful power increases ?

2 - the engine will be out and either needs a complete rebuild or replacing

Now as one of the few 450SE's left i am unsure as to whether replacing feels right ( i am sure you will all tell me lol ) so do i get the old nck rebuilt and if so which way do i go to acheive maximum effects ??

This is also going to ruin my bank balance unfortunately so i will then wait till next year ( just before le mans ) to uprate the brakes and running gear

Then all i need is a new roof because the old one is like a collander lol

So really chaps i am looking for your experiences and thoughts on

gearbox rebuild or change
engine rebuild or change

are there any other jobs worth doing whilst everything is out ??

Hopefully nothing really bad will show up but who knows ???

OH AND ANY GARAGES READING THIS AND WHO WANT TO QUOTE ME JUST SEND ME MAIL WITH GREAT DEALS !!!

Thanks all and progress will be made this year and written about on www.beastandgrowler.co.uk

Yes The Range Rover is going to be for off roading LOL

[Wedg1e]

I'd be checking to see if it is the gearbox or just some issue with the shift linkage.

Oil leak doesn't usually need a rebuild; if it's a head gasket then it's only a few hours to change. Crank oil seal is a bit more chewy... but if as you say it's down on compression then it could be rings, valves, gasket, piston, camshaft... all the expensive bits you worry about

[Tasmindevil]

Hi Ty,
Sunny Scotland, it was not too bad on the Rusty last week in Aberdeenshire although the amount of rusty's comsumed we could have been in the Artic and not cared !!! But back to the 450, well LT77 recon gearbox's are on ebay for about £350 exchange, there is also a rebuilt 450SE engine up for grabs from a frequent poster, Lancia4wd I seem to recall. May be a possible way forward, pop one in and one out and then rebuild the old unit at your leisure. With the engine out the usual piping, brakes/power steering, chassis check as the heat from the exhaust cooks the steelwork, UJs, usual clutch and slave cylinder etc etc As for more power it depends on what tweeks you want, these could be mild from trumpet mods/fuel regulator to full engine rework and balance but more ponies will lead to strain on other aspects of the car so it does not just stop at the engine. Your compression issue could just be a valve, I and recently Mattman had an issue with a broken inner valve spring, but with gearbox issues the engine has to come out anyhow so a rebuild would be sensibe.
Cheers

Hamish

Edited by Tasmindevil on Sunday 3rd October 20:50

[Campbell]

Hi Ty

Not sure about your box prob but it could be the remote gear link bushed, i did mine recently and the lower bushes were shot but if your going to take the engine out it may be worth haveing it rebuilt, if you were going to replace it an upgrade if finances would allow, an R380 box would be the one to go for, getter throught the gears, a little stronger and not a major job to install.
As for the engine i would recomend doing a compression test first and if you are ok with the spanners why not rebuid your self, I did my own rebuild and got all the parts from John Earls engineering, it definaty helps the wallet doing it your self.
Good luck

Cambelt

[TvR Driver]

Hi Hamish
Thanks for the reply and the Rusty sounded like great fun - hopefully next year it may fall in with when i Have time to get up and see you all !!!

The gearbox itself I think a straight exchange sounds like a good idea as i thinks its really bad in there and when we changed the oil it had quite a few bits of metal inside !!!

Thanks for the bits to check and will add them to the to do list to have a look at when the lump is out.

I think a rebuild is the way to go rather than a swap as i keep seeing ls engines and then where do i stop !!!

I had my griff engine rebuilt by ray at v8 developments and it was a belter after the rebuild so may be heading back down that route

Thanks for your thoughts

Ty & The Growler

[TvR Driver]

Hi Wedg1e

Thanks and i have looked at all the gearbox threads and i feel that its had its day !! it is really rattling when you hold in other gears and dosent feel right at all.
The oil leak is just the small part and the compression test shows a large variance on two of the eight so need to investigate further but from a previos post and thoughts its looking like the cam so a rebuild whilst i have the box changed maybe the way to go.....

Fingers crossed but worse scenario and it can only get better :-)