where does TVR do engine testing?

[NDT]

Someone on here must have been up to Blackpool - I wondered whether they had many engine test cells there?

Nick

[chaos]

I went up to see mine being built and had the tour, but the engine build area is the only part of the factory you don't get to see.

The closest you get is seeing the finished engine being put into the car.

[bob the planner]

Do they do engine testing or do they leave it for the customers ?

[DIGGA]

quote:
Do they do engine testing or do they leave it for the customers ?

Yeah, or in other words, under the bonnets(??)!

[Mark B]

Nick,

Sorry for the delay, but I think you'll find a lot of development work is done at TVR Power in Coventry. They are now doing less and less development work here and becoming more of a service area. Hope this helps,
Mark

[dans]

in early customer cars.....

[Podie]

MIRA is a possibility.... www.mira.co.uk - but that's only a guess...

[Gaffer]

The testing is done at the factory.

[wedg1e]

Not entirely related, but I did read in our local paper yesterday that the foundry that casts TVRs cranks is in trouble....

Ian

[smifffy]

In trouble??? With the amount of speed 6 rebuilds required.... Some BAD mismanagement going on there then

[M6 CUK]

quote:
Not entirely related, but I did read in our local paper yesterday that the foundry that casts TVRs cranks is in trouble....

Ian

Not so sure about the caster's but the factory next to mine, in Coventry, Makes the Crankshafts for TVR's, And their going under. I'm not sure the the crankshafts are cast, i see them(next door) rolling the crankshafts in a round billet state, when i say rolling i mean exactly that, on the floor kicking it to roll it to the next op, we do a bit of sub-contract work for them, not sure if thier the TVR one's, but their 8&6 cylinders.

[wedg1e]

Must admit I was a bit puzzled: most cranks are forged rather than cast but this local place is a foundry and not a forge so they must cast things! Also, it's in the north-east, not Coventry. Although one of my clients is in Coventry; they cast alloy parts for TVR, Rolls-Royce, Jaguar et al.
I also visit a forge in Lincoln where they make cranks for earthmovers and small marine diesels. You'd struggle to lift just one end of some of them!
I wonder, returning to the original subject, whether this local company casts blanks that sre then machined into cranks? Seems a bit odd, but I suppose billets have to come from somewhere... and casting in sand has got to be cheaper than producing a set of forging blanks for a low-volume maker like TVR.

Oh, and NDT... that's the initials of the firm I work for...! Sometimes drive past the Prodrive place at Banbury on my way to another client... the Arrows race team...

Ian

[Nick Elliott]

The following shows they are tested in an engine test bay somewhere!

www.fotango.com/cgi-bin/public_gallery_item.cgi?id=188230

[NDT]

AFAIK you probably wouldn't cast a round billet then machine it into a crank.
from memory the three ways you would make a crank would be:
- cast a crank blank then machine the bearings etc
- forge a crank blank then machine the bearings etc
- machine it from a solid steel billet

if you can see them rolling billets around then they're probably machining from solid.