Sp6 and Melling
Discussion
Unfortunately it's not as simple as that. I've spoken to him at length about this.
It's not economical to create a one off head for a Melling spec engine. To do it, he'd need to create quite a few in order to make it affordable.
His interest is to make a statement about his original design rather than to create a new business so how much he invests in the project is down to matters of principle rather than business opportunity.
It's not economical to create a one off head for a Melling spec engine. To do it, he'd need to create quite a few in order to make it affordable.
His interest is to make a statement about his original design rather than to create a new business so how much he invests in the project is down to matters of principle rather than business opportunity.
PetrolTed said:
Unfortunately it's not as simple as that. I've spoken to him at length about this.
It's not economical to create a one off head for a Melling spec engine. To do it, he'd need to create quite a few in order to make it affordable.
His interest is to make a statement about his original design rather than to create a new business so how much he invests in the project is down to matters of principle rather than business opportunity.
Call me naive, but I'm sure he could easily get the number of orders to make the production run economical, SP6 owners would be climbing over each other to have them fitted.
In fact if TVR commissioned him to set up a manufacturing run then they could be fitted as standard, when ever an engine went back to the factory with the usual finger followers problem and on all current models. End of reliability problems, public confidence grows, cash registers ringing non stop at Blackpool, second hand buyers like me would buy a SP6 engined model with a lot more confidence - everybody benefits!
I think in reality there must be a mixture of legal issues and pride preventing this happening!
You'd only get commitment from Speed Six owners whose engines were out of warranty. I certainly would be interested if there proves to still be a problem in the future. Since my engine has another 18 months of warranty I'm not about to spend four figures on it.
But as has been ever-so-slightly overdiscussed we don't know if there is still a problem. It could be crap engine builders/technique for all we know (look at the recent case of an engine failing 1,800 miles after supposed rebuild). What makes everyone so sure just replacing the head would make the engine bulletproof anyway? (and how much more bulletproof than it already is?). I'm not trying to be negative (it comes easily
), I'm trying to be realistic.
But as has been ever-so-slightly overdiscussed we don't know if there is still a problem. It could be crap engine builders/technique for all we know (look at the recent case of an engine failing 1,800 miles after supposed rebuild). What makes everyone so sure just replacing the head would make the engine bulletproof anyway? (and how much more bulletproof than it already is?). I'm not trying to be negative (it comes easily
), I'm trying to be realistic.All,
I got this info from local TVR CC email groups .. so it's pretty general knowledge - Ted if you think it's too dangereous - please feel free to remove it
"1- Al Melling would still like to give a talk about the engine design and why the current engines are having problems, this will be a technical
talk but should still be very interesting, so I would like to gauge the interest for such a talk, I would anticipate it being either in London or the midlands depending on the demand, the cost would be only enough
to cover the room hire (unless anyone has a room we can use for free)
2- MCD would like to offer a re machined head to improve the oil flow and different finger followers (different radius and centre) new valves and
springs to provide the reliability we all want and hope for. This is NOT going to give you more power, just reliability and long engine life. The cost of this is £2,000 for the engine work. On top of that you have the engine removal, refitting and shipping to MCD and back, plus of course the VAT, so a conservative guess would be £3,500 including VAT and fitting. From
then on some servicing would remain the same, get your local dealer or specialist to do the work, some consumables may need to be purchased from
MCD instead of TVR but MCD do not see this as a problem, and if TVR make getting other parts difficult MCD can get them from the manufacturers direct
as they put TVR in touch with the manufacturers in the first place
Long term Al Melling said their may be the possibility of doing bigger and more powerful engines, he talked of different ECUs, cranks and rebores to give 4.5 or even 5.0 engines and twin turbos to get around 600bhp!
But that would depend on the interest levels to make it financially feasible, for now it will be modifications to the head gear to get reliability."
That's it .. being organised via the Tuscan owners group. Sounds like he needs enough interest to do this
I got this info from local TVR CC email groups .. so it's pretty general knowledge - Ted if you think it's too dangereous - please feel free to remove it
"1- Al Melling would still like to give a talk about the engine design and why the current engines are having problems, this will be a technical
talk but should still be very interesting, so I would like to gauge the interest for such a talk, I would anticipate it being either in London or the midlands depending on the demand, the cost would be only enough
to cover the room hire (unless anyone has a room we can use for free)
2- MCD would like to offer a re machined head to improve the oil flow and different finger followers (different radius and centre) new valves and
springs to provide the reliability we all want and hope for. This is NOT going to give you more power, just reliability and long engine life. The cost of this is £2,000 for the engine work. On top of that you have the engine removal, refitting and shipping to MCD and back, plus of course the VAT, so a conservative guess would be £3,500 including VAT and fitting. From
then on some servicing would remain the same, get your local dealer or specialist to do the work, some consumables may need to be purchased from
MCD instead of TVR but MCD do not see this as a problem, and if TVR make getting other parts difficult MCD can get them from the manufacturers direct
as they put TVR in touch with the manufacturers in the first place
Long term Al Melling said their may be the possibility of doing bigger and more powerful engines, he talked of different ECUs, cranks and rebores to give 4.5 or even 5.0 engines and twin turbos to get around 600bhp!
But that would depend on the interest levels to make it financially feasible, for now it will be modifications to the head gear to get reliability."
That's it .. being organised via the Tuscan owners group. Sounds like he needs enough interest to do this
Interesting article with Dom @ TVR Power in Sprint this month. He sounds very confident in the speed6 now. Would this mean there's still demand for an Al Melling fix I wonder? 
I've no wish to provoke any further speed 6 debate, I only hope that the positive news I've heard of late bodes well for the future.
I've no wish to provoke any further speed 6 debate, I only hope that the positive news I've heard of late bodes well for the future.targarama said:
But as has been ever-so-slightly overdiscussed we don't know if there is still a problem. It could be crap engine builders/technique for all we know (look at the recent case of an engine failing 1,800 miles after supposed rebuild). What makes everyone so sure just replacing the head would make the engine bulletproof anyway?
Talk to Melling (he's happy to talk to owners) and he'll explain the differences in design.
Why should any Speed 6 owner with an engine going bang before at least 50k miles do anything other than dump it back in Blackpool or Coventry and demand it is fixed for free! [My 2000 Tuscan got a 'goodwill' fix last year - well out of warranty - at 14+k miles, and if my 2001 Cerb goes the same way I will expect the same treatment regardless of who owns TVR] 
Road cars with a known problem at the milages we have been talking about should ALL have been recalled and sorted by TVR. What is needed is not Tuscan owners going around waving bundles of cash at engineers, but a class action by all Speed 6 owners with engine problems enforcing TVR engineering Ltd to sort their problems out gratis.
PS I think I know it is NOT Melling's fault and would like to hear what he has got to say about the technical side of the Speed 6 development and what went wrong in his view
Road cars with a known problem at the milages we have been talking about should ALL have been recalled and sorted by TVR. What is needed is not Tuscan owners going around waving bundles of cash at engineers, but a class action by all Speed 6 owners with engine problems enforcing TVR engineering Ltd to sort their problems out gratis.
PS I think I know it is NOT Melling's fault and would like to hear what he has got to say about the technical side of the Speed 6 development and what went wrong in his view
stop stop stop stop stop stop stop stop stop stop stop stop. I was convinced by dealer that speed6 engine was OK now so brought a new T350c instead of second hand cerby 4.2 AJP V8 four weeks ago.
The worry sleepless nights and nightmares have just stopped.
Now I'm affraid to go to sleep to night after reading threads like this, Im now going to bury my head in the sand.
(Only problem is when you bury your head in the sand you have to remember the part of your body you leave sticking up.)
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