Another Happy Powers 4.3 customer
Discussion
No surprise there! 
It was initially a very rocky ride, to say the least. Nothing to do with Powers. My cunning plan was to have it done while I was on holiday so I wouldn't miss my tam. Instead I got a ton of stress before I even boarded the plane, that had me counting cents for the duration.
Basically I expected Dom to find maybe 1 or 2K worth of extras that needed fixing.
Which of course he did, a broken toe link, some worn track rods, diff mounts... Discs and pads were on the way out as well, so all new.
What I wasn't expecting to hear is that a couple of big ticket items were faulty. These were the Helix clutch (mega worn out for 500 miles) and AST shocks (cracked at the eyelet due to faulty bushes). That's a recent 3.5K worth of stuff/labour down the pan right there! Gulp... Shame because I did like the AST ride though. All indications are that I will be compensated appropriately.
Since I was in two minds whether or not to put the `spare` 46mm nitrons back on (too hard) and because it turned out one of these had a cracked adjuster ring (non structural, the knob still works fine), I ended up buying some Gaz Gold Pro's so I could get back on the road. They seem suitable for road use, quite soft for me at the rear but I haven't fiddled the adjusters yet.
What about the clutch! well I didn't buy a new clutch... power is now transmitted by a magic spell from Dom... actually what happened was Dom gave me a clutch he had laying around with only 500 miles on it, from testing on his legendary sag. I couldn't actually believe it... after feeling like the unluckiest TVR'ist ever. It operates perfectly and the pedal is much lighter than the Helix was. Dom had to keep the pipeline moving swiftly/efficient rather than have it sat there for weeks waiting for Helix to engineer the solution/replacement. THANK YOU DOM!
Now for the engine stuff
My 3.6 was apparently in relatively good nick despite seeping oil from the gasket, the cam shafts and crank looked very well. It turned out it had been fettled in the past (prob the top end)... The dodgy gasket was of unknown source.
But it had worn liners and water pump, so another good chunk of cash on top for pump and block relining. I'm happy its ALL new internals though, even though my wallet is now thoroughly ravaged
The 4.3 is immediately obvious as soon as you turn the key, it's a peach of an engine! sooo smooth/balanced, whereas before the whole car would be visibly shaking with the engine rattles/vibration.
The sound is different. It sounds like its perfectly put together It doesn't sound like it wants to throw bits out, it sounds and feels meaty, deeper growl, bigger, purposeful, like all its got is producing force, nothing wasted.
About force... on the way back to Scotland I felt I needed a 6th cruising gear... 4th feels like 3rd was and so on. Its beastly. effortless on the motorway... blink and you've gone 50 to 70 in 4th (I need to try and measure this sometime). I never felt the 3.6 really scared me torque wise, even when wet (with vreds), this thing does and I haven't even been near the red line!
Already have over 400 miles on the clock but not really counting the motorway miles, Did 80 miles today around the Trossachs. Dom tells me I will feel more still after the 1st service!
If you can, get it done!
BIG thanks to Dom and his team.
Cheers
S
It was initially a very rocky ride, to say the least. Nothing to do with Powers. My cunning plan was to have it done while I was on holiday so I wouldn't miss my tam. Instead I got a ton of stress before I even boarded the plane, that had me counting cents for the duration.
Basically I expected Dom to find maybe 1 or 2K worth of extras that needed fixing.
Which of course he did, a broken toe link, some worn track rods, diff mounts... Discs and pads were on the way out as well, so all new.
What I wasn't expecting to hear is that a couple of big ticket items were faulty. These were the Helix clutch (mega worn out for 500 miles) and AST shocks (cracked at the eyelet due to faulty bushes). That's a recent 3.5K worth of stuff/labour down the pan right there! Gulp... Shame because I did like the AST ride though. All indications are that I will be compensated appropriately.
Since I was in two minds whether or not to put the `spare` 46mm nitrons back on (too hard) and because it turned out one of these had a cracked adjuster ring (non structural, the knob still works fine), I ended up buying some Gaz Gold Pro's so I could get back on the road. They seem suitable for road use, quite soft for me at the rear but I haven't fiddled the adjusters yet.
What about the clutch! well I didn't buy a new clutch... power is now transmitted by a magic spell from Dom... actually what happened was Dom gave me a clutch he had laying around with only 500 miles on it, from testing on his legendary sag. I couldn't actually believe it... after feeling like the unluckiest TVR'ist ever. It operates perfectly and the pedal is much lighter than the Helix was. Dom had to keep the pipeline moving swiftly/efficient rather than have it sat there for weeks waiting for Helix to engineer the solution/replacement. THANK YOU DOM!
Now for the engine stuff
My 3.6 was apparently in relatively good nick despite seeping oil from the gasket, the cam shafts and crank looked very well. It turned out it had been fettled in the past (prob the top end)... The dodgy gasket was of unknown source.
But it had worn liners and water pump, so another good chunk of cash on top for pump and block relining. I'm happy its ALL new internals though, even though my wallet is now thoroughly ravaged
The 4.3 is immediately obvious as soon as you turn the key, it's a peach of an engine! sooo smooth/balanced, whereas before the whole car would be visibly shaking with the engine rattles/vibration.
The sound is different. It sounds like its perfectly put together
It doesn't sound like it wants to throw bits out, it sounds and feels meaty, deeper growl, bigger, purposeful, like all its got is producing force, nothing wasted. About force... on the way back to Scotland I felt I needed a 6th cruising gear... 4th feels like 3rd was and so on. Its beastly. effortless on the motorway... blink and you've gone 50 to 70 in 4th (I need to try and measure this sometime). I never felt the 3.6 really scared me torque wise, even when wet (with vreds), this thing does and I haven't even been near the red line!
Already have over 400 miles on the clock but not really counting the motorway miles, Did 80 miles today around the Trossachs. Dom tells me I will feel more still after the 1st service!
If you can, get it done!
BIG thanks to Dom and his team.
Cheers
S
The 4.3 is a peach isn't it
You wait till it's run in an you can use the full range of throttle...
I'm quite worried about the Helix, I had one fitted start of last year but only have 1500 or so on it. Any idea what caused the wear? Poor fitting? I know they do need delicate set up.
What have R/Green said about it?
You wait till it's run in an you can use the full range of throttle...
I'm quite worried about the Helix, I had one fitted start of last year but only have 1500 or so on it. Any idea what caused the wear? Poor fitting? I know they do need delicate set up.
What have R/Green said about it?
Zippee said:
I'm quite worried about the Helix, I had one fitted start of last year but only have 1500 or so on it. Any idea what caused the wear? Poor fitting? I know they do need delicate set up.
What have R/Green said about it?
Be interested in this also. Now have about 1K miles on mine since fitted.What have R/Green said about it?
Byker28i said:
Zippee said:
I'm quite worried about the Helix, I had one fitted start of last year but only have 1500 or so on it. Any idea what caused the wear? Poor fitting? I know they do need delicate set up.
What have R/Green said about it?
Be interested in this also. Now have about 1K miles on mine since fitted.What have R/Green said about it?
The how's/why's is for engineers to answer with any certainty.
What we all know is that there are multiple reports of stiff pedal and difficult gear change. And we know there were QC issues to do with plate thicknesses.
We also know that one of its features is extra thick spring fingers to avoid them breaking off like in AP's. Perhaps the combination thereof results in what happened to mine?
I had one trackday on the helix, since that day the difficult gear change went away 90% of the time.
My previous AP clutch (34k) went down due to slave cylinder failure/leak.
The weather was gorgeous today for topless action.
So, 600 miles so far on the 4.3, it seems like its starting to subtly loosen up, I'll be over 700 before the weekend is finished
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