Noisy engine - check catalytic converter

[Mark Lacey]

Just thought I would put this little tale up as it might prove useful (sorry if it has been covered before). There's a lot of talk about engine failures with these cars and a while back my car suddenly developed a ominous clattering noise. If I kept he revs down below 1500 the noise was relatively minor so I limped to a nearby specialist (2 miles). They kept the car for the day and then told me it was an engine failure and that I better budget for 8-10 k! I thought this unlikely so had the car transported to another specialist who gave a similar diagnosis. Finally I took it to a local engineering shop, nothing to do with TVR and had them remove the head where two small chunks of metal were found in bore 6! After checking all the components in the head we found no damage. Gazing into the engine bay the open cans for the cats revealed a matrix shot to pieces. Comparing the shards form the bore and the can revealed they were the same.
Put head back on engine with new gasket and seals, fire up, runs sweet as a nut. Clearly this would not apply to all cars but it is wise to make your own conclusion.

[Dischordant]

Haha that's brill! Thanks for taking the time to share =)