Whats under this hood?

[alinton]

Hi all, have a look at the picture of the engine bay in
www.pistonheads.com/sales/detail.asp?i=33981&s=6

... what's going on there? Mine doesn't look like that!

[joospeed]

looks like a cerbera to me

[alinton]

Mine looks like this: (pissing down with rain here!)

http://photos.fotango.com/p/eba00492186f00000001.jpg

?

[serby]

Is this a "where's Wally?" nothing looks out of place to me? standard 4.5?

[kojak]

yours is a 4.2...or did you not realise that.

[alinton]

Well I did realise mine was a 4.2, but didn't realise they looked different!

Duh! ...guess you learn something new everyday.

OK - why do they look different? What is different?

[trooperiziz]

The big varicose veins on the 4.5 are the air pipes.
Don't worry, the 4.2 arrangement is better

[alinton]

Just interesting that there's such a difference between two engines of the same design and only 'slight' difference in capacity!

[joospeed]

alinton said:

Just interesting that there's such a difference between two engines of the same design and only 'slight' difference in capacity!

Don't worry, you did the right thing buying the 4.2 .. better to drive and shit loads cheaper

[alinton]

OK, but out of interest, what are the differences? why the different air intakes?

[methodwares]

it looks like a cross ram set up to me... basically more air velocity giving better VE (hence more torque) at lower rpm, whether it actually does or not...

[SXS]

With the 4.5... Theres about 18 restrictions all the way through the intake system, the air molecules spin at speed only to be deflected by these restrictions - reducing velocity. The restrictions occur all the way through, into the throttlebodies, and their idea of fuel slapping via butterflies would have worked if not for the raised spindle arm on the side where slapping takes place... Ferrari use a similar technique, but their plates are flat and there are no angular restrictions in the intakes.

The 4.2 is a better setup... regardless of the fact it looks like a skinless chest of pinhead from hellraiser...

[SXS]

alinton said:

OK, but out of interest, what are the differences? why the different air intakes?

Imagine you make a car and sell her for XX...
now imagine you take the same car but put different wheels on and increase the capacity by a small amount, and slightly bigger brakes... will it sell? might do, might not... and what do most people look at before buying a car? the engine right....

well, now make the engine look like transformers or something...

ok, now you can justify adding over XXX more on the price of this car... or something like that... get the idea?

plus, from a marketing point, if someone walks into a car lot, if they only see one model, its a hard choice to slap your cash down for it... but if you see not 2 but 3 in the range, all with different 'marketing text'... sub-conciously you'll make a choice and take what'll make you feel good inside, like person A might feel 'phew, I saved a bit of dosh, the 4.2 will be fine for me'... but then person B might feel 'I need the best, its got to be the 4.5 RR'.... etc etc...
Look at how many BMW 3 series there are, with all their options... theres a car and config for everyone that walks into their forecourt....

[gbbird]

It is slightly different to mine (and i noticed this too looking at Ash's Cerbera. The plate with TVR at the front is not there on mine. Should it be? Or was this a later addition

[Tyre Smoke]

The plate is there in mine - 99 4.5 but is missing on Serby's - 98 4.5.

Think that's about when they changed, but mine has a LW front end (from the factory) so guess it might be later.

[serby]

Tyre Smoke said:

The plate is there in mine - 99 4.5 but is missing on Serby's - 98 4.5. Think that's about when they changed, but mine has a LW front end (from the factory) so guess it might be later.

never mind the plate i havent got the bowls,cups,saucers,milk jug......