V8 Developments upgrades
Discussion
Would be interested to hear from anyone who has had their RV8 upgraded/tuned by V8 Developments. My 1999 Chimaera has the 4.0L engine (39,000 miles) and I can't help thinking there is still a considerable amount of power/torque waiting to be released with the engine set up properly plus a few potential (money permitting) tweaks. Lots of interesting info on their website including the Barracuda upgrade. Anyone had this done?
Rob
Rob
GasDoc said:
Would be interested to hear from anyone who has had their RV8 upgraded/tuned by V8 Developments. My 1999 Chimaera has the 4.0L engine (39,000 miles) and I can't help thinking there is still a considerable amount of power/torque waiting to be released with the engine set up properly plus a few potential (money permitting) tweaks. Lots of interesting info on their website including the Barracuda upgrade. Anyone had this done?
Rob
I went for one their bespoke 5.0 engines, top hat linered with 96mm forged Pistons, I beam rods, crossbolted, an offset ground 4.6 crank with the larger journals and stealth cam with ported inlet manifold and 72mm plenum.Rob
Makes for a rev happy engine with lashings of torque!
Only covered 4K miles so far, but very pleased with the result
Mine is similar to Andav's........but by the time you have changed the engines over etc you will have nearly doubled the cost of the car.
Not sure we are helping you here!
But I will add that I have done 24,000 miles in mine, many of them on track days, with absolutely no engine issues.
Not sure we are helping you here!
But I will add that I have done 24,000 miles in mine, many of them on track days, with absolutely no engine issues.
QBee said:
Mine is similar to Andav's........but by the time you have changed the engines over etc you will have nearly doubled the cost of the car.
Not sure we are helping you here!
What you mean fNot sure we are helping you here!
king quick 
Maybe get an engine health check and go from there, see how your bottom end and compression is, if it's good maybe go for partial rebuild coupled with inlet/Ecu mods... You'd be sorting the thing out for sure
I had mine top hatted and fully ported, forget the term used but it was their top product - but no cross bolting.
My well looked after 450 had just had the 5L cam fitted by Mat Smith at the recommendation of TVR Power and then sprang a high pressure air leak thought to be a cracked cylinder (never confirmed or denied) so had it sent to them for stage 3 porting and the bits that go with it.
Went from about 238 bhp to 280, but very flat torque so high torque early. Drives much better. Bank balance still reeling.
But I won't send it to V8D again, bloody awful dealing with them. Wish I had sent it somewhere else.
Rich
My well looked after 450 had just had the 5L cam fitted by Mat Smith at the recommendation of TVR Power and then sprang a high pressure air leak thought to be a cracked cylinder (never confirmed or denied) so had it sent to them for stage 3 porting and the bits that go with it.
Went from about 238 bhp to 280, but very flat torque so high torque early. Drives much better. Bank balance still reeling.
But I won't send it to V8D again, bloody awful dealing with them. Wish I had sent it somewhere else.
Rich
It's possible to spend ludicrous amounts of money on these cars - I have spent more on mods than I originally paid for the car.
Try to take your time, think through what you are trying to achieve and what you are planning to do with the car, and then decide whether to make those mods, or instead look for a car with them done - often cheaper! Then follow that path without getting deflected.
I wanted a track day car, and now have one. But for the money I spent I could have kept my TVR entirely standard and bought a Rover V8 engined Westfield that I saw advertised this week, or something similar, ie a car entirely dedicated to track days, and had the best of both worlds.
Try to take your time, think through what you are trying to achieve and what you are planning to do with the car, and then decide whether to make those mods, or instead look for a car with them done - often cheaper! Then follow that path without getting deflected.
I wanted a track day car, and now have one. But for the money I spent I could have kept my TVR entirely standard and bought a Rover V8 engined Westfield that I saw advertised this week, or something similar, ie a car entirely dedicated to track days, and had the best of both worlds.
This ^^^^^^^
I think before any mods you have to consider all the other parts of the car, if their condition is good then ok start your
Mod program,
There's so many ways you can go,,,
4.0 engine,,,if it's in decent Nick,, so doesn't need a rebuild,, super charger or turbo would give you more power than a 5.0 let alone the 4.6
As Qbee says it's all down to what you want to achieve,
I'd have thought even with a top end re fresh of your engine you could get FI fitted too for roughly the same price as a really top N/A motor,,,
4.0 FI are perfect bed fellows and it would go like stink!
Just a thought
I think before any mods you have to consider all the other parts of the car, if their condition is good then ok start your
Mod program,
There's so many ways you can go,,,
4.0 engine,,,if it's in decent Nick,, so doesn't need a rebuild,, super charger or turbo would give you more power than a 5.0 let alone the 4.6
As Qbee says it's all down to what you want to achieve,
I'd have thought even with a top end re fresh of your engine you could get FI fitted too for roughly the same price as a really top N/A motor,,,
4.0 FI are perfect bed fellows and it would go like stink!
Just a thought
I have no regrets with modding the 4.0 its better than I expected to be honest in both performance and road manners (even though low speed was a bh to tune to make manageable) the only thing I will say is paying someone else to build to this spec would be prohibitive 
but I did get over involved & went slightly over budget but if I decide to go bigger parts can be transferred onto another build i.e cyl heads roller rockers etc at the moment I am happy 
h to tune to make manageable) the only thing I will say is paying someone else to build to this spec would be prohibitive but I did get over involved & went slightly over budget but if I decide to go bigger parts can be transferred onto another build i.e cyl heads roller rockers etc at the moment I am happy QBee said:
The cheapest way to upgrade your car, by far, is to sell it and buy one with the upgrades already done.
Only problem with that is if you already have a sorted car you have to start all over again there is a wide divide with peoples opinions of sorted and service history is no guarantee of a quality car either 
Sardonicus said:
QBee said:
The cheapest way to upgrade your car, by far, is to sell it and buy one with the upgrades already done.
Only problem with that is if you already have a sorted car you have to start all over again there is a wide divide with peoples opinions of sorted and service history is no guarantee of a quality car either But I am facing an £8,000 bill for a chassis refurb, retrim and respray on my well used 97,000 mile car. I want to do the work, as I have sentimental feelings for the car, but I can buy a car with half the mileage and with these things already done for a bit more than my present car is worth, but not £8,000 more. For £8,000 more I can buy a decent early Tuscan.
It depends on how well loved and sorted your car already is.
I've had the honour of 3 V8D engines - 4.6, 5.0 and (currently)5.4
The bigger the better - if you need a full rebuild there is 'no substitute for cubes'
If you don't need a rebuild - consider FI route.
Make sure the rest of the car is uptogether inc. appropriate upgrades (brakes,suspension,clutch etc) before spending.
The bigger the better - if you need a full rebuild there is 'no substitute for cubes'
If you don't need a rebuild - consider FI route.
Make sure the rest of the car is uptogether inc. appropriate upgrades (brakes,suspension,clutch etc) before spending.
Sardonicus said:
QBee said:
The cheapest way to upgrade your car, by far, is to sell it and buy one with the upgrades already done.
Only problem with that is if you already have a sorted car you have to start all over again there is a wide divide with peoples opinions of sorted and service history is no guarantee of a quality car either I bought a 5.3 car with huge pile of bills but without the chance to speak with the owner (sadly deceased) and it turned out that the up-grade was not complete and I ended up spending a reasonable sum of money getting it to where I thought it would have been already. Not typical circumstances but in-line with the advice above. Then the new shock absorbers, the decat I wanted, brakes, battery, electrics etc etc.
The power of the 5.3 is fantastic and on dry days and suitable conditions it is simply awesome. There have been numerous occasions when I have regretted selling my 400.
Sardonicus said:
Only problem with that is if you already have a sorted car you have to start all over again there is a wide divide with peoples opinions of sorted and service history is no guarantee of a quality car either
^^^Sage words all of us should take heed of^^^ and service history is no guarantee of a quality car either Whatever anyone says about the development work TVR did or did not complete on these cars before they were sold new, they were at least something people needed to feel confident enough in to slap £30k plus on the table... when they could have just as easily bought a Porsche.
That meant these cars had to work as advertised and stay doing it (mostly) for at least as long as the warranty period. What I'm trying to get at here is a standard Chimaera (even the baby 4.0 litre) should still be quite a thrill and perfectly reliable assuming it's in good health and correctly maintained.
There's no doubt a huge amount can be done to improve a standard Chimaera but there's also a lot you can do to fek one up. If modifications are done badly you could easily end up with the less reliable car in the process. Even if the modifications are well chosen and executed by a professional you're basically embarking on a development program that could take quite some time to complete.
And be under no illusion.... development is often very frustrating and expensive!
I'm personally trying really hard to resist the big power adder mods on my 4.0 litre, while they are fiendishly tempting I also know they come with certain risks and will invariably take a lot more time and money to get right than others might have you believe.
I chose a Chimaera because I wanted a practical classic British sports car in the old school vein that has enough poke not to be embarrassed on modern roads, which lets face it (even taking the money thing out of it) a Chimaera delivers better than anything else this side of an Eagle E-Type.
A TVR is not a sensible purchase and never will be, so any improvements I've done to date have followed a rather cautions & sensible approach in line with my true priorities and expectations for the car.
- Reliability
- Cheap maintenance
- Practicality
- Performance
- Economy
The way I see it TVR already took care of the theatre, epic engine sound and performance very well thank you very much.
By resisting the temptation to put all my focus and money into on the performance side I've ended up with a car that I use more often, and one that has proved to be reliable, cheap to maintain and now extremely economical.
All this might sound quite boring to some but you'll need to go a long way to make any TVR boring, so adding some reliability and economy to an exciting and characterful car that's already a very practical and cheap to maintain classic simply means I use it more.
While I may not have the fastest Chimaera in the group it's still a very quick and exciting classic car to drive, so for me it's simple...
More practicality & reliability = more use... and more use = more TVR fun
My parting advise to the OP is simply this... "Be careful what you wish for"
Edited by ChimpOnGas on Wednesday 21st October 17:40
Dave your car is an ideal example can you imagine selling yours now to buy a bigger engine more modified example? NO? didnt think so 
too much hard work done already 
..... Plus this website is the equivalent of crack cocaine once your hooked on this bad boy your fked ..... AKA modifying TVR's reading about new this and that 
too much hard work done already ..... Plus this website is the equivalent of crack cocaine once your hooked on this bad boy your fked ..... AKA modifying TVR's reading about new this and that 
Sardonicus said:
Dave your car is an ideal example can you imagine selling yours now to buy a bigger engine more modified example? NO? didnt think so too much hard work done already ..... Plus this website is the equivalent of crack cocaine once your hooked on this bad boy your fked ..... AKA modifying TVR's reading about new this and that
So true Oh Wise One... too much hard work done already ..... Plus this website is the equivalent of crack cocaine once your hooked on this bad boy your fked ..... AKA modifying TVR's reading about new this and that 
Substitute the word Marijuana for LPG
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