New 430 Chim Owner Questions

[Jimchimanee]

Hi Guys,
I am the proud owner of a 93 430 Chimaera and wonder if someone could enlighten me on a few points:
Seating position is very low is this normal or can you raise the position ?
Oil according to history is Mobil 1 but surely a 20/50 would be ok?( Previous TVR was V8 Wedge and used 20/50 Valvoline no problem)
The heat coming off the inside of the cabin is amazing, do they all do this or is their a radiator / cooling upgrade to keep temperature down?
Oil presure drops alarmingly as temperature rises is this normal?
Tickover is very lumpy and feels almost too rich do they all do this ? I noticed the prvious owner has removed certain boxes on exhaust ( not cats!!) but wonder if this could screw up air flow at tickover?
Sorry for all the questions but keen to get sorting!!!

[spend]

There are (were) blocks under the seat runners to rake the seat, Just put some blocks/spreaders under the runners to adjust height to suit.

Oil pressure dropping may be crap oil / heating probs. I have oil cooler & use mobil1 racing which keeps a much more consistent pressure. Check out the oil threads opieoilman does occasionally, they might be in the general or engine sections..

Tickover... Try cleaning the air filter - they get pretty mucky, many clean the stepper motor, check very carefully for any air leaks. Give it a service & check the state of the plugs / leads...

Dave

[john p]

I think the 4.3 is known to be rich at tickover,I use 20/50 oil in mine,i've been told it is more suited to the RV8.My 4.3 shows 15 psi at hot idle rising to 30 at 2000rpm which is about right for a pre serp.Plug leads,dizzy cap and rotor arm often sort rough idling if they are not up to scratch.

[Jimchimanee]

Thanks for information mate.jim

[jason1788]

Hi Jim, not K767*** by any chance?

[Jimchimanee]

Jason,
No not that one!
Just again on the oil issue, I know it is contentious but could you use a 20/50 oil in a 4.3 for street use, and if so would you need to flush out all old Mobil 1 with a flushing oil?
Sorry to keep going on about oils but I am close to Valvoline dealer and would be so easy to use 20/ 50 Racing!!
Any thoughts?

[chim666]

I'm not sure I'd use a 20/50 oil (I assume you're talking normal multigrade here) - these engines run VERY hot and are best suited to a good quality fully-synthetic oil.

I use Mobil 1 (and have done since I bought the car over 5 years ago) - OK, so the oil pressure is low (well it would be, the stuff's like water - but it's fully-synthetic water!).

They're meant to use fully-synthetic oil - so you have to ask yourself - do you know better than the manufacturer.

[TVR Thomo]

Silkolene Pro S 10w-50 is ideal as a top option for all year round use. It's what I use in my 430.

[jdharris]

Not sure it's relevant for a 430 but I use also use Silkolene 10w-50 in my Chim 500. Best bet would be to spek with Opie Oil on the general TVR forum - Guy knows his oil. I topped up with Mobil1 but Silkolene is better stuff. I'd never use anything other than fully synthetic because of the heat these engines produce as stated earlier.

HTH.
James

[That Daddy]

As the 2 previous posts said,i would go with the Silkolene 10/50 ,problem with 20/50 is its old hat and you will be missing the benefits of the superior flow of the silkolene when cold(amongst other benefits) not good for cam wear on the RV8 im afraid ,20/50 may have been ok in the 70s/80s but they did not use the same cam specs as TVR did later in the RV8s life it is also not subject to the same high temps as these cars inflict on the oil,if it was mine i would not use 20/50 oil,i currently use 5/40 and have no problems(i buy in bulk)but thats just me.

[john p]

I use 20/50 in my 430,as recommended by Horizon,it's fully synthetic too.Oil pressure is a bit better than when using 10/40.

[thenick]

The oil pressure drop you're having is due to the Mobil 1 being too thin! After talking to a lot of people in the TVR world, I would have to say use any oil as long as it is fully synthetic, a decent weight, and not Mobil 1..! When I changed my cam, I was told that two things seem to kill them, the first is leaving the car idling to warm it up as no oil is supplied to the cam below 1k revs. The second is use of Mobil 1 due to the fact that it is too thin for the RV8 and is better suited to engines with very small clearance values such as new German engines.

I have since used Castrol GTX Magnatec as recommended by Dave Batty, but a good friend of mine uses Valvoline Racing on his pre cat Griff and recommends it highly.

[That Daddy]

[quote=john p]I use 20/50 in my 430,as recommended by Horizon,it's fully synthetic too.Oil pressure is a bit better than when using 10/40.[/quote/ I was referring to mineral 20/50 in my previous post,so does not apply to this synthetic 20/50,just clears that up.

[Jimchimanee]

thanks for all the information fellas,a great help!jim