engine tuneing
Discussion
I worked in the garage trade for many years we tuned engines in the 60s and 70s by by removeing excess metal from the rockers and connecting rods flywheel ect , removeing up to 60 thou from some cylinder heads carry out reshaping of the ports and polish to a mirror finish . All internal moveing parts were polished to a mirror finish we would leave the blocks out over night this would cause slight rusting of the liners which we would then glaze bust the next day this would give pocketed areas for oil to collect thus allowing no seizeing of the pistons . How times have changed
I think the only thing that has really changed is the ring materials 
you can still port and polish for flow and oil dispersal etc.. In fairness many TVR's have pretty well ported heads to start off with, but anything can be improved 
It just seems that most folks these days just want bolt on goodies 
Remember what we British bikers thought of of new fangled complicated Jap machinery and their owners in the 60/70's, was often a talking point on the overnight kitchen engine rebuild partys.. It really is one of the great charms / attractions of the RV8 that you can get in and do some pretty agricultural modifications IMHO. Most however do not seem to want to get intimate with their motors
you can still port and polish for flow and oil dispersal etc.. In fairness many TVR's have pretty well ported heads to start off with, but anything can be improved It just seems that most folks these days just want bolt on goodies Remember what we British bikers thought of of new fangled complicated Jap machinery and their owners in the 60/70's, was often a talking point on the overnight kitchen engine rebuild partys.. It really is one of the great charms / attractions of the RV8 that you can get in and do some pretty agricultural modifications IMHO. Most however do not seem to want to get intimate with their motors 
f@-pots said:
Listen, I love my motor as much as the next man,and I must admit to getting more than a little 'firm' when I hear all those good noises. I do however draw the line at 'intimacy' !! I mean apart from anything its gotta hurt !!!
If you can't put up with the bruised knuckles, splinters in fingers, ally shards in the eyes.... well it's not for you 
If you are intimating 'fornicating' type intimacy maybe we should resurrect the V8Animal / Tubbs "tight knob" thread to sate your curiosity
its always a favorite gag topic 
Things have moved on little but you are right the basics still apply, I'm a great advocate of improving where TVR left off, my old V8S was pretty good for a 4ltr RV8 - 275hp/285bs and that was rebuilt with higher compression, lightened, balanced, ported, bespoke exhaust manifolds, rerouted & enlarged intakes, 3D ignition etc. My current Cerb was rebuilt from the ground up, billet crank, rods, bespoke pistons, raised compression, lightened, balanced (<0.1g), ported 4.2 intakes etc and makes 450hp/400lbs pretty much the highest of any 4.5 AJP8. I don't have the spare time or facilities to it myself and freely admit most is cheque book tuning, however I do and had have the main say in what is to be done and in most cases to date they have been ground breaking.
Just a few points on your original post - Honing the bore is probably a little more consistent than allow the rust to pock mark it, mirror finishing the intakes is not as good leaving it slightly rough, think dimples in a golf ball. Skimming the head for raised compression has to be calculated/measured as you run the risk of too high a compression and or valve/piston contact (normally on the overun where most fail to take into account stretching).
Just a few points on your original post - Honing the bore is probably a little more consistent than allow the rust to pock mark it, mirror finishing the intakes is not as good leaving it slightly rough, think dimples in a golf ball. Skimming the head for raised compression has to be calculated/measured as you run the risk of too high a compression and or valve/piston contact (normally on the overun where most fail to take into account stretching).
HarryW said:
..valve/piston contact (normally on the overun where most fail to take into account stretching).
I really think that the cranks can be viewed as 'flexible friends', it's just too simple to consider them as completely solid members IMHO. I've always wondered if that had some connection with the RV8 liner problems after reading race cranks suffer most deformation at the rear of the block? It's just one of those things that you muse about....
spend said:
HarryW said:
..valve/piston contact (normally on the overun where most fail to take into account stretching).
I really think that the cranks can be viewed as 'flexible friends', it's just too simple to consider them as completely solid members IMHO. I've always wondered if that had some connection with the RV8 liner problems after reading race cranks suffer most deformation at the rear of the block? It's just one of those things that you muse about....It was to do with the thickness in certain areas and how this was reduced by increased capacity. Then the distorting of certain bolts being torqued up completed the problem.
Mark explained it so much better.
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