4.5 BV

[SFTWend]

I love TVRs but never really been in a position to own one before now. Just started looking at the ad's for a Griffith or Cerbera.

I see there is a 4.5 BV Griffith for sale on this site. Please excuse my ignorance but is such a rare car a collectors dream or an undriveable beast? Also, would the replacement engine mean it's not really recognised as a true factory 4.5 BV car?

Thanks.

Pete

[QBee]

No Griff is an undriveable beast.

The nearest you will get to undriveable is if you turbocharge or supercharge one to between 500 and 600 bhp, such that you can spin the wheels on changing up to 4th on a dry road. And it's not as if you would make that happen without knowing exactly what you were doing and being ready to catch it.

Buy whatever Griff you can find safe in the knowledge it will be a huge amount of fun and will not try to kill you......unless the suspension is not set up at all, and you are running bald 20 year old tyres at 40 psi and in a monsoon.

[Ducati0]

SFTWend said:

I love TVRs but never really been in a position to own one before now. Just started looking at the ad's for a Griffith or Cerbera.

I see there is a 4.5 BV Griffith for sale on this site. Please excuse my ignorance but is such a rare car a collectors dream or an undriveable beast? Also, would the replacement engine mean it's not really recognised as a true factory 4.5 BV car?

Thanks.

Pete

I enquired about that same car about 5-6 weeks ago. I guess I was put off by the fact that it was not the original block. Certainly the 4.5BV is rare, but tbh most pre-cat Griffs are rare nowadays.

[Barreti]

Don't be put off if you drive a Griffith and it handles terribly. It could be a number of things and some are easy to fix.
I met someone complaining his Griff was losing traction with the slightest bit of power and a handful on roundabouts. It was just that he had the tyre pressures the same as his BMW at 32f 38r

[dinos]

Is it true that the 4.5 BV Griffith were very unreliable and most cars replaced their engines ? ( Unlike the 4.3 BV that were much more reliable )

Edited by dinos on Monday 10th June 19:41

[Classic Chim]

If they were you may find some documented evidence on these pages.
I’ve never heard of any particular woes about the 4.5 BV
How many were actually built would be my first question.
Rumours are rife, if there was evidence of any engine failures I’m sure we would have heard about them on here.
It’s important to remember these engines were all development engines back in the 90’s in reality.

[MikeE]

Classic Chim said:

If they were you may find some documented evidence on these pages.
I’ve never heard of any particular woes about the 4.5 BV
How many were actually built would be my first question.
Rumours are rife, if there was evidence of any engine failures I’m sure we would have heard about them on here.
It’s important to remember these engines were all development engines back in the 90’s in reality.

I remember back in the day the chairman? of the TVR Car Club had a 4.5BV Pre-cat built for him and I always thought it was a Tuscan race car engine?

[Jonny TVR]

MikeE said:

I remember back in the day the chairman? of the TVR Car Club had a 4.5BV Pre-cat built for him and I always thought it was a Tuscan race car engine?

I had a Cerbera with a 4.7 Tuscan race engine from new. It was made for a friend of Peter Wheeler and the reg from new was R200 HOT as in 200cc hotter than a standard 4.5. The only other Cerby like it was the yellow press car

[griffdude]

Interesting, looks like a really nice example of a PreCat. Not sure that it can be called an original 4.5 BV though with a replacement V8Dev short block as it’ll be different to a NCK/TVR 4.5.
I’ve got a PTP built 4.5 V8 with V8Dev stage 4 BV heads & the power delivery is different to the original 4.3 - much torquier but retains its ability to rev.

[Ducati0]

If you like the fact of having a very rare Griff then obviously the 4.5 BV fits the bill. But naturally with a replacement engine then that immediately cancels it out imo. As far as I know the only difference on the 4.5bv over a standard 4.3, is the engine ? If that’s been replaced then would it not be better to have an original matching numbers car ? I know that many cars may have had new re-builds etc but as long as they have the original factory block, that makes all the difference to future values - if that is important to you. For many they will have no interest in future values and will put different kinds of upgrades and changes to their cars, and that's great. For me, I want the car as original factory built as possible and therefore importantly, matching numbers. Having said all of this, everything has a value and if something is priced accordingly, then that might be something many would consider.

[SFTWend]

Ducati0 said:

If you like the fact of having a very rare Griff then obviously the 4.5 BV fits the bill. But naturally with a replacement engine then that immediately cancels it out imo. As far as I know the only difference on the 4.5bv over a standard 4.3, is the engine ? If that’s been replaced then would it not be better to have an original matching numbers car ?

I'm inclined to agree.

[griffster]

i was interested in one way back when - I believe it was blue or green - reason for comment is that it arrived for pre sale road test firing on 7 cylinders - on closer inspection a plug lead was off and welded to the manifold through heat fusion....!!!!

The vendor had been driving it - I suspect for some time totally unaware..................

Needless to say I declined!

Sooo...this would no doubt need a new block at some stage..among other things, due to fuel wash in the dormant bore..

It was a rough car too...back in c 95

Is this the one?

[MikeE]

griffster said:

i was interested in one way back when - I believe it was blue or green - reason for comment is that it arrived for pre sale road test firing on 7 cylinders - on closer inspection a plug lead was off and welded to the manifold through heat fusion....!!!!

The vendor had been driving it - I suspect for some time totally unaware..................

Needless to say I declined!

Sooo...this would no doubt need a new block at some stage..among other things, due to fuel wash in the dormant bore..

It was a rough car too...back in c 95

Is this the one?

Don't think so, this one is still in it's original black

[MikeE]

I've got a precat 4.5 too but unsure of the spec, what can you ascertain without stripping the thing down?

Where is the engine number, I've searched for it but see nothing from above the car? Was thinking of asking Dom at Powers but apparently it's unlikely they stil have the records as they had a fire a decade ago and lost a lot of the original build sheets.