Forged CNC Rods & Crankshaft tuffriding+balancing upgrade!
Discussion
I saw the posts flying around about rods a while back, so I had a chat with the tvrcraft team and they've just designed new rods which have gone into production as we speak so there will be a supply line here of SERIOUSLY strong rods far excelling the stock chocolate rods.
They will sell these rods to any engine builders, they will also provide a service where another engine builder can send a crankshaft in and the craft team will add the new rods, tuffride the crank and get the whole assembly fully balanced before returning.
All good news, at this rate, Craft with mellings support will have ALL tvr engine internals replaced with custom forged internals built with abuse tolerance in mind! Superb.
Oh, they've also re-engineered maincaps for the Speed 6 engine, so crank-walk, and cap alignment wont be an issue any longer, those who have seen the caps when in position will notice the wierd tolerances and the lack of cap-keying. Also the new caps are not only 4-main bolted but also cross bolted so slight block alterations are also part of the main caps upgrade.
:clap:
They will sell these rods to any engine builders, they will also provide a service where another engine builder can send a crankshaft in and the craft team will add the new rods, tuffride the crank and get the whole assembly fully balanced before returning.
All good news, at this rate, Craft with mellings support will have ALL tvr engine internals replaced with custom forged internals built with abuse tolerance in mind! Superb.
Oh, they've also re-engineered maincaps for the Speed 6 engine, so crank-walk, and cap alignment wont be an issue any longer, those who have seen the caps when in position will notice the wierd tolerances and the lack of cap-keying. Also the new caps are not only 4-main bolted but also cross bolted so slight block alterations are also part of the main caps upgrade.
:clap:
Joo, they're not cheap, simply realistic... which knowing Dave will always play the honest game, the mans had a rough business life with past partnerships and stuff... craft is all about his dream, to provide a service to enthusiasts as simple as buying a packet of fags, no hassle, just the cards on the table... Come to think of it, he's an older version of you... you think you've had it hard with ideas being pinched and being conned here and there... daves had a nightmare in his 30 odd years in the game... finally the old boy has put his name to something which he and his boys can be proud of and wont be easily matched out there... especially with todays con-artist garages etc floating around... 
honesty has paid off well for the craft boys... and I wish them the best of luck...
You know, you teaming up with them could be a bloody good business plan for the future His small handful of employees are like a family, they all work together in concert, its a beauty to watch these chaps working on the variety of exotica entering their domain from tivvers to yank classics to GT40's to custom trikes to monster trucks... I keep telling them to hold an open day, but they're just too busy... they're increasing their workspace so we could very well all be invited for a few beers some time in the near future...
Ash.
honesty has paid off well for the craft boys... and I wish them the best of luck... You know, you teaming up with them could be a bloody good business plan for the future
His small handful of employees are like a family, they all work together in concert, its a beauty to watch these chaps working on the variety of exotica entering their domain from tivvers to yank classics to GT40's to custom trikes to monster trucks... I keep telling them to hold an open day, but they're just too busy... they're increasing their workspace so we could very well all be invited for a few beers some time in the near future... Ash.
Is 'abuse tolerance' all the S6 is lacking? Judging by the way most performance cars are driven (esp it seems BMW's and Ferraris thrashed from cold without running in) this may explain a lot. Most people don't seem to have much mechanical sympathy. In fact for some time now BMW's have had to impose cold temp rev limits and warning lights because they're heavy footed owners aren't into warming them up. This tells me you can only go so far with engineering 'abuse tolerance'.
I think it's better, cheaper and easier to adjust the abuse, not the tolerance.
I think it's better, cheaper and easier to adjust the abuse, not the tolerance.
the pits said:
Is 'abuse tolerance' all the S6 is lacking? Judging by the way most performance cars are driven (esp it seems BMW's and Ferraris thrashed from cold without running in) this may explain a lot. Most people don't seem to have much mechanical sympathy. In fact for some time now BMW's have had to impose cold temp rev limits and warning lights because they're heavy footed owners aren't into warming them up. This tells me you can only go so far with engineering 'abuse tolerance'.
I think it's better, cheaper and easier to adjust the abuse, not the tolerance.
I think there's a bit more to it than that.
From reading the posts of many disgruntled rebuildees; it is quite easy to deduce that even with the most careful and arduous of warming up procedures followed to the letter, that engines still fail.
The Pits, valid point, but I agree with Nelly on this one.
I'm not a tuscan owner so dont really have a voice of experience apart from the engines I've seen down at Craft and their poorly state.
I've been running my ricer with over 500 horses for a while now, and the engine is still solid as rock, the drivetrain was the weak point but thats now been corrected.
An engine should be able to handle more than just what its claimed to handle. A production engine should always be running 10-20% less than what it is truly capable of, thats my opinion.
If TVR engines are running at their limits, then that was a poor choice for production engines. Add the infamous 'chocolote' parts to the equation, and even the most careful of owners who follow the book as bible to the word can and will be hit by problems... I cant speak for all the disgruntled owners on here or even those who dont know of Pistonheads existence, but I can sympathise... craft are trying to help, they're not making millions here, they're just analysing points of failure and at least replacing those internals deemed as 'chocolate parts' with serious high quality bits.
Look how solid the skyline RB25+ etc engines are, look at the supra blocks, look at the LS range of engines and look at the german engines, I know TVR is small, but with close to 8 years production experience with the Speed 6, you'd think they would have done something about all of this.... probably they have, I dont hear Sagaris owners throwing a fit on these forums, but either way, its always good to have an independant providing a service to those who want things done right and want to enjoy their motor ownership more and sleep more and not have to worry about every little 'new noise' that appears....
I'm not a tuscan owner so dont really have a voice of experience apart from the engines I've seen down at Craft and their poorly state.
I've been running my ricer with over 500 horses for a while now, and the engine is still solid as rock, the drivetrain was the weak point but thats now been corrected.
An engine should be able to handle more than just what its claimed to handle. A production engine should always be running 10-20% less than what it is truly capable of, thats my opinion.
If TVR engines are running at their limits, then that was a poor choice for production engines. Add the infamous 'chocolote' parts to the equation, and even the most careful of owners who follow the book as bible to the word can and will be hit by problems... I cant speak for all the disgruntled owners on here or even those who dont know of Pistonheads existence, but I can sympathise... craft are trying to help, they're not making millions here, they're just analysing points of failure and at least replacing those internals deemed as 'chocolate parts' with serious high quality bits.
Look how solid the skyline RB25+ etc engines are, look at the supra blocks, look at the LS range of engines and look at the german engines, I know TVR is small, but with close to 8 years production experience with the Speed 6, you'd think they would have done something about all of this.... probably they have, I dont hear Sagaris owners throwing a fit on these forums, but either way, its always good to have an independant providing a service to those who want things done right and want to enjoy their motor ownership more and sleep more and not have to worry about every little 'new noise' that appears....
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