Racing Green - buckets anyone?

[TVR_owner]

Whitey said:

I understand TVR had developed a bucket arrangement themselves in 2006 before the factory closed. I don't know if it was inhouse or with Ricardo.

Like I said previously, good to see folk supporting development (if not innovation).;)

It was pre Ricardo BTW.

[andyoleary]

trackcar said:

.. so the bucket carrier fits inside an existing head casting with minimal machining ie a retro fit into an existing casting? amazing if i've interpreted that correctly

Hi Joolz,

Yeah, as far as I understand it, that's pretty much how it works. I think there is machining needed of the original head but the new casting for the cam/bucket set-up then sits inside it. Looks pretty cool.

Cheers

Andy

[trackcar]

sounds very neat!

[PascalBuyens]

Ahhh.... Coming to think of it, I should call them to see how they're doing on my car...

Hey Andy, did you manage to get a glimpse of the "Swordfish" car? It's been at RG for a while, to get their engine, and some other "nice and shiny bits"...

Damn, must admit, it's starting to "itch" now, to get the car back, after reading your experience with the test car...

Cheers,
Pascal

[andyoleary]

Pascal,

I do recall seeing a swordfish colour Tuscan whilst I was there, not sure whether it was being worked on at the time though,

Hope you get it all sorted soon enough,

Andy

[Luca Brazzi]

Just got back from RG, and had a go with the new engine. The sound from under the bonnet is like a normal sounding eurobox in terms of the mechanical sounds going on. Its quite incredible. My Tuscan sounds like a sewing machine when cold, and really mechanical when warm and revved .... this one doesn't sound like its trying at all.

To drive...its just silky smooth. As others have mentioned, say a big hello to free-revving . The exhaust is a little too noisy to showcase the engineering work that they've done....and I've asked them to put on the quietest exhaust for demonstration purposes, as I'm sure this will really show what a machine they've redesigned. So...sorry to the following drivers who take it out .

It really should be heard to be believed, just how different it is to a standard engine. Can't wait to have a 'proper' go when its run in and mapped.

Oh and the low oil temps noted last week were a faulty oil sensor, my drive showed I was running with oil temp
of -11c. They replaced it as soon as my test drive was over.

But hey, don't listen to me, get down there and check it out for yourselves...they are very welcoming and want all opinions.

LB

[T40ORA]

PascalBuyens said:

Ahhh.... Coming to think of it, I should call them to see how they're doing on my car...

Hey Andy, did you manage to get a glimpse of the "Swordfish" car? It's been at RG for a while, to get their engine, and some other "nice and shiny bits"...

Damn, must admit, it's starting to "itch" now, to get the car back, after reading your experience with the test car...

Cheers,
Pascal

Pascal, are you going for the new Bucket set up? I hope to be on the list for that too, as long as funds stretch!

Luca Brazzi said:

Just got back from RG, and had a go with the new engine. The sound from under the bonnet is like a normal sounding eurobox in terms of the mechanical sounds going on. Its quite incredible. My Tuscan sounds like a sewing machine when cold, and really mechanical when warm and revved .... this one doesn't sound like its trying at all.

To drive...its just silky smooth. As others have mentioned, say a big hello to free-revving . The exhaust is a little too noisy to showcase the engineering work that they've done....and I've asked them to put on the quietest exhaust for demonstration purposes, as I'm sure this will really show what a machine they've redesigned. So...sorry to the following drivers who take it out .

It really should be heard to be believed, just how different it is to a standard engine. Can't wait to have a 'proper' go when its run in and mapped.

Oh and the low oil temps noted last week were a faulty oil sensor, my drive showed I was running with oil temp
of -11c. They replaced it as soon as my test drive was over.

But hey, don't listen to me, get down there and check it out for yourselves...they are very welcoming and want all opinions.

LB

Good call on the exhaust, and interesting news about the oil sensor. I wonder what temperatures it actualy is running.

And yes, everyone should get to RG to try it themselves.

Edited by T40ORA on Tuesday 26th August 20:56

[PascalBuyens]

T40ORA said:

PascalBuyens said:

Ahhh.... Coming to think of it, I should call them to see how they're doing on my car...

Hey Andy, did you manage to get a glimpse of the "Swordfish" car? It's been at RG for a while, to get their engine, and some other "nice and shiny bits"...

Damn, must admit, it's starting to "itch" now, to get the car back, after reading your experience with the test car...

Cheers,
Pascal

Pascal, are you going for the new Bucket set up? I hope to be on the list for that too, as long as funds stretch!

Edited by T40ORA on Tuesday 26th August 20:56

Yes, my engine will have the full RG setup, it's been there for a few months, and about a month ago, RG informed me that they have rebuilt the engine with the redesigned pistons (as there was too much piston slap in their first redesign). (Don't want to make people jealous, but I have known the exact setup of the RG engine for months )

Apart from that, I asked to improve some "minor" things, like sports cat instead of normal ones, equal length exhaust manifold, a "performance clutch" track/race clutch, and RG's superlight flywheel.

If there wasn't any work being done, currently they're waiting delivery of the clutch, once that that has arrived, it should be ready... can't wait much longer now though to pick it up reading the comments about the engine

[BirleyDan]

All sounding very promising with yet more choice of great engineering brains for SP6 owners.

Anyone know what kind of warranty RG are offering with their rebuilds then?

Obvioulsy Powers 2 year warranty is a major selling point for the customer and must be backed up by their confidence in their develpoments.

[T40ORA]

PascalBuyens said:

T40ORA said:

PascalBuyens said:

Ahhh.... Coming to think of it, I should call them to see how they're doing on my car...

Hey Andy, did you manage to get a glimpse of the "Swordfish" car? It's been at RG for a while, to get their engine, and some other "nice and shiny bits"...

Damn, must admit, it's starting to "itch" now, to get the car back, after reading your experience with the test car...

Cheers,
Pascal

Pascal, are you going for the new Bucket set up? I hope to be on the list for that too, as long as funds stretch!

Edited by T40ORA on Tuesday 26th August 20:56

Yes, my engine will have the full RG setup, it's been there for a few months, and about a month ago, RG informed me that they have rebuilt the engine with the redesigned pistons (as there was too much piston slap in their first redesign). (Don't want to make people jealous, but I have known the exact setup of the RG engine for months )

Apart from that, I asked to improve some "minor" things, like sports cat instead of normal ones, equal length exhaust manifold, a "performance clutch" track/race clutch, and RG's superlight flywheel.

If there wasn't any work being done, currently they're waiting delivery of the clutch, once that that has arrived, it should be ready... can't wait much longer now though to pick it up reading the comments about the engine

Brave man! Buying the engine without them even having a prototype! I thought they'd need a minimum order list before putting it into production.

You will enjoy it immensly, from my brief test drive. I will also be opting for the superlight flywheel, and probably the manifold too. I really look forward to when they have the engine re-mapped and set up properly; it would be nice to see some dyno/ rolling road figures.

Keep us informed as to when you collect it and how it runs in. Looks like I'll be a few months behind you!

[PascalBuyens]

BirleyDan said:

All sounding very promising with yet more choice of great engineering brains for SP6 owners.

Anyone know what kind of warranty RG are offering with their rebuilds then?

Obvioulsy Powers 2 year warranty is a major selling point for the customer and must be backed up by their confidence in their develpoments.

2 year warranty as well...

[PascalBuyens]

T40ORA said:

PascalBuyens said:

T40ORA said:

PascalBuyens said:

Ahhh.... Coming to think of it, I should call them to see how they're doing on my car...

Hey Andy, did you manage to get a glimpse of the "Swordfish" car? It's been at RG for a while, to get their engine, and some other "nice and shiny bits"...

Damn, must admit, it's starting to "itch" now, to get the car back, after reading your experience with the test car...

Cheers,
Pascal

Pascal, are you going for the new Bucket set up? I hope to be on the list for that too, as long as funds stretch!

Edited by T40ORA on Tuesday 26th August 20:56

Yes, my engine will have the full RG setup, it's been there for a few months, and about a month ago, RG informed me that they have rebuilt the engine with the redesigned pistons (as there was too much piston slap in their first redesign). (Don't want to make people jealous, but I have known the exact setup of the RG engine for months )

Apart from that, I asked to improve some "minor" things, like sports cat instead of normal ones, equal length exhaust manifold, a "performance clutch" track/race clutch, and RG's superlight flywheel.

If there wasn't any work being done, currently they're waiting delivery of the clutch, once that that has arrived, it should be ready... can't wait much longer now though to pick it up reading the comments about the engine

Brave man! Buying the engine without them even having a prototype! I thought they'd need a minimum order list before putting it into production.

You will enjoy it immensly, from my brief test drive. I will also be opting for the superlight flywheel, and probably the manifold too. I really look forward to when they have the engine re-mapped and set up properly; it would be nice to see some dyno/ rolling road figures.

Keep us informed as to when you collect it and how it runs in. Looks like I'll be a few months behind you!

I'd like to believe it has nothing to do with braveness

Last year, on Easter Monday, the engine broke down. After investigating with the only dealer here in Belgium, we found that the crankshaft bearing on the first cylinder was litteraly blown to pieces. As a result, the crankshaft overheated, as well as conrod number 1. And due to the bearing debris being pushed into the oil circuit, well... game over for engine 1463... Closer investigation showed all conrods to be oval at the big end (the crankshaft side).

So, my dealer advised to go to TVR Power, where I got to my susprise the answer that my engine never had a rebuild, while I have the invoice for it from RG... And I guess, my car being a TVR press car, it has been maintained rather well by TVR itself... Anyway, this was confirmed by my local dealer, that I had the newer valve train, new type of conrods...

When arriving at TVR Power, to order the parts that my dealer said, I noticed immediately what I had in my engine, was indeed the same as what Power was selling me. Talking to one of the mechanics, he explained me that, when Power does a rebuild, they put "TP" and a number on the engine. It's there...

Back in Belgium, surprise.... dealer doesn't want to do the work, as he'll have to give me 2yrs warranty, with the same pieces that went broke (from the invoices, my engine has done not even 10k after the what I call in the mean time "ghost rebuild"... OK, back to TRV POwer it is, to hand back the parts (I didn't want to use conrods that look exactly like what I already had, and risk having the same again).

I believe there's a law in Europe that allows you to hand back pieces within 7 days. Anyway, the only thing that I did with the pieces was have a look at them with the dealer, and bring them back 3 days later. To my surprise, I had to pay over £800 of "administrative costs" to take back the parts (over 5k in just parts at the time), only to be told that there are no records at TVR Power from a rebuild of my engine, AND.... during the period that my engine was supposed to have been rebuilt, there was a problem with the casting of (yes, you guessed it) the conrods.

So, in the mean time, I did call RG to ask about the car's history, and they told me back then (talking about May 2007) that they were developing their own engine. So, off to RG it is. Back then Martin kindly showed me the design for the conrods, the pistons (that have been changed in the mean time), the buckets (thought at the time: yes, me want !!!), well basically, everything they already had designed back then...

So, yes, even without a prototype engine, I ordered one from them, because they convinced me on the spot that this was the way to go... Not by BS-ing me, but by showing me what they were doing.

So, you can imagine, after missing the car almost 1.5 year, how it will feel like to get my P&J back....

Edited by PascalBuyens on Wednesday 27th August 08:13

[TVR_owner]

Pascal,
Are RG fiting a new crank?

[T40ORA]

Pascal, what a horror story. I truly hope that you get your P&J back very soon.

I've used RG all the time (except for one service) from ordering my car through to the present, and I have to say that I agree with you about the lack of any BS. Martin, Colin Woody and the gang seem totally stright-up guys.

They did mention the concept of the bucket engine to me way back, as I'd known that I would need a rebuild for the last 30,000 miles, since I had a valve problem at 15k miles. But I didn't realise that they were so far along the path until 2 - 3 weeks ago when Martin called me up and asked me to pop in to see where they were.

So you, my friend, deserve to be the first out there with what will surely turn out to be a fabulous piece of kit. And I truly hope that I will be the second!

Edited by T40ORA on Wednesday 27th August 13:05

[braders]

Pascal hope you dont mind me asking but what sort of cost would i be looking at for this engine

Cheers

[T40ORA]

braders said:

Pascal hope you dont mind me asking but what sort of cost would i be looking at for this engine

Cheers

I must say that I'm waiting for a quote from RG myself. That would be the only thing that stops me going for this option, as I'd justified the cost for the rebuild that Andy has had but not sure how much more this will run to.....

[PascalBuyens]

TVR_owner said:

Pascal,
Are RG fiting a new crank?

I guess so, the old one was, like Human League said so nicely in one of their songs "being boiled" at the time the engine went "pop"

[PascalBuyens]

T40ORA said:

Pascal, what a horror story. I truly hope that you get your P&J back very soon.

I've used RG all the time (except for one service) from ordering my car through to the present, and I have to say that I agree with you about the lack of any BS. Martin, Colin Woody and the gang seem totally stright-up guys.

They did mention the concept of the bucket engine to me way back, as I'd known that I would need a rebuild for the last 30,000 miles, since I had a valve problem at 15k miles. But I didn't realise that they were so far along the path until 2 - 3 weeks ago when Martin called me up and asked me to pop in to see where they were.

So you, my friend, deserve to be the first out there with what will surely turn out to be a fabulous piece of kit. And I truly hope that I will be the second!

Edited by T40ORA on Wednesday 27th August 13:05

Well, just spoke to Martin...

It didn't have the bucket head (as it's a pretty recent innovation). Anyway, like I said, it DIDN'T have it... until now

[PascalBuyens]

braders said:

Pascal hope you dont mind me asking but what sort of cost would i be looking at for this engine

Cheers

Don't mind at all, with all the improvements I asked, I am looking at around 11k... so far

[TVR_owner]

PascalBuyens said:

braders said:

Pascal hope you dont mind me asking but what sort of cost would i be looking at for this engine

Cheers

Don't mind at all, with all the improvements I asked, I am looking at around 11k... so far

Is there a fainting smiley on here somewhere?


Do RG want all their "development" costs back from the first engine?? Sorry but I'm afraid I'd be telling where to stick their 11K (+ VAT no doubt).