Gasket prices

[Wolvesboy]

Are these prices for real?
95 + vat for a single side head gasket. 190 + 38 for both sides!
That has got to be a joke, right?

[Jhonno]

Wolvesboy said:

Are these prices for real?
95 + vat for a single side head gasket. 190 + 38 for both sides!
That has got to be a joke, right?

Paid £190 the pair for Cometic for mine? Very reasonable I thought..

[Chimp871]

It’s a rip off. Limited choice of suppliers means we get screwed

[soad]

Focus on enjoying the car, screw the little stuff.

[Chimp871]

It's hard to enjoy if you have to if you're changing HG as the engine is out.

Just not enjoyable knowing you're paying a premium on what should be normal price part.

[phazed]

Cometic cylinder head gasket for the Rover V8, £95 each.

That is the price! If you want cheap, buy a Mazda MX5.

These cars need money spending on them, at their age and given the quality of some of the original parts it's inevitable.

[Wolvesboy]

Sorry Phazed, it is ridiculous money, For 2 gaskets.
A comparison with exhaust manifold gaskets @ 16.95 + VAT highlights the vast price difference for really not much difference in material/ size etc. - 4.5 times the price NOT 4.5 times the value. “Fleeced” comes immediately to mind.

[phazed]

Didn’t mean to sound dismissive with the mazda comment. Just meant that the generic small engine cars have far cheaper parts.

Good quality head gaskets have always been expensive although when you look at them compared to some other more complex parts you wonder where the money goes!

[Chimp871]

Wolvesboy said:

Sorry Phazed, it is ridiculous money, For 2 gaskets.
A comparison with exhaust manifold gaskets @ 16.95 + VAT highlights the vast price difference for really not much difference in material/ size etc. - 4.5 times the price NOT 4.5 times the value. “Fleeced” comes immediately to mind.

+1

I'm rebuilding my engine at the moment and the reason I made my.comment is that it just doesn't stop with the HG. The high part costs just repeat themselves throughout the car.

There's 2 train of thoughts when it comes to these prices. One is you shouldn't argue or debate these prices as you should know in advance that when buying a specialist car you're going to have to specialist prices and get over it.

The other thought is am I getting value for money, which is where I fit. So things like a set of piston rings is around £300, simple o ring £10 etc. etc. I think is madness.

What will happen ultimately is the cars will suffer as people won't pay prices, cut corners to keep it going and then sell it on with its hidden issues waiting for the next owner to fix.

[phazed]

That’s what’s happening to a lot of cars already.

If you’re buying a second-hand TVR you have to go in with your eyes wide open.

Anyone who buys mine if and when I sell it will have no more worries then buying a three-year-old car as I replace before it needs to be done!

[ukkid35]

Wolvesboy said:

Sorry Phazed, it is ridiculous money, For 2 gaskets.
A comparison with exhaust manifold gaskets @ 16.95 + VAT highlights the vast price difference for really not much difference in material/ size etc. - 4.5 times the price NOT 4.5 times the value. “Fleeced” comes immediately to mind.

I've bought more AJP8 headgaskets than most, and it hurts each time

The AJP8 is a very rare engine, can you think of anything else with less than 2000 units?

Even holding a limited amount of stock could represent 5% of the total engine production

And what's worse the 4.2 headgaskets are different to the 4.5, because the bore is different

So that means less than 1000 units ever made, and they're handed, so that is less than 500 of each head ever made

Anyone who actually caries stock is a hero in my book

The fact they only want £100 each is quite a relief

[SimonKD]

Hi All

In July '14 I paid £396 for 2 bespoke copper 4.5 head gaskets.

Are you all referring to copper or standard material gaskets. These seem to be £456 for the pair where I had my copper ones from.

Kind regards

Simon

[ukkid35]

SimonKD said:

Hi All

In July '14 I paid £396 for 2 bespoke copper 4.5 head gaskets.

Did you have your cylinder sleeves wired?

Or perhaps you had the heads wired - apparently much more unusual

Otherwise the copper gaskets are going to struggle to seal

[Chimp871]

ukkid35 said:

I've bought more AJP8 headgaskets than most, and it hurts each time

The AJP8 is a very rare engine, can you think of anything else with less than 2000 units?

Even holding a limited amount of stock could represent 5% of the total engine production

And what's worse the 4.2 headgaskets are different to the 4.5, because the bore is different

So that means less than 1000 units ever made, and they're handed, so that is less than 500 of each head ever made

Anyone who actually caries stock is a hero in my book

The fact they only want £100 each is quite a relief

It depends which angle you come from, if they're scarce then £100/side is a relief. But then a HG for a Jaguar mark 2 built in the 50's is available for £39. So it seems they can be value for money.

But high replacement part prices will just drive more and more of these off the road until they become truly rare and precious as owners will cut corners and fail. Sadly, not everyone is dedicated tvr folk.

[TwinKam]

ukkid35 said:

Wolvesboy said:

Sorry Phazed, it is ridiculous money, For 2 gaskets.
A comparison with exhaust manifold gaskets @ 16.95 + VAT highlights the vast price difference for really not much difference in material/ size etc. - 4.5 times the price NOT 4.5 times the value. “Fleeced” comes immediately to mind.

I've bought more AJP8 headgaskets than most, and it hurts each time

The AJP8 is a very rare engine, can you think of anything else with less than 2000 units?

Even holding a limited amount of stock could represent 5% of the total engine production

And what's worse the 4.2 headgaskets are different to the 4.5, because the bore is different

So that means less than 1000 units ever made, and they're handed, so that is less than 500 of each head ever made

Anyone who actually caries stock is a hero in my book

The fact they only want £100 each is quite a relief

I'm 100% with you on this, Paul; amazed but thankful that anyone even bothers to tool-up and make anything for the AJP8.
As it's virtually the only gasket you have to buy for these engines, it's actually no big deal when considered as part of an overhaul.
To me, the price of piston rings is more unpalatable, as I thought they would've be taken from another contempory application, as indeed the crank bearings were.

[Chimp871]

The piston rings probably are from another application, we just don't know which one.

I'm thinking of talking to these guys whilst the engine is apart. Its hardly patented technology and the suppliers of cerb rings don't make them themselves.

https://www.hastingspistonrings.com/piston-rings
https://apaengineering.net/HastingsCatalog/Home/si...

Knowing bore/piston diameter, gaps etc I'm sure I'm sure someone can spec rings

[TwinKam]

Chimp871 said:

The piston rings probably are from another application, we just don't know which one.

I'm thinking of talking to these guys whilst the engine is apart. Its hardly patented technology and the suppliers of cerb rings don't make them themselves.

https://www.hastingspistonrings.com/piston-rings
https://apaengineering.net/HastingsCatalog/Home/si...

Knowing bore/piston diameter, gaps etc I'm sure I'm sure someone can spec rings

I'm 'in the trade' and have a fair few contacts, but I drew a blank when I tried some 2 years ago. It is possible that Dom (Powers) controls the monopoly (and therefore the price) on the rings; do prove me wrong!

[ukkid35]

Perhaps I'm missing something here but there does seem to be a big discrepancy in the pricing

http://www.powersperformance.co.uk/store/slug/pist...

https://tvr-parts.com/tvr-parts/part-details/tvr-e...

The only engine I've bought several sets of piston rings is the Suprex 599cc, these are roughly £20 per piston, same as the TVR-Parts price for the AJP8

[Chimp871]

I could be wrong but the 4.2 rings look to be a new price on TVR parts from when I last looked, but very happy to buy at that price.

Dare I comment that it is value for money with a further 5% off if you're in the TVR club.

Thanks Paul

[phazed]

I’m sure I paid about £300 for my rings for my forged pistons for my Rover V8 from the states.