Replacement/rebuilt engines -eg Powers Taraka and V8D 5l
Discussion
HiAsAKite said:
OK- it's a waiting game for the moment now.
Anyone have a point of comparison between the various V8D 5L builds (they talk about different builds on their site, Warrior/Dominator etc and the Powers 5L Taraka?
I've not got much experience of taraka upgrades, but have seen/mapped a great many V8D 5 litre engines and they always make in the 340-350bhp region on aftermarket management. For value for money I don't think V8D can be beaten unless you can do it yourself?Anyone have a point of comparison between the various V8D 5L builds (they talk about different builds on their site, Warrior/Dominator etc and the Powers 5L Taraka?
I also have a lot of time for Rob at V8D and he was very good last year especially with helping me get a fellow PHer out of trouble with an engine that had been really messed up by someone else.
They're busy, but then the good guys always are.
Until someone comes along with their Taraka 500
My 450 is rebuilt to a similar Taraka spec by Powers
Obviously the 450 has the smaller intake manifold 38mm incl trumpets and all 5.0 have 45mm and ported heads of some description.
My 450 3 years after it was built and over 10,000 miles later was Dyno’d as part of Mbe
350 ft lb torque which is more then many 5.0 have stock.
300 hp so it must be slow right.
Yes it’s slower but a good 5.0 actually one of the best with around 349Bhp was just over 1/2 sec faster to 1/4 mile,,, that’s like two blinks of an eye!
It’s important to note - I asked for torque over hp
There’s not a lot in any of them if built well I’d imagine unless specific things are done.
Powers warrantee ties you in to servicing etc but it’s a nice thing to have while it lasts and 5 years is a long old time to warrantee an engine.
My 450 is rebuilt to a similar Taraka spec by Powers
Obviously the 450 has the smaller intake manifold 38mm incl trumpets and all 5.0 have 45mm and ported heads of some description.
My 450 3 years after it was built and over 10,000 miles later was Dyno’d as part of Mbe
350 ft lb torque which is more then many 5.0 have stock.
300 hp so it must be slow right.
Yes it’s slower but a good 5.0 actually one of the best with around 349Bhp was just over 1/2 sec faster to 1/4 mile,,, that’s like two blinks of an eye!
It’s important to note - I asked for torque over hp
There’s not a lot in any of them if built well I’d imagine unless specific things are done.
Powers warrantee ties you in to servicing etc but it’s a nice thing to have while it lasts and 5 years is a long old time to warrantee an engine.
I did notice how my suggestion for an LS conversion was ignored. I love Rover V8s but cannot understand why you’d try so hard to squeeze 300hp out of such an old 5 litre engine design. Even with turbos they aren’t that great and don’t have cross bolted main bearings for making safe power. TopCats recently had a T350 with an LS7 making about 600hp for sale. Apparently it was terrifying! 400hp must be nice though.
And who’ wouldn’t want this? https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=mJJgkVS1uJk
And who’ wouldn’t want this? https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=mJJgkVS1uJk
Edited by anonymous-user on Friday 22 June 21:02
baconsarney said:
My original 500 went porous in 2011, after much discussion with Rob went for the V8D 5l, new Coscast block etc, lots of stuff plus MS2, final mod was Clive’s Y, then map by Shaun, last stint on rollers was over 360bhp and 350+lbft.. its an animal 
Sounds ace too I bet. Forgot to mention mine was dyno’d Catted.
There all well fast
baconsarney said:
You frightened the crap out of me at Marham about 5 years ago
I never crashed there too did I 
??? Errr. Please remind me,,,, I really can’t remember doing anything unusable. Car was slow there as air pipe had collapsed and long before Mbe.
I’m strugglimg to remember other than I had the time of my life on proper crap tyres but so grippy on the concrete parts. Loved the track and the Air base in general. Except the stones!
eta
I’ve just looked at your profile pic
I freaked out the Stig 
Still none the wiser !
Edited by Classic Chim on Friday 22 June 23:50
wormus said:
I did notice how my suggestion for an LS conversion was ignored. I love Rover V8s but cannot understand why you’d try so hard to squeeze 300hp out of such an old 5 litre engine design. Even with turbos they aren’t that great and don’t have cross bolted main bearings for making safe power. TopCats recently had a T350 with an LS7 making about 600hp for sale. Apparently it was terrifying! 400hp must be nice though.
And who’ wouldn’t want this? https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=mJJgkVS1uJk
Ey up, that’s a bit fast that. And who’ wouldn’t want this? https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=mJJgkVS1uJk
Edited by wormus on Friday 22 June 21:02
It’s all down to cost and how often you can get on a runway
But that was the nuts. What sort of speed was that there 175/180 ?
wormus said:
I did notice how my suggestion for an LS conversion was ignored. I love Rover V8s but cannot understand why you’d try so hard to squeeze 300hp out of such an old 5 litre engine design. Even with turbos they aren’t that great and don’t have cross bolted main bearings for making safe power. TopCats recently had a T350 with an LS7 making about 600hp for sale. Apparently it was terrifying! 400hp must be nice though.
And who’ wouldn’t want this? https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=mJJgkVS1uJk
Probably cost and most like to keep some sort of originality.And who’ wouldn’t want this? https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=mJJgkVS1uJk
Edited by wormus on Friday 22 June 21:02
Would love to live in America though, these engines are readily available for little money.
the cost of the engines isnt the problem, the one i have fitted in the cerb is new came with a tko t56 magnum and clutch tuned to just over 500 bhp can be seen on the emerald engine dyno where we mapped and ran it in all for under 10 grand delivered to my workshop, the cost ramps up if you cant fit it yourself no different if you have all the tuning and fitting work done on the rv8. plus the ls being a pushrod old school engine sounds awsome.
john
john
Belle427 said:
Probably cost and most like to keep some sort of originality.
Would love to live in America though, these engines are readily available for little money.
You can get them here alsoWould love to live in America though, these engines are readily available for little money.
http://www.lsxv8.co.uk/
Belle427 said:
wormus said:
I did notice how my suggestion for an LS conversion was ignored. I love Rover V8s but cannot understand why you’d try so hard to squeeze 300hp out of such an old 5 litre engine design. Even with turbos they aren’t that great and don’t have cross bolted main bearings for making safe power. TopCats recently had a T350 with an LS7 making about 600hp for sale. Apparently it was terrifying! 400hp must be nice though.
And who’ wouldn’t want this? https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=mJJgkVS1uJk
Probably cost and most like to keep some sort of originality.And who’ wouldn’t want this? https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=mJJgkVS1uJk
Edited by wormus on Friday 22 June 21:02
Would love to live in America though, these engines are readily available for little money.
Price of an LS conversion is 2-3x the price of an rv8 rebuild or replacement...
Low pressure turbo, probably fine.
Ideally, you want to be turbo charging a low compression engine with a cam that has limited or no valve overlap. Your V8D stage 4 4.6 will be the opposite of this.
Over 300-320 bhp you probably need bigger injectors, much over 400 bhp a bigger fuel pump and stronger clutch, over 450 bhp you need to review your transmission, pistons, conrods etc, over 500 bhp your gearbox.
Don’t quote me on any of those numbers/upgrades, but you get the idea. Whatever you do, you need to make a few extra changes. I got near enough 400 bhp at fairly low boost levels turboing a bog standard Range Rover 4.6. No fancy cam, no TVR heads.
If you are starting with a V8D engine you will make a lot more power, but:
1. You will have to upgrade a load of stuff (Mac......help!!!!!)
2. Where exactly do you intend to use it?
Ideally, you want to be turbo charging a low compression engine with a cam that has limited or no valve overlap. Your V8D stage 4 4.6 will be the opposite of this.
Over 300-320 bhp you probably need bigger injectors, much over 400 bhp a bigger fuel pump and stronger clutch, over 450 bhp you need to review your transmission, pistons, conrods etc, over 500 bhp your gearbox.
Don’t quote me on any of those numbers/upgrades, but you get the idea. Whatever you do, you need to make a few extra changes. I got near enough 400 bhp at fairly low boost levels turboing a bog standard Range Rover 4.6. No fancy cam, no TVR heads.
If you are starting with a V8D engine you will make a lot more power, but:
1. You will have to upgrade a load of stuff (Mac......help!!!!!)
2. Where exactly do you intend to use it?
Canoe sniffer, can I say that you need to decide before you start whether you are staying NA or going FI. Doing a V8D stage 4 engine from a 4 litre start will cost you £8-10k.....and then you will need to spend a further £6k on FI and Emerald soon after. Going direct will cost you about £5k less. If you want to drive my 4.6 turbo you are welcome.
I'd really appreciate a bum-on-seat experience of your car Anthony, to know what a properly fast Chim feels like. I'm booked on the Rockingham trackday but unfortunately I've double booked myself with a trip to Spa for the F1 so I don't think I'll be going. I'm fairly regular on track days but mostly darn saaarf, though I am trying to broaden my horizons a bit- Snett, Oulton, Cadwell are on the bucket list, so hopefully our paths will cross sometime. I want to see that wacky colour scheme of yours in person 
I've seen V8D offer the long block Stage 4 for <£4k, that plus a few weekends locked in with a lot of mates and beer would be the way I'd go if I take the plunge on an upgrade- drivetrain refresh would also be on the agenda. The issue for me is the boredom factor, it crept up on me very quickly with my 4 litre and truthfully I just haven't been excited by the performance of the 500s and 450s I've passengered in either- not enough to attract my wallet, so if I'm going to go for more power I'd like to make provision for further upgrades. But I take your point about forced induction being better suited to a lower compression, less highly tuned motor so maybe a RR 4.6 with fruity heads is a better starting point. For clarity, mine is an early car with the 3.9 so bar strapping a turbo on there's limited scope for big power gains with my current block.
this is pure speculation for me because I'm really enjoying the way my car drives, just not getting left for dead on the straighty bits! I'm not likely to move for anything soon, it's future planning for when I finally bend something and I'm forced to act
I've seen V8D offer the long block Stage 4 for <£4k, that plus a few weekends locked in with a lot of mates and beer would be the way I'd go if I take the plunge on an upgrade- drivetrain refresh would also be on the agenda. The issue for me is the boredom factor, it crept up on me very quickly with my 4 litre and truthfully I just haven't been excited by the performance of the 500s and 450s I've passengered in either- not enough to attract my wallet, so if I'm going to go for more power I'd like to make provision for further upgrades. But I take your point about forced induction being better suited to a lower compression, less highly tuned motor so maybe a RR 4.6 with fruity heads is a better starting point. For clarity, mine is an early car with the 3.9 so bar strapping a turbo on there's limited scope for big power gains with my current block.
this is pure speculation for me because I'm really enjoying the way my car drives, just not getting left for dead on the straighty bits! I'm not likely to move for anything soon, it's future planning for when I finally bend something and I'm forced to act
I am doing Rockinghorse too....... if you don’t need your space, I may know someone who needs one.
If I find myself coming your way (Wiltshire I think?) I will let you know. Mine is only 390 bhp, many others are well over 400 bhp. Perhaps start a thread and someone darn Sarf my pop up and say “try mine”.
I restricted mine to what I could use on a track day, to protect the engine. It’s not mind blowingly fast. No car is at our budgets. I am not bothered by being overtaken on the straights, and the turbo doesn’t make me faster out of the corners. I might even be tempted one of these days by a Lotus Exige or Evora.........they just corner so much better, so are faster onto the straights......but cost a lot more.
More likely I will be tempted by a good cruising convertible that my wife will enjoy for continental touring, one with heated electric seats and a power roof......a Merc SL is winking at me from the Autotrader ads, but I will be 65 on a certain day in August, when I am enjoying my birthday present, so the right age for one at last.....
If I find myself coming your way (Wiltshire I think?) I will let you know. Mine is only 390 bhp, many others are well over 400 bhp. Perhaps start a thread and someone darn Sarf my pop up and say “try mine”.
I restricted mine to what I could use on a track day, to protect the engine. It’s not mind blowingly fast. No car is at our budgets. I am not bothered by being overtaken on the straights, and the turbo doesn’t make me faster out of the corners. I might even be tempted one of these days by a Lotus Exige or Evora.........they just corner so much better, so are faster onto the straights......but cost a lot more.
More likely I will be tempted by a good cruising convertible that my wife will enjoy for continental touring, one with heated electric seats and a power roof......a Merc SL is winking at me from the Autotrader ads, but I will be 65 on a certain day in August, when I am enjoying my birthday present, so the right age for one at last.....
CanoeSniffer said:
I'd really appreciate a bum-on-seat experience of your car Anthony, to know what a properly fast Chim feels like. I'm booked on the Rockingham trackday but unfortunately I've double booked myself with a trip to Spa for the F1 so I don't think I'll be going. I'm fairly regular on track days but mostly darn saaarf, though I am trying to broaden my horizons a bit- Snett, Oulton, Cadwell are on the bucket list, so hopefully our paths will cross sometime. I want to see that wacky colour scheme of yours in person
this is pure speculation for me because I'm really enjoying the way my car drives, just not getting left for dead on the straighty bits! I'm not likely to move for anything soon, it's future planning for when I finally bend something and I'm forced to act
I think you have to decide what your trying to achieve, whatever power you stick in your car it is always going to get eaten alive by something with modern suspension / handling (and by someone who can drive), if you want to 'win the trackday' - there are plenty of much cheaper routes than spending money on pushing a chassis that was never designed for this kind of power. If you want to improve your driving, then again there are better routes that won't bite quite so much when on the edge. this is pure speculation for me because I'm really enjoying the way my car drives, just not getting left for dead on the straighty bits! I'm not likely to move for anything soon, it's future planning for when I finally bend something and I'm forced to act
If the TVR is 95% for the road and you just want some more power, go for it. But it looks like you spend enough time on track, and there are better options.
Gassing Station | Chimaera | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff