Driving characteristics 4.0 v 4.5 v 5.0 - after 250-300bhp
Discussion
QBee said:
You might squeeze 250 bhp out of a 4 litre. You won't get 300 bhp without spending the national debt on wildcat heads etc etc.
Turbocharging or supercharging will get you to 330 bhp with little difficulty. The 400 is a nice revvy engine, as was the 430 in the early cars.
The 450 and 500 are more grunty.
The 5 litre engines are about 280 bhp in factory guise, but can be improved to 300 to 360 bhp with liberal use of wallet. The most noticeable difference I found was the serious increase in torque over the 4 litre - they just have so much more grunt.
And that's your quandary - keep it standard at 280bhp or "improve" it, because none of the improvements are cheap, or if they are they add 2 bhp and you can't tell the difference. In my humble opinion, no improvement is worth the effort for less than 20 bhp minimum.
Can I just dispell one myth - "turbo lag". A TVR Rover V8 is not a 1980s Rally Audi Quatro. If you turbocharge your engine it will mostly feel like the normally aspirated engine, just a bit faster. At the low pressure levels we use, there is no turbo lag. The main difference is that the max torque is a much bigger number, but it has a much narrower band.
If you drive my car without knowing it is turbocharged I doubt you would actually know it was turbocharged, apart from the "pssst" on changing up a gear, as the dump valve dumps the excess pressure. It feels just like a normally aspirated car, but with the power and torque in a bit narrower band.
What I am saying is, if a turbocharged or supercharged 4 litre comes up for sale, don't turn your nose up with out trying it.
I think it depends on the car again, as my turbocharger is definitely easy to notice! Turbocharging or supercharging will get you to 330 bhp with little difficulty. The 400 is a nice revvy engine, as was the 430 in the early cars.
The 450 and 500 are more grunty.
The 5 litre engines are about 280 bhp in factory guise, but can be improved to 300 to 360 bhp with liberal use of wallet. The most noticeable difference I found was the serious increase in torque over the 4 litre - they just have so much more grunt.
And that's your quandary - keep it standard at 280bhp or "improve" it, because none of the improvements are cheap, or if they are they add 2 bhp and you can't tell the difference. In my humble opinion, no improvement is worth the effort for less than 20 bhp minimum.
Can I just dispell one myth - "turbo lag". A TVR Rover V8 is not a 1980s Rally Audi Quatro. If you turbocharge your engine it will mostly feel like the normally aspirated engine, just a bit faster. At the low pressure levels we use, there is no turbo lag. The main difference is that the max torque is a much bigger number, but it has a much narrower band.
If you drive my car without knowing it is turbocharged I doubt you would actually know it was turbocharged, apart from the "pssst" on changing up a gear, as the dump valve dumps the excess pressure. It feels just like a normally aspirated car, but with the power and torque in a bit narrower band.
What I am saying is, if a turbocharged or supercharged 4 litre comes up for sale, don't turn your nose up with out trying it.
Noise and torque builds smoothly until around 3000rpm and then all hell breaks loose with noise, a huge increase in power and associated wheelspin
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