Is this correct?

[Biggles101]

Having owned my Griff for a year now and put 8000 mile on it I thought it time to improve the look of the tired engine bay. basically Plenum, rockers, hoses and associated tubing. On removing the plenum I expected to see nice trumpets on my 500 but instead straight tubes!!?? Did the factory have an off day, will the car benefit from some new trumpets. It certainly doesn't feel down on power and I can keep up with other 500's in the TVRCC during fast sprints.
Any help from the knowledgable on here would be greatly appreciated.

Edited by Biggles101 on Monday 5th December 15:11

[TVR Beaver]

Yup.. correct... and if you're happy with it... let it be...
If you go to trumpets you'll remove torque from the bottom end adding it to mid range / top end etc...
TBH... if you like it as it is now... keep it std!!... TVR did this for a reason (not just to save money!! as some will have you believe)

Edited by TVR Beaver on Monday 5th December 15:19

[Biggles101]

looking at other photo's I have found of "Trumpets" the base/neck of the trumpets looks smaller than mine. With the tubes straight there seems no room for flared mouths? In effect having trumpets reduces the diameter of the tube body??? hmmm opening hornets nest comes to mind..

[TVR Beaver]

No.. They will fit.. but typicaly they are lower so will give less low down torque.. but will improve flow at the top end.... They cut the trumpets to nest with each other... The ID will be the same at the base but will splay out towards the top......
I have them on mine.. some say they make a big differance.. others that they don't........
You could talk with Tim at ACT if you want numbers etc... but I'm not convinced they make a huge improvement on a std set up.....

[TVR Beaver]

This is my set up......

[Biggles101]

cheers John! You may or may not remember but i was parked next to you at the Growl this year. Guess a RR is the only way of telling if I'm down on power for any reason. For now I'll be content with polishing the plenum and rockers

Matt

[Mr MoJo]

Hi Biggles Dcided to challenge Mrs Biggles on the shiny engine bay ?!

Mine looked exactly like yours originally. They now look like this :

[TVR Beaver]

Simon.. did you only change the base?.. and do you think it gave you a big improvement??...

[TVR Beaver]

Biggles101 said:

cheers John! You may or may not remember but i was parked next to you at the Growl this year. Guess a RR is the only way of telling if I'm down on power for any reason. For now I'll be content with polishing the plenum and rockers

Matt

Hi Matt.. yes indeed.. I'm sure others will be along soon to say it made a huge differance and TBF I did change other things at the same time (very bad practice I know)... and for £100 or so?.. May be worth a try....
But then you might need to sort out fueling etc etc etc... All depends how involved you want to get John

[Mr MoJo]

No, trumpets and base were only part of it. On top of this I fitted Bosch 72mm AFM, Bosch red tops, 72mm Plenum, new fuel pressure reg, Tornado chip and had Mr Adams set it all up on RR.
Power increased by approx 20bhp and torque went up by 22lbs too. Noticeable difference right through rev range. Pulls like a train (340lbs on last years Growl RR with a pretty flat curve from 2500rpm). Shunting almost eliminated too, but not quite.

[RichB]

As we're comparig trumpets here's mine - original and replacements from Tim / ACT

[TVR Beaver]

Mr MoJo said:

(340lbs on last years Growl RR with a pretty flat curve from 2500rpm). Shunting almost eliminated too, but not quite.

Indeed.. I'm about the same

[RichB]

Yeah, mine was originally showing 265bhp at Power Engineering from the factory. After the upgraded bits; TVR Power sports cam (pre-Taraka), solid valve lifters, Twin Throttle, ACT Plenum, smooth bore pipe, K&N filter, bigger AFM, Mark Adam Chip, no pre-cats, Bosch injectors, Magnacor leads, I'm getting 320bhp/325lbs ft but that's on Austec's road.

[Biggles101]

Simon, Yep got a long way to go to match the Mrs' Chim engine but got to start somewhere! So polishing Plenum it is. But now everyone has me thinking about performance!

[TVR Beaver]

Exactly.. Keep your Torque.... It's better than BHP as far as I'm concirned... But obviously best to have both

[V8 GRF]

Mr MoJo said:

No, trumpets and base were only part of it. On top of this I fitted Bosch 72mm AFM, Bosch red tops, 72mm Plenum, new fuel pressure reg, Tornado chip and had Mr Adams set it all up on RR.
Power increased by approx 20bhp and torque went up by 22lbs too. Noticeable difference right through rev range. Pulls like a train (340lbs on last years Growl RR with a pretty flat curve from 2500rpm). Shunting almost eliminated too, but not quite.

Sounds the same as mine then also with the ACT carbon trumpets.

Agree about the torque, I lost loads of BHP when my cam was on the way out but it still pulled like a train (but drank like an alcoholic )

[pjac67]

Biggles101 said:

It certainly doesn't feel down on power and I can keep up with other 500's in the TVRCC during fast sprints.

If you can keep up with the other 500's in Bristol you have NOT got a power problem....
You have a (still) v.low mileage gorgeous Griff but like me you have engine bay jealousy - at least you can ask her to lift her bonnet anytime while the rest of us are rationed to once a month...

See you soon. Paul.

[Mr MoJo]

Agree with you Paul. Some healthy Griffs in the region now Matt, your car has always seemed to keep up without a problem. The BHP chase can be a costly one. I've reached a happy medium now and happy with the results. Driveability V Top End power ? Driveability wins for me.

[Biggles101]

Have to agree with both Paul and Simon. Power not an issue "YET!" but engine envy is definately there when compared to the Mrs Chim (Bilberry101). Now looking into anodising the rockers and plenum once I've finished polishing. Not sure I want to hide all the hard work under a coat of powder paint.