The sound of pure evil, distilled and amplified

[J_S_G]

After six weeks off the road, it's back. And with the Red Rose engine it was always supposed to have. (Legal issues with previous owners still to be resolved )

By way of celebration, I had TVR Power de-cat it for good measure. It already had CCC cans on, and although they were loud, I found them a bit lax-power like and tinny in the noise that came from them.

So, I wanted to put a post up here describing the noise that comes from the back end of the car now, but I honestly don't think I can do it justice without somehow wrangling a sound clip. I had a sports 'zorsted Cerb before, and that was pretty loud and a very rich sound, but it's nothing compared to the Tuscan now....

1. It rumbles like a proper V8 at idle
2. It throbs/howls in the most beautiful manner at constant speed
3. And under acceleration... the closest thing I can describe it to is a Merlin V12 at full chat.

It's simply amazing. And quite possibly the loudest road car I've ever heard. I drove through a tunnel in York on Sunday and, in all seriousness, it physically hurt my ears with the sound bouncing off the walls. Plus it made 4 children cry in the supermarket car-park today. Can I recommend everyone pays a trip to the Midlands to experience Satan-in-an-exhaust pipe.

Any weekend meets planned in the Midlands/Yorkshire in the near future? I want those outside of the 100 mile ear-shot of the car to hear it.

Can't wait till I've got the engine run in to see what it sounds like at high RPM...

[TUS 373]

J_S_G said:

After six weeks off the road, it's back. And with the Red Rose engine it was always supposed to have. (Legal issues with previous owners still to be resolved )

So did someone sell you a RR only to discover that it wasn't? And now you have had it uprated as part of the rebuild? If so, what changes do they make for that extra little bit of bhp?

Glad you got it back with plenty of summer left to enjoy it!

[powerlord]

J_S_G said:

1. It rumbles like a proper V8 at idle 2. It throbs/howls in the most beautiful manner at constant speed 3. And under acceleration... the closest thing I can describe it to is a Merlin V12 at full chat. ......Plus it made 4 children cry in the supermarket car-park today.

ok. that appeals to me I admit (maybe not making small children cry, but still).

is it a standard part (the decat pipes) ? Is it something I could order from them and have fitted by my local exhaust place (they are pretty good and do ferraris and stuff) ? And how much were they ?

Also how easy to refit the cats ? since I take it you'll have to do that every year to pass the 'ol MOT.

stu

[GCerbera]

Glad to hear you are back in the car JS.


Hope everything sorts itself out soon.

[J_S_G]

TUS 373 said:

J_S_G said: After six weeks off the road, it's back. And with the Red Rose engine it was always supposed to have. (Legal issues with previous owners still to be resolved ) So did someone sell you a RR only to discover that it wasn't? And now you have had it uprated as part of the rebuild? If so, what changes do they make for that extra little bit of bhp?

That's about the size of it.

The main change is that my wallet's feeling particularly lighter. There's a great big list of parts that've been replaced on the invoice, but I think the work's pretty much what they've got listed on TVR Power's web page: www.tvrpower.co.uk/sp6.RR.php.

>> Edited by J_S_G on Tuesday 10th August 13:04

[J_S_G]

powerlord said:

ok. that appeals to me I admit (maybe not making small children cry, but still). is it a standard part (the decat pipes) ? Is it something I could order from them and have fitted by my local exhaust place (they are pretty good and do ferraris and stuff) ? And how much were they ? Also how easy to refit the cats ? since I take it you'll have to do that every year to pass the 'ol MOT.

It was about £250 including fitting for them. I believe Pensinsula do a set of bypass pipes for <£100, though. No idea on the fitting front - if it's anything like the Cerb (and I'd imagine it is), it's just a trolley jack & set of spanners DIY job.

They mentioned to me that if you take it out for a thrashing before it goes in for its MOT, and if they then take a reading pretty much straight away that it should get through the emissions test. Personally, I'll probably try and find a decent local garage that accidentally measures the emissions from another car...

And one last thing - I'm not sure if you've got CCC cans on or not. without them, I doubt it'd sound half this good. But as a word of warning, with them, it really is very, very loud.

[R666 TUS]

I had mine de-catted at my rebuild too, mainly
to save the £1000 cost of fitting new cats due
to oil contamination. Does sound a lot better
but not too loud as I have the Blue flame cans
on mine.
P.S. Friend owns an MOT station also

Col

[powerlord]

damn. couldn't resist it.. ordered a set from penisula.

just to save the cats you understand.. I have no wish to make small children cry (can't you get locked up for that).

just hope I can hear this new stereo I'm installing over the thing !!






stu

[j_s_g]

powerlord said:

damn. couldn't resist it.. ordered a set from penisula. just to save the cats you understand.. I have no wish to make small children cry (can't you get locked up for that). just hope I can hear this new stereo I'm installing over the thing !!

Have you got non-standard cans on, too?

[and]

I was very tempted to do this but got scared off by tales of debris getting sucked back into the engine and invalidated warranty/ factory support. I'd do it for sure otherwise.

[powerlord]

j_s_g said:

powerlord said: damn. couldn't resist it.. ordered a set from penisula. just to save the cats you understand.. I have no wish to make small children cry (can't you get locked up for that). just hope I can hear this new stereo I'm installing over the thing !! Have you got non-standard cans on, too?

uhu. Carbon cans:

www.zen34862.zen.co.uk/tvrpics/TVR.html

might need some bigger subwoofers....

[powerlord]

and said:

I was very tempted to do this but got scared off by tales of debris getting sucked back into the engine and invalidated warranty/ factory support. I'd do it for sure otherwise.

erm. I dunno how that could possibly happen. I've heard stuff like that if you start putting perforamance air filters in (K&Ns, apexi, etc) but can't really see how on earth anything can crawl back up the exhaust... there is always positive pressure on the outlet manifold (or else turbos would spin backwards!!)



stu

[and]

i know it sounds odd, something to do with pulses & back pressure i guess. An indy and the factory both said "don't do it" when I asked. Even though anecdotally I've never heard of it happening on a tvr I'm too chicken to try Having said that if I heard j s d's I'd probably jfdi

[NCE 61]

I heard from quiet a reliable source that de-cating the speed 6 engine actually reduces performance as a certain ammount of back pressure is required. I bet it sounds good though particually with the CCC's

[j_s_g]

NCE 61 said:

I heard from quiet a reliable source that de-cating the speed 6 engine actually reduces performance as a certain ammount of back pressure is required. I bet it sounds good though particually with the CCC's

I was a bit worried about the performance as I expected the reduced back-pressure to lower performance throughout the range but increase it at the very, very top end. However, it was Dom at TVR Power that I talked to about it, and short of the guys working on tuning the Le Mans T440s/whatever, there are few I'd trust more...

[j_s_g]

and said:

i know it sounds odd, something to do with pulses & back pressure i guess. An indy and the factory both said "don't do it" when I asked. Even though anecdotally I've never heard of it happening on a tvr I'm too chicken to try Having said that if I heard j s d's I'd probably jfdi

I'm trying to think of a decent way of getting a sound clip of it recorded and uploaded. Not quite sure whether phone/laptop/something else is the best option.

[NCE 61]

j_s_g said:

NCE 61 said: I heard from quiet a reliable source that de-cating the speed 6 engine actually reduces performance as a certain ammount of back pressure is required. I bet it sounds good though particually with the CCC's I was a bit worried about the performance as I expected the reduced back-pressure to lower performance throughout the range but increase it at the very, very top end. However, it was Dom at TVR Power that I talked to about it, and short of the guys working on tuning the Le Mans T440s/whatever, there are few I'd trust more...

I have to talk to Dom about this when he does a few upgrades on my engine next month as both my cats have seen better days.

A sound clip would be good if possible.

[J_S_G]

NCE 61 said:

I have to talk to Dom about this when he does a few upgrades on my engine next month as both my cats have seen better days. A sound clip would be good if possible.

I borrowed a microphone from work today, so I should be able to get it recorded and uploaded at the weekend.

[Apache]

J_S_G said:

1. It rumbles like a proper V8 at idle

That's some upgrade!

[victormeldrew]

Indeed, how much were the extra pistons?

Or is he just admitting that proper engines have 8 cylinders, and his now sounds like (but isn't) one?

Edited to add: looking forward to the sound clip!

>> Edited by victormeldrew on Wednesday 11th August 18:50