Another one gone
Discussion
t out of me 
the bad factory balancing (so I am led to believe) don't do much for it's lifespan either 
jamienshelly said:
Hi Simon, didn't they balance the crank and flywheel on the 500 for that reason, there is an awful lot of torque going through the crank for the webs to be so thin, and not balanced.
Hi Jamie 
they are balanced externally and not that well apparently but you know what these Chinese whispers are like 
Here's my engine spec, built earlier this year by V8D:
"The short engine consists a re-conditioned tvr 5.0 block, its the small journal variety which has been cross bolted, the block is checked and machined for line bore accuracies, the deck heights are matched sides, fully chemically deep cleaned, fitted with new competition cam bearings and new side core plugs. The crankshaft is a standard tvr 5.0 running 2.3”main bearings and 2”big end bearings the crankshaft is standard size but polished, The connecting rods are stock tvr 5.0, the pistons are again stock 5.0 items, with the valve reliefs for the use of high lift camshafts, the main bearings are made by glyco and the big ends are Michigan 77’s, all moving parts are internally balanced. Including the flywheel and front pulley."
Make of that what you can - it's a great engine as far as i am concerned, as should be strong as it is internally balanced and cross bolted
"The short engine consists a re-conditioned tvr 5.0 block, its the small journal variety which has been cross bolted, the block is checked and machined for line bore accuracies, the deck heights are matched sides, fully chemically deep cleaned, fitted with new competition cam bearings and new side core plugs. The crankshaft is a standard tvr 5.0 running 2.3”main bearings and 2”big end bearings the crankshaft is standard size but polished, The connecting rods are stock tvr 5.0, the pistons are again stock 5.0 items, with the valve reliefs for the use of high lift camshafts, the main bearings are made by glyco and the big ends are Michigan 77’s, all moving parts are internally balanced. Including the flywheel and front pulley."
Make of that what you can - it's a great engine as far as i am concerned, as should be strong as it is internally balanced and cross bolted
When I was looking for a Chim about 7 years ago I noticed a few reports of cranks snapping on 500s, and although I suspected that the risk was fairly low, it was enough to make me get a 450.
As most people know, the bore size is the same on all models and the different capacities are achieved by varying the stroke. It may be an urban myth, but I'd always been under the impression that the way they achieved the 5 litre capacity was by reducing the journal diameter to get the necessary stroke length, and it is this that creates the weakness.
As most people know, the bore size is the same on all models and the different capacities are achieved by varying the stroke. It may be an urban myth, but I'd always been under the impression that the way they achieved the 5 litre capacity was by reducing the journal diameter to get the necessary stroke length, and it is this that creates the weakness.
Gassing Station | Chimaera | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff