V8 Retro classic ground up rebuild
Discussion
I've just nearly finished this project so I thought I'd post a few pictures and spec about it for those who are interested. Also I've found people who are brilliant at certain trades like welding, one off machining ect and thought it may help others who want odd one off jobs doing like making and machining drive flanges from Triumph TR4 to Chevy ect.
The car was a LHD Tr4 A ( independent suspension ) car which came in from California, picture show body off and chassis refurb inc acid dipping the body, full FIA cage was fitted to help stiffen up the chassis to handle the torque from the 6:3 ltr LS3 V8 crate engine and new Tr 6060 six speed gearbox, Willwood brakes with duel sermvos, one for the clutch and one for the brakes, the diff is a reconditioned Monaro LSD, car weighs 830 kg,
I'll try to post the pictures in some sort of order from this,,,,
To this......
The car was a LHD Tr4 A ( independent suspension ) car which came in from California, picture show body off and chassis refurb inc acid dipping the body, full FIA cage was fitted to help stiffen up the chassis to handle the torque from the 6:3 ltr LS3 V8 crate engine and new Tr 6060 six speed gearbox, Willwood brakes with duel sermvos, one for the clutch and one for the brakes, the diff is a reconditioned Monaro LSD, car weighs 830 kg,
I'll try to post the pictures in some sort of order from this,,,,
To this......
Edited by cwin on Thursday 25th January 21:09
Edited by cwin on Saturday 28th April 08:09
RetroWheels said:
That's going to be a lot of fun and a propper handfull when it's finished Craig , build quality looks lovely.
Will it be Road or Race ?
Cheers DarrenWill it be Road or Race ?
May let Danny do the odd Bernies V8 race in it if it handles good enough, it's mainly a road car to shoot over to do some of the euro passes in.
Maty said:
Wow! Just wow!!
Any videos of the noise?
It's being wired at the moment and should be finished Monday, we had it running but they sent the wrong map sensor lead for the loom so it only runs for a few seconds, which is quite annoying. Any videos of the noise?
I'll post a video when it's running properly.
Have you done most of the work yourself ? Also sorry for direct/rude question if you don't mind but curious to know what kind of ball park figure one would budget for a project like this ? Would love to do something similar one day, had ideas of an M3 engined TR6 but I think I prefer your approach.
TheRocket said:
Have you done most of the work yourself ? Also sorry for direct/rude question if you don't mind but curious to know what kind of ball park figure one would budget for a project like this ? Would love to do something similar one day, had ideas of an M3 engined TR6 but I think I prefer your approach.
Yes, I've done a lot of the work myself but also had specialists do some work that I couldn't do ect, the proble with costs when you do something like this is a, what condition of car you start with, and b, how good you want it to be when is finished.Cheapest way is to find a mint car to start with and do the engine conversion, the body off restoration works inc new floors, sill, wings, re spray ect will cost as much if not more than buying a nice car say 15/20k.
The crate engine kits are around 8k which includes gearbox, ecu, engine wiring loom, even comes with accelerator pedal. For someone to do the engine swap and make the mounts ect is about 3k.
The good thing about the LS engines is they weigh less than the 4 cylinder cast iron unit that came out, and as they are so short you can get them right back behind the centreline of the wheels, this car has a 50/50 weight split.
I used a guy in Birmingham to fit the engine called Craig Taylor (Dyno Torque) as he has done many LS engine swaps in all sorts of cars and 3 previously for me, aTVR Sagaris and a Mazda RX7 and Rx8, they were all brilliant.
If you buy a nice car then I recon you can do the swap for as little as 10k if you find a second hand engine or 15/18k if you buy new,
Hope this helps..
This is how far back the engine can go to get near perfect weight distribution.
Edited by cwin on Saturday 15th April 21:50
Gassing Station | Readers' Cars | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff