Engine upgrade/rebuild life expectancy?
Engine upgrade/rebuild life expectancy?
Author
Discussion

YRRunner

Original Poster:

1,652 posts

240 months

Wednesday 29th November 2006
quotequote all
Does anyone on this forum have an idea how long a rebuilt engine (with the upgraded parts) should last? Should we expect to have to rebuild every 10k or will they last longer. I know a lot depends on the style of driving. I had a top & bottom rebuild last year after only 6,300 miles on the clock! Catastrophic failure, floating crank (whatever that is).

pete

1,628 posts

308 months

Wednesday 29th November 2006
quotequote all
As I'm one of those freaks with a 28,000 mile healthy Speed 6 engine, I'd hope that a rebuild would last at least as long as mine has from the factory!

tcant

308 posts

235 months

Wednesday 29th November 2006
quotequote all
I would hope they are going to last more than 10,000 miles !

I was told when I had my rebuild that all the upgraded parts are stronger than the originals and the engine mods will prolong the life as well. Unfortunately I don't think there are that many cars out there which have clocked up sufficient miles on rebuilds with the upgraded parts to form a balanced opinion yet.

I might be wrong ... confused






yzf1070

814 posts

255 months

Wednesday 29th November 2006
quotequote all
My 2003 Tuscan S engine has been rebuilt by AutoCraft (TVRCRaft) using all new and many redesigned internal components and then supercharged. I expect to get at least 80K miles without a repeat failure. The engineering put into it should return my expectations providing the car is properly driven and looked after.

A floating crank is when it moves fore and aft in the main caps....(not very healthy). The standard S6 build has only a 180 degree thrust machined in the cap, the block does not have the other 180 required...! Craft can do all this and replace the main caps with proper billet machined items to provide a full 360 thrust. The caps are dual bolted and have side load support as they individually machine the caps and block so each fit to exacting tolerances. Its a work of art to look at.

Regards

G

XTR2Turbo

1,536 posts

255 months

Wednesday 29th November 2006
quotequote all
Mileage may not be a good measure. Number of cold starts with more than a couple of days since last running is what does most of the damage on a speed 6 (and indeed most engines).

If it's used every other weekend to go to the shops it will fail at a lower mileage tahn a car that is used once a month but with long trips e.g. a trip to Lemans or a weekend away etc.

basil brush

5,528 posts

287 months

Thursday 30th November 2006
quotequote all
Mine has done about 30k miles since the last rebuild & new head by TVR in July '02. The valves haven´t needed much adjustment and it´s been running fine so I would hope it will keep going for a while yet, but who knows. It does get used everyday.

thewave

14,826 posts

233 months

Thursday 7th December 2006
quotequote all
Went and looked at a Tuscan last night. It started first time, and everything seems good on the car, although when ticking over, it did sound a little odd (a bit like shaking a giant can of WD40) having never heard a sp6 before (with red rose) does this sound right? Revved fine, and dissapeared, any chance of someone with a healthy engine sending an MP3 recording? lol!

funkyol

1,816 posts

243 months

Thursday 7th December 2006
quotequote all
thewave said:
Went and looked at a Tuscan last night. It started first time, and everything seems good on the car, although when ticking over, it did sound a little odd (a bit like shaking a giant can of WD40) having never heard a sp6 before (with red rose) does this sound right? Revved fine, and dissapeared, any chance of someone with a healthy engine sending an MP3 recording? lol!


If you think that sounded rattly, you should hear a 4.2 Cerbera on cold start.

Bag of spanners springs to mind!

Tuska

961 posts

254 months

Thursday 7th December 2006
quotequote all
The SP6 does sound odd when it is cold. A lot to do with the cam chain, you kindda get used to it or buy a louder exhaust. As for the lifetime of the modern rebuilds? i'm afraid that 'who knows' is the honest answer. The work being done by TVRCraft and Austec is not tested by time. Also, many engines have been back to TVR Power more than once.

Correct warming up of the engine, a bit of TLC and a lot of luck are all factors.

billynomates

2,101 posts

260 months

Thursday 7th December 2006
quotequote all
My piece of 2003 junk had a rebuild at 7000 miles in 2004 before I owned the heap no idea if up graded parts were used or not. I purchased it with about 12thou on the clock IIRC

Just had a 6000 mile service done ..loads of warranty work paid for including a burnt out clutch(how lucky am I?hehe)
No reports that the engine is iffy

Now on a whopping 41300 and a bit nuts .....worth every damn penny plus the odd pound or two

rev-erend

21,605 posts

308 months

Monday 11th December 2006
quotequote all
billynomates said:
My piece of 2003 junk had a rebuild at 7000 miles in 2004 before I owned the heap no idea if up graded parts were used or not. I purchased it with about 12thou on the clock IIRC

Just had a 6000 mile service done ..loads of warranty work paid for including a burnt out clutch(how lucky am I?hehe)
No reports that the engine is iffy

Now on a whopping 41300 and a bit nuts .....worth every damn penny plus the odd pound or two


I recon you've clocked it.. forwards hehe

No S6 engine can go that long without a rebuild rofl everyone on PH knows that tumbleweed

blindswelledrat

25,257 posts

256 months

Monday 11th December 2006
quotequote all
I spoke at length with a TVR dealer the other day who I asked some advice on a private purchase I was planing and according to him he has yet to rebuild an engine with the upgraded parts.
I'm fairly sure he was telling the truth but Im curious to see whether anyone on here knows otherwise?

sidewayz

2,681 posts

265 months

Monday 11th December 2006
quotequote all
rev-erend said:
billynomates said:
My piece of 2003 junk had a rebuild at 7000 miles in 2004 before I owned the heap no idea if up graded parts were used or not. I purchased it with about 12thou on the clock IIRC

Just had a 6000 mile service done ..loads of warranty work paid for including a burnt out clutch(how lucky am I?hehe)
No reports that the engine is iffy

Now on a whopping 41300 and a bit nuts .....worth every damn penny plus the odd pound or two


I recon you've clocked it.. forwards hehe

No S6 engine can go that long without a rebuild rofl everyone on PH knows that tumbleweed


Theres a 2004/5 with 53k on the clock.

toobin

1,222 posts

258 months

Monday 11th December 2006
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Just had mine done again after a rebuild at 5k in 2002, now on 37k. So my reconning is about 32k and over 4 yers

shorts!

703 posts

278 months

Tuesday 12th December 2006
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My Tuscan had a rebuild at 10k, then lasted another 40k before I sold it. That was March 2004. Its replacement, a T350T, wil pass 54k tomorrow. Sorry to disappoint everyone but no engine rebuilds just yet.

richman

43 posts

248 months

Tuesday 12th December 2006
quotequote all
rev-erend said:
billynomates said:
My piece of 2003 junk had a rebuild at 7000 miles in 2004 before I owned the heap no idea if up graded parts were used or not. I purchased it with about 12thou on the clock IIRC

Just had a 6000 mile service done ..loads of warranty work paid for including a burnt out clutch(how lucky am I?hehe)
No reports that the engine is iffy

Now on a whopping 41300 and a bit nuts .....worth every damn penny plus the odd pound or two


I recon you've clocked it.. forwards hehe

No S6 engine can go that long without a rebuild rofl everyone on PH knows that tumbleweed


Mine's up in the classifieds at the mo. Does 41,200 and AFAIK it's never had a rebuild. Used maybe once a week, but given a good run when it is. Always warmed up correctly before booting it. I know the two previous owners who treated the car in exactly the same way. Oil pressure strong, and told by SSCC who did the last service that the engine is in good nick.

I think there's too much scare mongering out there...

rev-erend

21,605 posts

308 months

Tuesday 12th December 2006
quotequote all
Seems a shame that the moment the S6 starts getting a good reputation the TVR Eng. seem to have bitten the dust

My time with the T350 was superb - no engine problems at all in the time I had her.. did have a clutch replaced though..