Later 4.5 and 5.0 crossbolt

[Rum Runner]

I have noticed on my search for a newer car around the year 2000 the rocker covers are black on the 4.5 and 5.0 ,and different oil filler e.t.c. Is this a sign of the later crossbolt engines or am i jumping to conclusion's. Any ideas ?.

[Cider Andy]

Mine's a 1999. It's cross-bolted, but has the plain aluminium rocker covers and the orange filler cap.

[tvrchim]

Mines a 98 500 with purple rockers, and its not cross bolted.

Edited by tvrchim on Wednesday 7th March 14:03

[Waynester]

For the benefit of the 'uneddy-cated' can someone explain what your supposed to recognise re: X bolting?
My car is a '99 450, is this x bolted?

[groomvroom]

My 02 SE had unpained rockers and did not have a cross bolted block.

[macdeb]

Look down the base of the block just above the sump. If there is a row of bolt heads , it's cross-bolted. If there are just blanks, it's not. I believe it's the '450' [4.6] motors that are cross-bolted, and the 400 + 500 are not.

Edited by macdeb on Tuesday 6th March 19:05

[macdeb]

tvrchim said:

Mines a 98 500 with purple rockers, and its bot cross bolted.

so is your 'bot' cross-bolted then bloke?

[The AJP Griff]

My Griff 500 is a late 2000 model,and has a factory std crossbolted block.I was told that tvr had to use the 4.6 Rangerover crossbolted blocks to make the 5 litre engines once supplies of the 4.0litre non crossbolted came to an end(which they had used for 500's until this point in time).Thus i was also told that all 500's after this date were crossbolted as std.I would expect this to apply to Chims also?

[tvrchim]

macdeb said:

tvrchim said:

Mines a 98 500 with purple rockers, and its bot cross bolted.

so is your 'bot' cross-bolted then bloke?

BLOKE, are you back then or are you doing this from Oz, and you leave my bot alone.

[macdeb]

Yup, I'm back. Guday mate. Dont worry about yer bot, wont be going there again.

[victormeldrew]

Froma previous thread the 500 started using black rockers when the pruple one ran out, allegedly. Seems later engine has cross bolted blocks as thats all that was available. I doubt these supplu issues happened at the same time!

Incidentally, my 95 500 is no cross bolted, but some of the cast cross bolt spigots have been partially drilled - just pilot holes, and in one case a full size but blind hole. Very odd.

[tvrchim]

macdeb said:

Yup, I'm back. Guday mate. Dont worry about yer bot, wont be going there again.

Leave it, you will have people talking again.

[george 500]

For the mechanical ignoramous what is the advantage of cross bolting (I'm assuming strength). Am I likely to see bits of conrod/crankshaft following me down the road because mine is probably not cross bolted??

[spend]

Some even consider it superfluous, its desirable but not essential. There was also the introduction of an alloy cast sump and change from 14-10 stud heads all phased in around similar times (on the LR production). I can't believe that the design change had nothing to do with the alloy sump ~ which we cant / dont use anyway.

Dave

[victormeldrew]

Even where they are not cross bolted, the main caps on later cars shoulder flush to the block, and so are inherently less prone to flex and fret than earlier ones, even without cross bolting. Cross bolting will add more strength primarily by stopping the caps from swaying and allowing the crank to bend, but you need a monster engine to make them essential. The next step after than is a mains girdle - a steel plate bolted to all the caps and the block - and the ultimate an alloy sump with cast in main caps.

[bhpjon]

Is it worth having the crossbolts fitted on a none crossbolted engine ?

[spend]

IIRC I think someone quoted a 1/5 chance after crossbolt upgrade that you might require block line boring ~ poss DJE..
You obviously need the 'inbetween' block with the cast shoulders anyway. Seems to me if you really want crossbolts then buy a 4.6 block.

Dave

[jonnyb]

bhpjon said:

Is it worth having the crossbolts fitted on a none crossbolted engine ?

I was told there was not much point unless your regularly going to rev it over 7000

[george 500]

7000rpm? Coo that would surely bend the pushrods into dali-esque contusions. Bet it sounds good though!

[victormeldrew]

george 500 said:

7000rpm? Coo that would surely bend the pushrods into dali-esque contusions. Bet it sounds good though!

I think that's the point - by the time cross bolting becomes a necessity, there are lots of other moving parts that would have come apart anyway. You need to have spent LOTS of money upgrading - roller rockers, adjustable carbon pushrods, reseated valves, Carillo rods and so on - before cross bolting is necessary.

I know what you mean though, 7000 rpm and staying in one piece would sound good. 7000rpm and sounding very expensive is much more likely though!

The other situation were cross bolting might become necessary is in forced aspiration, when the torque being applied to the crank by each rod will be significantly increased. I was rather surprised that the SC500 recently demo'd at Mallory by TVR Power had a stock bottom end which wasn't cross bolted - I asked a couple of times just to make sure!