A sleepless night tonight

[icraigmy]

No I have'nt scored, it's just that I pick my Tamora up tomorrow from Dulfords in Cullompton, and I won't get any sleep tonight in anticipation of tomorrow.

The engine has been upgraded to 4.0L Red Rose, and Nitron Shocks have been fitted. Should have had a Carbon Fibre Air Tight Airbox fitted, but there are'nt any in the country yet, so this will be fitted when I have the 1000 mile service done, which might be in a couple of weeks, cos you won't be able to keep out of my Tamora.

So I'll be driving back to Calne very carefully on the A303, and A350, and a great big hole in my wallet.

It's many thanks to Richard down there at Dulfords for all his hard work over the last 4 weeks stripping down the engine and rebuilding it with upgraded parts, getting all the engine balancing right, and setting the car up with Nitron Shocks.

[holmsie]

I know the feeling!!
Let us know how it compares to previously.

[maddog-uk]

full report asap! I am sure you will love it!

[Mr John]

Ditto here to. This will be the route I will be taking for my T350, when the pennies are available.

Edited by Mr John on Friday 13th April 23:05

[Lensey]

Enjoy! I'm sure you will

[t40ora]

Yep, very interested to know hoe it compares. And enjoy today. You can still have fun in these cars keeping the revs below 3k!

[icraigmy]

The VERDICT:

Arrived at Dulfords 9:30'ish. Got the bill paying out of the way (£11397) ouch, but worth every penny.
There is a certificate to say what modifications have been made to the car which I will keep safe. Richard had also typed out a list of running in instructions .
Basically keep the revs low for the first 1000 miles, the engine should not exceed 3500rpm or be placed under excessive load(too high a gear going uphill, causing the engine to labour or 3/4 to full throttle opening. The engine should not be made to idle for long periods of time (ie ticking over on the drive to warm up). It is better for the car if you start it up and drive away.

So out to the car I went. My first impression was how clean the engine and engine bay was. The stainless steel nuts and bolts on the engine look really ace.
Right, roof off , then one more look at the instructions.

Started it up - what a great noise from that JP. The first thing I noticed was that the tapping noise so inherent in the previous engine had gone. The engine runs like a dream. I started out towards the A303 and what a difference. The engine runs so smoothly and you can feel it wants to go. Also the ride is much more firmer and responsive with the nitron shocks. I took one or two tight bends at about 60mph, and the Tamora stuck to the road like it was on rails.
It was a really enjoyable drive back from cullompton. I can't give you any feedback on performance until I've run the engine in properly, but even at low revs the engine is noticably much better than the previous engine. My intention is to keep the Tamora for a very long time and if I treat the engine with respect (which I do anyway) it should give me many years of driving pleasure.

The Carbon Fibre Airtight Air Box will be fitted when I take the TVR down for its 1000 mile service (Richard said the 1000 mile serivce is free ) because there are'nt any in the country at the moment. Photos etc will follow when my excitement calms down

I'll list what has been done to the engine:
Parts Description Quantity
----------------- --------
Headgasket 1
Chilled Cast Inlet Camshaft 1
Chilled Cast Ex Camshaft 1
Followers 24
Plasma Nitrade Inlet Valve 12
Plasma Nitrade Ex Valve 12
Chilled Cast Valve Guide 24
Valve Stem Seal 24
Uprated Headwasher 14
Piston (inc rings, pins) 6
1/2 Time Bearing 2
Big End Bearing 12
Main Bearing 14
Aux Shaft bearing 2
Aux Shaft Seal 2
Front Crank Seal 1
Waterpump O Ring 2
Consumables
Conrod 4Ltr 6
Uprated Chain Slipper 1
Crankshaft(new) 1
Red Rose Injector 6
Red Rose Eprom Chip 1

The certificate of proof of work says:

"This vehicle has had a full engine rebuild bringing it up to the latest TVR spec. It has also had a 4ltr Red Rose upgrade, which included a new cross drilled ADI 92mm cast crank, a set of matched 4ltr forged conrods, a set of molycoated 4ltr Red Rose pistons, a set of upgraded injectors and an upgraded ECU eprom chip. All these parts were new."

The whole job took 4 weeks and that also included a new battery and the chassis waxoyled, aswell as the engine upgrade , service, and nitron shocks.
Well I take my hat off to Richard and his team at Dulfords. - A fantastic job.

The Verdict - If anyone is thinking about going down the same lines with engine upgrade and Nitron shocks, then do it, and I recommend that you get Richard at Dulfords to do the work. No doubt I'll be seeing many of you at the TVR events this year and will be more than glad to chat about engine upgrades and Nitron Shocks, and perhaps a demo in the car.

[DC53]

Sounds like a monster.

Have fun, and don't go to mad.
Dad's Tuscan just had a rebuild an he was SO desperate to put his foot down but hasn't, but he can now, it's done the mighty 1000

I look forward to seeing te pic's!

Dan

[kmpowell]

icraigmy said:

£11397

[targarama]

kmpowell said:

icraigmy said:

£11397

I'm sure the quality is great, but that is heckuva lot of money even including 1200 for the shocks, a service, waxoyl etc.

What warranty is there on the engine?

[Mr John]

I thought the 4ltr Red Rose conversion was about £4300.
The Nitron's are indeed about £1200.
What was the rest for ???

[icraigmy]

OK a breakdown of the bill.

4.0Ltr R/R Engine Labour £1175.00
Nitron Shock set £1110.38
Labour Suspension £264.38
Battery £75.38
SP6 Red Rose Engine £8307.72
Labour charge £376.00
Red Rose Chip £88.13

My engine was completely stripped down and rebuilt with upgraded parts (oilways expanded aswell). I know the standard price of a Red Rose upgrade is around £4500, but does that include labour charge and is the engine stripped down and rebuilt. For that price I don't think so.

For the money I have spent on this engine upgrade I wanted a proper job done, and Richard down at Dulfords has certainly done that. I'd rather get the job done properly rather than a half heart'ed job.

This is a completely new engine, and if I run it in well and respect it (which I intend to do anyway) then this upgrade will give me many years of pleasurable driving.

I get a 6000 mile warranty with the engine upgrade, but any problems beyond 6000 miles and I had'nt abused the engine (Track days, bad warm up etc) then the warranty would be extended beyond 6000 miles.

[David Godfrey]

thats allot of money to put into any car, I must be in the wrong career... When you have the CF airbox any chance you could post a pic or two?

[targarama]

Looks reasonable when you break it down like that. With the exception of the engine purchase cost. Is that from Power, or one of the other builders? Did you get anything for your existing engine (IIRC it hadn't gone pop?).

Edited to say: Please don't think I'm criticizing - it just seems heckuva lot of money.

Edited by targarama on Sunday 15th April 10:08

[icraigmy]

Having just done a 200 mile round trip from Calne, Cirencester, Stow, Winchcombe, Cheltenham, back to Cirencester, malmesbury, Chippenham, calne, not a flinch with the engine upgrade. The nitron shocks are absouletly amazing.

Edited by icraigmy on Sunday 15th April 21:43

Edited by icraigmy on Monday 16th April 10:14

[V-GOM]

Just been chatting to Richard about your upgrade. I think you got a good deal on the price considering the amount of work involved. To clarify you missed out on your list that you had a 3.6 to 4.0 litre upgrade which includes new crank, rods and pistons and the fact that the carbon airbox is a grand including VAT. If I could afford it I would be very tempted. Rich is also looking forward to getting it on a rolling road as he thinks it will be putting out about 410 bhp at the flywheel; with the nitrons and new springs a true Saggy Basher - will be interesting to see. If you're down Torquay way we could compare a standard T350 with it, should be fun.

[Vesuvius 996]

ELEVEN GRAND!

WTF!

[Daftlad]

icraigmy said:

OK a breakdown of the bill.

4.0Ltr R/R Engine Labour £1175.00
Nitron Shock set £1110.38
Labour Suspension £264.38
Battery £75.38
SP6 Red Rose Engine £8307.72
Labour charge £376.00
Red Rose Chip £88.13

My engine was completely stripped down and rebuilt with upgraded parts (oilways expanded aswell). I know the standard price of a Red Rose upgrade is around £4500, but does that include labour charge and is the engine stripped down and rebuilt. For that price I don't think so.

For the money I have spent on this engine upgrade I wanted a proper job done, and Richard down at Dulfords has certainly done that. I'd rather get the job done properly rather than a half heart'ed job.

This is a completely new engine, and if I run it in well and respect it (which I intend to do anyway) then this upgrade will give me many years of pleasurable driving.

I get a 6000 mile warranty with the engine upgrade, but any problems beyond 6000 miles and I had'nt abused the engine (Track days, bad warm up etc) then the warranty would be extended beyond 6000 miles.

How much did they charge for the advisable brake upgrade that should have gone with all these mods??

[Tamster.]

Icraigmy, had my 03 Tam engine built to Tvr 07 spec, fortunately under warranty (1.3k) not entirely convinced the chilled cast cams, upgraded valves/guides will stand the test of mileage or time (ie at least 12k per annum), hopefully your upgrade pays good dividends in the medium/long term, enjoy as much as possible, the next rebuild should be at least 25k away,look forward to seeing the dyno torque/bhp graph.

[maddog-uk]

Sounds very good. Looking forward to hearing it. To echo daftlads comments I would if you can fit the red rose discs, because thats a lot of hp to stop. Also it may be worth changing the outbound pipe to a tuscan s one like mine!