engine mods-again!!

[shak]

I'm tentatively thinking again about engine mods. to my 4 litre Chimp.It has been chipped already by Mark Adams and runs as smooth as you could wish.I'm hoping to improve the efficiency of the engine with power being a secondary consideration. I'm thinking of cylinder head mods. and/or inlet manifold/plenum chamber mods.I believe that the standard 4 litre Chimp. already has ported and polished cylinder heads?-if so what would be the next step for improvement? Any replies from people who have had these things done specifically would be helpful as would any recommendation(or otherwise)and info.regarding the ultimate financial cost of any work done and who did the work. thanks again.

[GreenV8S]

I take it the comment about efficiency is a joke! None of these engines are remotely efficient compared to current production cars and tuning generally makes it worse. I've been down the heads/cam/manifold/trumpets/plenum route myself, starting from a similar 4.0 Chimaera engine. If you do the whole lot you can expect to get around 40 bhp extra and spend around £2.5k, roughly speaking. You will probably want to uprate the brakes (£500) and I expect your insurance will cost more. This is a slippery slope, are you sure you want to take this option? My advice is to save the money and put it towards a car with a bigger engine. You will end up with a far better car for the money. Peter Humphries (and a green V8S)

quote:I'm tentatively thinking again about engine mods. to my 4 litre Chimp.It has been chipped already by Mark Adams and runs as smooth as you could wish.I'm hoping to improve the efficiency of the engine with power being a secondary consideration. I'm thinking of cylinder head mods. and/or inlet manifold/plenum chamber mods.I believe that the standard 4 litre Chimp. already has ported and polished cylinder heads?-if so what would be the next step for improvement? Any replies from people who have had these things done specifically would be helpful as would any recommendation(or otherwise)and info.regarding the ultimate financial cost of any work done and who did the work. thanks again.

[shak]

Thanks for the advice AGAIN Peter!!.It certainly helps to have such a voice of reason around-especially when the upgrading bug starts to take hold again!I'm afraid the comment about improving efficiency was not a joke-I was merely thinking in terms of improving AIRFLOW efficiency-but I'm probably pretty naive and clueless about these things-hence the question in the first place! Again,thanks.

[manek]

Or...you could do what I think I'm about to do (I also have a 4l Chimaera) and, for the same money as Peter mentioned -- some £2.5k -- get a new tweaked 4.6l engine. For that you get up to 300bhp (up from 240bhp on mine after the Mark Adams treatment) and a new motor -- I guess this should translate into a higher price than you;d have got for your 'old' 4l should you decide to sell it. Manek

[graham]

where you going for the engine? i fancy a 4.6 with a different ecu system... then i could put the old motor in the Disco..

[GreenV8S]

quote:Or...you could do what I think I'm about to do (I also have a 4l Chimaera) and, for the same money as Peter mentioned -- some £2.5k -- get a new tweaked 4.6l engine.

That £2.5 won't be the bottom line though. At a rough guess you could end up paying double that by the time you're had it installed and set up. I reckon fitting a bigger engine is going to be more cost effective than tuning a small one, but in terms of bangs per buck the option of trading up to a 500 is better still. I know in your case (as in mine) there are other factors involved such as sticking with a car you know that has had time and money spent sorting it. But for others who have a bog standard 4.0 and just want a bit more power I would always advise trading up. Peter Humphries (and a green V8S)

[graham]

I'm not convinced by the ide that trading up is the easiest option. With the later Chimaera, i understand the running gear is the same between the 4,4.5 and the 5, maybe different springs and dampers? and the only difference is the motor. Yes the 500s are cheaper at the mo, but you also get less for the 4ltr you are trying to sell. I looked at the silver 500 that team central have, a year newer and the bigger engine for 22k. but the amount i could get for mine was stupid...

[manek]

quote:I'm not convinced by the ide that trading up is the easiest option. With the later Chimaera, i understand the running gear is the same between the 4,4.5 and the 5, maybe different springs and dampers? and the only difference is the motor. Yes the 500s are cheaper at the mo, but you also get less for the 4ltr you are trying to sell. I looked at the silver 500 that team central have, a year newer and the bigger engine for 22k. but the amount i could get for mine was stupid...

Agree -- I reckon it'll cost me around £5k to swap to annewer car not to mention the hassle factor of trying to sell a 4l Chimaera which appear to be commoner than Rover 45s judgeing by the number on sale. Then I have to find a 5l that's in a colour I like and that's sorted, and even then it won't be upgraded to the point that mine now is. What's more, a new engine gives me more stuff to think about -- trunnions to polish etc! I reckon a bigger engine is the perfect upgrade.... Manek

[Nobby]

Unfortunately my 4.6L engine has no trunions. If it is indeed possible to have these fitted please let me know how much they cost as I'd be keen to make a purchase.

[Paul V]

It might be a idea to look at the RPI engineering web site they specialise in rover V8's mainly for 4x4 but had a grif engine taken out to 5.2 they seem to offer a good range of tuning parts, just a thought.