As the owner of a Cerbera Speed Six, and someone who’s owned 8 TVRs, I can tell you the main reason that the engine went wrong; cheap parts. TVR were using conrods and finger followers made in India from poor steel, which led to many issues. I’ve actually spoken to people at the factory who worked on/designed these engines (John Ravenscroft being one of them). I’d also add my Speed Six is now on 71k (bought at 31k) and has done multiple track days and been driven HARD. It’s in fine fettle, and producing within 6bhp of factory claimed BHP. In summary, the Speed Six is fine if it’s made with good quality parts.
@@TheMcspreader Cast crank?! Why would TVR put a cast crank in a performance engine? Doesn't every Honda K-series (even the lower output ones) have a forged crank, by way of comparison?
When de-engineering the design of an engine to reduce production-costs results in huge costs in rectifying faults & warranty-claims! The term for this is 'Death By Bean-counter', but in this circumstance it was the TVR brand itself that they almost killed off!
@@grievuspwn4g3 Even before the bean counters stepped in British cars were already known for their lack of quality/consistency. The rumour goes that the Honda/Rover cooperation went bad so quickly because the British didn't follow the instructions from the Japanese engineers. Honda replaced the cutting tools for the cylinder bores before they started to show the first signs of becoming dull, whereas the British literally used them till they broke. Investigations proved that this was common practice in the UK, as Vauxhalls that were based on Opel technology were notorious for their oil consumption where the Opels weren't. Inspection of high oil consumption Vauxhall engines showed that although those were intended to be 1300cc, due to the blunt cutting tools boring much larger and irregular shaped holes, those engines could be up to 1500cc, with oil leakage from new because the bores weren't perfectly circular. Quality has always been the Achilles heel of the British car manufacturing industry and bean counters didn't cause the problem; they only made it worse. The sales of British car tanked because of these quality issues long before the bean counters were called in to try and save the British car industry. Which arguably was once again the wrong strategy to follow. The sad thing is that brands like Rolls Royce and Bentley proved that British car manufacturers were perfectly capable of doing it right, but then their cars wouldn't be able to be competitive due to the higher costs.
@@coreyw427 You're seriously asking if a short-term or one company failure is worse than a long-term or multi-company failure? Short-term failure means ONE car manufacturer goes broke and disappears because they made the wrong decisions. That's pretty normal in every line of business. Long-term failure means you do what the British car industry did: put all the failing British car brands into one huge company in a desperate effort to save the unsavable with the end-result that pretty much all of them disappeared when that one huge company failed (after receiving massive government supports costing the taxpayers astronomical amounts of money).
TVR is one of those cars that I'm just glad they exist! The cerbera is a stunning car to look at! I knew that TVR engines weren't known for reliability, but this is the most detail video I've seen on it. Straight 6 engines are known for low vibrations, but not when TVR makes them :) Great video, thanks!
My TVR's previous owner had a engine rebuild. They even put ceramic exhaust manifolds on, which was very nice of them. It's an awesome sounding and powerful machine. Very special to drive.
The cheapest way to do anything is "properly". Unfortunately, so many people don't seem to realise this and end up saddled with enormous rectification costs. As a general rule, fixing a problem is ten times more costly than doing it correctly in the first place.
Roger. I like your first sentence. I shall make prints of it, frame them and hang them around my house. It will become my motto. My wife has a strong tendency to bodge at things "making do and mending" with whatever old rubbish is at hand. It is a philosophy rooted in her DNA and culture I think. Her parents were extreme examples of making any domestic function Deliberately Difficult Dirty and Dangerous believing it was "good to suffer" or maybe "godly" as they would put it. I think that is one of the major differences between Saxons and Slavs and may explain why Slavic countries are less developed and poorer.
I swear people have had to have engine rebuilds at like only 20k miles on those TVRs. The other rivals such as the 2JZ-GTE and the BMW S50 could be good for 300k miles if taken care of properly. Being a British person, it just annoys me how the UK manufactures produced such unreliable cars compared to everywhere else, even to this day. At least the Jaguar AJ6/XJ6 was a solid, reliable inline 6.
I have a 2004 TVR Tamora fitted with the 3.6l Speed 6 engine. 31.5k miles and nearly 20 years later and its working perfectly well. This was an engine that was under less strain than the 4.0l engines and built with better quality components and crucially its been extremely well looked after by every owner from new. Granted now engine rebuilds are pretty commonplace but for ever story saying how unreliable the engine was there are stories out there saying the opposite. Only those with issues have any strong voice, those without just kept quiet, after all why should they make a fuss if everything was working well for them. They do take more servicing than many engines but after all its got its roots in racing, the Merc Project One is much the same but many go nuts for it all the same. I love my Tamora, its been a lifelong dream of mine to own one after lusting for after one for 14 years. It really doesn't disappoint and its much more special experience than anything else with a similar value. I genuinely wouldn't swap it for anything even 4 times the price coming from Italy, Germany or Japan. The only car that couple possibly replace it is another TVR, a Sagaris.
Sadly his works are not enough to support the demand, and he gotta sell his works to Speed Eight Engineering in Netherland. Fortunately Speed Eight Engineering have been doing all the good works here and Makes me wonder would we get the best from AJP6.
I spoke with one of the designers of the Speed 6 about the initial problems with the engine, so much more reliable than listening to second-hand anecdotes. His job was to see what went wrong with the engines returned to the factory. He said in his time, there until Smolenski sacked him after the takeover, he had not had a 3.5 Speed 6 returned. I knew one chap who had four Speed 6-engined TVRs and he'd never had a an engine problem with any of them, all 'T-types'. He was fed up with people calling him a liar. I've driven every TVR from the Wedges onwards. I've driven every Sp6-engined car. I've also driven a number of six-pot cars, and owned a few. The Sp6 was the best of the lot to drive behind. It was a thrill, even just to poodle around town. Opened up, it was awe-inspiring. Someone on here compared a Sp6 to a BMW. Really? The cars are totally different. When I drove my TVR around Brighton I would get waves from strangers. I’ve had umpteen people, pedestrians and drivers of other cars, once on the M40, ask me to ‘rev it up, please’. How many people would wave to the BMW? A rhetorical question of course. We all know. A drive in any TVR is an experience you don’t forget. I doubt I could remember most of the BMWs I've driven. The T350 and Tamora were wonderful cars to drive - made me feel like a good driver, and that ain’t easy - and also were reliable. I was reporting on a TVR dealers, talking to the mechanics. They’d been around a bit, mainly high performance cars, Ferrari and Porsche in particular. I don’t want to knock any make of car, but the myth that Porches are ultra-reliable is just that. Their trick was customer service, something TVR knew little about. A Porsche came in with a RMS failure, quite common at the time, came in under warranty. The chap was going on holiday the following morning, ferry booked and everything. He turned up the following morning, suitcase and girlfriend in hand, and they caught their ferry. Not a TVR experience. As for Ferraris, well just don’t ask. TVR is an enthusiast’s car. You give up a bit for that, but you gain so much more. I had mine for nine years. The only thing that had to be replaced outside of services was a rear calliper, the handbrake mechanism failing. I lived next door but one to a woman who drove the ultra-reliable Honda S200. Don’t believe the hype. She had a few problems with it. And don’t believe those who don’t really know what went on. I was there. I wrote about TVR in those days. I spoke with people at the factory. I knew the designer of the Sp6. The engine is not why TVR failed. It was sold as a going concern to someone with no interest in keeping it going. A tragedy, as are rumours.
I had a Tuscan S from new in 2002 and kept it for 6,000 miles. I made sure it was properly warmed up before driving and even then I kept the revs respectable until everything was up to temp. I still miss that car but I'm so grateful I had to the opportunity to own one.
I'd love to learn more about the lancia triflux engine. Pretty obscure but the design interests me. Maybe you can dig up some info on it. Keep up the great work! Thank you
Never heard of it, but I looked it up and it's pretty fascinating. A strightforward concept in principle, I'm surprised it hasn't been tried more often. Maybe the benefits were outweighed by all the extra plumbing and the weight of two exhaust manifolds.
I’ve been waiting for this one, i see why, you obviously put allot of research into it. It was really interesting to watch. Could have been a great unit. Got to love the cerbera v8 though❤, it decimated everything for a while. The race clarkson put together springs to mind first. Cheers 👌
Brilliant video as always! In Germany, we do things differently. The engineering department gets a budget price more than which the engine is not allowed to cost in production. Every development stage gets costed in accompaniment, but it's up to the chief engineer alone to meet the target production cost. So all modifications are in the hands of the project engineer from start to finish. Voilà.
Voila what? Cheap from the outset? There is a saying in Britain that someone's eye are bigger than their belly. Sadly it applies in this case where Melling's ambitions were beyond the scope of what was going to be feasible for production and TVR had to then spend time and materials (and sadly yes, some questionable supply decisions) winding things back with all sorts of unhelpful knock-on results but at least those working on the project wanted to do something exceptional rather than counting the pennies before they began. TVR's engines cannot be compared in production terms with Toyotas , Nissans or BMWs which were built in the Hundreds of thousands. I would put money on those companies building more units for just the development programmes than total TVR S6's ever made.
@@DavidMartin-tk4fs That is neither an explanation nor an excuse for the criminal incompetence with which TVR was run, the typical British nonsense of underdeveloping the car (as here) and letting the customers sort it all out. Why criminal? Because TVR say the car costs £ X, but they know it's going to cost the customer £ X + at least a further £ 10.000 (Triumph Stag style) to fix, which is fraud. But we have the last laugh anyway, because it is we who deliver the (properly developed) engines for UK boutique manufacturers like Morgan 😇😇😇 The market is a hard place and the UK continually fails at it. Voilà.
Reminds me of GM when they commissioned Detroit to build the 6.2 Diesel V8, and after all was said and done GM cut the budget resulting in Detroit having to use subpar quality materials that the original design was not based around. This caused the 6.2 and 6.5 diesels to be the biggest hunks of shit around with their only plus being great fuel economy. Had GM stuck to the original plan, the 6.2 and 6.5 would’ve lived up to its competitors (Cummins 5.9 and Ford IDI 7.3) and possibly have surpassed them.
@@blueyhis.zarsoff1147 however BMW put a cast crank in the M47R used in Rover 75's and LR Freelanders. That engine is good for at least 500k miles, does 50mpg and doesn't use a drop of oil even at that mileage (ask me how I know !!) The timing chains also lasted the life of the engine which always lasted longer than the bodyshell it was fitted to ! The crank in the M47 for BMW cars was indeed forged and tougher, but Rover accountants wanted a cheaper spec 😅
My current 2006 TVR Tuscan Convertible, I bought in 2009 on 32k miles, is on 87k miles with no rebuild. Post 2004 engines were improved upon with 2005 and 2006 engines being more reliable. My first Tuscan Mk1 had a factory rebuild at 35k miles and needed a rebuild again at 70 (when I bought it). This time it was done by Str8Six where decent materials were introduced. Both cars saw many trips across to Germany and down to Spain and Portugal. Apart from the two Tuscans I've had 2 Chimaera's, a 4.2 Cerbera and a Tasmin. I Love TVR's.
Wow! I didn't know ANY of this...what a shame. I'm always drooling all over those extremely good sounding Sagaris. 😅 It seems like it could have been a fantastic engine.
Well done Visioracer, I was prepared for another video trotting out the same old rubbish about TVR but there was some great new angles and properly in depth analysis I'd not seen before. Great to hear Dave Davis getting a little credit for his expertise too. Not met him personally but we have mutual friends who hold him in high esteem. I would just say the story seems a bit pro-Melling and I think there was probably responsibility on all sides for good and less good aspects of the project.
The “lowly” FIAT 1.4 petrol and 1.3 diesels use a one piece aluminium bearing carrier under the cylinder block. Top half shells go into the cast iron block. Bottom half into the aluminum bearing cage. It’s extremely strong replacing numerous bearing caps with one larger item. The diesel is a twin cam 16 valve unit. Not bad for a “ basic” engine.
I think this is a good example of why you should not ever cheap out... especially when it comes to engineering a something with such tight tolerances... SMH, TVRs are so so cool but my goodness many of them are an ownership nightmare. Thanks again Visio for providing such a deep dive into some of the engineering of this motor.
British engines - yerrg. We had constant valve train oil starvation in our Hillman Minx. Turned out the "engineer" had specified a ball seal in the oil feed elbow coming from the pump to the rocker arm. Yep, the ball fell out. The point of that design was never apparent, as the 90 degree elbow was, from memory, 3/8" each end. We didn't lose much use of the car because of it though, because the Lucas electrics meant it hardly ever ran anyway. We bought Fiats for reliability after that - yep, you read right. Fiats were more reliable than any English car.
It wouldn't be British if it didn't have major design flaws. An acquaintance who was a marine diesel engineer once told me how one of the British diesel manufacturers (Lister I think) marketed a counter rotating engine to pair with their regular engine for twin engine installations. The counter rotating version just had a mirrored cam shaft - they did not redesign the camshaft chain drive to run in reverse . Just removed the chain tension mechanism and didn't use one.
@@joejoejoejoejoejoe4391 He didn't mention that . Perhaps it was a rotation agnostic design of oil pump such as a piston design. All he did say was that the cam drive was a continual source of wear related problems. He was a Cummins , Caterpillar and Volvo Marine trained engineer.
This sounds like an advertorial for Al Melling. TVR never made any secret of the fact that they were unhappy with Melling's design and they made a number of changes to it. I personally owned 3 TVR's with Speed 6 engines from new (Tuscan, Tuscan 2 and Sagaris). I always followed the advice I got from John Ravenscroft about warming the engine oil to 40 degrees before opening it up. On a cold day that could take a very long time indeed but I always did it and I had no issues. John's advice to "drive it like you stole it" once warmed up was also adhered to. A Speed 6 at anything close to full chat is a sound to behold. I believe that one of this issues, especially with earlier Tuscan's, was that they were bought by yuppies that were used to 911's and treated them the same. They hammered them from cold and were then surprised when they had issues. I was at HHC early one cold morning dropping off my car when a guy was picking up his Tuscan from service. He literally got in the car and revved the nuts off it from cold before roaring off. Not an isolated incidence I'm sure. The S6 was a hand built engine and needed to be treated as such. I would still have my Sagaris to this day if I had not moved to the USA.
Finally, the voice of someone who knows and understands. I appreciate the effort that goes into making a video such as this, but I dislike the impression it leaves with people that these are engines to be avoided - a rebuilt AJP6 with upgraded components is a very robust engine provided you drive with mechanical sympathy and follow the correct warm-up procedures. As you say, when at full chat there is nothing else like an AJP6 in full flow, they just come alive and fizz with energy. Absolute magic!
I really enjoyed this video, Mr Visio at his best. You have the knack of understanding engine engineering and explaining it clearly to us interested unqualified amateur engineers like most car/engine enthusiasts. Where will we all go when our transport is powered by whirring washing machine motors? They have no soul.
It seems that TVR have had a bad ride with some of the information on this video. The lack of oiling on the exhaust camshaft was actually a design fault by Melling. It became immediately apparent on running the first engines that the exhaust cam failed due to lack of oil. This was traced to the OE designed oil ways passing between the exhaust ports. This causing the oil to be cooked before getting to the cam. It was this design fault that led to to the bootstrap fix of oiling from the inlet side of the head. There were many design faults fixed/worked around by TVR just to get the engine to actually Run initially. Personally from my own experience with this engine I would say Melling was out of their depth or financing or both designing a production engine.
My dream car was a TVR with the speed Six, I thought it was just a high-strung car that needed careful maintenance. What a disappointment it was when I dug deeper and learned that they ruined the Melling design for cost savings. Now, I'd be very happy to get my hands on a Tamora with no engine and swap in an RB26.
You actually better off getting an Rb30 with an rb25/26 head, stronger block. What we do in Australia. But great idea I thought an RB TVR would be awesome.
@@Nightmaretyrant I thought of the BMW S54 to keep it N/A, but it's canted right to counterweight a driver in the left side, so an RB would be best for handling, as it leans left to counter the driver in the right seat.
I love my Tamora, its been a lifelong dream of mine to own one after lusting for after one for 14 years. It really doesn't disappoint and its much more special experience than anything else with a similar value and the engine is a major part of that experience. I genuinely wouldn't swap it for anything even 4 times the price coming from Italy, Germany or Japan. The only car that couple possibly replace it is another TVR, a Sagaris.
@@Nathan.Guthrie did the speed 6 give you any trouble? I heard there are camsshaft oil galleries that can be drilled to make them work per the Melling design. Is it possible to make it reliable? I also dream of getting a Tamora.
Before I watch this I'd like to mention that the carmugun podcast called this the best sounding straight 6 of all time, Jason cammissa podcast great channel here
So did anyone ever offer aftermarket re-engineering to the original spec?? I'd love to drive a Tuscan with the engine built the way it should've been. My guess is that the unit was was intended to be a bit of a rev-happy unit just like, say, a Honda CBX.
Sounds amazing. Looks, unique. Goes like a bat on fire. Short life. Enduring legacy of failure. I own a 1989 Suzuki Katana 1100. The family the valve train architecture is founded on. 1127cc. Redlines at 11, 400 rpm. Finger followers. Oil sprayers. Screw type adjusters. As amazing as the Tvr motor is disappointing. Bean counters ruin everything.
I had 3 Speed sixes. One in a Tuscan mk1 S, 4 litres early build. The second in a T350 which didn’t have the same torque so I had the TVRPower upgrade which had a billet crank and was stroked to 4.2 litres. I had that one for 9 years. The last one was in a mk2 Tuscan. I used my cars everyday day. London traffic and blasts in the countryside at the weekend. Two of them took me to the south of France several times. I did track days as well. I never had a moments problem from the three Speed Sixes.
Basically some engineers did a great job designing an engine to meet TVR's brief, then TVR saw their results and instead thought; how hard can it be if these guys can do it? The answer is very hard if you don't have a clue about engineering, its literally the reason why they hired a specialist engineer in the fire place! Then they actively chose to ignore their facts and just do whatever and sabotage their own car through negligence and incompetence.
Id argue the 7m is a terrible performance engine every single one in the Supra club of Australia has failed, we have had guys rebuild them 3-4 times trying to prove a point....but end up just going JZ in the end then have 0 issues. It was a 70s sedan motor stretched to its limits and needed a redesign.
@@GrindingGearsZero Crank bearings, warped blocks warped heads. They are a nightmare to maintain, theres some freak motors that some how survive 1000hp but they are the exception not the norm, most have STOCK boost pressure and still warp components.
@@Nightmaretyrant even NA my friend was hard on his 7m Cressida but maintained it frequently and one day it just decided it was done and wanted to eat a rod bearing.
Fascinating video! This is an extraordinary example of just how idiotic it is to allow a company's accountants to have any influence on the design and engineering of anything. It looks like they started with a very good, sound engine design and then proceeded to ruin it by making fundamental changes for reasons of cost. I wonder how much money TVR lost on warranty claims and repairs to their faulty engines compared to how much it would have cost to build the engine properly in the first place.
This is what happens when people who are unqualified are allowed to modify the designs of legitimate automotive engineers. This is not unlike what happened at GM when bean counters were given their say in the design of the original 5.7L V8 diesel and basically killed all North American consumer interest in diesel engines for the next 10 years.
It is kinda crazy what they were doing and why those cars could be so fast. They were making near 400hp back then and at that weight (2400lbs/1100kg) it would only need 500hp to have the same power to weight ratio as a Dodge Demon.
I know a few people that had several new TVR, Tuscan and T350. Flawed but amazing cars. Such a huge loss. Too many automakers just play it safe and produce generic boxes. TVR did things differently, not always right or the best but amazingly cool and still desirable.
Really interesting video 🙂 Here's a question for TVR owners: can the pops & bangs like we hear with the Sagaris at th end of the video be tuned out of the Straight 6 or is it an inherent feature of the engine?
3:17 So how the hell do you adjust this? Remove the valves and grind the stems like a lawn mower engine? The finger followers on the Suzuki GSX1100 had screw adjusters on each valve (each follower actuated 2 valves)
The more modern motorcycle finger follower designs have a shim between the top of the valve and the follower. You remove a clip, slide the follower across out of the way, and can swap shims. Maybe TVRs engine is like this.
Two routes to go on this. 1) Bite the bullet and go with the small hydraulic lash adjusters that sit under the fulcrum end. Plus put rollers in the follower for the cam lobe to ride on. 2) Adjustment screws on the actuating end of the finger.
@@LawrenceTimme where? I'm well acquainted with valve adjustment shims and how ones positioned above a bucket follower can be spat out at high rpm. I would hate to think these valves have shims sitting on the valve stem ,above the spring retainer.
They should at least went with a cast steel crank, if not a forged crank, a cast steel is not going to cost anymore than a cast iron crank, not quite as strong as forged, but a fair bit stronger than the iron! The bean counters can dry up a wet dream! ✌️
You will have a better idea than I would as to wether these issues are fixable to your average petrol head. The main issue I assume being the oil supply to the exhaust camshaft. I also wonder how many had real world issues from a cast iron crank? 🤷♂️
yo what do you think about Audi AKF engine from 2000-2002 audi A8 3.3 tdi? should i go for it or its a bad idea? im mainly focused on engine/transmission only
Still better than the Tasmin 200, it's a TVR Tasmin with Ford Pinto enginel, was very popular in Singapore and was made so the price could be under 10,000 Pound Sterling, it was 9,997 Pound Sterling iirc.
Always fun when production diverges from engineering, then bitches when parts don’t fit.. then the sales guys get complaints from customers and blame engineering too. When everyone should blame the ACCOUNTANTS!
Cerbera 4.5 owner for 11 years. Now on 87,000 miles without a rebuild. Doesn't smoke or use oil and howls like a banshee. TVR engines aren't all bad. However, electrics ...... don't get me started!
Has a Porsche or a Ferrari never needed any welding to the chassis, then? And the bodywork on a TVR never rusts, does it? My car looks just as good (probably better, actually) than it did when it left the factory in 1998.
Tvr should have went to Jaguar and asked to use their 4 litre block and put there own components on afterwards, would have saved a lot of development money that could have been invested in reliability.
Nothing wrong with the tvr ajp v8, tvr was a tiny company that had the balls to design and make their own engines unlike basically any other small manufacturers, with maintenance these engines go on and on. Plenty of TVR own engine cars around
This engine was ruined by bean counters. I think about how you can't just replace a billet steel crank with a cast iron unit. There should have at least been forged steel. Henry Ford chose to build a V8 in the 1930s because he thought about what it would take to build a cheap inline 6 crank. This story makes me think of how many cars were ruined because someone tried to build something cheaper, and made the wrong thing cheaply. Okay, so a car might cost a few bucks less. Will the customer ever see any of those savings?
Might also be that the engine had such a high compression ratio that it was impossible to turbocharge. That alone already puts strain on a reliable engine, so I can imagine how much it would strain an unreliable British-built engine.
the main goal to you get a reliable car, reliable engine and being pratical was so messed it turned a joke out of UK the car is rare outside... but nerver will take serious with these issues. sad the way this company followed.
As the owner of a Cerbera Speed Six, and someone who’s owned 8 TVRs, I can tell you the main reason that the engine went wrong; cheap parts. TVR were using conrods and finger followers made in India from poor steel, which led to many issues. I’ve actually spoken to people at the factory who worked on/designed these engines (John Ravenscroft being one of them). I’d also add my Speed Six is now on 71k (bought at 31k) and has done multiple track days and been driven HARD. It’s in fine fettle, and producing within 6bhp of factory claimed BHP.
In summary, the Speed Six is fine if it’s made with good quality parts.
My god, are you simply made of money and Saudi oil to own that many?
@@tony_5156 8 TVRs because they all keep breaking LMFAO
Like a hi competition mechanic, I will agree with your words.
Ha ha, serves them right. What was wrong with british steel? Too good? Too British, let's arseluck foreigners as per usual.
@@TheMcspreader Cast crank?! Why would TVR put a cast crank in a performance engine? Doesn't every Honda K-series (even the lower output ones) have a forged crank, by way of comparison?
When de-engineering the design of an engine to reduce production-costs results in huge costs in rectifying faults & warranty-claims!
The term for this is 'Death By Bean-counter', but in this circumstance it was the TVR brand itself that they almost killed off!
Its bean counters that killed off 90% if the British auto industry
"Almost"???
@@grievuspwn4g3 Even before the bean counters stepped in British cars were already known for their lack of quality/consistency. The rumour goes that the Honda/Rover cooperation went bad so quickly because the British didn't follow the instructions from the Japanese engineers. Honda replaced the cutting tools for the cylinder bores before they started to show the first signs of becoming dull, whereas the British literally used them till they broke.
Investigations proved that this was common practice in the UK, as Vauxhalls that were based on Opel technology were notorious for their oil consumption where the Opels weren't. Inspection of high oil consumption Vauxhall engines showed that although those were intended to be 1300cc, due to the blunt cutting tools boring much larger and irregular shaped holes, those engines could be up to 1500cc, with oil leakage from new because the bores weren't perfectly circular.
Quality has always been the Achilles heel of the British car manufacturing industry and bean counters didn't cause the problem; they only made it worse. The sales of British car tanked because of these quality issues long before the bean counters were called in to try and save the British car industry. Which arguably was once again the wrong strategy to follow.
The sad thing is that brands like Rolls Royce and Bentley proved that British car manufacturers were perfectly capable of doing it right, but then their cars wouldn't be able to be competitive due to the higher costs.
It would be died immediately if they couldn’t afford to produce it at all. You can decide which is worse
@@coreyw427 You're seriously asking if a short-term or one company failure is worse than a long-term or multi-company failure?
Short-term failure means ONE car manufacturer goes broke and disappears because they made the wrong decisions. That's pretty normal in every line of business.
Long-term failure means you do what the British car industry did: put all the failing British car brands into one huge company in a desperate effort to save the unsavable with the end-result that pretty much all of them disappeared when that one huge company failed (after receiving massive government supports costing the taxpayers astronomical amounts of money).
TVR is one of those cars that I'm just glad they exist! The cerbera is a stunning car to look at! I knew that TVR engines weren't known for reliability, but this is the most detail video I've seen on it. Straight 6 engines are known for low vibrations, but not when TVR makes them :) Great video, thanks!
My TVR's previous owner had a engine rebuild. They even put ceramic exhaust manifolds on, which was very nice of them.
It's an awesome sounding and powerful machine. Very special to drive.
The cheapest way to do anything is "properly". Unfortunately, so many people don't seem to realise this and end up saddled with enormous rectification costs. As a general rule, fixing a problem is ten times more costly than doing it correctly in the first place.
Roger. I like your first sentence. I shall make prints of it, frame them and hang them around my house. It will become my motto.
My wife has a strong tendency to bodge at things "making do and mending" with whatever old rubbish is at hand. It is a philosophy rooted in her DNA and culture I think.
Her parents were extreme examples of making any domestic function Deliberately Difficult Dirty and Dangerous believing it was "good to suffer" or maybe "godly" as they would put it.
I think that is one of the major differences between Saxons and Slavs and may explain why Slavic countries are less developed and poorer.
Yep do it once,do it right ✅️
I swear people have had to have engine rebuilds at like only 20k miles on those TVRs. The other rivals such as the 2JZ-GTE and the BMW S50 could be good for 300k miles if taken care of properly.
Being a British person, it just annoys me how the UK manufactures produced such unreliable cars compared to everywhere else, even to this day. At least the Jaguar AJ6/XJ6 was a solid, reliable inline 6.
Lotus were smart eniugh to just put toyota engines in at some point. If you cant beat em just use their stuff lmao
they should have employed russian Tatra engineers to help them🤪
@@fidelcatsro6948 Only problem is, that Tatra isn't from russia.
@@leonk.5453 its not??? 😭😭😭😭
@@Mr.Marbles Except the high performance Toyota engines are either designed by Yamaha or Kawasaki!
I have a TVR with a straight six, not used as an every day car but I’ve had it for thirteen years. 55K on the clock with no engine problems.
I have a 2004 TVR Tamora fitted with the 3.6l Speed 6 engine. 31.5k miles and nearly 20 years later and its working perfectly well. This was an engine that was under less strain than the 4.0l engines and built with better quality components and crucially its been extremely well looked after by every owner from new.
Granted now engine rebuilds are pretty commonplace but for ever story saying how unreliable the engine was there are stories out there saying the opposite. Only those with issues have any strong voice, those without just kept quiet, after all why should they make a fuss if everything was working well for them. They do take more servicing than many engines but after all its got its roots in racing, the Merc Project One is much the same but many go nuts for it all the same.
I love my Tamora, its been a lifelong dream of mine to own one after lusting for after one for 14 years. It really doesn't disappoint and its much more special experience than anything else with a similar value. I genuinely wouldn't swap it for anything even 4 times the price coming from Italy, Germany or Japan. The only car that couple possibly replace it is another TVR, a Sagaris.
Its good to see Dave getting some credit for all the work he put in
Sadly his works are not enough to support the demand, and he gotta sell his works to Speed Eight Engineering in Netherland. Fortunately Speed Eight Engineering have been doing all the good works here and Makes me wonder would we get the best from AJP6.
I spoke with one of the designers of the Speed 6 about the initial problems with the engine, so much more reliable than listening to second-hand anecdotes. His job was to see what went wrong with the engines returned to the factory. He said in his time, there until Smolenski sacked him after the takeover, he had not had a 3.5 Speed 6 returned.
I knew one chap who had four Speed 6-engined TVRs and he'd never had a an engine problem with any of them, all 'T-types'. He was fed up with people calling him a liar. I've driven every TVR from the Wedges onwards. I've driven every Sp6-engined car. I've also driven a number of six-pot cars, and owned a few. The Sp6 was the best of the lot to drive behind. It was a thrill, even just to poodle around town. Opened up, it was awe-inspiring.
Someone on here compared a Sp6 to a BMW. Really? The cars are totally different. When I drove my TVR around Brighton I would get waves from strangers. I’ve had umpteen people, pedestrians and drivers of other cars, once on the M40, ask me to ‘rev it up, please’. How many people would wave to the BMW? A rhetorical question of course. We all know.
A drive in any TVR is an experience you don’t forget. I doubt I could remember most of the BMWs I've driven.
The T350 and Tamora were wonderful cars to drive - made me feel like a good driver, and that ain’t easy - and also were reliable. I was reporting on a TVR dealers, talking to the mechanics. They’d been around a bit, mainly high performance cars, Ferrari and Porsche in particular. I don’t want to knock any make of car, but the myth that Porches are ultra-reliable is just that. Their trick was customer service, something TVR knew little about. A Porsche came in with a RMS failure, quite common at the time, came in under warranty. The chap was going on holiday the following morning, ferry booked and everything. He turned up the following morning, suitcase and girlfriend in hand, and they caught their ferry. Not a TVR experience.
As for Ferraris, well just don’t ask.
TVR is an enthusiast’s car. You give up a bit for that, but you gain so much more. I had mine for nine years. The only thing that had to be replaced outside of services was a rear calliper, the handbrake mechanism failing. I lived next door but one to a woman who drove the ultra-reliable Honda S200. Don’t believe the hype. She had a few problems with it. And don’t believe those who don’t really know what went on. I was there. I wrote about TVR in those days. I spoke with people at the factory. I knew the designer of the Sp6.
The engine is not why TVR failed. It was sold as a going concern to someone with no interest in keeping it going. A tragedy, as are rumours.
I had a Tuscan S from new in 2002 and kept it for 6,000 miles. I made sure it was properly warmed up before driving and even then I kept the revs respectable until everything was up to temp. I still miss that car but I'm so grateful I had to the opportunity to own one.
I'd love to learn more about the lancia triflux engine. Pretty obscure but the design interests me. Maybe you can dig up some info on it. Keep up the great work! Thank you
Never heard of it, but I looked it up and it's pretty fascinating. A strightforward concept in principle, I'm surprised it hasn't been tried more often. Maybe the benefits were outweighed by all the extra plumbing and the weight of two exhaust manifolds.
Triflux is a work of art.
The concept is a super interesting one, I am sure it would be right up Visio's alley for an episode.
The most powerful naturally aspirated 6 cylinder engine ever made, that is NOT a failure! Its a massive win for British design
I’ve been waiting for this one, i see why, you obviously put allot of research into it. It was really interesting to watch. Could have been a great unit. Got to love the cerbera v8 though❤, it decimated everything for a while. The race clarkson put together springs to mind first. Cheers 👌
Brilliant video as always! In Germany, we do things differently. The engineering department gets a budget price more than which the engine is not allowed to cost in production. Every development stage gets costed in accompaniment, but it's up to the chief engineer alone to meet the target production cost. So all modifications are in the hands of the project engineer from start to finish. Voilà.
Is that why BMW can't seal an oil pump to the block?
Voila what? Cheap from the outset? There is a saying in Britain that someone's eye are bigger than their belly. Sadly it applies in this case where Melling's ambitions were beyond the scope of what was going to be feasible for production and TVR had to then spend time and materials (and sadly yes, some questionable supply decisions) winding things back with all sorts of unhelpful knock-on results but at least those working on the project wanted to do something exceptional rather than counting the pennies before they began.
TVR's engines cannot be compared in production terms with Toyotas , Nissans or BMWs which were built in the Hundreds of thousands. I would put money on those companies building more units for just the development programmes than total TVR S6's ever made.
@@DavidMartin-tk4fs That is neither an explanation nor an excuse for the criminal incompetence with which TVR was run, the typical British nonsense of underdeveloping the car (as here) and letting the customers sort it all out. Why criminal? Because TVR say the car costs £ X, but they know it's going to cost the customer £ X + at least a further £ 10.000 (Triumph Stag style) to fix, which is fraud. But we have the last laugh anyway, because it is we who deliver the (properly developed) engines for UK boutique manufacturers like Morgan 😇😇😇 The market is a hard place and the UK continually fails at it. Voilà.
Reminds me of GM when they commissioned Detroit to build the 6.2 Diesel V8, and after all was said and done GM cut the budget resulting in Detroit having to use subpar quality materials that the original design was not based around. This caused the 6.2 and 6.5 diesels to be the biggest hunks of shit around with their only plus being great fuel economy. Had GM stuck to the original plan, the 6.2 and 6.5 would’ve lived up to its competitors (Cummins 5.9 and Ford IDI 7.3) and possibly have surpassed them.
Yup. I always tell people I'm not a Chevy hater, but I do hate GM... mostly for killing Pontiac
cast crank in a diesel DOH
@@blueyhis.zarsoff1147 however BMW put a cast crank in the M47R used in Rover 75's and LR Freelanders.
That engine is good for at least 500k miles, does 50mpg and doesn't use a drop of oil even at that mileage (ask me how I know !!)
The timing chains also lasted the life of the engine which always lasted longer than the bodyshell it was fitted to !
The crank in the M47 for BMW cars was indeed forged and tougher, but Rover accountants wanted a cheaper spec 😅
My current 2006 TVR Tuscan Convertible, I bought in 2009 on 32k miles, is on 87k miles with no rebuild. Post 2004 engines were improved upon with 2005 and 2006 engines being more reliable. My first Tuscan Mk1 had a factory rebuild at 35k miles and needed a rebuild again at 70 (when I bought it). This time it was done by Str8Six where decent materials were introduced. Both cars saw many trips across to Germany and down to Spain and Portugal. Apart from the two Tuscans I've had 2 Chimaera's, a 4.2 Cerbera and a Tasmin.
I Love TVR's.
Wow! I didn't know ANY of this...what a shame. I'm always drooling all over those extremely good sounding Sagaris. 😅 It seems like it could have been a fantastic engine.
Well done Visioracer, I was prepared for another video trotting out the same old rubbish about TVR but there was some great new angles and properly in depth analysis I'd not seen before.
Great to hear Dave Davis getting a little credit for his expertise too. Not met him personally but we have mutual friends who hold him in high esteem.
I would just say the story seems a bit pro-Melling and I think there was probably responsibility on all sides for good and less good aspects of the project.
Thank you, David. Personally, I would love to hear from TVR reasons to alter the design as much as they did.
The “lowly” FIAT 1.4 petrol and 1.3 diesels use a one piece aluminium bearing carrier under the cylinder block. Top half shells go into the cast iron block. Bottom half into the aluminum bearing cage. It’s extremely strong replacing numerous bearing caps with one larger item.
The diesel is a twin cam 16 valve unit. Not bad for a “ basic” engine.
I think this is a good example of why you should not ever cheap out... especially when it comes to engineering a something with such tight tolerances... SMH, TVRs are so so cool but my goodness many of them are an ownership nightmare. Thanks again Visio for providing such a deep dive into some of the engineering of this motor.
British engines - yerrg. We had constant valve train oil starvation in our Hillman Minx. Turned out the "engineer" had specified a ball seal in the oil feed elbow coming from the pump to the rocker arm. Yep, the ball fell out. The point of that design was never apparent, as the 90 degree elbow was, from memory, 3/8" each end. We didn't lose much use of the car because of it though, because the Lucas electrics meant it hardly ever ran anyway. We bought Fiats for reliability after that - yep, you read right. Fiats were more reliable than any English car.
Yikes.
Yes the World Infamous Lucas Electrics , never has one company been responsible for so much misery!
Found In A Tip! Dogshyte cars!
It wouldn't be British if it didn't have major design flaws.
An acquaintance who was a marine diesel engineer once told me how one of the British diesel manufacturers (Lister I think) marketed a counter rotating engine to pair with their regular engine for twin engine installations.
The counter rotating version just had a mirrored cam shaft - they did not redesign the camshaft chain drive to run in reverse . Just removed the chain tension mechanism and didn't use one.
Wouldn't the oil pump such oil from the bearings?
@@joejoejoejoejoejoe4391 He didn't mention that . Perhaps it was a rotation agnostic design of oil pump such as a piston design. All he did say was that the cam drive was a continual source of wear related problems.
He was a Cummins , Caterpillar and Volvo Marine trained engineer.
This sounds like an advertorial for Al Melling. TVR never made any secret of the fact that they were unhappy with Melling's design and they made a number of changes to it. I personally owned 3 TVR's with Speed 6 engines from new (Tuscan, Tuscan 2 and Sagaris). I always followed the advice I got from John Ravenscroft about warming the engine oil to 40 degrees before opening it up. On a cold day that could take a very long time indeed but I always did it and I had no issues. John's advice to "drive it like you stole it" once warmed up was also adhered to. A Speed 6 at anything close to full chat is a sound to behold. I believe that one of this issues, especially with earlier Tuscan's, was that they were bought by yuppies that were used to 911's and treated them the same. They hammered them from cold and were then surprised when they had issues. I was at HHC early one cold morning dropping off my car when a guy was picking up his Tuscan from service. He literally got in the car and revved the nuts off it from cold before roaring off. Not an isolated incidence I'm sure. The S6 was a hand built engine and needed to be treated as such. I would still have my Sagaris to this day if I had not moved to the USA.
Finally, the voice of someone who knows and understands. I appreciate the effort that goes into making a video such as this, but I dislike the impression it leaves with people that these are engines to be avoided - a rebuilt AJP6 with upgraded components is a very robust engine provided you drive with mechanical sympathy and follow the correct warm-up procedures. As you say, when at full chat there is nothing else like an AJP6 in full flow, they just come alive and fizz with energy. Absolute magic!
Especially with CCC rear cans ;)
My car has an electrical oil heater fitted to pre-heat the oil before I start the car. You should never rev ANY cold engine hard.
Very fair summary in my experience. I had three, two Tuscans and a T350. I never had one fail.
I really enjoyed this video, Mr Visio at his best.
You have the knack of understanding engine engineering and explaining it clearly to us interested unqualified amateur engineers like most car/engine enthusiasts.
Where will we all go when our transport is powered by whirring washing machine motors? They have no soul.
It seems that TVR have had a bad ride with some of the information on this video. The lack of oiling on the exhaust camshaft was actually a design fault by Melling. It became immediately apparent on running the first engines that the exhaust cam failed due to lack of oil. This was traced to the OE designed oil ways passing between the exhaust ports. This causing the oil to be cooked before getting to the cam. It was this design fault that led to to the bootstrap fix of oiling from the inlet side of the head. There were many design faults fixed/worked around by TVR just to get the engine to actually Run initially. Personally from my own experience with this engine I would say Melling was out of their depth or financing or both designing a production engine.
My dream car was a TVR with the speed Six, I thought it was just a high-strung car that needed careful maintenance. What a disappointment it was when I dug deeper and learned that they ruined the Melling design for cost savings. Now, I'd be very happy to get my hands on a Tamora with no engine and swap in an RB26.
You actually better off getting an Rb30 with an rb25/26 head, stronger block. What we do in Australia. But great idea I thought an RB TVR would be awesome.
@@Nightmaretyrant I thought of the BMW S54 to keep it N/A, but it's canted right to counterweight a driver in the left side, so an RB would be best for handling, as it leans left to counter the driver in the right seat.
I love my Tamora, its been a lifelong dream of mine to own one after lusting for after one for 14 years. It really doesn't disappoint and its much more special experience than anything else with a similar value and the engine is a major part of that experience. I genuinely wouldn't swap it for anything even 4 times the price coming from Italy, Germany or Japan. The only car that couple possibly replace it is another TVR, a Sagaris.
@@Nathan.Guthrie did the speed 6 give you any trouble? I heard there are camsshaft oil galleries that can be drilled to make them work per the Melling design. Is it possible to make it reliable? I also dream of getting a Tamora.
When they're rebuilt, they can be made to be reliable.
Brilliant video, the best I've seen on the Speed-Six so far.
finally an episode i can share my old school bandit with, the finger cam followers! 🐱👍🏿
I (and many more, especially in the TVRCC) would LOVE to get hold of those documents from David at RND.
Great video. I wonder how many of these 'flaws' can be rectified and the engine taken back to Melling's original design.
Before I watch this I'd like to mention that the carmugun podcast called this the best sounding straight 6 of all time, Jason cammissa podcast great channel here
So did anyone ever offer aftermarket re-engineering to the original spec?? I'd love to drive a Tuscan with the engine built the way it should've been. My guess is that the unit was was intended to be a bit of a rev-happy unit just like, say, a Honda CBX.
Great car with issues. You really make a good job with your videos 🙂
Sounds amazing. Looks, unique. Goes like a bat on fire. Short life. Enduring legacy of failure. I own a 1989 Suzuki Katana 1100. The family the valve train architecture is founded on. 1127cc. Redlines at 11, 400 rpm. Finger followers. Oil sprayers. Screw type adjusters. As amazing as the Tvr motor is disappointing. Bean counters ruin everything.
I had 3 Speed sixes. One in a Tuscan mk1 S, 4 litres early build. The second in a T350 which didn’t have the same torque so I had the TVRPower upgrade which had a billet crank and was stroked to 4.2 litres. I had that one for 9 years. The last one was in a mk2 Tuscan. I used my cars everyday day. London traffic and blasts in the countryside at the weekend. Two of them took me to the south of France several times. I did track days as well. I never had a moments problem from the three Speed Sixes.
I love the sound of a straight 6!
Basically some engineers did a great job designing an engine to meet TVR's brief, then TVR saw their results and instead thought; how hard can it be if these guys can do it? The answer is very hard if you don't have a clue about engineering, its literally the reason why they hired a specialist engineer in the fire place! Then they actively chose to ignore their facts and just do whatever and sabotage their own car through negligence and incompetence.
This is why we all need instructions
Imagine TVR toke a lotus route and get engines from Toyota and used the jz engine or 7m engine they would of been a legend
Id argue the 7m is a terrible performance engine every single one in the Supra club of Australia has failed, we have had guys rebuild them 3-4 times trying to prove a point....but end up just going JZ in the end then have 0 issues. It was a 70s sedan motor stretched to its limits and needed a redesign.
@@Nightmaretyrant they tried to put out over 400hp on the crank dont they? those thing don't like power i heard
@@GrindingGearsZero Crank bearings, warped blocks warped heads. They are a nightmare to maintain, theres some freak motors that some how survive 1000hp but they are the exception not the norm, most have STOCK boost pressure and still warp components.
@@Nightmaretyrant even NA my friend was hard on his 7m Cressida but maintained it frequently and one day it just decided it was done and wanted to eat a rod bearing.
@@randomwordbot nor does it like high rev apparently...
Fascinating video! This is an extraordinary example of just how idiotic it is to allow a company's accountants to have any influence on the design and engineering of anything. It looks like they started with a very good, sound engine design and then proceeded to ruin it by making fundamental changes for reasons of cost.
I wonder how much money TVR lost on warranty claims and repairs to their faulty engines compared to how much it would have cost to build the engine properly in the first place.
and brand damage not only money you dont whant a car that is 80% of time is shop for repairs
The 1991 GSXR750 was the only oil cooled model to have finger followers
Great video, I can‘t wait that you make a video about my ajp speed 8 engine.
“Amazing design, cheap build” is the sad curse of 99% of British engineering sadly
@GangBalls69_Estonia kseries was a good engine, lightweight, powerful but had cooling and head gasket issues.
99% ?
CITROEN DS, MK1 RANGEROVER
@@Steve-gc5nt That'll be one of those made up statistics with no basis in reality.
@@rumpoh8039 What is it that offends you about the Range rover classic?
Very good video - as always. Though I haven´t the money for those cars I everytime dreamed of the TVR 6-Cylinder. Thank you for the enlightenment.
This is what happens when people who are unqualified are allowed to modify the designs of legitimate automotive engineers. This is not unlike what happened at GM when bean counters were given their say in the design of the original 5.7L V8 diesel and basically killed all North American consumer interest in diesel engines for the next 10 years.
It is kinda crazy what they were doing and why those cars could be so fast. They were making near 400hp back then and at that weight (2400lbs/1100kg) it would only need 500hp to have the same power to weight ratio as a Dodge Demon.
I'd love to import one of those cars here to Canada since they never came over to North America
Think yourself lucky!
TVR's styling was truly bonkers. Its a pity the original Speed Six engine design was never given the chance to be just as crazy.
Brilliant detail in the story of this quirky TVR engine!
I know a few people that had several new TVR, Tuscan and T350. Flawed but amazing cars. Such a huge loss. Too many automakers just play it safe and produce generic boxes. TVR did things differently, not always right or the best but amazingly cool and still desirable.
Excellent video buddy a real treat for true car enthusiasts
Really interesting video 🙂 Here's a question for TVR owners: can the pops & bangs like we hear with the Sagaris at th end of the video be tuned out of the Straight 6 or is it an inherent feature of the engine?
Good job...love the videos keep them up❤❤❤
Do you know what the original design cam shaft specs was. I wounder how much they changed the duration lift, etc
Still cooler than A small manufacturer buying parts of the shelf.
I totally agree with that
It's sad because it's an absolutely amazing sounding motor......which is a ton of fun to drive.
It's still gorgeous machinery.
3:17 So how the hell do you adjust this? Remove the valves and grind the stems like a lawn mower engine?
The finger followers on the Suzuki GSX1100 had screw adjusters on each valve (each follower actuated 2 valves)
The more modern motorcycle finger follower designs have a shim between the top of the valve and the follower. You remove a clip, slide the follower across out of the way, and can swap shims. Maybe TVRs engine is like this.
Two routes to go on this.
1) Bite the bullet and go with the small hydraulic lash adjusters that sit under the fulcrum end. Plus put rollers in the follower for the cam lobe to ride on.
2) Adjustment screws on the actuating end of the finger.
Shims
@@LawrenceTimme where?
I'm well acquainted with valve adjustment shims and how ones positioned above a bucket follower can be spat out at high rpm.
I would hate to think these valves have shims sitting on the valve stem ,above the spring retainer.
Cerebra is dream car. Especially in that pearlescent blue/purple. Basically the Viper on LSD
Trevor should have stuck with Ford V6 engines!
Nooooo nooooo, they obsoleted those with the 350i and the Griffith 500! What next carburetors?
Is there anyone out there blueprinting & up-engineering these?
A refined one would be a hell of an engine. S54 vibes.
They should at least went with a cast steel crank, if not a forged crank, a cast steel is not going to cost anymore than a cast iron crank, not quite as strong as forged, but a fair bit stronger than the iron! The bean counters can dry up a wet dream! ✌️
that red car at the end was my fav to drive in project gotham racing.
You will have a better idea than I would as to wether these issues are fixable to your average petrol head.
The main issue I assume being the oil supply to the exhaust camshaft.
I also wonder how many had real world issues from a cast iron crank? 🤷♂️
It must be a nightmare engineering this work of art engine and seeing them destroy your design with cost cutting bs.
yo what do you think about Audi AKF engine from 2000-2002 audi A8 3.3 tdi? should i go for it or its a bad idea? im mainly focused on engine/transmission only
That's the whole TVR story in a nutshell; great idea, poor execution 😕
Still better than the Tasmin 200, it's a TVR Tasmin with Ford Pinto enginel, was very popular in Singapore and was made so the price could be under 10,000 Pound Sterling, it was 9,997 Pound Sterling iirc.
Always fun when production diverges from engineering, then bitches when parts don’t fit.. then the sales guys get complaints from customers and blame engineering too. When everyone should blame the ACCOUNTANTS!
Cerbera 4.5 owner for 11 years. Now on 87,000 miles without a rebuild. Doesn't smoke or use oil and howls like a banshee. TVR engines aren't all bad. However, electrics ...... don't get me started!
If you get your engine rebuilt by Dom Trickett at TVR Power then its completely fine
That na six cylinder made some serious power such a shame they cut corners
It's so dumb sounding. Cutting corners like this in a race inspired luxury sport car.
They sound so good
How do you destroy an English automotive company? Make them develop their own engines. Gets 'em every time.
😂😂😂
Employ british workers!
I've never liked TVR. They have that uncanny design where they look like they should be beautiful but it's not cohesive and they messed it up somehow.
It's a taste thing, respectable.
Does your guide dog like them?😁
Speed 6 engine is one of the sadder cases of 'what could have been'
mine isnt "sad". over 60000km with no issues. Dont believe every "experts" opinion.
@@jamesnicholson7567 I'd bet that most of those commenting negatively on here have never owned a TVR.
Amazing video
Being built in A shed didn't really help TVR
Top viseos. But try to say “however” and not “howether”
You cannot use an engine designed by someone you failed to pay. Thats why they had to alter the design of it.. tvr where known for mot paying bills.
Keep it up Bro
they should have stuck the aussie barra 6cyl in it,reliable as hell and plenty of hp.
Now if some capable lad could remake the Speed Sickth engine to the original design or at least modify one to spec...
TVR should have closed their doors decades back, when owners having to replace the frame due to rusting out issues, etc...
Has a Porsche or a Ferrari never needed any welding to the chassis, then?
And the bodywork on a TVR never rusts, does it?
My car looks just as good (probably better, actually) than it did when it left the factory in 1998.
Tvr should have went to Jaguar and asked to use their 4 litre block and put there own components on afterwards, would have saved a lot of development money that could have been invested in reliability.
That was my favorite car in Gan Turismo.
TVR WHY!? WE WERE SO CLOSE TO GREATNESS.
Nothing wrong with the tvr ajp v8, tvr was a tiny company that had the balls to design and make their own engines unlike basically any other small manufacturers, with maintenance these engines go on and on. Plenty of TVR own engine cars around
Let's goooooo!!! 🔥
vroom vroom!
This is what happens when ACCOUNTANTS re-design an Engine . Fucking CLUELESS . And False Economy when building a " Premium " product .
ngl i wish they brought back an i6 tvr, maybe using a bmw b58 like the supra, or the new Mercedes turbo i6
This engine was ruined by bean counters. I think about how you can't just replace a billet steel crank with a cast iron unit. There should have at least been forged steel. Henry Ford chose to build a V8 in the 1930s because he thought about what it would take to build a cheap inline 6 crank.
This story makes me think of how many cars were ruined because someone tried to build something cheaper, and made the wrong thing cheaply.
Okay, so a car might cost a few bucks less. Will the customer ever see any of those savings?
Might also be that the engine had such a high compression ratio that it was impossible to turbocharge. That alone already puts strain on a reliable engine, so I can imagine how much it would strain an unreliable British-built engine.
This is what happens when you deal with cost cutting cretins. For a luxury sports car manufacturer it's fatal.
Sagaris is still my dream car
Excellent video. Well done.
TVR didn't know what they were doing. Sad end.
Such a shame. Could have been one of the greatest engines ever built...
the main goal to you get a reliable car, reliable engine and being pratical was so messed it turned a joke out of UK
the car is rare outside... but nerver will take serious with these issues.
sad the way this company followed.
Can Bletchley Park make any sense of this?
Great video. I bet a bunch of poor management decisions eventually lead to this. No wonder TVR is a dead company.
Prob should have gone to BMW or Benz for the six. Pride before a fall?