TR6 Thoughts on Superchargers for a TR6

[TVRM]

I am having no luck at finding a used SC for my TVR's TR6 motor....any imput would be great! A new Moss SC at $4k plus is hard to swallow! I have a nice TR6 Lucas Fuel injection system I would love to sell and put the funds towards the SC. I have only found one for sale on ebay at $2895, so I now have a ballpark for pricing. Thanks Mike

 

[vagt6]

Mike, I'm just thinking out loud here, but for $4K you can rebuild your 2500 lump to put out darn near as much torque and HP as a supercharged version.

All depends on your tastes, what you want to do with the car. Me, I'd go for a fast-road tuned engine with a nice PI setup. Period mods are best, and make it easier to sell the car. Revington and other vendors sell a nice PI setup that will make a well-built TR6 engine really howl.

150 BHP in a TR-6 is a LOT of oomph, too.

Let us know what you decide, and good luck!

 

[martx-5]

I really love superchargers, especially those Eatons that Moss is selling. I have an Eaton on my Miata, and the 40% increase in power is great while leaving the car docile when you don't put your foot in it. However, I'm going to have to side with Mark on this one. The UK TR5/6 put out about 140 HP vs. the 105 we got here with carbs...just about a 40% increase. They did it with a compression increase, a nice lumpy cam and the PI.

I'd go the same route, only instead of the Lucas mechanical injection, I'd opt for a modern electronic version, such as sold by Revington.

Edit: I just went to the Revington site, and their electronic PI kits start at about £4500 ($7000)!! That's out of the question, so perhaps we can keep it simple by using triple SU's, or if the budget allows, triple DCOE Webers.

 

[TVRM]

Iam wanting to run pump gas and be able to have a dependable car...I am looking at 200-220 hp with a well built motor and an SC. I totally agree period correct is the best way to go, but I am not planning on ever selling the car due to my family history with the car. Iam going to use good parts to build the engine. I have a 1968 327 Camaro with a 10K plus motor, but having to run part racing gas is costly and not easy to find. I can find the main housing of a Eaton E62, but the intake and other parts are not coming up. My mechanic is a true wizord/fabricator and has made intakes before but the cost might be close to buying it new. Mike

 

[TR3driver]

Iam wanting to run pump gas and be able to have a dependable car...I am looking at 200-220 hp with a well built motor and an SC.

You're certainly an optimist!

To double the original output, you're going to need somewhere around 15 psi of boost; but to run that much boost on pump gas you're going to need to leave the compression low and likely still run an intercooler. Getting the ignition and fuel/air right should be fun, too.

Good Luck! Yer gonna need it ...

 

[angelfj1]

Iam wanting to run pump gas and be able to have a dependable car...I am looking at 200-220 hp with a well built motor and an SC.

You're certainly an optimist!

To double the original output, you're going to need somewhere around 15 psi of boost; but to run that much boost on pump gas you're going to need to leave the compression low and likely still run an intercooler. Getting the ignition and fuel/air right should be fun, too.

Good Luck! Yer gonna need it ...

Group 44 never got that sort of HP and they were full race prepared. I am sure your plan will produce lots of HP <span style="font-weight: bold">BUT for a very short period of time!!!</span>

 

[TVRM]

Wow this group is about as friendly as trip advisor forum....I am not talking out my ars.....Grass roots magazine just did a complete story racing TR6'S and the spec's of the 215 hp range motors. I was planning on using import tuner cheats like light weight flywheel plus, Cam, Header, Light weight crank pulley if I can find one and say 8 pounds boost etc. plus a balanced and blue printed motor....And yes Low compression the reason for the SC and not building a lump motor. My mechanic races SCCA and has a such a great rep. people come as far a Alaska for his work...he seems on board not sure the problem?

 

[TR3driver]

Sorry, my mistake. When you said you wanted a dependable car, I assumed you wanted to actually drive it rather than just go roundy-round for a few miles.

Ask your mechanic how many actual miles he puts on one of those motors before refreshing it.

 

[Bremer]

I thought I'd contribute a few hp numbers of several combinations for comparison. All this information is from Kastner's books.
- Tony Lindsey-Dean builds naturally aspirated TR6 PI engines with 210 hp for street use and 247 bhp (at 6250rpm) for racing. His company is Kingston Sports Cars (UK).
- Kastner's own n.a. race engines made "an easy 225 hp at 6800 rpm".
- Arkay Inc. sold a turbo kit for the TR6 in the early 80s. Six pounds of boost will produce 165 hp. With the boost increased to 12 psi, power goes up to 200 hp.

It appears that you can certainly build a 200+ hp supercharged engine, but I'd be sceptical how you would achieve this with the budget that you indicated, and how streetable the engine would be.

 

[TVRM]

Thanks for the input Bremer....My budget is not really defined for the car, I just hate to pay $ 4k alone for a NEW SC when a used would be a better deal and help lower the cost to the overall project...Yes the engine is going to have many other costs. Back to the original question are there any used SC's out there anyone? New question: Is a Forged crank needed for this type of motor?


My HP statements are not BHP, just to make sure I was clear.

Thanks Mike

 

[vagt6]

Mike, practically *nothing* in the TR-6 drive train, suspension and braking system will be able to handle the kind of power & torque you seek. You're gonna have to <span style="text-decoration: underline">heavily</span> modify the suspension, frame, and <span style="font-style: italic">entire</span> drivetrain. I'd assume that 220HP may twist the frame of a 40 year old TR-6 into a pretzel.

It's gonna cost you a TON of money, man! I'm thinking in the range of $12K or more just for the engine/supercharger; the suspension/braking/drivetrain mods will easily cost another $10K, maybe <span style="text-decoration: underline">double</span> that if you're buying new stuff.

In the end, your bank account is going to take a beating, and with all those mods you'll no longer have a Triumph TR-6.

Sorry if it seems like I'm piling on, but some folks need to hear these facts, it may save some a ton of money and time.

I truly hope this is helpful.

Good luck with your project, let us know . . . :angel:

 

[BobbyD]

Mark speaks the truth about all the bits & pieces that will need to be upgraded. Read through Joe Grant's 1st Bowtie6 site. Joe spared no expense in the restoration of his car when he decided to drop a V6 in it to get 170HP. After you've read through that site and go...OMG what a beautifully prepared car.......... check out his new site where he talks about the frame being unable to handle the stress and how it failed.

It the other stuff that's kill your pocketbook.

If you want to see a beautiful home grown direct injected SC installation..... here's Rick Pattons car. I'll have to find his dyno video.

 

[TVRM]

What about the TVR V8 Swaps? I have seen plenty with no twisted frames....I respect the Triumph input but the TVR is not a Triumph...this is not "Iam here for an argument"..lol to quote Monty Python, but some of these points don't apply to a TVR...Thanks for the imput!

 

[DNK]

Bobby, is there a better pic that shows the injectors screwed into the head?

 

[TRED]

I did a quick search for E85 and here is the list.
https://www.e85locator.net/State%20Pages/IndianaE85stationlocations.html
Looks like you have it all over the state.
E85 would make your HP goals easy.
I would look at doing a turbo because I believe they are easier on the engine and you can make a bunch of power with no real engine mods.

 

[hondo402000]

well I just had my TR6 rebuild and pretty much spared little in cost, and I am in the 185-200 HP range with 182 ft pounds of torque, I had already installed goodparts CV axles and the rear end rebuilt, the diff is suppose to handle 150 HP and I assume thats at the rear end, Transmission and OD rebuilt and will handle the power, I was told the A type OD can handle 250-300 ft pounds of torque, and they installed them in Jags and Ferrari's, , I did have to buy a kevlar clutch disc but the original pressure plate will handle I think 215 ft/pounds. it slipped a little but was also told that the disc has to bed in and within 500 miles the coefficient of friction goes up from 0.8 to 1.1?? and I have noticed its not slipping anymore( ususally happend on the freeway at 70 MPH and hitting the gas. it drives really nice and is streetable too. I see no problem unless your frame is a total rust bucket as far as twisting it. And as long as you are not reving the engine to 3 grand and dumping the clutch I doubt you will have any issues.

hey its your car spend all you want to on it!

Hondo

 

[TVRM]

Thanks for the info Hondo....The mechanic I am using has done 3 TVR V8 swaps and only changed the rear end and trans of them to match. The TVR frames are a true tubler construction and mine is a 42K cherry, no rust, never wrecked...heck mostly original interior even. I have upgraded racing springs and good Koni shocks. I plan on trans/clutch rebuild and will use your CV and clutch info. So to what really matters how fun is the car now? Secondly Iam guessing there are next to no used SC out there due to not one post on my original question, any thoughts?

Thanks Mike

 

[poolboy]

Maybe start a topic here: www.6-Pack.org
I'd think you'd eliminate a lot of the opinionating if you just title it, "Looking for.(whatever)......"

 

[TVRM]

Thanks Poolboy, just joined them and my post is up under parts forum.

Thx Mike

 

[hondo402000]

Hey Mike
so far the car has been way more than I expected, its really faster than I thought it would be. I mainly just putz around Charlotte a little fast driving, and give those punks a good run in there hondas. I am still dialing in my triple webers. you can go to wishbone classics website. and see my engine on the dyno and also the lightened crankshaft he shows is mine the numbers we got were before the carbs were even tune, I bet I am pushing 200 HP at the flywheel. I think I would rather go the weber route than a SC since there is one carb per cylinder. You will get tons of opinions on webers here. I thought there was a TR6 owner on here that put a SC on his 6.

if you replaced the lever shocks on the rear you might want to go back to the levers shocks. there have been issues with the tube shocks and that bracket acting as a long lever and breaking the mount to the frame, or the tube in spring conversion looks pretty neat.

Hondo