New:Liteblox lithium batteries

We've been looking into LiFePO4 (lithium phosphate) batteries for some time now, and the long and short of it is that we've become dealers for the German Liteblox batteries. 

Not only does the Liteblox LB19XX battery save a lot of weight even compared to the best AGM batteries (at 1.9 kg they're the lightest we've come across that can reliably start a high compression V8), they are also constructed from the highest quality LiFePO4 cells available. These are inserted in a carbon fibre shell that protects them from shocks, vibrations and excess heat. 

However, the one standout feature that makes the Gen 4 Liteblox batteries particularly suitable for TVRs is the added remote monitoring, kill switch and anti-car theft functionality via Bluetooth.  

TVRs that sit for longer periods because of their owners having to go about their mundane daily business, tend to drain their battery rather quickly. To compound the issue, the battery is in a hard to reach location which makes disconnecting manually a bit of a faff to say the least - especially in underground car parks with little space between your car and the next! What could be more convenient than switching it off by Bluetooth using the liteblox app on your smartphone. Incidentally it also offers a smart anti-theft function.

Steering in the right direction

Virtually a carbon copy (pardon the pun) of the OEM Personal Grinta steering wheel on pretty much every Chimaera out there - until you hold them next to each other - with the essential distinction of being entirely made of carbon fibre and trimmed in Alcantara. More steering feel, more direct feedback through the non-squishy rim. Only about a quarter of the original's weight at around 300 gram. Not cheap at around 650 euro (but if you get together with other interested Tivosi, a small group buy discount is a possibility) - but then again, the best never is...

Although it's strongly recommended that owners of non-power assisted cars stick to the OEM 350 mm size, 330 and 315 (slightly different design for the latter, not that you'd notice...) mm sizes are available as possible alternatives for PAS applications.

Superlight brake upgrade (Chimaera/Griffith)

As part of the upgrades developed for 'Rosenrot' we are offering a brake kit that - unlike all others on the market - doesn't add significant rotating weight compared to the small 239.5 mm brake discs on early Griffiths and Chimaeras and will reduce unsprung weight even compared to these tiny early standard brakes! It consists of a pair of Wilwood Forged Superlite calipers bolted straight to the Sierra-sourced front uprights (no adapter plate or bracket to compromise stiffness of the assembly) and 280 x 24 mm Tarox billet steel discs mounted on custom aluminium bells with AP Racing mounting hardware. Total weight of the disc/bell assembly is 4.6 kg (OEM Ford 239.5 disc weighs 4.35 kg, 260 mm dics on later cars weigh 5.3 kg each); we've weighed the Ford Sierra Cosworth disc that is usually included in a brake upgrade of this size at 6.6 kg (if you look at the disc where it meets the bell it's obvious there has been no effort made to reduce the weight;  the braking surface is about 1.5 times as wide as the brake pad depth of the calipers it's normally used with...) . The four pot Forged Superlite calipers are much lighter than the standard cast iron Ford calipers and slider brackets at 1.9 kg each (four pot cast iron Sierra Cosworth calipers weigh closer to 5 kg each...). For brake pads we usually recommend Ferodo DS 2500 but we can advise and supply different compounds if desired.  

The very high quality disc/bell combination (probably one of the very best on the market in terms of materials and finish) however does significantly affect the price of the conversion. As an alternative for those who are willing to accept a 2 kg penalty in exchange for a circa 50 %

 saving on price, we can supply grooved Tarox discs or plain 'Group N' aftermarket discs to work with the same direct fit calipers.

Because of different Ford brake disc offsets having been used by TVR we would advise stopping by with the car or supplying a brake disc that came off the car.

Let there be light

The Mk3 front conversion with covered headlights not only looks good, but also opens the possibility to use any 'universal' 7" headlight unit (as per Golf Mk1 - which TVR used on the Mk3 Chimaeras - Jeep Wrangler and Land Rover Defender) including the latest LED upgrade lights.

We chose the Truck-Lite 7"LEDs for the following reasons:

They are E-marked and thus fully road legal (most of the Chinese copies are only ECE-compliant which means they may be sold in Europe but are only legal for off-road use)

Being a reflector unit rather than a projector lamp, they don't look like a Dalek and as such don't stand out like a sore thumb on a classic car like our Chimaeras

Excellent lighting performance and very solid build (actually they are 'mil-spec') at a reasonable price

Comes with an H4 plug for dipped and main beam and built-in position light (you only need to crimp on some blade connectors and you're good to go with the original TVR wiring harness).

The conversion involves cutting the area under and behind where the original Mk 1/2 headlight surrounds sit and requires a bit of care not to damage the surrounding bodywork. It can be done without any subsequent paintwork. The headlamp pods with the Perspex covers are then inserted and bonded with the body from underneath.  To match the 'smoked'/dark effect of the factory rear lights behind the Perspex covers and the headlights themselves, we chose to paint the headlight pods satin black rather than body colour. It looks jolly nice, doesn't it? 

TVR Shirts in - hurry!

 

We've managed to score a small batch (less than ten) of TVR shirts designed by TVR maven Nicky Thompson (aka Amazon). For all we know these might be the last ones and they're heavily discounted, too! We've got Chimaera-, Cerbera- and Tuscan-themed shirts as well as multicar ones; short and long sleeve T-shirts and sweaters. Mostly L and XL sized. Grab one while you can at our Tivvers and tea meetings (every first Sunday of the month from 11.00 to 13.00h)! 

Brake upgrade for 16" on Tuscan/Tamora

It's no secret we are not a big fan of the 18-inch wheel 'upgrade' with ultra low profile tyres on Tuscans and Tamoras. Sadly, about 95 percent of customers did take up the option back when the cars were new, which led to Peter Wheeler's famous quip when queried by Mark Hales on the subject: "I know. We spend lots of time setting our cars up, and then customers pay us good money to ruin them!" Of course, for people who can't live without the fashionable big wheel/ rubber band tyre look there's always the option of upgrading to SP12 wheels which at least deals with the high unsprung mass and incorrect offset issues, but there still is significant value in keeping the 16-inch wheels with 50/55-section tyres which helps calm down the razor sharp front end so it doesn't constantly threaten to overwhelm the rear, and generally provide a more feelsome and progressive experience.
There's one snag: the bigger 322 mm brake disc from the Cerbera 4.5, Tuscan S and Red Rose models doesn't fit inside the 16-inch Spider wheel. Well, it does fit, but then you'll have a hard time turning the wheel! To provide appropriate braking capabilities for cars with upgraded power and/or cars that are regularly driven on track, we have developed a 315 mm option which is about as big as you can go, using a Tarox billet steel rotor on alloy bells. At around 7.0 kg, this 2-piece disc combination is lighter than either the single piece 304 or 322 mm discs or the 322 mm AP 2-piece discs that were specified on early 4.5 Cerberas and Red Rose Tuscans. As seen in the pic, cars using the early AP Racing CP 5200 calipers and cast uprights can be upgraded too, provided you can get hold of the TVR C0936/0937 uprights (the ones we got from TVR Parts were the last pair they had in stock...).

Speed Eight webshop is open!

As from today, you can shop a selection of popular TVR upgrades at www.speed8.ccvshop.nl. Stay tuned as we add more items from our fairly massive product portfolio, with some brand new items being in development exclusively for us!