The V8 Owners Forum -

Are tvr 350i v8 heads higher spec than rover sd1 3500 v8 thanks.

Do you have these heads already??

I'm sure a lot of us on here can give you SD1 head details. But we need to know the spec of the TVR heads??

There won't be a lot in it, best to look at the ports, valves will most probably be standard size but they may be skimmed more for CR.

v8 xr2 wrote:Are tvr 350i v8 heads higher spec than rover sd1 3500 v8 thanks.

SD1 EFI heads are different to carb ones - said to be 'better'.

DaveEFI wrote:

v8 xr2 wrote:Are tvr 350i v8 heads higher spec than rover sd1 3500 v8 thanks.

SD1 EFI heads are different to carb ones - said to be 'better'.

Well, the EFi ones have a little cutout for the injector spray pattern. Not sure what else is different? (assuming similar age heads)

Chris.

ChrisJC wrote:

DaveEFI wrote:

v8 xr2 wrote:Are tvr 350i v8 heads higher spec than rover sd1 3500 v8 thanks.

SD1 EFI heads are different to carb ones - said to be 'better'.

Well, the EFi ones have a little cutout for the injector spray pattern. Not sure what else is different? (assuming similar age heads)

Chris.

Valves and guides are different, IIRC.

ChrisJC wrote:

DaveEFI wrote:

v8 xr2 wrote:Are tvr 350i v8 heads higher spec than rover sd1 3500 v8 thanks.

SD1 EFI heads are different to carb ones - said to be 'better'.

Well, the EFi ones have a little cutout for the injector spray pattern. Not sure what else is different? (assuming similar age heads)

Chris.

Valves and guides are different, IIRC.

TVR were very variable in that they tended to use whatever was lying around at the time, in general the 350i heads will be no better than SD1, however 390se heads were ported on standard valve sizes (waisted stem) and the 450se tended to have porting and big valves (1.6"in 1.4"ex iirc).

The later 10 bolt TVR heads as used on the Griffith 500's had 1.7 and 1.5" valves and a fair amount of port work. These are sort after and are relatively expensive.

IMO the cheap option is to find a pair of heads off a '450' Chimaera.
They have the same size large valves but the port work is minimal.
So maybe a bargain can be had. Just need to get the porting done properly.
Mine are in safe hands..... i hope.

Baracus wrote:TVR were very variable in that they tended to use whatever was lying around at the time, in general the 350i heads will be no better than SD1, however 390se heads were ported on standard valve sizes (waisted stem) and the 450se tended to have porting and big valves (1.6"in 1.4"ex iirc).

True, but as far as I know all 350i used Standard SD1 engines direct from rover with no mods, hence the 350i spec's as being 190BHP, also this was one car that did not have the TVR added BHP. and all correctly running 350i's would give 190 BHP.

Thanks that is what I wanted to know.
I fitted tvr engine without 4 branch manifolds
and fitted holly carb running sweet still over heating
fitting big oil cooler soon should help.

I Believe the Vitesse heads had a cleanup behind the valves and with the 9.75/1 pistons this yielded 190 BHP.

So TVR 350i = Vitesse spec?

Kevin.

CastleMGBV8 wrote:I Believe the Vitesse heads had a cleanup behind the valves and with the 9.75/1 pistons this yielded 190 BHP.

So TVR 350i = Vitesse spec?

Kevin.

Yes that's correct the 350i 's used standard Vitesse engine.