VHPD engine refresh

[OrangeSLR]

This may be a stupid question but at what point should I consider having the engine refreshed on my Superlight R. Back when it was a couple of years old it had some engine work done at Minister and I have a rolling road printout that confirmed 208 bhp at the time.  However 20 years on she has covered almost 40 000 miles and still pulls like a train and is kept well serviced, however what should I be checking to avoid any major issues?? I'd be interested to hear from people with personal knowledge/ experience of this engine as there appears to be a lot of opinions on this subject?

[oilyhands]

Check your compressions, oil pressure , oil consumption, follower clearances and cambelt tension. if these are all spot on then all should be well, just ensure you regularly service it and be vigilant on cambelt replacement. You should consider precautionary tear down and refresh at 50,000 miles.

Oily

[SLR No.77]

Most importantly ... assuming it's got one, get the dry sump pump refreshed at Titon. 

[OrangeSLR]

For compression should I be looking for a certain level or just fairly equal across cylinders?

[oilyhands]

It will depend on gauge calibration but around 14-15 bar across the cylinders when hot with throttle fully open, all plugs out and fuel rail electrics disconnected. If there is > 10% variance between cylinders, then it indicates an issue so follow up with a leakdown test.

Oily

[Gary Stone]

So out of curiosity for my SLR VHPD which has done 40,000 miles at mo. How much would a tear down & refresh be likely to cost?

Engine is all standard. And wouldn't be after any mods.

Gary

[oilyhands]

It would depend on what needed replacing, if the pistons were shot that would increase costs. As a guess I would say around 3K.

Oily

[Gary Stone]

Thanks Oily.

[Slipper man]

+1 for the scavenge pump. If it no longer "clucks" it is worn. No problem for road use but don't take it on track or you might have a terminal blow up. Don't ask how I discovered that....!

[SLR No.77]

It'll last a lot longer with dodgy compression than a dodgy scavenge pump.

[Paul Mason]

Thanks for the steer on the "cluck". Something to listen out for. Oddly enough, when I first got my car I was convinced that it had something wrong with it on account of the "clucking" noise which I mistook for a rattly top end!

[Englishmaninwales]

‘Clucking’ and K series DS system. Take a look in the archives, there’s loads on this. It really depends upon the engine ventilation setup and a lack of ‘clucking’ does not necessarily mean a poor performing scavenge pump.

But given the relative low cost of refurbishing the pump, as others have already said, it’s worth getting it done, especially if it’s age/mileage is unknown.

Malcolm

[OrangeSLR]

Don't remember hearing any "clucking" I'm feeling paranoid now!

[SLR No.77]

Irrespective of clucking or not, or simply whether you can hear it or not, if it's done 40,000 miles get the scavenge pump back to Titan and have it refreshed. Cost is usually less than £100 ... it'll cost you a lot more for a forced rebuild. There's a rather unhealthy list of us that found out the hard way.

Stu.

[Englishmaninwales]

Stu,

I thought your engine failure was due to a lack of oil rather than a dead scavenge pump

[SLR No.77]

Both ... compromised scavenging led to reduced oil in the tank which in turn led to lack of oil at the bearings ... pop!

[oilyhands]

With only a single scavenge stage and an economical tank size then problems are very close at hand.

Oily