My nightmare... errr restoration thread.
Discussion
Having had the time now to read the comments since I took holiday from this thread, I'll say this:
Wayne, quit worrying so much about what others think about this project. I used to care but now I don't. I realised something. With two three ring binders fulls of history and service receipts on this wedge, I know that I've put more into this car than any one of the previous 7 owners, moreover I've put into this car more than their sum total combined.
IOW, I'm the best owner this car ever had.
I don't give a damn what anyone thinks. Well that's not true. I do like the praise when it comes my way. 
You know what I mean...
[quote]Let's not spoil the blog by taking things far too seriously, and do please remember the Brits' shy and retiring nature, unique sense of humour, and their tendency to understatement.
Now can we get back to talking about cars ?
[/quote]
Agreed.
Wayne, quit worrying so much about what others think about this project. I used to care but now I don't. I realised something. With two three ring binders fulls of history and service receipts on this wedge, I know that I've put more into this car than any one of the previous 7 owners, moreover I've put into this car more than their sum total combined.
IOW, I'm the best owner this car ever had.
I don't give a damn what anyone thinks. Well that's not true. I do like the praise when it comes my way. You know what I mean...[quote]Let's not spoil the blog by taking things far too seriously, and do please remember the Brits' shy and retiring nature, unique sense of humour, and their tendency to understatement.
Now can we get back to talking about cars ?
[/quote]
Agreed.
Got back to work on the car the past couple of days. 
I got fuel system and plenum back on the engine plus the various hoses.
Today I got the clutch on, mated the tranny to the engine and
then stuffed it where it belongs.
Taking a break now, having a beer then back out to the garage for
front brakes, leading links, aka tie bar aka radius arms, steering rack and ARB.
Will post more pics later, here's some for now.
All reassembled and ready to stick in the frame.
fuel rail, vale covers and injector hold down plates in matching gunmetal paint. The colour scheme I chose is starting to really pay off.
I got fuel system and plenum back on the engine plus the various hoses.
Today I got the clutch on, mated the tranny to the engine and
then stuffed it where it belongs.
Taking a break now, having a beer then back out to the garage for
front brakes, leading links, aka tie bar aka radius arms, steering rack and ARB.
Will post more pics later, here's some for now.
All reassembled and ready to stick in the frame.
fuel rail, vale covers and injector hold down plates in matching gunmetal paint. The colour scheme I chose is starting to really pay off.
Edited by Brap_Brap on Friday 9th October 01:13
Got the rack on, new calipers on, and ran the nice shiny new stainless brake lines for the front. I damned near pooped myself trying to put the track rod joints in. I'd forgotten they came up from the bottom and thought for a few minutes I'd somehow had the wrong spindles upside down on the wrong side! Phew!... I got it right.
Called it a day... calling for -10C tonight and it's plenty cold in the garage already.
left side hard line and soft line both done in stainless.
Called it a day... calling for -10C tonight and it's plenty cold in the garage already.
left side hard line and soft line both done in stainless.
Transmitter Man said:
I'll second that.
Brap,
Did you get you headers coated when they were new or are they pre-treated then coated.
What is the process called?
I'm wondering if it's the same as a company over here offers: http://www.camcoat.u-net.com/Exhausts.htm
Phil
420 SEAC
I had them ceramic coated in and out. You can have it done in various colours and metallic looks. I picked the one most like chrome. It cost me $247 Cdn if I recall.Brap,
Did you get you headers coated when they were new or are they pre-treated then coated.
What is the process called?
I'm wondering if it's the same as a company over here offers: http://www.camcoat.u-net.com/Exhausts.htm
Phil
420 SEAC
gavinv88 said:
is it possible to source or have built a galv (or other) chassis?
all this "body off stuff" is making me sweat and i don't own a wedge yet!
You can certainly have a stipped chassis galvanised easily enough. As for the body off resto's, my advice is to buy one with a recent (past 5 years) body off already done.all this "body off stuff" is making me sweat and i don't own a wedge yet!
I'll say this much; don't buy any wedge without getting it on a hoist. It might drive great. It might sound even better than great, but don't let that be a deciding factor when you buy one. Get under it, take a rag and wipe down every weld joint you can reach and look for cracks. My car had at least a dozen.
wooly350i said:
i would not galvanize a chassis, after seeing an example of a chimeara one in the flesh, which had been drilled to let the heat out during the galvanizing process. Result = a well twisted chassis beyond repair!
That's very good information! Is there a thread with pics and such? I'm just thinking that the wedge forum might/should have a "do's and dont's" sticky topic listing such suicidal "fixes".Back at it today... got everything done I never got at last time I said I would, ie: ARB installed and drop links.
I finally got my rear brakes sorted out having found the L/2/R caliper brake line bridge pipe. I also got my clutch slave line installed. I actually got a fair bit done today besides watching paint dry.
I'd not done anything to this tank for the longest time due to a pin hole, but uber-welder Marc assured me he could fix it without turning my tank to Swiss cheese. He did it too. This is AMAZING welding skills on such thin rusty material.
After a few coats of primer and paint, I used a rubberised anti-gravel coating to seal the tanks from moisture, air and rust. I figured this has to beat WaxOyle!
The pebbled look of the coating finish is good at hiding the rust along the seems were it seems to be be the worst. Tomorrow I`ll give it another coating. I ran out of product tonight.
Tomorrow`s plan is to second coat my tanks and get them back in plus the restr of the fuel system.
Damned near ready to put the body back on now!!! YAY!!!
I finally got my rear brakes sorted out having found the L/2/R caliper brake line bridge pipe. I also got my clutch slave line installed. I actually got a fair bit done today besides watching paint dry.
I'd not done anything to this tank for the longest time due to a pin hole, but uber-welder Marc assured me he could fix it without turning my tank to Swiss cheese. He did it too. This is AMAZING welding skills on such thin rusty material.
After a few coats of primer and paint, I used a rubberised anti-gravel coating to seal the tanks from moisture, air and rust. I figured this has to beat WaxOyle!
The pebbled look of the coating finish is good at hiding the rust along the seems were it seems to be be the worst. Tomorrow I`ll give it another coating. I ran out of product tonight.
Tomorrow`s plan is to second coat my tanks and get them back in plus the restr of the fuel system.
Damned near ready to put the body back on now!!!
YAY!!!Not much to say today other than that I got my tanks done, fuel system in, and the pile of parts to put on is pretty small, as shown in pics below.
Whatever original fuel pump mounting hardware that came with the car never came into my possession, so I remounted the pump in foam for anti-vibe protection... I re-used my old fuel filter too, it only has about 2,000 miles on it.
There's 2 fuel filters there, one low pressure and see-through to monitor rust in the swirl pot and/or tanks, the other is a high pressure filter.
I'm kinda stumped here. The handbrake line seems to be the right length and distance between handbrake calipers, but I'm damned if I can remember how it all fit into the bracket atop my diff. Hints, pictures and ideas are appreciated.
Here's how things are sitting at the end of the day...
The pile of parts left to put on the car is dwindling quickly. The only major part to put back on is the body!
Whatever original fuel pump mounting hardware that came with the car never came into my possession, so I remounted the pump in foam for anti-vibe protection... I re-used my old fuel filter too, it only has about 2,000 miles on it.
There's 2 fuel filters there, one low pressure and see-through to monitor rust in the swirl pot and/or tanks, the other is a high pressure filter.
I'm kinda stumped here. The handbrake line seems to be the right length and distance between handbrake calipers, but I'm damned if I can remember how it all fit into the bracket atop my diff. Hints, pictures and ideas are appreciated.
Here's how things are sitting at the end of the day...
The pile of parts left to put on the car is dwindling quickly. The only major part to put back on is the body!
Edited by Brap_Brap on Monday 26th October 03:13
Thanks for that Barrington. Your picture made me realise that I`ve f`d up my rear brake lines. I used to have a lot of pictures of it all, but once my laptop died I lost a lot of reassembly references.
Edit... actually, upon closer inspection, we`ve got the same plumbing for brake fluid. The way mine was routed had one less connection... good enough for me.
Edit... actually, upon closer inspection, we`ve got the same plumbing for brake fluid. The way mine was routed had one less connection... good enough for me.
Edited by Brap_Brap on Saturday 31st October 23:37
adam quantrill said:
Good spot - the last thing you want is to try all the brakes out on the MOT (or equivalent) machine - you will do that won't you - then go barreling down the road, and the rear line has fractured, and the pedal goes to the floor....
LOL...MOT machine? No such thing here... no emissions testing... no laws against complete "non-mechanically inclined" doing their own brake jobs etc etc.With the laws here, a complete idiot could take a used WORN OUT part from a donor car at the boneyard, install it and likely pass a safety inspection.
I actually find this all surprising. Canada wont allow my to import many foreign cars because the do not meet our crash standards, yet at the same time I can work on my own car in a substandard manner quite legally.
For instance, if "canada customs" had actually looked at what TVR calls a "bumper" the car would fail upon importation.
Edited by Brap_Brap on Tuesday 3rd November 05:08
I haven't had the time to post many pictures, but over the past few days this has been accomplished.
A very filthy and disgusting engine bay!
It's far from perfect, but I did manage to get it this clean
I forgot to take a pic of the repair job, but here's a pic of the prep-work I did to my footwell for a GRP patch. It turned out rather nicely.
Today the body went back on, which is a good thing. It felt like a major hurdle and passing it was a relief.
Under the stap on the bottom of the body I used a 2x4 to stop the crushing force of the strap.
When I lifted the body off I ran the strap up and over the plenum which wasn't ideal. This time putting the body back on, my buddy Jay, a former professional rigger for heavy loads suggested this method, with a choker around each wheel well. It left enough space for the engine without scratching anything or breaking anything. It's nice to have clever friends.
To roll the chassis under the body we used a pallet jack last time, ie: the body off... this time lacking a pallet jack we used an engine stand with the upright portion removed to slide the chassis around.
The engine bay looks SO MUCH BETTER with an engine!
Done deal! On to the next phase!
All in all, I found this method to be an excellent budget lift method.
A very filthy and disgusting engine bay!
It's far from perfect, but I did manage to get it this clean
I forgot to take a pic of the repair job, but here's a pic of the prep-work I did to my footwell for a GRP patch. It turned out rather nicely.
Today the body went back on, which is a good thing. It felt like a major hurdle and passing it was a relief.
Under the stap on the bottom of the body I used a 2x4 to stop the crushing force of the strap.
When I lifted the body off I ran the strap up and over the plenum which wasn't ideal. This time putting the body back on, my buddy Jay, a former professional rigger for heavy loads suggested this method, with a choker around each wheel well. It left enough space for the engine without scratching anything or breaking anything. It's nice to have clever friends.
To roll the chassis under the body we used a pallet jack last time, ie: the body off... this time lacking a pallet jack we used an engine stand with the upright portion removed to slide the chassis around.
The engine bay looks SO MUCH BETTER with an engine!
Done deal! On to the next phase!
All in all, I found this method to be an excellent budget lift method.
Edited by Brap_Brap on Monday 16th November 03:41
Edited by Brap_Brap on Monday 16th November 03:53
GV said:
What did you use to pack the body out to get the right level once it went back on to the chassis?
I haven't gotten to that yet, although I kept the rubber shims that were on the car. It seemed to have two quarter inch thick shims under everything that takes weight, as well as two shims per outrigger sill plate. The only exception was under the boot, and it had 3 shims.I don't know how level or square the body was to the frame originally, and I'd happily take any advice or tips on how to ensure it's done right this time.
wedgienauld said:
What a brilliant thread, Buddy. Thats what I call dedication!
Thanks. In other news for my thread, I've got some cool pics to show regarding the packing the car to the frame, and just general progress pics. I've had them stored in my camera for a month or more but I dropped my camera and the USB transfer no longer works. I need to get to a friend's place. Her computer has a camera memory card reader.
Basically my "to do" list is:
hoses/wires under bonnet
fill/bleed brakes
fill coolant
hook up hand brake cable to lever
aquire exhaust header gaskets and bolt on silencer
install gear shift lever
install seats and put together car interior
replace wire mesh on front spoiler (half done... need to buy a pop-rivet gun)
install headlamps.
Pics coming... it's xmas... I have the time.
I meant to update this some time ago, but alas, life happens.
In order to stress the GRP less I cut these 1/8th inch thick washers/shims that fit the factory gromet. I wanted to place the stress over a larger area. (These are body mounting bolts)
I also increased the washer size.
All the rubber packing we replaced anew. Originally the car had 1/4 inch slabs of rubber, but I used 1/8th inch pieces to help level the car to the frame better and also to help fix the door to body clearance. If you look closely at the picture, the left side is an eighth of an inch higher than the right. This difference and forced twist of the body helped my O/S door shut better. The door as you can see by the scraping below used to hit the body, but that eighth inch extra padding six feet away was enough to twist the body oh-so-slightly that the door now closes properly.
That extra 1/8th inch packing on one side only really helped me get the door to body gap more even, and it no longer hits the body when closing the door.
All in all I replaced all the old packing rubber with these 1/8th inch pieces. Since some of the mounting plates had been replaced with sections of the chassis, proper body to frame alignment was guess work. What I did was first level the chassis, then I leveled the body. After measuring differences from side to side (ie: GRP to steel) I had to pack the N/S an 1/8th inch higher than the O/S. Overall it came out level to the chassis once snugged down.
At the very front of the car near the radiator the GRP had worn through where the original body mounting holes had been, on both sides. There was nothing to bolt to anymore so with a u-bolt, some rubber padding and some metal I made my own front body mounts.
The underside of my homemade u-bolt mount. It's packed as bolt,rubber, steel, rubber, GRP, rubber, a steel backing plate, and two washers and nuts.
My improvised mount beside the worn through hole of the original mount. I did the same to the other side.
Today I worked on getting my fuel tanks connected to the filler neck while my friend Jay made me 4 new fuel tank straps out of light sheet metal strips with rubber glued to them to protect the tanks. As you can see the filler neck was pretty corroded.
The 5/8ths ID overflow line was pretty rotton so I replaced it, but the 2 inch ID pieces looked sound so I kept them. I let them soak in a few applications of tire cleaning foam to make the rubber supple again to help it seal well under new hose clamps.
Filler neck all refurbed and installed.
I never did get to sling my tanks today... needed nylon nuts and the store was closed... tomorrow.
My goals for tomorrow is to get the tanks slung, the handbrake cable hooked to the brake handle and to get my steering UJ's and rod installed. If time allows I'd like to try filling and bleeding my brakes too. I hope nothing leaks!
In order to stress the GRP less I cut these 1/8th inch thick washers/shims that fit the factory gromet. I wanted to place the stress over a larger area. (These are body mounting bolts)
I also increased the washer size.
All the rubber packing we replaced anew. Originally the car had 1/4 inch slabs of rubber, but I used 1/8th inch pieces to help level the car to the frame better and also to help fix the door to body clearance. If you look closely at the picture, the left side is an eighth of an inch higher than the right. This difference and forced twist of the body helped my O/S door shut better. The door as you can see by the scraping below used to hit the body, but that eighth inch extra padding six feet away was enough to twist the body oh-so-slightly that the door now closes properly.
That extra 1/8th inch packing on one side only really helped me get the door to body gap more even, and it no longer hits the body when closing the door.
All in all I replaced all the old packing rubber with these 1/8th inch pieces. Since some of the mounting plates had been replaced with sections of the chassis, proper body to frame alignment was guess work. What I did was first level the chassis, then I leveled the body. After measuring differences from side to side (ie: GRP to steel) I had to pack the N/S an 1/8th inch higher than the O/S. Overall it came out level to the chassis once snugged down.
At the very front of the car near the radiator the GRP had worn through where the original body mounting holes had been, on both sides. There was nothing to bolt to anymore so with a u-bolt, some rubber padding and some metal I made my own front body mounts.
The underside of my homemade u-bolt mount. It's packed as bolt,rubber, steel, rubber, GRP, rubber, a steel backing plate, and two washers and nuts.
My improvised mount beside the worn through hole of the original mount. I did the same to the other side.
Today I worked on getting my fuel tanks connected to the filler neck while my friend Jay made me 4 new fuel tank straps out of light sheet metal strips with rubber glued to them to protect the tanks. As you can see the filler neck was pretty corroded.
The 5/8ths ID overflow line was pretty rotton so I replaced it, but the 2 inch ID pieces looked sound so I kept them. I let them soak in a few applications of tire cleaning foam to make the rubber supple again to help it seal well under new hose clamps.
Filler neck all refurbed and installed.
I never did get to sling my tanks today... needed nylon nuts and the store was closed... tomorrow.
My goals for tomorrow is to get the tanks slung, the handbrake cable hooked to the brake handle and to get my steering UJ's and rod installed. If time allows I'd like to try filling and bleeding my brakes too. I hope nothing leaks!
Edited by Brap_Brap on Sunday 10th January 09:26
Two weeks later and progress is slow... almost done though! 
This weekend I got my fuel tanks hung with new straps. The rubber strips that were glued to the straps didn't stick worth a damn so I used this 1.5 x 0.25 inch tar/rubbery sort of tape. I'm not sure what's it's for but it was lying around the garage and it worked nicely. It's the sort of tape that is much like the windscreen sealant you'd use under a windscreen on older vehicles.
The mounting bolts for the fuel tank are welded to a backing strap under the carpet. On one side of the car they were all rusty from roof leaks, so I made a new pair for that side of the car.
After that I began working my way up the car, back to front, and reconnected various things such as the hand brake cable, reverse lights switch and the gear shift lever. The interior is now ready to put back together although I've not started that yet.
I continued moving up the car and got all my brake lines connected and bled. The brake pedal has no sponginess and you can hold your foot down with good pressure and the pedal does not drop. I did run into two different brake line leaks. I hadn't quite tightened my new brake line fittings enough but got that sorted quickly.
A word to the wise!... (I wasn't wise lol) If you ever replace all four calipers, make sure ALL your bleed screws are closed before you begin bleeding your brakes. While I was busy bleeding the front left corner, brake fluid was pi$$ing all over the floor from rear left bleed screw.
After bleeding the brakes I was going to do the clutch too, but I ran into a snag. The new stainless steel clutch line I had made required a double male coupling too be used between the clutch line and the master clutch cylinder. The people who custom made the hose told me that this was necessary in order to provide me with a swivel fitting. IE: I could tighten the hose at the master cylinder without spinning the hose itself in circles. The problem I have is that the double male coupling doesn't have enough thread. The hex head for a wrench on the coupling bottoms out on the master cylinder before the tapered fitting seat meets the flare inside the master cylinder hole. I need to track down a longer coupling with more threads or revert to using the original copper clutch line. We'll see what happens...
After that disappointment I began reconnecting the wiring loom to the engine. I had gambled on not labeling a lot of engine wires when I disconnected them. There's only so many sensors and injectors and such, and it's pretty obvious where everything goes. The only wire that did have me confused for a while was a black plug on the O/S loom. I had 4 grey plugs for injectors, and a blue plug for the cold start injector. WTF did the black one go to? It took about 10 minutes, a few swear words and a beer to finally realise it plugs into the back of the EAV.
Actually, there's on other plug (or two push on wires) I haven't found yet. There's that sensor (or whatever) in the top of the rad. I think that's the otter switch? I'm puzzled where the damned wires are for it. It's like they vanished. Do I need an otter switch?
On another note, I have to remove my rad again... like a dummy I forgot to bolt on the oil cooler first. I'll do that this week.
Basically I'm left with hooking up coolant hoses, plumbing the oil pump to the oil filter and cooler, and adding gasoline for that moment of gloom and doom if the engine doesn't start.
Spring is coming, the car's almost ready and am I ever getting excited!
This weekend I got my fuel tanks hung with new straps. The rubber strips that were glued to the straps didn't stick worth a damn so I used this 1.5 x 0.25 inch tar/rubbery sort of tape. I'm not sure what's it's for but it was lying around the garage and it worked nicely. It's the sort of tape that is much like the windscreen sealant you'd use under a windscreen on older vehicles.
The mounting bolts for the fuel tank are welded to a backing strap under the carpet. On one side of the car they were all rusty from roof leaks, so I made a new pair for that side of the car.
After that I began working my way up the car, back to front, and reconnected various things such as the hand brake cable, reverse lights switch and the gear shift lever. The interior is now ready to put back together although I've not started that yet.
I continued moving up the car and got all my brake lines connected and bled. The brake pedal has no sponginess and you can hold your foot down with good pressure and the pedal does not drop.
I did run into two different brake line leaks. I hadn't quite tightened my new brake line fittings enough but got that sorted quickly.A word to the wise!... (I wasn't wise lol) If you ever replace all four calipers, make sure ALL your bleed screws are closed before you begin bleeding your brakes. While I was busy bleeding the front left corner, brake fluid was pi$$ing all over the floor from rear left bleed screw.
After bleeding the brakes I was going to do the clutch too, but I ran into a snag. The new stainless steel clutch line I had made required a double male coupling too be used between the clutch line and the master clutch cylinder. The people who custom made the hose told me that this was necessary in order to provide me with a swivel fitting. IE: I could tighten the hose at the master cylinder without spinning the hose itself in circles. The problem I have is that the double male coupling doesn't have enough thread. The hex head for a wrench on the coupling bottoms out on the master cylinder before the tapered fitting seat meets the flare inside the master cylinder hole. I need to track down a longer coupling with more threads or revert to using the original copper clutch line. We'll see what happens...
After that disappointment I began reconnecting the wiring loom to the engine. I had gambled on not labeling a lot of engine wires when I disconnected them. There's only so many sensors and injectors and such, and it's pretty obvious where everything goes. The only wire that did have me confused for a while was a black plug on the O/S loom. I had 4 grey plugs for injectors, and a blue plug for the cold start injector. WTF did the black one go to? It took about 10 minutes, a few swear words and a beer to finally realise it plugs into the back of the EAV.
Actually, there's on other plug (or two push on wires) I haven't found yet. There's that sensor (or whatever) in the top of the rad. I think that's the otter switch? I'm puzzled where the damned wires are for it. It's like they vanished. Do I need an otter switch?
On another note, I have to remove my rad again... like a dummy I forgot to bolt on the oil cooler first.
I'll do that this week.Basically I'm left with hooking up coolant hoses, plumbing the oil pump to the oil filter and cooler, and adding gasoline for that moment of gloom and doom if the engine doesn't start.
Spring is coming, the car's almost ready and am I ever getting excited!
pacman1 said:
Great stuff Brap Brap, I'm pleased you haven't forgotten us! Looks like you're in the final straight now.
What plans have you for the bodywork? Just looks a bit dusty, but have you thought about getting a top notch wax 'n polish somewhere just to compliment all that hard work of yours and save you some elbow grease?
There's too many small stress cracks and such to gloss over anything. I'll just take it to the car wash, enjoy it until winter sets in and sand it down ready for a respray in 2011. What plans have you for the bodywork? Just looks a bit dusty, but have you thought about getting a top notch wax 'n polish somewhere just to compliment all that hard work of yours and save you some elbow grease?
The paint actually isn't that bad, but all that garage dirt and dust has done a number to my leather. I'm not sure what to clean it with.
V8TVR1978 said:
Mike: Sounds like you are getting excited again about the car and that is excellent. Do you want to borrow 1 of my polishers while the weather is still not where we want it??? All 3 cars have spots set up for the World of Wheels (Feb. 19 - 21, 2010.) so may see you there if you go to it. Keep up the good work and posts. Stopped by with the books a couple of times but you weren't there.
I wish I had another month to get it ready... I'd park it in the "TVR section" along side your cars if I could. Cest la lie.I guess I'll just have to wait until the Euro car show at Stanley Park this year.
The polisher could be useful but I really need touch up paint more than anything else.
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