Sprucing up under the bonnet of my S3

[TVRHasgo]

Having spent a few hours each evening for the last 2 weeks sprucing up under the bonnet of my 1990 S3 I thought I'd share what I did, where I got the parts and what it cost me as it may be of interest to fellow S3 owners who are thinking of doing some of the same 'upgrades'. I started out intending to just replace the hoses, swirl pot and rocker covers but inevitably I ended up replacing way more!!!
Here is the list of what I replaced (prices to nearest £):

Cast Alloy Rocker Covers - JR Casting, Ireland - £150
Stainless Steel Swirl Pot - ACT Performance Parts, East Grinstead - £150
Hose Kit - ACT Performance Parts, East Grinstead - £200
Magnecore Ignition Lead Kit 6037 - ACT Performance Parts, East Grinstead - £100
Chimera Otter Switch - ACT Performance Parts, East Grinstead - £19
Fahler Stainless Steel Expansion Bottle Cap - Bad Boy Classics, eBay - £10
Pipercross Airfilter P/n. C3004 - The Pipercross Shop, eBay - £38
Intermotor Ignition Coil P/n. 11330 - Motor Parts Direct, Rushden - £24
Gates P/n. 6481MC V-Belt AV131275La - Motor Parts Direct, Rushden - £7
PCV Valve P/n. 6011482 and Grommet P/n. 6011482GR - Burton Power, Ilford- £14
Various Reinforced Rubber Pipe to replace breathers etc. - Camthorne Ind. Supplies, Stoke - £20
Stainless Steel Jubilee Clips - eBay - £10
Comma SLA5L 5L Super Red Antifreeze & Coolant Concentrated - Amazon - £15
Wynn's 56064 325ml Radiator Flush - Amazon - £5
Stainless Steel Exhaust Manifolds & Down Pipes - DG Sportscars, Redditch - £350
Pair of Cork Rocker Cover Gaskets - DG Sportscars, Redditch - £15
Exhaust Manifold Gaskets x6 & Bolts x12 - DG Sportscars, Redditch - £20

Total for Parts = £1,147

See 'After' work done photo attached.
So it was all reasonably straightforward apart from 2 of the 12 exhaust manifold bolts sheered off and took a bit of getting out with a MIG welder a piece of scrap bar and an oxy-acetylene rig!! Then making the new alternator mounting bracket was a bit of trial and error but in the end got a nice solution. The original AV13-1200 V-Belt was too short after modification of the alternator bracket so it missed the new higher rocker covers, so went to a longer AV13-1275 belt which was perfect. I decided to move the ignition coil from being mounted from a bracket on the Air Plenum to mount it on the drivers side bulkhead/shelf. In doing this the King Lead in the Magnecore Lead Kit was too short (37cm as supplied and 52cm is needed with the new location) so I will need to call up Tim at ACT to see if he can get me a replacement. I also removed the battery tray, shot blasted and re-painted it.

[AutoAndy]

Good work Martin, the photo comes out small, but looks good.

...but the important question for me, which of them makes it go faster?

[v8s4me]

More and bigger photos please

[TVRHasgo]

AutoAndy said:

Good work Martin, the photo comes out small, but looks good.

...but the important question for me, which of them makes it go faster?

LOL - Funny thing is it feels like it does go better but all in the mind!!!

[TVRHasgo]

v8s4me said:

More and bigger photos please

I have posted bigger and more pics on the TVR S Owners and Enthusiasts Facebook Page... How do I get big pics here on PH as every time I tried to upload pics it said too big and only let me attach the one?!

[AutoAndy]

TVRHasgo said:

LOL - Funny thing is it feels like it does go better but all in the mind!!!

That's true....some times even cleaning it makes it go faster.

[mk1fan]

Load them to photobucket and then paste the image link into the post.

[v8s4me]

Or open the .jpeg file with MS Office, select "Picture" then "Resize" and choose "Large web". You'll then be able to load the pictures.

[phillpot]

TVRHasgo said:

Stainless Steel Exhaust Manifolds & Down Pipes - DG Sportscars, Redditch - £350

Interesting at that price they must be the second hand pair from the S they are breaking?

Told me they wanted £350 + vat (£420) for just the manifolds

[Barry S1]

[Barry S1]

[Barry S1]

[Barry S1]

Copied from the facebook page

[v8s4me]

Barry - when do we get to see more pictures of your new baby?

[mk1fan]

Needs a straightened throttle plate

[TVRHasgo]

Barry S1 said:

Copied from the facebook page

Cheers Barry

[TVRHasgo]

phillpot said:

TVRHasgo said:

Stainless Steel Exhaust Manifolds & Down Pipes - DG Sportscars, Redditch - £350

Interesting at that price they must be the second hand pair from the S they are breaking?

Told me they wanted £350 + vat (£420) for just the manifolds

It was indeed from DGS and it was up for £400 + VAT with the down pipes... I kept badgering them every other day and they were like "Nope" but in the end that gave in to £350... But I have spent over £3,000 with them since April. It took some polishing though as it was very dirty and I used about 3 tubes of Autosol and 3 polishing heads for my power drill!!!

[greyhulk]

nice work! the custom rocker covers look great, im just embarking on this epic 'under the bonnet quest' myself, not quite going full hog with the stainless steel swirl pot etc like yourself, as good as they look! just so costly

will post up a few pics when i get chance

[TVRHasgo]

greyhulk said:

nice work! the custom rocker covers look great, im just embarking on this epic 'under the bonnet quest' myself, not quite going full hog with the stainless steel swirl pot etc like yourself, as good as they look! just so costly

will post up a few pics when i get chance

Well the Rocker Covers from JR Casting in Ireland www.jrcast.com come highly recommended the fit was perfect and he did a grand job and you can have whatever you like written on the top. You are right shiny things are expensive, be it diamonds or swirl pots, but I was like in for a penny in for a pound and just had all my birthday and Xmas pressies for the next 5 years in one go!