My nightmare... errr restoration thread.

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V8TVR1978 said:

You could always take a small flat piece of your car to a good paint shop that can match the paint for you and that would be a quick fix and possibly do till you have the time for a respray.

I've got the actual paint code for the car but Jay was telling me that he doesn't think a British paint code will mean anything here. I don't see why not? I'll phone a bodyshop or two today and find out.

Have you given any thought to going to the All British Field Meet in Vancouver this year? It's a great show with over 600 cars. There were 2 2500M's when I was there.

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After a long hiatus, and after trying to sell the car twice without a single offer, I got back down to work last weekend. I didn't get a whole lot done but it's less to do next weekend. A slew of personal reasons have kept me from working on the car.

Anyhow... I bought all new radiator hoses yesterday and some antifreeze... filled the system up and nothing is leaking. Mind you nothing is under pressure either, but I was concerned about my radiator after paying so darned much having it rebuilt.

After borrowing a high interest loan a couple years ago to pay for this endeavour, I finally got it paid off a couple months ago and now have a few bucks left over to finish the job.

All in all it was a kind of wasted weekend. All I accomplished was installing the driver's seat and the radiator hoses. Next weekend I'll do the rest of the interior and exhuast gaskets if they've arrived by Royal Mail by then.

Can't wait to go for a ride... my goal is to have it running by the end of July or sooner.

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I've been really busy and living on the road long haul trucking hasn't left me much time to work on the car, or update this thread... but I do have some news.

Since I bumped this thread a couple months back I've:
Installed the oil cooler and radiator, replaced all the coolant lines, and filled the system. It's leak free.

I got a massive PAS leak at the banjo fitting, a thicker copper washer did the trick... topped off, leak free.

Installed headers with big bore gaskets... the old ones were smaller... should breath better now. Also hung the rest of the exhaust.

Ordered a K&N cone air filter... 2 5/8th clamp on style...

Hooked up all wires... I cut back a few wires and crimped new connectors on the ends that had been corroded.


All that is left is to hook up the fuel lines, put in a battery, and turn the key with one hand while holding a fire extinguisher in the other...LOL I also need to get some 1/2in to 3/4in bushings for the rose jointed rear trailing arms I bought.

I'll also need a four wheel alignment.

That's it, that's all. I can't wait to drive it before the snow flies!

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I'm trying Adam! It's bloody hard. Last time I got home to work on the car was my first time back in Calgary in five weeks! I didn't even drive through it while trucking down the road.

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It was a really good weekend tidying up.
Not much time to write about it now, but in essence I'm
running out of "finishing touches" I can do to the car.
I could have had the engine running if I wanted to but
figured I'd better wrap up the exhaust near the fuels lines,
the headers etc etc. Just to be safe.

I really am running out of things to do to the car AND IT'S AN AWESOME FEELING!!!!

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I was pretty drunk last night and not into writing much, but here's how my weekend went.

I was about to get the engine running and even poured in some fuel, which promptly leaked a pool
under the car. Apparently I'd forgotten to do up a couple hose clamps between the tanks I'd undone
when we put the body back on. I had undone them to give the tanks wiggle room between the body and chassis.
I let the fuel evaporate and crawled back under the car, went over all the hose clamps and make everything
ticky boo. I also added a lot more zip-straps to various under car things... hoses, hand brake cable etc etc.

While under the car I realised I should probably get some of that exhaust insulation wrap for key areas
before I actually attempt to start the engine, so I put off starting the engine for another day. My K&N
air filter hadn't arrived yet so I'm waiting on that too.

I then hooked up the reverse light switch, ran new wires for the fuel gauge, and wired up the fuel pump.
With that out of the way I was now able to put the interior back in the car.

The fuel rail inlet and fuel pressure regulator outlet had gotten dust in them in a bad way, so I unhooked
the cold start injector and blew out the rail with compressed air. I plan to pump a few litres of gas
through the rail as well, backwards, to flush out any other junk inside.

I bought a few grounding straps and ran new grounds to the block, frame etc etc. The car seems fine
electrically and I tested all the lights, horn, power windows etc etc. One problem I have is the battery
light on the dash comes on if the key isn't in the run position. Alternator wired wrong? I also ran
all my spark plug wires.

I can't seem to find the wire that runs from the firewall to the starter solenoid. I't like it's
just not there! I might have to wire up a new start switch. Anyway, I jumped the solenoid wire straight
to the battery... my rebuilt starter works fine.

My "to do" list is now this:

4 wheel alignment.
Rear trailing arms.
Tighten front bumper and reconnect front turn signals.
Put the headlights back into the light pods.
Install front spoiler.

Other than that, I can't think of one darned thing that needs to be done. I'll probably find something! LOL

[edit] And piss me right the f&%K off! my rebuilt rad is leaking where the little sensor is at the top
of the rad... nothing major... took all night for the coolant resevior to drop half an inch... After so
much spent on having the rad rebuilt, I'm loath to take it back out of the car. I'm tempted to try that
"Bar's Stop Leak".

Edited by Brap_Brap on Monday 20th August 15:27

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do you actually need this otter switch for the car to run? what does it do?

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Well, the car is back together but the damned thing wont run. I have checked all the grounding, checked the wire colour coding and still to no avail.

I stopped by a local British import garage today and was talking to the owner. He works on a lot of RV8s in MG, Morgan, Triumph etc. He is known as THE RV8 guru around these parts, whose reputation is renowned at local Brit car clubs. He told me a local Griff 500 owner has spent thousands and thousands just getting his Griff to run properly over the years and I should just switch to a carburetor setup. I am going to take his advice and go that route.

I am about to head off and get me the Edelbrock intake manifold, a Holly "blue" fuel pump and regulator, a Mallory distibutor and either a Holley 650, or a Holley 500. My mechanic tells me both will work well with the displacement I have, but the 650 is more common and thus perhaps a wee bit cheaper. I am also going to buy a carb hat so I can move my air filter to below the hood vent.

If anyone needs any EFI bits, like injectors or whatnot I would be happy to part-out the old EFI pieces dirt cheap.

To be continued...

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Have to register just to read a post...

What is the jist of it?

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Thanks, but it`s not worth sending across the big pond to Canada. I picked up a Holley 600 for quite cheap.

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Well, I laid the money down and am ready to take the plunge. For all intents and purposes, there's no going back. Here's a pic of my new toys...



Things didn't cost as much as I thought either.

Holley 600, electric choke, vacuum secondaries: $289.95
Holley "Blue" electric fuel pump and regulator: $146.43
Holley manifold to carb heat shield: $31.54
Spectre Performance plenum: $108.38
Edelbrock "performer" RV8 manifold: $232.56

The manifold is on order - 2 or 3 days before it arrives.

Can't wait to fire the wedge up... virtually NOTHING can go wrong now!

[edit] They said the Mallory dizzy could take up to 6 weeks... wtf? As long as it'll run off the old dizzy, that's good enough for the girls I go with.

Edited by Brap_Brap on Thursday 23 August 01:06

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Well fellow wedger's, it shouldn't be long now.

I left the mechanic with $3000, the wedge and two weeks to get it done.

Besides getting the car to a running state, it's also going to be tuned on a chassis dyno. The Holley factory carb jets are set for 70F at 0ft above sea level, which is not too great here at 3500ft, so the carb will be rejetted. The distributor will be recurved for local altitude as well. Valves will be adjusted too. The intake manifold will be ported and polished of course. I had a MSD 6A ignition box kicking around, so I installed it where the air flow meter used to be. With a new dizzy cap and rotor, new MSD Helicore high tension leads and new spark plugs, plus the multiple spark discharge, I'll be curious to see what the final horsepower and torque numbers will be.

If I still have any money left over from my deposit I'll have the mechanic drive the car over to an alignment shop and get a 4 wheel alignment done. If that can happen, I'll be returning to drivable car needing only insurance and a licence plate sticker.

Once I know the BHP and lb/ft numbers I'll post them here... hopefully with some video.

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@adam I could have spent as much to diagnose one broken wire somewhere... or a corroded plug terminal or whatever. Electrics aren't my forte. Diagnosis is a gamble, a carb is not. It ran when I pulled the body off, and I wonder if "did I fuxxor it up?" "after three years sitting with mice living in the boot did one nibble a crucial wire?" And every time I read of some fellow wedger here posting "my car isn't running right" or likewise I will simply delight in that I can fix mine with a screwdriver.

@Dogmanandy "Arduous" is a bloody understatement! I'll post you the "at the wheels" numbers as soon as I know. Good luck with your rebuild. My only unsolicited advice is "don't start what you can't finish". I've wanted to throw in the towel a few times with this bottomless money pit. Tried to sell it twice as a matter of fact. IOW don't be discouraged.

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mark387mw, as far as I know it is. It worked fine before I took the body off, and it shows no sort of water damage or anything of that nature. It has been out in the cold though (up to -35C) and cold is hard on anything.

You can have it for free if you handle shipping yourself.

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I stopped by the garage yesterday to see how they were making out with my car. It should have been done a week ago, but they didn't even get started on it until this week. They got the intake manifold ported and polished and bolted down, and the carb and heat shield installed as well. They had to replace the throttle cable because the old one was too short. The new manifold doesn't have the piping underneath that runs to the heater core. Instead there's a heater core pipe on the new thermostat housing, and also one at the back of the maifold as well. Apparently they're waiting for some pipe to hook up the heater core, and also waiting on a throttle cable bracket.

It's going to be a really close call for clearance on the bonnet. I might need a scoop.

I dropped off a MSD Blaster-2 ignition coil for them to use. The less LUCASfer (Prince of electrical darkness) in my car the better imho.

It's darned near ready to get tuned on the dyno. Any day now and it's one more wedge back on the road. And I can barely contain myself waiting!!

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Yeah baby! I just got a call from the garage. They got it running late Friday afternoon. They said it sounded pretty ticky from sitting so long, but once warmed up and lubricated it purred like a kitten. They also said before that they pulled the plugs, cleaned them up and regapped them. No signs of bad deposits so cylinder health is good. Apparently there's a small fuel leak where I put on the new fuel pump, but once they have that sorted onto the rolling road it goes!

Once I get some horse/torque numbers I'll post them here. I'm obviously hoping for the best, but with a calculated 28hp loss at 3500ft ASL, plus drivetrain loss, 215WHP would make me happy. We'll see eh?

I also just ordered from Douglas Valley Breakers a new speedo since the needle off my old one broke off. It had a dented bezel so I got it for forty quid. Marshall of TVRCCNA wanted $300 for his (used) so it's quite a savings.

Once I do get it back from them all I have left to do is replace the left hand traffic biased headlamps with some N American 7" sealed beams I bought, put on the front spoiler, and get a four wheel alignment.

Now I just need to get dispatch to find me some freight to get my arse back to Calgary... so I can tinker for a day and go for a hoon.

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JMF894 said:

Not long to go i guess then big smiles allround

Yup, but sadly not without a little disappointment first.

My Oz rims leak like a seive so I took it to the shop on my 15" RX-7 rims to save them the BS of inflating 2 tires every time them roll it on and out of the shop. They phoned me back explaining that the lug nuts only thread on about 4 threads due to the rim design and it wasn't safe to dyno the car. I need to bring them the Oz rims first.

That's okay though. Once I get there and drop the rims off, I'll take the day off work so I can get some video of the car on the dyno.

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grahamw48 said:

Here's a 400SE on the rolling road, to wet your appetite.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6qHJ-2Fe2M

That it did. Thanks.

adam quantrill said:

Although not usually recommended because it makes a mess or the rims, you might want to try tyreweld because in your case Mike the rims might need splitting and rebuilding to get them fixed.

It wouldn't work anyway. The goo would spin to the outside away from the seam. OTOH, a bead of silicone around that seam and time to cure properly before inflation might do it.

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Well no tuning today sadly... tomorrow. Other cars are higher up the totem pole.

I shot some video of it running tho...

http://youtu.be/DEA9jFHJyV0

I can't wait to hear it with the engine under load. I hope I don't lose the snap crackle and pop decelerating.

I got lucky with the bonnet clearance. No problems closing it.

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Here's the numbers...







http://youtu.be/oSU8ozg1zAE

I was hoping for more, but it is what it is.

Sounds good though!