Diary of My Griff

Diary of My Griff

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simonwedge

Original Poster:

743 posts

179 months

Monday 20th June 2016
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So, there I was enjoying my Griff at the end of last year. It's a pre-serp 500:



I'd got it back from a full respray earlier in the year and had treated myself to a new set of wheels & tyres as well. All was well and good. Then it happened. One day while out driving it suddenly lost all oil pressure. By the time I noticed and then got it turned off I feared serious damage had been done to the engine.

I've known Graham Nash (ex of NCK/TVR Power) for a while so my first call was to him. We jointly diagnosed (correctly as it turned out) that the oil pressure relief valve had stuck open. I ordered a new plunger & spring etc. from Rimmers and set about fitting them in the hope that I could start it again once oil pressure re-instated and see what damage had been done. However, the plunger refused to come out and then I snapped one of the oil pump housing bolts trying to get the whole unit off. Patience exhausted I arranged with Graham that he'd come and pick it up and take it away to sort it out.



This is when things really started to develop. I'd seen Graham's turbo-Chim that he'd restored and knew how good it looked. Man-maths brain fully engaged I then got to thinking that it really wasn't that much more work to take the body off and do things properly. Really! I'd also convinced myself that it was going to be off the road for the winter anyway so I might as well go all in.

Plans agreed, I started to get pics back:














Keep tuned for the next instalment!

Toma500

1,219 posts

252 months

Tuesday 21st June 2016
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Will watch this with interest lovely looking Griff love the colour and the wheels are fantastic . Are the wheels 17/18 inch ?

Matthew Poxon

5,329 posts

172 months

Tuesday 21st June 2016
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Fantastic looking Griff!

Stever

1,524 posts

248 months

Wednesday 22nd June 2016
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Beautiful Griff and yes what size wheels and are these aftermarket of genuine OZ

xjay1337

15,966 posts

117 months

Wednesday 22nd June 2016
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Stever said:
Beautiful Griff and yes what size wheels and are these aftermarket of genuine OZ
They look like BBS RS replicas.

Colour of the car is nice, hope to see this progress over the coming weeks and months smile

MisterT

322 posts

225 months

Wednesday 22nd June 2016
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simonwedge said:
Looks like your Griff was delivered from Harrogate Horseless Carriages about the same time as mine.

I did my body-off and chassis refurb back in '09 when I needed an engine rebuild and went for a new V8D engine.


simonwedge

Original Poster:

743 posts

179 months

Wednesday 22nd June 2016
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Cheers all. They're Lenso BSX wheels in 16/17 inch combo with offsets and rolling radius all chosen to match the original Estorils. I would have liked some OZ or Gotti wheels but a) I couldn't find any, and b) I expect they'd have been a kings ransom if I had.

And yes, it was delivered by HHC on 1 September 1994. Yours and mine were probably in the dealers at the same time!



Edited by simonwedge on Wednesday 22 June 20:32

Stever

1,524 posts

248 months

Thursday 23rd June 2016
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Ah splendid thank you I will be pricing these up as I need new tyres and quite like the look of the Bridgstone Adrenalin RE002 but they don't make a 16" in 245/45 which I currently have on my standard estorils frown

simonwedge

Original Poster:

743 posts

179 months

Thursday 23rd June 2016
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Stever said:
Ah splendid thank you I will be pricing these up as I need new tyres and quite like the look of the Bridgstone Adrenalin RE002 but they don't make a 16" in 245/45 which I currently have on my standard estorils frown
If it helps I got the wheels from http://www.rimstyle.com/alloywheels/wheel/index.ht... - The other suppliers I talked to didn't all said it was too difficult once I said I wanted 2 pairs of different size wheels rather than the standard set of 4 the same!

Tyrewise I'm running Michelin Pilot Sports all round. These are one of the few that I could get the same pattern in both sizes. I got mine from https://www.tyreleader.co.uk/ but I think Rimstyle also do them as a package with the wheels.

simonwedge

Original Poster:

743 posts

179 months

Saturday 25th June 2016
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So, the root cause of all this work was a failed pre-serp oil pressure relief valve. Therefore when Graham said he could convert the engine to a serp front end at the same time as rebuilding the engine it didn't take long to say 'Yes please!'.

The main obstacle, I was told, would be finding the right bits of hardware (at a reasonable price). In particular, finding an original spec serp front cover, and the castings that go with it would apparently be hard work. Full of enthusiasm I accepted the challenge of hunting these down.

My first bit of luck was remembering that a friend of mine and I had taken a knackered engine out of a Chim about 2 years ago (before fitting a used replacement). That original engine was still sitting in his back garden as he had an unfulfilled plan to turn it into a coffee table.







This engine therefore yielded it's front cover inc. water & oil pumps, bottom pulley and tensioner casting etc. Result! The key part now missing was the idler wheel and casting that sits top right looking at the engine. After fruitless searching of ebay and breakers yards I posted up on this forum with a plea for help.

Another result! An email landed from Peter (Phazed) with a teaser picture of the elusive part:



A deal was agreed and it was mine.

Other parts reqd for the conversion were found online, bought new or found in Graham's parts stash. All together these inclued both water tanks, coolant hoses, distributer, alternator and metal engine water pipes. All incoming parts were variously blasted, painted and/or polished.

In terms of the engine rebuild itself the damage caused by the lack of oil pressure was found to be not too bad. Regardless the crank, rods, flywheel and clutch cover were balanced and the engine rebuilt with new bearings, cam (Taraka), lifters, seals, rings etc. The block and heads were chemical dipped and the bores honed.

After much work it was indeed something to behold. More than that I was especially pleased that it had been rebuilt by someone so close to the original development work for this engine.



Chassis update next time.

Edited by simonwedge on Saturday 25th June 15:27

carsy

3,018 posts

164 months

Saturday 25th June 2016
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Very nice indeed. This is my pre serp converted to serp and with a few extra cc`s




malc65

10 posts

143 months

Saturday 25th June 2016
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Excellent Simon 👍🏻

simonwedge

Original Poster:

743 posts

179 months

Saturday 25th June 2016
quotequote all
carsy said:
Very nice indeed. This is my pre serp converted to serp and with a few extra cc`s



Nice, bet it sounds awesome with a 5 litre blowing through that pre-cat system!

FlipFlopGriff

7,144 posts

246 months

Saturday 25th June 2016
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MisterT said:
Looks like your Griff was delivered from Harrogate Horseless Carriages about the same time as mine.

I did my body-off and chassis refurb back in '09 when I needed an engine rebuild and went for a new V8D engine.

http://thumbsnap.com/OQtJ6SLP
Looks like mt Barretts BV next to it. Prefer the original colour myself as not seen many in that colour.
FFG

Stever

1,524 posts

248 months

Monday 27th June 2016
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simonwedge said:
If it helps I got the wheels from http://www.rimstyle.com/alloywheels/wheel/index.ht... - The other suppliers I talked to didn't all said it was too difficult once I said I wanted 2 pairs of different size wheels rather than the standard set of 4 the same!

Tyrewise I'm running Michelin Pilot Sports all round. These are one of the few that I could get the same pattern in both sizes. I got mine from https://www.tyreleader.co.uk/ but I think Rimstyle also do them as a package with the wheels.
That's most helpful thank you. What have you done about the wheel centres?

simonwedge

Original Poster:

743 posts

179 months

Monday 27th June 2016
quotequote all
Stever said:
That's most helpful thank you. What have you done about the wheel centres?
The TVR centres ones I got were from a different person but were like these: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/TVR-Self-Adhesive-Set-of...

Can't remember the exact size, in the end they just needed a little rub down around the edge to fit in the recess of the wheels perfectly. I didn't even take the old 'Lenso' badges out of the wheels, just stuck the new ones on top. Two years on they still look perfect.

Stever

1,524 posts

248 months

Tuesday 28th June 2016
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Cheers Simon thumbup

Another question sorry. Has the fitment of larger wheels upset or changed the ride in any way negatively? Mine is non power steering which I prefer (my previous wedge was power) and apart from the occasional parking wrestle the feel is much better. I have a slight worry that putting bigger wheels in would mess it all up and like you I would probably opt for 16" front and 17" rear. My current tyres are 205/55 R15 and 245/45 R16

Edited by Stever on Tuesday 28th June 14:55

simonwedge

Original Poster:

743 posts

179 months

Tuesday 28th June 2016
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No, there has been no noticeable difference in ride quality.

I do know what you mean though, my previous wedge had 18" wheels all round and, although it looked great, the ride was ruined. Moving up to 16"/17" still leaves generous sidewalls with plenty of compliance. My car is non-PAS as well - I'm running 205's on the front, and the steering is no heavier than it was before either.

Simon

Stever

1,524 posts

248 months

Wednesday 29th June 2016
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That's good to hear thank you Simon.

Just got to get the expense past HQ now although she probably wouldn't notice if I just slipped them on whistlewhistle

MPO

264 posts

111 months

Friday 1st July 2016
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carsy said:
Very nice indeed. This is my pre serp converted to serp and with a few extra cc`s



Carsy

Nice setup!

What size/make Aux. belt are you using and what alternator adjuster? This is just the setup I’m working on, no air con, no power steering and no automatic tensioner . ‘Lean and no frills’ thumbup

Cheers

MPO