Pat's Tuscan V6 restoration thread

[Pat H]

uk66fastback said:

Have you been doing anything else on it Pat - restoring a few parts at weekends etc - I'm not sure I could keep my hands of it if it were in my garage ...

Getting it back on wheels with a new chassis will be a MAJOR start. Don't know anything about the early cars so not sure what is restorable and what is irreplaceable. Was there a problem with the window frames or something I seem to remember .... ?

I've only been doing a few small jobs.

My experience of previous rebuilds suggests that it is sensible to keep as much of the car in large lumps as possible, so that it doesn't just disappear into a million tiny bits.

So each front corner has been taken off complete. Each rear shaft, upright and hub remains a complete assembly, as does the engine and box.

There are a bunch of parts that are made of unobtainium. The n/s window frame is a good example, and there are plenty of others, from door hinges to minor instruments and switches.

But I know a chap who has most of these bits, so I am presently saving up to take him out for a drink...

Really looking forward to getting the chassis, then it will very slowly start going together instead of coming apart.

[Pat H]

Thanks Matt.

Mine are actually the later square rocker type switches, which don't look to be quite as much of a challenge.

P

[Pat H]

I was poking about with the remains of my dash yesterday.

What do you reckon this switch is for?

I'm talking about the horizontal one at the bottom, with the associated warning lamp.

All I know for sure is that it left the factory that way.

Looks like an afterthought for an auxilliary or extra.

The only significant option that the car had was overdrive, and I can't find evidence of an overdrive switch anywhere else on the dash. Might it be for the O/D?

Edited by Pat H on Tuesday 11th July 14:44

[Pat H]

No wires, sadly.

Much of the wiring was stripped out (along with most of the dash) when I found the car.

Manual reversing light is a good call. The car has a combined number plate lamp with reversing lamp.

Edited by Pat H on Tuesday 11th July 14:46

[Pat H]

But the car had a perspex screen. Perhaps a replacement for the original?

Wonder where the o/d switch was then?

[Pat H]

heightswitch said:

To my mind..and again others know more than me but Vixens and derivatives never had heated rear screens unless an after market fitment.
Not sure about Tuscans, I always thought that M series cars were first to have heated rear screens.
N.

The price list Dad used quotes a glass rear screen as an option, but there's no mention of a heated screen.

Mind you, it also lists 3 point belts as an option for the Vixen (standard for Tuscan), despite the fact that belts were a mandatory fitment from (I think) 1967 for all cars.

I wonder if it really was the o/d switch.

[Pat H]

thegamekeeper said:

The car is already fitted with a manual reversing light switch in the panel below the minor instruments. In fact the switch and panel in question is part of that panel which has been cut off a spare switch panel and mounted under the dash with the switch reversed so script is not seen. My money is it being an electric cooling fan switch, Vixens and Tuscans were not fitted with electric fans despite the engine powered fan being so far from the radiator.

The overdrive switch was part of the gear knob and was a slide on/off switch.

Sadly, my knob doesn't have an on/off switch.

Neither does the knob on the Tuscan. So the overdrive switch must have been somewhere else.

Electric fan switch is a good shout. The radiator was missing from the car, so I can't say for certain that it had an electric fan, but there is no evidence of a cooling fan ever having been fitted to the pulley on the front of the timing cover...

John Haggas's car is a bit later than mine. This also had o/d and has the extended lever switch fitted to the bottom of the dash in the same place as my mystery switch.

Quite like the idea of GT6 o/d switchgear as a neat solution. Mind you, I expect they are pretty hard to find.

[Pat H]

thegamekeeper said:

just buy a GT6 and throw the rest away

Yep.

Thinking about it, I'm not even sure that the o/d switch isn't already on my existing steering column.

I'll have to have a root in the garage when I get home from work tonight.

[Pat H]

ATE399J said:

Incidentally, the overdrive inhibitor switch (on top of the gearbox at the front) can also work as an automatic reverse light switch, there are 4 terminals, two enable the O/D and the other two would switch the Rev. lights.
P.

Interesting stuff. Will bear that in mind.

I think I agree with Chris. It is a pretty poor location for the switch. GT6 column switch is the way to go.

[Pat H]

I might be very wrong, but I suspect that a sticky thread in the Classics forum on PistonHeads is the best place.

The Car Club has already given me lots of help, but not everyone is a paid up member, and the resource would be more accessible here.

Incidentally, Chris, is your petrol cap the magnetic type?

[Pat H]

tus6 said:

One question for you Pat..... My heater matrix is blocked. Have tried to 'reverse flush' it to no avail! Can you tell me if the thing can be removed from the engine bay, or do you need a 'contortionist' working inside the car to hold a spanner on the nuts/bolts that are on the bulkhead. I cannot believe that TVR would have used 'trapped nuts' to make the job a 'one man' effort......

I hate to say it, but the heater box was the last thing I removed from the shell, after I had lifted if from the chassis.

You definitely needed to have someone on the inside of the bulkhead and there was very little clearance between the heater box and the curved chassis tube that runs over the gearbox, to the point where I even doubted whether I could have removed it with the car still on the chassis.

So I wish you lots of luck with that, if you haven't already sorted it.

As far as current progress is concerned, there isn't a lot to report. Still trawling eBay for minor parts. Have located source for magnetic petrol cap. Stripped and rebuilt rear lamp units with new seals etc. Generally just pottering until the chassis is ready.

To be honest, I've spent rather more time fettling this old thing and using it in the nice weather...

Edited by Pat H on Tuesday 11th July 14:51

[Pat H]

heightswitch said:

Mods.
Can we re-name this Pats taking a car to bits Thread.
pat its been a year old chum...When are we going to see some assembly pics

You rotten sod...

Mr T tells me that my chassis is ready to collect.

And Mr R is about to have his palm crossed with much saliva in exchange for a small pile of rusty metal bits (or unobtainable and priceless spares as he prefers to describe them).

And thereafter I shall twirl my spanners...

[Pat H]

Big step forward yesterday.

I can vouch for the quality of Ford roof bars...



I asked Keith to fabricate a roll over bar. At this stage I am undecided whether or not to use it, but it seemed sensible to get it made with the chassis. Here it is loosely in the position it would occupy.



Beefy arrangement to suspend the diff. Reputedly a big improvement over the batwing.



Here are the two parts of the diff carrier.



Engine mounts and crossmember arrangement.

Edited by Pat H on Tuesday 11th July 15:00

[Pat H]

heightswitch said:

Did you speak to keith about piggyback mounts on the wishbones??

Nope.

I intend to keep the car reasonably standard, so fancy damper mountings would probably be wasted on me.

The new wishbones are considerably stronger than the old ones.

Keith made some slotted top rear wishbones, so that it will be easier to set the geometry.

I need to speak to him about the front bottom wishbones, as he hasn't welded on lugs for the anti roll bar. No doubt there is probably a good reason for this.

I was in the garage earlier having a play with the chassis and I am rather impressed.

He has drilled holes for the anti roll bar, steering rack, diff mountings, engine and gearbox mounts and bonnet hinge etc and everything lines up perfectly.

I need to decide on my radiator mounts, drill holes for the exhaust hanger and maybe a stud on the gearbox loop for the brake compensator. That aside, it looks ready for painting or powder coating.

I also loosely offered up the roll bar into the shell.

I was initially undecided, as I thought it might be a bit intrusive. But it seems to be a pretty neat arrangement.

The diagonal has a dogleg, to that it avoids the driver's left shoulder.

Amazingly, it also leaves enough room to slide the spare wheel through, which can then be stored centrally between the bracing struts.

Edited by Pat H on Tuesday 11th July 15:07

[Pat H]

RichB said:

Pat, how many times have you rolled a car? Are you intending to use this primarily as a track day car? To me it looks very obtrusive and unless you have a real issue with rolling a car I wouldn't fit it.

Fair point.

None of my motorbikes has had a roll cage and I have managed to survive 35 years of riding bikes without being killed by death. So I am certainly not obsessed with such things.

But I would definitely like to do a few trackdays, maybe hillclimbs etc.

The way that Keith has fabricated it means that it can be fitted and removed with the body and even the rear screen in place.

So it seems daft not to fettle the shell so that it will fit. Then I have the option of whether or not it remains a fixture.

The only part of it that I am really not sure about is the main diagonal. The rest of it is mostly out of the way.

[Pat H]

Pleased to report that my garage is filling up with bits of car again.

It was pretty depressing after I had taken the old chassis to Keith, because there really wasn't a great deal of Tuscan left.

But now parts are accumulating nicely.

This is the latest addition.



It carries the following numbers, so if there are any Ford geeks out there who can tell me what it was originally fitted to, I would be most grateful:

7J 13
HYF
TD 07***

I think that the TD prefix makes it a 1977 lump, but other than that, I know nothing about it.

I am hoping to resurrect the original engine block, but as it has been standing for the thick end of 40 years, it may be little more than scrap.

This motor was running well when before it came out of a Landie, so it should provide a pair of serviceable heads and bottom end if nothing else.

Edited by Pat H on Tuesday 11th July 15:11

[Pat H]

tus6 said:

Hi Pat

Any more progress to report?

I am sure I am not alone in viewing your project at least once a week....

Body temporarily on chassis so that mounting holes can be drilled.

Need to do a bit of fibreglass chopping to the floor so that the roll over bar can be fitted.

Chassis booked in to be powder coated as soon as I've finished pratting around.

Next decision is whether to have it coated in original black, pale grey (my favourite colour for a tubular chassis) or pink.

[Pat H]

IanMcKean said:

Did you consider having an M chassis for your Tuscan, or would you if it had occurred to you?

The possibility of using an M chassis fleetingly crossed my mind, but was swiftly rejected.

First off, I want the car to be reasonably original, for all the obvious reasons.

Secondly, I think that an M chassis under the Vixen/Tuscan shells look a bit odd.

Thirdly, Keith was able to incorporate an improved location for the diff, which removes one weak point.

Fourthly, Keith has made the new chassis from thicker tube and it has beefier wishbone and damper mounts. So the whole thing is stronger anyway.

Someone more knowledgeable will doubtless correct me, but I think that the main advantage to an M Series chassis would be the much better crash performance, in that you are far less likely to be impaled by the steering column in a frontal accident.





I was hoping to have the chassis coated by now, but I am having a bit of a play with the roll over bar arrangement.

I have carried out the necessary chopping of the shell so that the roll bar can be mounted on the chassis, but the way that it currently sits means that I wouldn't be able to position the driver's seat as far back as I would like.

So I am going to shorten the height of it so that the legs can be fitted right at the very back of the footwell. This will require a little chopping and welding.

Once that is sorted and the appropriate holes drilled, then it will be off to the powder coaters.

[Pat H]

Progress has been pretty slow in the run up to Xmas, but I've been fettling the roll hoop and bracing struts.

Keith's roll over bar fitted perfectly, but the legs of the main hoop landed several inches forward in the footwells.

The aim was to get the legs of the hoop as far back as possible, so that they interfere less with the seating position, particularly on the driver's side.

So I've shortened the legs so that it can fit in a more upright position. This also meant that the captive nuts on the cleats that clamp to the brace needed removing and that the rear bulkhead on the passenger side needed cutting back so that the diagonal will fit a couple of inches further back.

Just need to weld the feet back on the bottom of the roll hoop, then all the ironmongery is ready for powder coating.

Edited by Pat H on Tuesday 11th July 15:13

[Pat H]

Been fiddling with the roll bar some more.

After a great deal of consideration, I decided to remove the diagonal brace.

The diagonal was probably overkill for a car which will do the odd trackday, but will rarely be used in anger.

The result is that the whole thing is much more discreet. The main legs tuck right out of the way in the back corners of the footwell. The seats sit further back and there is less ironmongery to clatter your head on. Rear visibility will also be improved.

I will also be able to fill the hole in the passenger side rear tunnel that I chopped out to clear the diagonal.

Big thanks to Keith for his kind offer to fettle a solution for me, but as this issue was entirely of my making, I thought I ought to solve it myself.

At the risk of repeating myself, the original arrangement fabricated by Keith fitted perfectly. The only reason I have been pratting about with it was to maximise leg room.

Edited by Pat H on Tuesday 11th July 15:17