Craig's TVR T350 - New addition to the fleet!
Discussion
I’ve mentioned to a few that when I got the car, first day of ownership wasn’t as smooth as it could have been, so here’s the story;
When bringing the car home I noticed the water temperatures were a little erratic at times and reading a little on the high side. Previous background info on the car brought up the fact it might need a new water temp sensor which feeds the gauges, however I wasn’t convinced.
First port of call was to bleed the cooling system, and although there was a minor bit of success this had not cured the issue. After an extended test drive I noticed a faint wisp of coolant under the bonnet.
Now this can be common... not just because it’s a TVR, but because the cooling system doesn’t have an expansion bottle so in higher temperatures if someone’s slightly overfilled the coolant, the coolant rises up the tower (where the blue cap is in the picture below) through expansion then it can self level itself all over the engine and floor, great design!!
I wanted to investigate further and ran a series of temperature gauges both infra-red and physical, this showed that the water temperature in the block and heater matrix was higher than that leading to the radiator which seemed strange. After a short while, and lots of panic that I’d have shagged the engine by running it hot, I decided to whip the thermostat out and test it in a pan of hot water.
Sure enough, the thermostat was goosed and wasn’t opening so I fitted the housing back onto the car and filled the cooling system with boggo water to see how its temperature management was this time round. Perfect, the car maintained temperature there was no fluctuations in the gauge and the fans were clicking in and out at the right temps. A new thermostat was ordered at a great cost of £18.44, £8.50 of which was postage. Upon its arrival it was promptly fitted and the cooling system was flushed through and re-filled with Silkolene Pro-Cool.
Now the car was running fine it was time for my first real drive, I took it to Specialist Cars of Malton’s Breakfast Meeting which raises money in aid of the North Yorkshire Air Ambulance. The car ran fine all the way there, and back... it’s a real hoot to drive and gives massive smiles both when on it or just cruising at steady speeds, here’s a few more pictures of the car after the drive out sat waiting to go back in the garage!
When bringing the car home I noticed the water temperatures were a little erratic at times and reading a little on the high side. Previous background info on the car brought up the fact it might need a new water temp sensor which feeds the gauges, however I wasn’t convinced.
First port of call was to bleed the cooling system, and although there was a minor bit of success this had not cured the issue. After an extended test drive I noticed a faint wisp of coolant under the bonnet.
Now this can be common... not just because it’s a TVR, but because the cooling system doesn’t have an expansion bottle so in higher temperatures if someone’s slightly overfilled the coolant, the coolant rises up the tower (where the blue cap is in the picture below) through expansion then it can self level itself all over the engine and floor, great design!!
I wanted to investigate further and ran a series of temperature gauges both infra-red and physical, this showed that the water temperature in the block and heater matrix was higher than that leading to the radiator which seemed strange. After a short while, and lots of panic that I’d have shagged the engine by running it hot, I decided to whip the thermostat out and test it in a pan of hot water.
Sure enough, the thermostat was goosed and wasn’t opening so I fitted the housing back onto the car and filled the cooling system with boggo water to see how its temperature management was this time round. Perfect, the car maintained temperature there was no fluctuations in the gauge and the fans were clicking in and out at the right temps. A new thermostat was ordered at a great cost of £18.44, £8.50 of which was postage. Upon its arrival it was promptly fitted and the cooling system was flushed through and re-filled with Silkolene Pro-Cool.
Now the car was running fine it was time for my first real drive, I took it to Specialist Cars of Malton’s Breakfast Meeting which raises money in aid of the North Yorkshire Air Ambulance. The car ran fine all the way there, and back... it’s a real hoot to drive and gives massive smiles both when on it or just cruising at steady speeds, here’s a few more pictures of the car after the drive out sat waiting to go back in the garage!
So you bought Jons car, take care of it, it's a very good example! Hope to still hear and see it around the roads of Middlesbrough!Certainly is Jon's old car... long story how I came about it, but at first it wasn't the most direct route. It was for sale on SOR at TVR-Mads where I first viewed it, but it was only on the way home from the viewing a mutual friend put us both in touch and the rest is history.
Also turns out I was interested in his F355 a few years ago.
Also turns out I was interested in his F355 a few years ago.
Update, well kind of.... more like an ‘ooh it’s looking good, get a snap’ picture update as if I’m honest I’ve not had much else to photo on it yet and not much work has been carried out since the last update.
Actually tell a lie, the boot solenoid, stereo and 12V stopped working... simple fuse job (Number #11, 20A fuse to be precise) took all of 30 seconds to fix and if I’m honest I think a dodgy Chinese phone charger may have been the cause, my fault!
Anyway, heres a few pictures of kinky Trev during a play date with a German fraulein!
Actually tell a lie, the boot solenoid, stereo and 12V stopped working... simple fuse job (Number #11, 20A fuse to be precise) took all of 30 seconds to fix and if I’m honest I think a dodgy Chinese phone charger may have been the cause, my fault!
Anyway, heres a few pictures of kinky Trev during a play date with a German fraulein!
Small update, more on my thoughts rather than physical progress; I’ve been pondering over the handling of this car its chassis has huge potential but as it stands there’s a few things amiss. As the weather hasn’t been ideal I’ve done more reading than driving and have come to the conclusion the car is going to need a few things to get it to handle as I want it too.
First up, bump steer as it stands the car is a little un-easy on bumpy B-roads so going to take a look at this and if needs be I’ll space (or move) the steering rack accordingly to try and minimise the amount of bump steer the car has, this should help on the rough country roads.
Next is the spring rates, its currently running 400F/325R I’m thinking of running the front springs on the back and ordering a set of 450’s for the fronts, this will give me 450F/400R and is one set up change that has been advised and after a few minutes of research seems that is actually used by a few T350 owners.
Once all this is done, I can play around more trying to find the ideal damping set-up for my needs, also further tweaks will be made to the rear anti-roll bar if needs be too, I’ve been given the heads up the ideal modification for this too.
On a different note; Silver or Anthracite? I’ve started to add my own little personal touches to the car but can’t decide whether to leave the wheel colour be or change it.
First up, bump steer as it stands the car is a little un-easy on bumpy B-roads so going to take a look at this and if needs be I’ll space (or move) the steering rack accordingly to try and minimise the amount of bump steer the car has, this should help on the rough country roads.
Next is the spring rates, its currently running 400F/325R I’m thinking of running the front springs on the back and ordering a set of 450’s for the fronts, this will give me 450F/400R and is one set up change that has been advised and after a few minutes of research seems that is actually used by a few T350 owners.
Once all this is done, I can play around more trying to find the ideal damping set-up for my needs, also further tweaks will be made to the rear anti-roll bar if needs be too, I’ve been given the heads up the ideal modification for this too.
On a different note; Silver or Anthracite? I’ve started to add my own little personal touches to the car but can’t decide whether to leave the wheel colour be or change it.
I'm kinda in agreement hence the photoshop attempt (poor one mind) a guy down the road has a T350 with the optional anthracite wheels may see about putting his on mine to see what I think. I think with the light interior the darker wheels don't suit, the silver seems to stand out more but I don't know if that's just because its a photo where as the editing skills have took the shine out of the dark ones.
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