Chimaeras to Le Mans
Discussion
peaktorque said:
Yep, heading down on the 10th.
The car has been off the road for 15th months, MOT'ed last week, changed the oil, drove it to the pub, now it's in pieces in the garage awaiting the arrival of the new dizzy vac advance
The new diff bushes are going to have to wait......
Good luck with the dizzy repairs The car has been off the road for 15th months, MOT'ed last week, changed the oil, drove it to the pub, now it's in pieces in the garage awaiting the arrival of the new dizzy vac advance
The new diff bushes are going to have to wait......
I'm sure you'll get it sorted in time.
Pupp said:
I might need to change the clutch before the 11th 
Take a can of full fat Coke with you, any clutch slippage problems an you give it a good shake then spray the foaming sticky liquid through the bell housing inspection hole onto the clutch & flywheel face.It may just get you home.
Failing that you might want to conciser winding down the Booost a bit
Pupp said:
ChimpOnGas said:
Pupp said:
I might need to change the clutch before the 11th
Take a can of full fat Coke with you, any clutch slippage problems an you give it a good shake then spray the foaming sticky liquid through the bell housing inspection hole onto the clutch & flywheel face.It may just get you home.
Failing that you might want to conciser winding down the Booost a bit
I may have run out of gas on my £40 of fuel to Le Mans challenge, at which point I'll need you to go and get me a bag of LPG from the next service station
Wishing you a safe & reliable Le Mans trip Gary
?Pupp said:
Any of you regular invaders use the Sanef tags for the péage tolls? If so, how do you get on with their positioning and function in your Chim? I ask as I once had a GPS issue that needed a re-radiating antenna to fix due to the coated screen reflecting radio waves (apparently)
Hi Gary, I've had one for over three years and wouldn't go to France without it.At first I was concerned about positioning too so took to holding it up by hand as I approached the tolls, when I got sick of that I just stuck it to the rear view mirror and it worked a treat every time
In my experience you'll end up with a £60 toll bill for Le Mans and back and the SANEF billing system is very slick, you can check your individual charges online and they'll always send you a warning email well in advance to say they're going to direct debit you and for how much.
The SANEF Telepeage transponder is an essential bit of kit for any driving trip in France, especially in a RHD car with no passenger. Once you've used one you'll never go back to stopping to faff about with coins and cards at the tolls
My only word of warning is... if you're going in convoy with mates make sure they've also got a transponder. If you convoy with others that are paying in cash or card you'll soon get frustrated waiting for them the other side of the barrier
Overall the transponder is highly recommended, just make sure your whole gang has one
Pupp said:
Can you get there on £40 of fuel (doubt I'd get to Dover )?
I very much doubt it mate. )?But in true Top Gear challenge tradition the plan is to attempt the 381 driven miles from Hertfordshire to Arnage on one forty quid 65 litre LPG fill (driving at a steady 80 - 85).
To do that I need to average 26.66 mpg on LPG which is a very tall order even for 'Ol Gasbag'. Current estimates say I'll run out of gas and be forced to flick to petrol just 13 miles short of our destination.
But knowing me I'll very quickly get caught up in the whole Le Mans thing & end up giving it the beans as I swap places with my mate in his old Porker.
http://www.pistonheads.com/features/ph-features/re...
If I nail it (which I almost certainly will) the LPG range is more or less 300 miles dead, last year I was pulling a gas powered 140 when a blanket behind the seats decided to come free in the howling wind and covered my face
That was a trouser soiler I can tell you
Look out for the boys in blue chaps, the road to Le Mans is like a rolling British cash machine for them
Richard 858 said:
The very best of British luck to all of you making the trip (it'll be a good shake down for your turbo conversion Gary). I'm planning to make the more sedate pilgrimage to LM Classic again next year.
The Classic is by far my personal favorite, little or none of the mindless Le Mans hooligan chavs... & nothing beats the sight, sound & smell of a Cobra chasing a GT40 in the dark.Flames from their exhausts, disc brakes glowing red hot & the thunderous audio onslaught of the combined 14 litres & 16 cylinders fighting it out.
It doesn't get any better than that in my book, a truly epic and emotional atmosphere
oily mist said:
Out on the 23:15 Portsmouth to Le Havre on Wednesday. Looking forward to a nice cross-country drive down to Houx on Thursday morning - me in the Chim and mate in a Porky Carrera 4. Hot start worries resolved with a little help from Dave - the Le Mans jams hold no fear! See you there folks. Eric
'Ol Gasbag' swallows it all up yet again...
And that's without even touching all the ample additional storage space on the parcel shelf
I still dont think she'll quite make it all the way from Hertfordshire to Le Mans on one £40 fill of LPG but that's no problem as I'll probably just do the last 30 miles on petrol.
Same deal on the way back... fill up with cheap as chips Carrefour GPL in Le Mans, drive 350 miles home on £35 of French supermarket gas and cover the last 30 miles round the M25 to my house on petrol.
So just two fills and still 80 miles or more of petrol left in the tank when we arrive home, this is one cheap to run & very practical TVR
- 14.3 gallons of LPG
- 5.3 gallons of reserve petrol
- One palatial Coleman 5 man dome tent
- The Surrey Top foldy roof
- Tools
- Jack
- Emergency spares & sundries
And that's without even touching all the ample additional storage space on the parcel shelf
I still dont think she'll quite make it all the way from Hertfordshire to Le Mans on one £40 fill of LPG but that's no problem as I'll probably just do the last 30 miles on petrol.
Same deal on the way back... fill up with cheap as chips Carrefour GPL in Le Mans, drive 350 miles home on £35 of French supermarket gas and cover the last 30 miles round the M25 to my house on petrol.
So just two fills and still 80 miles or more of petrol left in the tank when we arrive home, this is one cheap to run & very practical TVR
Andav469 said:
ChimpOnGas said:
Not long now boys 
The car is fuelled up and ready to go 
Regular unleaded at the same station is £1.15p so their LPG is better than half price fuel.
Here's how the cost equivalent looks in this case:
£1.15 / £0.55 = 2.090 X 24mpg = 50.18mpg petrol cost equivalent fuel economy from a TVR
Hertfordshire to Le Mans and home again for less than £100 in fuel, cheap as chips and more money left for
Got back late last night and 'Ol Gasbag' did me proud again, covered 798 miles in total much of it at a fair old lick but fortunately no fines and all for just £95 of LPG
That's a petrol cost equivalent of 43.93mpg, not a bad average fuel economy over the full 798 miles when much of it was completed close to or over 100mph.
Somehow our gang found ourselves walking the track at 4.00am on Saturday morning on our way back from the driver's parade party, before we were politely ejected by the officials at the pits.
I think we were lucky not to have our weekend passes confiscated, yet another fantastic hedonistic trip to Le Mans
Let the recovery begin
That's a petrol cost equivalent of 43.93mpg, not a bad average fuel economy over the full 798 miles when much of it was completed close to or over 100mph.
Somehow our gang found ourselves walking the track at 4.00am on Saturday morning on our way back from the driver's parade party, before we were politely ejected by the officials at the pits.
I think we were lucky not to have our weekend passes confiscated, yet another fantastic hedonistic trip to Le Mans
Let the recovery begin
Pupp said:
Yep, fine trip for me too thanks - Home yesterday evening. No issues with the car and happy to say the oil and coolant temps were spot on, even through the worst that Rouen could offer on way back. Unfortunately two cars in our group came back on low-loaders, both with non-charging issue (a C6 Corvette and a lovely Porsche 912 - hope you get rolling again soon guys). Also one of ours joined the 750 Euro club and did well to hang onto his car 
Glad all went well Gary, but sorry to hear your mates had issues.Shame I never saw you on the road as we had a 912 in our gang too (all be it with a 3 litre six pot in it's tail).
All in all another great Le Mans adventure
ph1l5 said:
My car will hopefully be back in Blighty in 3 weeks. It seems to have an immobiliser issue I just had a phone call to say it has been misplaced (lost) somewhere in Le Mans ??
Oh no, sorry to hear that Shame I didn't know, it's an easy bypass job (when you know how) that would have definitely got you home.
Hope you get the car back & sorted soon.
Dave.
Pupp said:
ChimpOnGas said:
ph1l5 said:
My car will hopefully be back in Blighty in 3 weeks. It seems to have an immobiliser issue I just had a phone call to say it has been misplaced (lost) somewhere in Le Mans ??
Shame I didn't know, it's an easy bypass job (when you know how) that would have definitely got you home.Hindsight is always a wonderful thing but couldn't you have just run a switched live to the ECU and a wire from the the sprung part of the ignition key to the starter motor solenoid?
Last year I had the ECU relay die on me at a services just outside Rouen, after tracing the fault and discovering I had no spare relays on board I just bypassed the relay through the first position on the ignition switch to turn the ECU on, then added a small separate switch to turn the fuel pump on for safety.
I did all the above including the fault tracing in under two hours at the services with my head up my arsh in the pishing rain, fortunately I had my mate with me to keep the oh so helpful MG enthusiasts at bay who mostly said helpful things like...
"Arr, TVR, they are notoriously unreliable, have you checked the fuse?"
I very nearly t
tted one of them I'd previously bypassed the immobiliser on the starter solenoid circuit so that wasn't an issue in this case, when I got home I just junked all my temporary wiring and fitted a new relay (& put a spare in the boot).
Meta or otherwise, getting Phil Kidby's TVR running should'nt have been too difficult, next time a fellow TVR driver is in trouble should try a "HELP I'VE BROKEN DOWN IN LE MANS" post on here.
Being incurably TVR sad I do check the forum from time to time while I'm there, and if I'm not too pissed up already I'll always try & help.
Hope you get her back & sorted soon Phil
Pupp said:
ChimpOnGas said:
Why would the make of immobiliser make any difference? the fundamental function & bypassing principles are going to be the same.
Fundamentals maybe, specifics not as it was an early car with a different wiring arrangement and alarm to mine; and I wasn't working on it but did lend some kit. Like you say, you weren't there to fix it with a can of Coke 
Simple cars like our TVRs only need a few elements to start & run, the rest is just a process of logical testing & fault finding before a temporary field fix can be made.
I really wish I'd known about the ph1l5 issue as commonly all a Chim/Griff needs in this situation is 12v to the ECU and 12v to the starter solenoid. And in my experience they're really not at all fussy where those 12 volts come from
I'm genuinely saddened that ph1l5 didn't get his TVR started, and Ok I wasn't there but then again nobody came to find me
Perhaps next time a Tanoy announcement at the 1st Tickets camp in Bleu is worth a shot?
"calling any TVR nerd with a few spanners"
TBH I always carry six foot of twin core, some crimp connectors and a test meter.
Ironically I did meet Andav469 in the line at Calais on the morning of the 11th after gas blasting his yellow peril on the A2 45 minutes before. He explained his immobiliser had started to play up intermittently a few days before so I gave him my roaming mobile number.
I did offer to sort it out when we got the Le Mans but I never got the call from him so all must have been Ok in the end?
Surely simplicity is one of the reasons we run these old dinosaurs, and given their questionable reliability I'd say it's every TVR owner's duty to get themselves some super basic "get me started when it fails" training.
Equally if you're taking an old TVR overseas, to accompany that knowledge a basic tool kit plus a spares & consumables bag with a focus on wiring sundries is a must. And to ensure you locate the issue quickly and prove without any doubt what it is, a small multimeter is absolutely essential
As it happens I did get my spanners out at Le Mans this year, just not as much as last year at the Classic where I fixed the brakes on the 912/6, pooed up the Sunbeam Alpine's heavily damaged rad with my Miliput epoxy putty, solved my relay issue at the Rouen services, and a few other little jobs on "Team Breakdown's" fleet of old jalopies
This year all I had to do was tighten the belt on the 912/6 which I noticed was so slack it was about to make a bid for freedom, it's a typical stupid Beetle shimmed pulley arrangement so that potentially catastrophic overheating incident was overcome in no time.
Can you believe my mate with that Porsche wasn't even carrying any oil, and yes you guessed it a quick check revealed it was on the minimum mark
..... Once again in typical air cooled fashion it had consumed well over a litre in just under 500 miles.Note to self..... get my mate to replace my oil stock in the TVR
I accept oily bits aren't everyone's cup of tea, but surely if you choose to run an old classic or a quirky car like a TVR you should learn a few basic things about fixing & maintaining the mechanical & electrical elements of your car
Anything less is a bit like playing Russian Roulette!
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