Took the risk & rescued a Tuscan...

[RyanBigJohnson]

Greetings to you all. I am both new to this forum and TVR ownership so please, be gentle with me! A friend of mine who comes in to my work told me about a year & half sgo about his brothers Tuscan, which had been sat, not moved outside covered in s**t since spring 2007. Having asked him about every week since & getting the reply 'it's still sat there', I finally managed to get him to part with it about 3 months ago for a measly £5k. It was, however, full of mould with grass growing in it.

The guy had it for 6+ years and did about 350 miles when the clutch master cylinder went, but because he had too much money & had other cars, he left it to rot. I nearly cried when i first saw it, & couldn't let it sit there & die, so I bought it.

I picked it up on a trailor & dropped it straight off at the garage I use, & it's still there! Since taking it in, it's had the following;

- Clutch master cylinder
- Clutch slave cylinder
- 2 front shocks
- Throttle cable
- Brake cables
- Rear calipers stripped & re-built
- Discs skimmed
- Pads re-faced
- Wiper arms
- DEEP clean in & out
- New gear stick & hand-brake gators
- Cable attachment/bracket on pedal box
- Battery
- 2 x oil & filter change
- Wiper blades
- Coolant change
- Rear screen
- Near side window module

Having had all this done, it developed a misfire which turned out to be an exhaust valve issue. Now a couple of electrical issues then mot time.

The price for all this work.... £2k. Bargain!

[Blues]

Congratulations, its always good to hear of another one saved. What year is it?
I hesitate to ask... but, how is the chassis? I hate to think what 6 years in the wilderness would do to all that metalwork.

[NTEL]

Well done that man. Sounds like a good deal to me

The only thing that would make me worry is "the exhaust valve issue". What was the issue and what did the garage do to resolve it?

Dave

Oh, and Welcome to the mad house!

[Nicholas Blair]

Before and after pics?

Cheers
Nick

[RyanBigJohnson]

Thanks chaps, I'm very happy to be 'one of you'! Firstly though I'm not anything like educated when it comes to engine issues, so just humour me if I sound like an amature.

As for the underneath, it's virtually spotless. I do have some pictures i'll upload. The garage I use are actualy a VAG specialist, 2 guys who are both Audi master techs & do all work required on my Leon Cupra R. Although they knew nothing about TVR's, they are VERY, VERY good and have quite a few friends who know them inside out (Coachless Horses in Harrogate for 1 who are TVR specialists). Frankly they are the only guys I trust & knew they wouldn't rip me off! The valve issue they thought was a burnt exhaust valve as when they pressurised the dodgy cylinder you could here air coming through the exhaust, & I was prepared for an engine removal to sort it out. But they got someone to check it out before ripping it to bits, a guy who used to work for Z-cars & once put a skyline engine in a Tuscan (scary?!?!?!), who came up with the idea that something or other was sticking & eventually resulted in having a shim skimmed(?).

They put it back together the other day and the misfire has cured, although the pressure reading is slightly low on that cylinder it is running fine at the mo. All this may make no sense at all coming from me but whatever it was it worked!

Still not driven it though, fingers crossed for next week!!

[RyanBigJohnson]

Oh yeah, it's 2000 on a 'W'...

[kcc]

Is that the car on your profile ?.

[Toady1]

Cor u lucky git! I'd love to find something like that!!!

[alex_gray255]

Good stuff! Great to see some pics even if in a filthy state

[so called]

Well done for saving her and welcome.

Do you have an Owners Handbook ?
I have one from my first Tuscan, also a W reg. Unfortunately I killed it.
I offered the hand book to someone else about two years ago but it took me that long to find it I lost his e-mail so its I still have it.
Its yours if you need it.

Careful driving,
Tony.

[RyanBigJohnson]

The day I picked it up...

[RyanBigJohnson]

[RyanBigJohnson]

[RyanBigJohnson]

[url][img]

[RyanBigJohnson]

and in the workshop and since cleaning...

[Mark.]

Good for you. Great to see one rescued.

That chassis doesn't look too bad from what can be seen.

[RyanBigJohnson]

[RyanBigJohnson]

Thanks chaps, needed a bit of reassurance that I'd done the right thing! Just hope nothing else goes wrong...
Tony, that's extremely kind of you, I do have a book but it's got pretty bad water damage. You sure you just want to give it away??

[Laser Sag]

Good on you for rescueing it, would suggest having one of the TVR specialists just check the engine out as a failure can result in a bill that may equal your expenditure on it so far.
Looks to have cleaned up well, hope you enjoy it.

[Cooper Green]

RyanBigJohnson said:

Greetings to you all. I am both new to this forum and TVR ownership so please, be gentle with me! A friend of mine who comes in to my work told me about a year & half sgo about his brothers Tuscan, which had been sat, not moved outside covered in s**t since spring 2007. Having asked him about every week since & getting the reply 'it's still sat there', I finally managed to get him to part with it about 3 months ago for a measly £5k. It was, however, full of mould with grass growing in it.

The guy had it for 6+ years and did about 350 miles when the clutch master cylinder went, but because he had too much money & had other cars, he left it to rot. I nearly cried when i first saw it, & couldn't let it sit there & die, so I bought it.

I picked it up on a trailor & dropped it straight off at the garage I use, & it's still there! Since taking it in, it's had the following;

- Clutch master cylinder
- Clutch slave cylinder
- 2 front shocks
- Throttle cable
- Brake cables
- Rear calipers stripped & re-built
- Discs skimmed
- Pads re-faced
- Wiper arms
- DEEP clean in & out
- New gear stick & hand-brake gators
- Cable attachment/bracket on pedal box
- Battery
- 2 x oil & filter change
- Wiper blades
- Coolant change
- Rear screen
- Near side window module

Having had all this done, it developed a misfire which turned out to be an exhaust valve issue. Now a couple of electrical issues then mot time.

The price for all this work.... £2k. Bargain!

All that for 2k, please, please let me know the name of these charity workers, four skimmed discs cost me £80 a corner, clutch assembly and fitting around £900. Shocks around £180 per corner, labour, detailing etc etc. Well done that man.