Rough S Series wanted for MCC trials!!

[Duncan Pittaway]

New to the Pistonheads forum, a friend of mine who's an old hand at the forum game said I should post my ideas and see if anyone could help! I'm looking for an early neglected S Series to restore/rebuild as an MCC trials car. Maybe not the most obvious choice of car for off road motorsport, I can hear you cry, but It would be great to prove TVR's long history of performance and reliability (!!) on these tough, gruelling motorsport events. Hopefully nothing too rotten, but moldy interior trim, tired bodywork, blown engine, etc wouldn't be a problem. The work is going to involve body off chassis and suspension work in any event. I know that there are always a variey of cars available, but it just seems a shame to start with something up and together on the road, when there's likely to be a tired and neglected S Series forlornly sitting in someone's shed, eager to be rejuvenated for some challenging off road sport!!

I seem to remember a TVR Taimar rally car back in the late 70's.?? Anyway, if anyone has any ideas about the whereabouts of a suitable S Series, or the weak points of the chassis likely to need strengthening ... I'd be delighted to hear.

Duncan

[Gerald-TVR]

Duncan Pittaway said:

reliability (!!)

No problem with that, the S is a very reliable car!!!!!!!!!

[LamboV8S]

Duncan,

I'm fairly new on here myself, rebuilding a V8S but I think it's safe to say an S that has not been looked after is going to be pretty bad in the chassis department, mine is, it's the kind of project the Army would call a 'Character builder' BUT! If you are going to pull it apart and mod it heavy, welding a bit of tube in should be no worries?

LamboV8S

[Barkychoc]

Would it be seriously out of order to suggest our late friends car?
He was never interested in polishing, just driving, and there's a few gel cracks here and there so it would hardly be described as a garage queen.
(Ken would not object to this description I discussed it with him before).

Would Ken like this use of his car though - a tough one but I think he just might - as long as it was being used and abused I don't think he would mind.

I apologise in advance if this upsets anyone.

[phillpot]

Didn't know Ken personnally but from what I've heard and read I think he'd happy to see the car being used even if that use is a little "off beat".

No idea what sort of money you're looking to spend Duncan but this is the ad.

wether you go for this car or another keep us informed, always interesting to hear of an S being used for something a bit different.

........ now who was it that was going to take one Classic Rallying ?

[mep12345]

What about Ken's Purple one, or has that gone already?

[Barkychoc]

phillpot said:

........ now who was it that was going to take one Classic Rallying ?

Magpies

[tinks v8S]

the purple could have sold 20 times over, had to let a few down
i think Ken would approve ,

[magpies]

I'm STILL in the process of building it to rally regs - fingers crossed
- will?? be ready next year

[DMP555]

Everyone..... many thanks for a fantastic response. I've been offered an S which unfortunately is a bit too nice to modify for trialing, but have been told to ask the forum about "Ken's S" ?? Does that mean anything to anyone?

Off tomorrow to look at an S2 for £2,250 which, although needs a small amount of work, I think it will again be a bit too nice for what I want. It seems that really nice cars are worth £4,000ish, but if they only need a small amount of work they quickly drop to £2,000ish. A nice one that had been off the road for a few years sold on Ebay a few weeks ago for £1,500.... Seems like an awful lot of british sports car for the money... but I suppose that all those little jobs can soon add up to a large bill.

Thanks again for your help.

Duncan

[DMP555]

Sorry guys.... first rule of forums is read ALL the earlier replies before posting another response!!

Thanks for the link to Ken's S... I'll have a look.

In the meantime, I'll let you know when I find something and whether I can make it good enough to win a "Gold"!!

Regards

Duncan

Should I be looking for a 2.8 or a 2.9?

[tozerman]

Duncan Pittaway said:

I'm looking for an early neglected S Series to restore/rebuild as an MCC trials car. Maybe not the most obvious choice of car for off road motorsport

Your biggest problem would be ground clearance,or lack of it !
Cheers.....Tony..

[heebeegeetee]

tozerman said:

Duncan Pittaway said:

I'm looking for an early neglected S Series to restore/rebuild as an MCC trials car. Maybe not the most obvious choice of car for off road motorsport

Your biggest problem would be ground clearance,or lack of it !
Cheers.....Tony..

My thoughts too. How are you going to address this? Won't you need to completely reroute the exhausts?

[Roy C]

heebeegeetee said:

tozerman said:

Duncan Pittaway said:

I'm looking for an early neglected S Series to restore/rebuild as an MCC trials car. Maybe not the most obvious choice of car for off road motorsport

Your biggest problem would be ground clearance,or lack of it !
Cheers.....Tony..

My thoughts too. How are you going to address this? Won't you need to completely reroute the exhausts?

You will need a very high ride-height compared to the exhaust-scraping standard.

[DMP555]

I can't say that I've a solution to all of the potential problems yet, but have converted two other trials cars before, and the exhaust is always a problem. Ground clearance shouldn't be too difficult with the S Series because the Sierra/Granada diff doesn't have bits hanging down like the Jag diff and assuming I can get the CV joints to cope with the angle, can jack up the car with different coilovers. Might do something funny with the rear wheel camber, but nothing a big MIG couldn't sort out!! Up front... very much the same, and the flat tubular chassis lends itself well to a complete skid plate. That only leaves the exhaust....?? I'm sure I'll find an answer!!

If Porsche managed to turn their ground hugging 911 into a tall safari rally winner.... why not an S Series??

Thanks again for everyone's help... The goal is the Lands End trial at Easter... I'll keep everyone informed of what i manage to buy and, if anyone's interested, post a pic of the end result!!

[CNHSS1]

the autograss boys use high angle delfelction CVs in place of stock Ford versions, think Berrsiford have them on their site and shows the angle comparisons

[davepen]

DMP555 said:

exhaust is always a problem. .... diff doesn't have bits hanging down

On the standard S exhaust the manifolds are reversed and the down pipe goes forward, then down under the engine. Then, just behind the front wheels there are two C clamps which hit speed bumps, the standard silencer unit is then mounted below the chassis, and goes under the diff and the tail pipe hits the road on bumps. The V8S system may be better. I'd be considering a system with the silencers down the side of the car, like an AC cobra, or a GN

[tinks v8S]

if i was you ,i would go and buy Kens s and do what you are looking to do
i think ken would have loved to see his S like what you want to do to it
ken loved messing also get you a good deal

[TurboTony]

This would make a great article for TVRCC 'Sprint' magazine. The build and the finished result would be a change from normal TVR stories. It would also underline the individual nature of S owners!

Cheers
Tony

[DMP555]

I had a look at an '89 S2 tonight...55k miles, nice condition, usual bit of chassis mold at the front but nothing serious, everything worked, apart from the dodgy electric windows (standard apparently?), owner's hoping to get £2,100-£2,200 currently on Ebay at £1650 but not due to finish for another couple of days.

Found a solution to the exhaust problem and am all set to go... All I need now is to find a car!

I like Davepen's "GN" reference... obviously a man of good taste... I'm off to the Lakeland trial this weekend in a GN so maybe I should call in to see Ken's car that's been mentioned so much, which I think is in Lancashire.

Not sure TVRCC would want an article advocating what some might see as "vandalism"in the search for trials glory. After all I'm not sure what 7 inches of ground clearance is going to do to the legendary S Series handing!!But would be delighted to pen something together if you think it would provide some amusement.

Thanks again for a fantastic response to my maiden voyage into the cyber forum world (it's quite addictive in a funny sort of way!) and especially the advice about the uber drive shaft CV joints..!

I'll let you guys know when I've found the right car..

Duncan