TVR Wedges
Tech Tips

Home
TVR News
Wedges
Models
Tasmin/280
350
SE
SEAC
Specials
Buying
Tech Tips
Modifications
Readers Cars
390SE
400SE
500SE

TVR Gold Portfolio, 1959-86

 

This information has been gathered from owners, and as such is correct to the best of our knowledge.

Question

Response(s)

My right hand side pop up light has lost one of it's pivitol bolts and consequently the light won't stay up fully. Any advice on how to get at the unit in order to repair it? "If you can get the light ot pop-up in the first place you're half way there! Switch the headlights on to get them up. Disconnect the battery (or remove the fuses) so that they go out but stay up. Now you can get at the front of the headlight, and there you'll find several self-tapping screws which secure the headlight into its pod. Remove these (you'll probably need some WD40 and a big screwdriver), and then you can get the headlight out. It has a connector so it can be completely removed, and now you can get eat the inside of the pod. If your'e lucky the loose bolt will ce floating around inside, if not you'll need a new one. I think they're M8. You can then put the bolt in from inside the pod while you waggle it around slightly to get the alignment.

There should be a rubber spacer between the pod and the well in the body. If this is missing you need an ordinary plumber's tap washer which you have drilled out to 8mm, and this can be wiggled down into the gap and then the bolt put through it. Tighten the bolt with a small socket set, and re-assemble the whole thing.It's a bit of a fiddle but not too difficult.

Don't forget to wire the bolt in place to stop it coming out again. There should be a small hole in the pod next to the bolt for this."

I'd like to know where the bottom radiator hose on the 2.8 Tasmin comes from (apparently it's not a standard Ford part).

"The bottom and top hoses tend to be TVR specials because the radiator is that bit further away from the engine I have used the universal hose (stuff that is corrigated and flexible) to make the joint. The only problem with this stuff is that it is a bit too flexible on long straight runs. On my Vixen I used a piece of scaffolding pipe for the long run and a piece of the flexible stuff at each end.

Alternatively, Demon Tweeks and such like do a selection of hoses which added to the appropriate pieces of piping can allow you to build your own. Failing that, it is find a friendly motor factor and the old "I want one of these" trick as you put the offending item on the counter."

Where can I get replacement seats from? "Tasmin seats were marketed under the brand name CAMBRO, which is a semi-acronym of Callow and Maddox Brothers (Coventry). Unfortunately they disbanded their special products division some time ago, and we have no idea what might have happened to the seat cover patterns.

Anyway, C & M churn out seats by the thousand for the likes of Rover, and when I turned a Metro seat and a Tasmin seat over,I found that the construction of both is identical, although they're different sizes.

In the USA we usually replace the Tasmin/280i seats with Pontiac Fiero seats. They are very nice seats, with good support, speakers in the headrests, and they fit the narrow confines of the TVR interior. We can usually find them for $40-$100 each. Probably won't help you, but they sure are comfortable seats."