Does the reliability/specialist parts worry you?
Discussion
I viewed an S today.
S3, 102000 miles, bright red, good condition tan interior, nice paintwork save one or two scratches and star crack on the bonnet, chassis not too bad - I only saw the outriggers and they had some surface rust but seemed solid, it's had tones of work done with it (reconditioned rad, new steering rack, clutch,) and then the guy begins to mention where all these bits come from. The rad is off a...a... cor i've forgoton, the steering rack is off a chevette but must be sent to TVR to be altered before fitting.
I understand that most of you view these cars as quite reliable yet this chap spend thousands on this car and he works for a garage and thus receives massive discount on labor, and I also understand that surly since all this has been done, and this S is a good buy. How much do you spend on keeping your car on the road? I have a TR7 and cor I know they require constant attention and it's just not me, I don't really enjoy working on cars, well not THAT much. Your thoughts?
S3, 102000 miles, bright red, good condition tan interior, nice paintwork save one or two scratches and star crack on the bonnet, chassis not too bad - I only saw the outriggers and they had some surface rust but seemed solid, it's had tones of work done with it (reconditioned rad, new steering rack, clutch,) and then the guy begins to mention where all these bits come from. The rad is off a...a... cor i've forgoton, the steering rack is off a chevette but must be sent to TVR to be altered before fitting.
I understand that most of you view these cars as quite reliable yet this chap spend thousands on this car and he works for a garage and thus receives massive discount on labor, and I also understand that surly since all this has been done, and this S is a good buy. How much do you spend on keeping your car on the road? I have a TR7 and cor I know they require constant attention and it's just not me, I don't really enjoy working on cars, well not THAT much. Your thoughts?
Any decent steering rack reconditioner will rebuild it for around the £100 mark.
The reliability issues are a myth in my view - any car thats 15 years plus old will have issues if its not looked after properly.
Specialist parts - which ones exactly?
The thing I love about the S is everything is available or can be acquired with a bit of improvisation.
By the way the steering rack is a chevette rack with ford track rods - so all parts are available.
Original indicator lenses are no longer easy to find - again there's now a few very cheap alternatives.
Mechanicals are all Ford or Rover V8, lots of availability.
Trim, seats etc all have some solution - chimeara or griff seats fit, plus a few other options.
BUY A CAR!
You'll love it!
Chris
The reliability issues are a myth in my view - any car thats 15 years plus old will have issues if its not looked after properly.
Specialist parts - which ones exactly?
The thing I love about the S is everything is available or can be acquired with a bit of improvisation.
By the way the steering rack is a chevette rack with ford track rods - so all parts are available.
Original indicator lenses are no longer easy to find - again there's now a few very cheap alternatives.
Mechanicals are all Ford or Rover V8, lots of availability.
Trim, seats etc all have some solution - chimeara or griff seats fit, plus a few other options.
BUY A CAR!
You'll love it!
Chris
Thats an impossible question - and I have mine totally in bits for a refurb so I'm the wrong man to ask!
Honestly the bits are dirt cheap if you have a keen eye - Ketvrin and I had a walk round the autojumble at Newark today - he found a brand new unused 2.9 V6 distributor, the guy said he would take £20.
I do all the maintenance myself - and scour ebay and classifieds for parts - the brakes are ford sierra by the way, as are the hubs (so that means the wheel bearings too, I just bought one for a fiver).
Top ball joint on the front suspension is a Saab, bottom one is an old fiat / Lada (still easy to get under a tenner).
Rear trailing arms are TVR bespoke - rotten ones can be rebuilt by Adrian Venn.
Gearbox, clutch, diff all ford sierra.
It just doesn't get any better.
Anyone mentioned the noise yet?
Honestly the bits are dirt cheap if you have a keen eye - Ketvrin and I had a walk round the autojumble at Newark today - he found a brand new unused 2.9 V6 distributor, the guy said he would take £20.
I do all the maintenance myself - and scour ebay and classifieds for parts - the brakes are ford sierra by the way, as are the hubs (so that means the wheel bearings too, I just bought one for a fiver).
Top ball joint on the front suspension is a Saab, bottom one is an old fiat / Lada (still easy to get under a tenner).
Rear trailing arms are TVR bespoke - rotten ones can be rebuilt by Adrian Venn.
Gearbox, clutch, diff all ford sierra.
It just doesn't get any better.
Anyone mentioned the noise yet?
The noise? I enjoyed it again today, thought hardly not as loud as the previous one I viewed. That one had a sports exhaust system. This one was the standard mild steel, sounded nice, mild and lacking in the high notes as the stainless made these louder.
How much is a full stainless sports exhaust system and how hard are they to fit? Thanks, I just had an incredible experience a few months back.
How much is a full stainless sports exhaust system and how hard are they to fit? Thanks, I just had an incredible experience a few months back.
My S2 had a new alternator, that was it in 2 years. Broke down once (because of the alternator) so on a 17 year old car that's good. Several long (200+ miles) too.
My V8S cost me nothing for 18 months (£120 service) but I just had a thorough service, manifold welded, new injector, rear brake calipers and that was quite a lot, but is it quick now
. Also broke down once (battery connector came loose, it's in the boot which opens electrically ).
These sort of things happen on any car, so if I don't worry about it, it should be OK for almost everyone else!
If you buy on condition and can do the basics yourself (I can't) you will be fine.
You know you want to. Well, really you NEED to. Buy one!
My V8S cost me nothing for 18 months (£120 service) but I just had a thorough service, manifold welded, new injector, rear brake calipers and that was quite a lot, but is it quick now
. Also broke down once (battery connector came loose, it's in the boot which opens electrically ).These sort of things happen on any car, so if I don't worry about it, it should be OK for almost everyone else!
If you buy on condition and can do the basics yourself (I can't) you will be fine.
You know you want to. Well, really you NEED to. Buy one!
Gassing Station | S Series | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff