Bringing the S2 back to life

[Peter M]

Hi all
My S2 has been laid up for probably 4 years and I am finally getting round to firing it up again.
Spent the weekend fitting a new battery, and replacing a perished fuel hose to the fuel rail, and cleaned the distributer and plugs. Took the plugs out and the engine turned over easily with a spanner on the crank.
Then cranked it over with the starter, all went well.
Plugs back in and hoped for the best, but despite turning over well would only occasionally fire. So off the the shops for a can of easy start. Gave it a squirt into the plenem and tried again and it fired up for a second on the easy start.
Plugs were wet suggesting the injectors were OK. So dawned on me the fuel had gone bad, I last put fuel in 5 years ago!!!!!

Next day removed the fuel sender from the tank, there was only a dribble of fuel in bottom. Syphoned that out and replaced the sender (checked the sender but that looks to be open circuit, another job to do)

Added a gallon of E5 and removed the fuel rail pipe to the fuel rail into a jerry can and flushed new fuel through. Cranked it several times and YAY, it fired up and ticked over OK Very happy

So now I plan to replace the pipe from the tank to pump (16mm bore I think) and also the fuel filter that has never been changed in 20 years. Then lots of TLC needed to hopefully get her back on the road for next year......

[GreenV8S]

Peter M said:

replacing a perished fuel hose to the fuel rail

Given the age of those hoses, you should assume that every petrol hose is compromised unless / until you prove otherwise. Even if the parts that are easy to see look fine, you can't trust that the rest of the hose is. A failed petrol hose will typically become porus and emit a petrol mist under pressure. This can quickly lead to your car going 'woof'.

Also check the state of the inside of the petrol tank. If left standing, the part of the tank that is above the fuel level can rust much quicker than it would if the car had been used. Given that you say the tank was almost empty, that's most of it. The more you agitate the tank and run the engine, the more of that rust is driven into/through the fuel strainer and through the pump. The filter should catch most of it, so hopefully you won't be wiping out the injectors, but it's a bit pointless replacing filters if you're just going to throw more rust at them. And if the corrosion is bad enough, the tank itself may even be compromised.

[Peter M]

Progress so far....
Engine running but rough due to old petrol. Bought a tank filter, fuel filter, and 16mm hose and now waiting for a good day to get under it.

My son lowered the drivers electric window down but it would not go up. Diagnosed the switches in the dash, so two ordered and fitted from ebay. They were a direct replacement.

Clutch pedal was solid, seized master cylinder. So new one bought from MEV spares and got my son up the footwell to remove the old one. Came off easily and new one was a direct replacement, just needed the push rod swapping over from the original. Bled the cylinder where the pipe connects as I can't get to the slave until the car is moving and I can get it on ramps. Clutch seems to work OK.

Also bought a new set of ignition leads and a fan belt.

Now looking to get the radiator re-cored. Several companies on the net but not sure who to choose. My nearest "local" company is Harts radiators in Hertford. Anyone used them? Not sure if upgrading to an alloy is in budget at the moment.

[phillpot]

I wouldn't class going for an alloy radiator as an upgrade, regardless of cost get the original refurbished

[tvrgit]

As Philpott says, I wouldn't waste money on an "alloy upgrade" - they have their disadvantages (particularly fatigue cracking in a chassis as flexible as a TVR S).

The original radiator should be more than adequate in most situations. If it isn't, there's another underlying cooling problem that needs fixed