350i Resurrection - a diary.
Discussion
voltage_maxx said:
So, everything's plumbed in and ready to go, but as per my other thread, I cannot get her started.
I'm getting a spark, and I've timed her up to TDC, so it's a matter of fuel.
Tomorrow night I'm going to head into the garage with a multimeter and a level head (we pulled a LAAAATE one last night) to see what's going on.
Current train of thought it duff trigger signal from the coil, hence the injectors not firing.
I also want to double check that the fuel lines are all connected up properly.
I'd feel a whole lot happier if that engine was running.
It's going to be absurdly tight for making BBWF now, but I'm not giving in
http://www.flickr.com/photos/23565814@N04/92047515...
SHE RUNS!!!!
After a few hours of fault finding, and checking the ECU was working properly, I realised there wasn't any fuel getting to the injectors.
I finally realised that I'd connected the fuel feed and return the wrong way around.
The fuel RETURN is connected to the fuel pressure regulator, not the fuel feed.
As soon as I did that, the engine fired up and ran *perfectly*.
I only had one minor weep from a connection on the heater matrix - which just needed tightening up.
Other that, no leaks, no problems! The system bled very easily, fans cut in at just under 100 degress and very quickly brought the temperature back down.
I am very, very happy.
WEDGEFEST IS BACK ON!!!!
SHE RUNS!!!!
After a few hours of fault finding, and checking the ECU was working properly, I realised there wasn't any fuel getting to the injectors.
I finally realised that I'd connected the fuel feed and return the wrong way around.
The fuel RETURN is connected to the fuel pressure regulator, not the fuel feed.
As soon as I did that, the engine fired up and ran *perfectly*.
I only had one minor weep from a connection on the heater matrix - which just needed tightening up.
Other that, no leaks, no problems! The system bled very easily, fans cut in at just under 100 degress and very quickly brought the temperature back down.
I am very, very happy.
WEDGEFEST IS BACK ON!!!!
mark387mw said:
Hope you don't mind me adding a picture of my car - I think it's been mentioned before that these two wedges must have been together at some stage in their early life.
Don't mind in the slightest!I'm always interested in the history surrounding my wedge.
I understand all the C*** AYG cars were supplied by Harrogate Horseless Carriages?
When I first bought the car, I started this thread:
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=3&a...
I have since seen C386 AYG advertised for sale:
http://www.classicandsportscar.ltd.uk/TVR-350i/cla...
Also a 350i although it's been re-engined it would seem.
The rarity of these cars makes them what they are.
On one hand, intensly frustrating (parts sourcing, no real reference as to what's been fitted and how), but on the other hand it makes them very special cars - each one totally unique.
I don't mind saying that this car has almost broken me - but with a possible MOT by the weekend looming, I anticipate the hard work has been worth it.
adam quantrill said:
What you need is a Wedge Bible, a parts manual (that shows exploded diagrams of most of the car) and Haynes manuals for the Rover SDi, Jag XJS, Ford Cortina, and Renault Fuego...
I've got the Wedge Bible, a Jag XJ12 Haynes and Range Rover Classic factory workshop manual and parts catalogue.The wedge parts manual would have been fantastic, but no idea how to get hold of one?
voltage_maxx said:
Don't mind in the slightest!
I'm always interested in the history surrounding my wedge.
I understand all the C*** AYG cars were supplied by Harrogate Horseless Carriages?
When I first bought the car, I started this thread:
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=3&a...
I thought it had been mentioned before - coming up to 2 years ago I'm always interested in the history surrounding my wedge.
I understand all the C*** AYG cars were supplied by Harrogate Horseless Carriages?
When I first bought the car, I started this thread:
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=3&a...
Riiiight, update time. This one has A VERY good ending, I'm pleased to report.
So, backtrack about a month, and as the posts above showed, I realised that we hadn't rebuilt the intake manifold back in the right order.
So, off it came, and we set about re-fitting the manifold in the right order:
We then carried on, late into the night fitting the new silicone hoses and re-fitting the ignition system.
Again, if you read the previous posts, you'll see that no matter what I did I couldn't get it started.
It transpired I'd connected the fuel lines the wrong way around - the fuel pressure regulator goes on the OUTLET (yeah, well, I know now eh?).
So, with the engine running, it was time to get the car back on its wheels again.
This mean refitting/rebuilding the rear suspension and re-mounting the rear diff/brake assembly.
The first job was to remove the trailing arm pins.
These were in TIGHT, so needed heating up with a blow lamp, and then giving a good t
tting with a sledge hammer.
They then needed carefully reassembling with new trailing arm pins, washers and bushes.
Before they could be fitted though, a rather substantial bit of hardware needed re-fitting:
This is the famous Salisbury 4HU/Jaguar rear diff/brake assembly.
Once it's fully built up with the TVR diff yoke and lower cradle, it's unbelievably heavy.
Hence we used a substantial trolley jack to shift the thing around.
Eventually, after much huffing and puffing, we finally got the diff unit home and bolted up.
Here, Matt's bolting up the prop-shaft to the diff.
About 13 hours on from that picture of Matt with the blowlamp, we were finally able to put the car on its wheels, and wheel it out of one side of the garage and get it over the inspection pit.
Seeing her back on her wheels again, was a HUGE lift
Coming back to the car, a couple of days later, it was time to start on some of the hydraulic systems.
After seeing the state of some of the clutch hydraulics, and having less than stellar results with rebuild kits, I finally plumped for some lovely New Old Stock units.
I must give a quick plug to David at http://www.obsoletecarspares.co.uk/ - he was hugely helpful in helping me sort out the correct cylinders for the car. Not easy when TVR themselves seemed to fit various different master cylinders, with none of them appearing in any parts listings.
Again, giving David great credit, these cylinders just bolted up pretty much without problem. The pipe fittings were correct and the work wonderfully.
Money well spent.
As all the hydraulic systems have been replaced, I'm taking the opportunity to upgrade to silicone fluid all around (or 'Purple Goth Juice' as it's become known around our parts):
We had quite a 'to do' getting the front brake calipers to seal properly.
I had fitted reproduction M16 calipers, which it transpires needed LONG M10 fittings, as opposed to the short M10 fittings of the original.
Cue lots of faffing about making up new brake pipes. Bloody repro parts!
I then set about installing a complete set of new lighting at the front of the car - seeing how most of the light units were broken/rusted or just plain knackered!
One of the nice things with a hand-built car like this, is so many of the hand made parts are actually signed by the guy who laid up the GRP.
In this case, Colin:
New, plastic headlight bowls (MGB/Land Rover etc items) were installed in the pods along with bog standard H4 headlights.
I also installed new sidelights/indicator units, along with replacement driving lights.
Neither of these units were the original CIBIE units, both were Eastern European reproductions - of dubious quality, meaning I had to do repairs/modifications before I could even fit them *grumble grumble*.
Anyway - the results speak for themselves!
With a new washer pump fitted (MGB again - a direct fit), it was time to try her up and down the drive a few times!
All seemed well, so nothing left but to wash her down and get her ready for the MOT.
So, the following day, time to drive her to the MOT and see what happens:
To my relief, she passed! With a few advisories, and despite the teeth sucking of the examiner, only minor items which are easily fixed (handbrake adjustment, headlight aim etc).
With that, time for a first drive out to see some friends:
A long weekend trip out to London highlighted a few issues, some minor, so fairly major:
Suspension needs fully aligning
Gear selector remote needs new bushes (rattling - vague gear change)
Engine needs fine tuning to eliminate some flat spots
Tyres SEVERELY rubbing in arches.
The latter has become such an issue, I'm having a new set of tyres fitted tomorrow in the original factory size of 205 60 r15.
I've managed to get a really great deal on some Avon ZV5 tyres, which are one of the few, proper, high performance tyres available in the original factory tyre size.
Am I happy? You bet I am! How anyone couldn't be happy at the sound of that engine, on what above 3500 RPM is beyond me!
So, backtrack about a month, and as the posts above showed, I realised that we hadn't rebuilt the intake manifold back in the right order.
So, off it came, and we set about re-fitting the manifold in the right order:
We then carried on, late into the night fitting the new silicone hoses and re-fitting the ignition system.
Again, if you read the previous posts, you'll see that no matter what I did I couldn't get it started.
It transpired I'd connected the fuel lines the wrong way around - the fuel pressure regulator goes on the OUTLET (yeah, well, I know now eh?).
So, with the engine running, it was time to get the car back on its wheels again.
This mean refitting/rebuilding the rear suspension and re-mounting the rear diff/brake assembly.
The first job was to remove the trailing arm pins.
These were in TIGHT, so needed heating up with a blow lamp, and then giving a good t
tting with a sledge hammer.They then needed carefully reassembling with new trailing arm pins, washers and bushes.
Before they could be fitted though, a rather substantial bit of hardware needed re-fitting:
This is the famous Salisbury 4HU/Jaguar rear diff/brake assembly.
Once it's fully built up with the TVR diff yoke and lower cradle, it's unbelievably heavy.
Hence we used a substantial trolley jack to shift the thing around.
Eventually, after much huffing and puffing, we finally got the diff unit home and bolted up.
Here, Matt's bolting up the prop-shaft to the diff.
About 13 hours on from that picture of Matt with the blowlamp, we were finally able to put the car on its wheels, and wheel it out of one side of the garage and get it over the inspection pit.
Seeing her back on her wheels again, was a HUGE lift
Coming back to the car, a couple of days later, it was time to start on some of the hydraulic systems.
After seeing the state of some of the clutch hydraulics, and having less than stellar results with rebuild kits, I finally plumped for some lovely New Old Stock units.
I must give a quick plug to David at http://www.obsoletecarspares.co.uk/ - he was hugely helpful in helping me sort out the correct cylinders for the car. Not easy when TVR themselves seemed to fit various different master cylinders, with none of them appearing in any parts listings.
Again, giving David great credit, these cylinders just bolted up pretty much without problem. The pipe fittings were correct and the work wonderfully.
Money well spent.
As all the hydraulic systems have been replaced, I'm taking the opportunity to upgrade to silicone fluid all around (or 'Purple Goth Juice' as it's become known around our parts):
We had quite a 'to do' getting the front brake calipers to seal properly.
I had fitted reproduction M16 calipers, which it transpires needed LONG M10 fittings, as opposed to the short M10 fittings of the original.
Cue lots of faffing about making up new brake pipes. Bloody repro parts!
I then set about installing a complete set of new lighting at the front of the car - seeing how most of the light units were broken/rusted or just plain knackered!
One of the nice things with a hand-built car like this, is so many of the hand made parts are actually signed by the guy who laid up the GRP.
In this case, Colin:
New, plastic headlight bowls (MGB/Land Rover etc items) were installed in the pods along with bog standard H4 headlights.
I also installed new sidelights/indicator units, along with replacement driving lights.
Neither of these units were the original CIBIE units, both were Eastern European reproductions - of dubious quality, meaning I had to do repairs/modifications before I could even fit them *grumble grumble*.
Anyway - the results speak for themselves!
With a new washer pump fitted (MGB again - a direct fit), it was time to try her up and down the drive a few times!
All seemed well, so nothing left but to wash her down and get her ready for the MOT.
So, the following day, time to drive her to the MOT and see what happens:
To my relief, she passed! With a few advisories, and despite the teeth sucking of the examiner, only minor items which are easily fixed (handbrake adjustment, headlight aim etc).
With that, time for a first drive out to see some friends:
A long weekend trip out to London highlighted a few issues, some minor, so fairly major:
Suspension needs fully aligning
Gear selector remote needs new bushes (rattling - vague gear change)
Engine needs fine tuning to eliminate some flat spots
Tyres SEVERELY rubbing in arches.
The latter has become such an issue, I'm having a new set of tyres fitted tomorrow in the original factory size of 205 60 r15.
I've managed to get a really great deal on some Avon ZV5 tyres, which are one of the few, proper, high performance tyres available in the original factory tyre size.
Am I happy? You bet I am! How anyone couldn't be happy at the sound of that engine, on what above 3500 RPM is beyond me!
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