Finally it's back!!!

[uriel]

After about 16 weeks, the wedge is back from RT Racing. The body work is superb and you'd never know it'd been in an accident.

It's so nice to get back into it again after 4 months of driving a Vauxhall Meriva, I'd forgotten what it's like to be so low down and to be able to corner without the fear of the car tipping on it's side

There are a few problems though that the car seems to have picked up while away.

First, the windscreen wiper hardly works. It does move, but slowly and makes a nasty scraping/grinding noise from under the glovebox (motor, I assume?). Any suggestions? Could it just need a spray of WD40 or is it replacement time (TR7 motor?)? I think it may be dust or something from the bodywork that caused the problem since one of the headlight motors seems to have the same problem now, but was fine when it went in...

Also the car pulls to the left quite a bit. RT said that he'd done all the tracking, but didn;t mention this. Now, the nearside tyre was ruined in the accident, but to keep the repair quote down to avoid it being written off the spare has been used rather than a replacement. The spare is bald as a coot and the offside tyre is virtually brand new. Could this cause the pulling? New tyre is on the way, I guess I'll find out.

Still, these niggles aside I'm overjoyed to have the car back and now feel guilty about all those thoughts I had of selling it while it was away!

[jamesk]

I assume you are talking about the front tyre? If so it will be the tyre differences. I was staggered at the difference replacing only 1 front tyre can make. When I had it done once I actually went back to the garage to moan at them and didn't believe it could be the tyres causing the car to veer to the kerb so badly (not a TVR I might add).

Boy was I red faced.....

[seamus]

Chuffed for you that it's back and in one piece.. look forward to seeing it @ BBWF 2005 - the tyre will make a difference as mentioned, as for the other bits, have you approached RT to fix given they were working before?

[uriel]

Thank guys, I was hoping the tyre would be the cause of the drift.

I haven't as yet mentioned the problems to Richard. He was aware of the problem with the headlight motor and said that it'd have to be rebuilt or replaced. I think he said he did't have any in to replace it.

As for the wiper motor I doubt that he'd tried it to notice it wasn't working. I'll see if there is anything I can do with it. If not I'll call him and see what he says.

Also, the TVR logo on the nose wasn't replaced, is there somewhere I can get a replacement? I guess I can have one made somewhere, but thought it would be easier if somewhere stocked them. The fact that the side stickers were replaced and the logo wasn't made me think they may be hard to get hold of...

Expect some pics in the next day ot two

[19560]

jamesk said:

I assume you are talking about the front tyre? If so it will be the tyre differences. I was staggered at the difference replacing only 1 front tyre can make.

Yep.

[SEvans]

I would swap the two front wheels around and see if it pulls the other way, then you know for sure.
The windscreen wiper motor is similar to a TR7 motor but the sweep is different, as a TR7 has 2 wiper arms.
It may be possible to transfer the park switch from your old motor but it is located in a different place and may need the motor casting drilling. Are you sure it's the motor and not the pinion/spindle? It may be worth rotating it 180deg so that it uses the teeth from the other side.
What's wrong with the headlight? Could it be a bad contact in the switch? Especially if it's been sat for a while.

[uriel]

SEvans said:

I would swap the two front wheels around and see if it pulls the other way, then you know for sure. The windscreen wiper motor is similar to a TR7 motor but the sweep is different, as a TR7 has 2 wiper arms. It may be possible to transfer the park switch from your old motor but it is located in a different place and may need the motor casting drilling. Are you sure it's the motor and not the pinion/spindle? It may be worth rotating it 180deg so that it uses the teeth from the other side. What's wrong with the headlight? Could it be a bad contact in the switch? Especially if it's been sat for a while.

I'll not be using it until Saturday now and hopefully by then I'll have the new tyre to try. If it doesn't show up though, I'll swap the tyres and see what happens. Great idea

I think it's the wiper motor, I had a quick look at lunchtime and tapping it with a spanner helped it move, thought it was still painfully slow and weak.

The headlight motor makes the same kind of sounds, a straining, scraping, grinding sound and it comes up very slowly and in a stop/start jerking motion.

[grahamw48]

I assume the wiper motor uses brushes, in which case thats's the first thing I'd check - cheap and cheerful.

[kevinday]

Wiper problem may not be the motor. My Octavia had this problem, then the wipers ceased altogether. On investigation the motor was fine, it was the pivot spindle (non-techie term) seized up. By this I mean the base of the post the wiper arm is attached to. This has a solid moint and a bearing of some sort (mine had a brass interference fit collar) This was corroded so much the wiper could not move.