350i Resurrection - a diary.
Discussion
Right chaps, some of you may remember that at the tail end of last year, I purchased this car from Pistonheads classifieds:
To cut a long story short, after a relationship breakdown, and a move back up to the Midlands with my folks, I decided to get myself the sports-car project I always wanted (yes, I'm having my mid-life crisis early!)
.
After being jilted out of a deal on a very original Triumph Spitfire, and then finding out that they all seem to be very overpriced OR heaps of junk, I remembered about the wedge series TVRs.
Now, my old man has A LOT of history with RV8s, as do we as a family. He's built them, blown them up in competition, and driven them as a daily. I've had the pleasure of tooling about in some of the family's Landys over the years, and it won't be a surprise that the thought of owning an RV8 powered TVR was HUGELY appealing.....if scary.
Hitting up e-bay we found a lovely green car which had been sat for some years, but had an absolutely immaculate interior in magnolia leather. It did however need a complete exhaust system......and probably lots else.
Anyhow, we called up about the car...........and it was sold
By this point I'd just about given up. We still had a trailer booked to collect the Spitfire (which never materialised), and 24 hrs to cancel the booking and loose the deposit.
Hitting up Pistonheads classifieds I found this silver car. We made some phonecalls and then on Saturday, went to have a look.
Well, they say pictures tell a thousand words......
That's my old man next to the wedge, behind our V890 'Rex' that has been with us for almost 20 years.
What does a V8 TOWING a V8 sound like? Kinda like this!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHZbCQh1yHw&fea...
Yep, that's Dad and I giggling like kids!
To cut a long story short, after a relationship breakdown, and a move back up to the Midlands with my folks, I decided to get myself the sports-car project I always wanted (yes, I'm having my mid-life crisis early!)
.After being jilted out of a deal on a very original Triumph Spitfire, and then finding out that they all seem to be very overpriced OR heaps of junk, I remembered about the wedge series TVRs.
Now, my old man has A LOT of history with RV8s, as do we as a family. He's built them, blown them up in competition, and driven them as a daily. I've had the pleasure of tooling about in some of the family's Landys over the years, and it won't be a surprise that the thought of owning an RV8 powered TVR was HUGELY appealing.....if scary.
Hitting up e-bay we found a lovely green car which had been sat for some years, but had an absolutely immaculate interior in magnolia leather. It did however need a complete exhaust system......and probably lots else.
Anyhow, we called up about the car...........and it was sold
By this point I'd just about given up. We still had a trailer booked to collect the Spitfire (which never materialised), and 24 hrs to cancel the booking and loose the deposit.
Hitting up Pistonheads classifieds I found this silver car. We made some phonecalls and then on Saturday, went to have a look.
Well, they say pictures tell a thousand words......
That's my old man next to the wedge, behind our V890 'Rex' that has been with us for almost 20 years.
What does a V8 TOWING a V8 sound like? Kinda like this!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHZbCQh1yHw&fea...
Yep, that's Dad and I giggling like kids!
Edited by voltage_maxx on Wednesday 4th April 20:03
Okay, another quick update to try and bring everyone up to speed!
Got the wedge back and over the inspection pit to see what's what.
Not looking bad superficially
Chassis was pretty good too!
To cut a long story short, the whole of the brake system was shot, so is being entirely replaced with uprated parts here and there.
The engine, whilst sweet mechanically, was running rough. Very rich and sooty, and took ages to settle down to a proper, nice even idle. It was an oily mess, and for some reason, even with the fan running wouldn't stay cool.
The interior wasn't too bad, but like the rest of the car, tired. A lot of the switches refused to work properly, all the dash veneer was split, and the seats were looking very secondhand.
Oh and the hood is fit only for the bin!
On the upside, it seems someone made a last ditched effort to get the car on the road. ALL of the front suspension rubbers had been renewed with polybushes, as well as the balljoints and even a new steering rack!
I spent the following months tinkering on the car, getting to know it, planning, and collecting parts together. However, the winter months set in and being an asthmatic, working in the garage over the winter just wasn't happening.
A couple of week ago however, I really got the wind behind me and decided to get stuck in:
All the brakes are now stripped off, as are all the engine hoses.
I'm spending a lot of time on the engine to get it running spot on. To this end all the Fuel Injection system has been stripped off for cleaning and overhaul.
I'm also trying to get to the bottom of the poor water circulation, and so have the water pump off. I may have to have the heads off before I'm done.
So, as of Tuesday, this is what the car looks like:
For those who would like the back story in detail, here's the link to my build thread over at Retro Rides: http://retrorides.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=re...
Got the wedge back and over the inspection pit to see what's what.
Not looking bad superficially
Chassis was pretty good too!
To cut a long story short, the whole of the brake system was shot, so is being entirely replaced with uprated parts here and there.
The engine, whilst sweet mechanically, was running rough. Very rich and sooty, and took ages to settle down to a proper, nice even idle. It was an oily mess, and for some reason, even with the fan running wouldn't stay cool.
The interior wasn't too bad, but like the rest of the car, tired. A lot of the switches refused to work properly, all the dash veneer was split, and the seats were looking very secondhand.
Oh and the hood is fit only for the bin!
On the upside, it seems someone made a last ditched effort to get the car on the road. ALL of the front suspension rubbers had been renewed with polybushes, as well as the balljoints and even a new steering rack!
I spent the following months tinkering on the car, getting to know it, planning, and collecting parts together. However, the winter months set in and being an asthmatic, working in the garage over the winter just wasn't happening.
A couple of week ago however, I really got the wind behind me and decided to get stuck in:
All the brakes are now stripped off, as are all the engine hoses.
I'm spending a lot of time on the engine to get it running spot on. To this end all the Fuel Injection system has been stripped off for cleaning and overhaul.
I'm also trying to get to the bottom of the poor water circulation, and so have the water pump off. I may have to have the heads off before I'm done.
So, as of Tuesday, this is what the car looks like:
For those who would like the back story in detail, here's the link to my build thread over at Retro Rides: http://retrorides.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=re...
The wedge is now at that stage where there is a pile of parts surrounding the car and workshop. To carry on dismantling the car at this stage would be silly, as all I'd end up with is whole load of TVR parts and a skeleton of a car!
As such, I'm now turning my attentions to refurbing and rebuilding what came off!
Rusty, crummy, siezed up rear brake caliper. Ick!
What one looks like after I've been over it with a wire-brush. Much better. All the brake calipers are going to be painted - I got some VHT caliper paint through this week.
Caliper split in half ready for refurbing.
Next up, the hubs!
This was the absolute worst of the pair, really quite badly corroded. I can only assume this side of the car was always parked out in the rain or something! It needed a wire brush AND a chisel to get the worst of the rust scabs off!
This was the other hub, filthy and grotty, but much better.
It cleaned up really nicely, if you look REALLY closely, you can just make out the original Ford stamping marks!
Next up, the rocker covers!
Again, dirty and grotty. Using some label remover I was able to carefully remove the TVR badge for safekeeping, it'll be re-attached later!
All ready for jetwashing!
That certainly cleared a LOAD of gunk out of the inside of the rocker covers.
I then attacked a cover with a wire brush in an angle grinder. It gets the covers back to shiny alloy quite effectively.
As you will see later on, I have a cunning plan for these rocker covers - we'll see if it works!
As such, I'm now turning my attentions to refurbing and rebuilding what came off!
Rusty, crummy, siezed up rear brake caliper. Ick!
What one looks like after I've been over it with a wire-brush. Much better. All the brake calipers are going to be painted - I got some VHT caliper paint through this week.
Caliper split in half ready for refurbing.
Next up, the hubs!
This was the absolute worst of the pair, really quite badly corroded. I can only assume this side of the car was always parked out in the rain or something! It needed a wire brush AND a chisel to get the worst of the rust scabs off!
This was the other hub, filthy and grotty, but much better.
It cleaned up really nicely, if you look REALLY closely, you can just make out the original Ford stamping marks!
Next up, the rocker covers!
Again, dirty and grotty. Using some label remover I was able to carefully remove the TVR badge for safekeeping, it'll be re-attached later!
All ready for jetwashing!
That certainly cleared a LOAD of gunk out of the inside of the rocker covers.
I then attacked a cover with a wire brush in an angle grinder. It gets the covers back to shiny alloy quite effectively.
As you will see later on, I have a cunning plan for these rocker covers - we'll see if it works!
Campbell said:
......Bump......
Hows the car coming Bob.
What are we going to read about next...
Cambelt
Hey thanks for the interest!Hows the car coming Bob.
What are we going to read about next...
Cambelt
I've been out working on her an awful lot these past few days, I'll do a proper update shortly.
Here's a little taster of how far I've got though, managed to free the diff from the car just a couple of hours ago.
The only part of the rear end still left in place are the shock-absorbers, and seeing how they're still okay, they'll be staying there!
Time I updated this....
Currently going hell for leather to get the car on the road for BBWF.
LOTS left to do, but the good news is the rear-end rebuild is moving along nicely.
Tonight I'll be rebuilding the rear calipers with new stainless steel pistons, and if time allows changing the seals in the new (to me) LSD that's going in as a replacement.
I also managed to pick up a New Old Stock brake master cylinder as well as a rebuild kit for the clutch master and slave cylinders:
Still lots to do.
I have a chap hopefully coming over next week to weld a fractured chassis tube.
At that point, the whole car will really move on in a big way.
I have a load of friends coming over a week on Saturday, to help me out.
Hopefully we might be able to get the car back on its wheels at that point.
These being the 'new' wheels and tyres I have to go on:
Then, all I'll really have to do is replace all the hoses and refit the EFI.
Wish me luck guys, I REALLY want to be able to join you all at BBWF.
If I do, the car is likely to look a little shabby, cosmetically, but she'll be mechanically sound......hopefully!
Currently going hell for leather to get the car on the road for BBWF.
LOTS left to do, but the good news is the rear-end rebuild is moving along nicely.
Tonight I'll be rebuilding the rear calipers with new stainless steel pistons, and if time allows changing the seals in the new (to me) LSD that's going in as a replacement.
I also managed to pick up a New Old Stock brake master cylinder as well as a rebuild kit for the clutch master and slave cylinders:
Still lots to do.
I have a chap hopefully coming over next week to weld a fractured chassis tube.
At that point, the whole car will really move on in a big way.
I have a load of friends coming over a week on Saturday, to help me out.
Hopefully we might be able to get the car back on its wheels at that point.
These being the 'new' wheels and tyres I have to go on:
Then, all I'll really have to do is replace all the hoses and refit the EFI.
Wish me luck guys, I REALLY want to be able to join you all at BBWF.
If I do, the car is likely to look a little shabby, cosmetically, but she'll be mechanically sound......hopefully!
Hi Adam - I shall fix te picture links as soon as I have a spare moment.
Now, unlike a lot of the threads on here, where you'll see MASSIVE transformations in a day, there's little of that here.
It's just been a long, slow slog at dilligently rebuilding and restoring crucial parts.
This is what the TVR currently looks like:
And from the rear:
Dashboard and interior are still in pieces:
You'd probably think I'm bat-s
t crazy to think that this car will be on the road in under a month then, yes?
Weeeeeel, maybe not.
This is what's taken up so much time, Salisbury 4HU Powr-Lok rear end
It's a surprisingly daunting piece of engineering to sort out properly, hence I had a lot of help from the old man on this, who's worked on these diffs a lot before.
We've rebuilt the diff with new seals, and in the process had to change an output shaft bearing, which became mullered when we tried to strip a seal out.
This involved having to very carefully re-set the bearing pre-load using a dial gauge.
I've also rebuilt the (completely siezed and cocking useless) rear brake calipers with brand new seals and stainless steel pistons - hopefully so that I'll never have to do it ever again!
There are still the copper brake lines to make up, handbrake calipers to rebuild and fit, and the mounting yoke to fit - but this is a serious victory in the scheme of getting this car back on the road!
On Saturday, I had a load of mates over to help me out with some time consuming tasks.
We managed to strip a load of the brittle, cracked and inferno-prone fuel piping out of the rear of the car and drained the tanks.
We also removed the original (buggered) trailing arm bushes!
Honestly, there's no wonder these cars get a bad reputation for handling. With two worn trailing arm bushes, and bent trailing arms pins, it's a miracle someone didn't stuff the thing into a hedge backwards!
Turning our attentions towards the front of the car, we set to on the fuel injection manifold.
After seeing the state that the fuel lines were in underneath the car, I felt the only right thing to do was to change every last piece of fuel hose.
The last thing I wanted was for all my hard work to go up in flames
Cleaning up the castings soon revealed the 'exotic' sourcing of TVR's components
Which of course, immediately made me wonder if my old Land-Rover, 'Leonard', would take to the old-school gasser look:
Errrrrr, no!
Again, I felt vindicated for changing the fuel lines on the manifold.
Looking inside the sectioned hose running directly to the injectors from the fuel rail, it was very heavily cracked and perished!
Unfortunately, this gave us a problem, as the short stubs of pipe are factory fitted to the injectors with a machine fitted pressed collar.
After having sliced through the pipe, I wondered if I'd just bought myself a needless ticket to a full set of new injectors :/
Thankfully, we figured out a way of cutting the locking collars off with a hacksaw.
Violet was particularly good at this, and so we stood around and watched!
At this point Matt turned up. We were all very hungry, so piled into Leonard and headed off to get some KFC.
Driving through Mansfield (which has always been full of boy-racers for years) in Leonard, with Black Sabbath & Led Zeppelin cranked up was hilarious, and awesome fun!
We also needed some more jubille clips, which we managed to buy, of all places, in ALDI!
So yes, my TVR is now tuned, not by Audi, but by ALDI
After Onne's meticulous cleaning, and cutting lots of lengths of fuel hose and tightening jubille clips etc. The fannymould now looks like this:
I re-fitted the gummed up 'extra air valve', which was a source of rough and rich running, and now just need to replace the old vacuum pipes, and give the plneum top and throttle body some attention.
Again though, another very important part of the jigsaw sorted!
Finally, for a bit of a mojo booster, what do you reckon to the refurbished rocker covers?
I was originally going for a black wrinkle paint finish. However, my attempts looked, frankly, bloody awful!
My mate Gareth, virtually snatched them off me and set to with his set of machine polishing wheels, and gave them this beautiful, mirror-type finish.
Looking at them, I felt that having the valleys of the covers picked out in blue, to match the pin-striping of the car would really finish them off.
Seeing how Matt spends his time away from retro cars painting war-game miniatures, I handed him the paint and brush, and in the blink of an eye, they looked like this:
I'm well chuffed!
Now, unlike a lot of the threads on here, where you'll see MASSIVE transformations in a day, there's little of that here.
It's just been a long, slow slog at dilligently rebuilding and restoring crucial parts.
This is what the TVR currently looks like:
And from the rear:
Dashboard and interior are still in pieces:
You'd probably think I'm bat-s
t crazy to think that this car will be on the road in under a month then, yes?Weeeeeel, maybe not.
This is what's taken up so much time, Salisbury 4HU Powr-Lok rear end
It's a surprisingly daunting piece of engineering to sort out properly, hence I had a lot of help from the old man on this, who's worked on these diffs a lot before.
We've rebuilt the diff with new seals, and in the process had to change an output shaft bearing, which became mullered when we tried to strip a seal out.
This involved having to very carefully re-set the bearing pre-load using a dial gauge.
I've also rebuilt the (completely siezed and cocking useless) rear brake calipers with brand new seals and stainless steel pistons - hopefully so that I'll never have to do it ever again!
There are still the copper brake lines to make up, handbrake calipers to rebuild and fit, and the mounting yoke to fit - but this is a serious victory in the scheme of getting this car back on the road!
On Saturday, I had a load of mates over to help me out with some time consuming tasks.
We managed to strip a load of the brittle, cracked and inferno-prone fuel piping out of the rear of the car and drained the tanks.
We also removed the original (buggered) trailing arm bushes!
Honestly, there's no wonder these cars get a bad reputation for handling. With two worn trailing arm bushes, and bent trailing arms pins, it's a miracle someone didn't stuff the thing into a hedge backwards!
Turning our attentions towards the front of the car, we set to on the fuel injection manifold.
After seeing the state that the fuel lines were in underneath the car, I felt the only right thing to do was to change every last piece of fuel hose.
The last thing I wanted was for all my hard work to go up in flames
Cleaning up the castings soon revealed the 'exotic' sourcing of TVR's components
Which of course, immediately made me wonder if my old Land-Rover, 'Leonard', would take to the old-school gasser look:
Errrrrr, no!
Again, I felt vindicated for changing the fuel lines on the manifold.
Looking inside the sectioned hose running directly to the injectors from the fuel rail, it was very heavily cracked and perished!
Unfortunately, this gave us a problem, as the short stubs of pipe are factory fitted to the injectors with a machine fitted pressed collar.
After having sliced through the pipe, I wondered if I'd just bought myself a needless ticket to a full set of new injectors :/
Thankfully, we figured out a way of cutting the locking collars off with a hacksaw.
Violet was particularly good at this, and so we stood around and watched!
At this point Matt turned up. We were all very hungry, so piled into Leonard and headed off to get some KFC.
Driving through Mansfield (which has always been full of boy-racers for years) in Leonard, with Black Sabbath & Led Zeppelin cranked up was hilarious, and awesome fun!
We also needed some more jubille clips, which we managed to buy, of all places, in ALDI!
So yes, my TVR is now tuned, not by Audi, but by ALDI
After Onne's meticulous cleaning, and cutting lots of lengths of fuel hose and tightening jubille clips etc. The fannymould now looks like this:
I re-fitted the gummed up 'extra air valve', which was a source of rough and rich running, and now just need to replace the old vacuum pipes, and give the plneum top and throttle body some attention.
Again though, another very important part of the jigsaw sorted!
Finally, for a bit of a mojo booster, what do you reckon to the refurbished rocker covers?
I was originally going for a black wrinkle paint finish. However, my attempts looked, frankly, bloody awful!
My mate Gareth, virtually snatched them off me and set to with his set of machine polishing wheels, and gave them this beautiful, mirror-type finish.
Looking at them, I felt that having the valleys of the covers picked out in blue, to match the pin-striping of the car would really finish them off.
Seeing how Matt spends his time away from retro cars painting war-game miniatures, I handed him the paint and brush, and in the blink of an eye, they looked like this:
I'm well chuffed!
Mr Tank said:
Hi Bob
You are getting there, keep at it mate, it will be worth it in the end!
Andy
Thanks Andy You are getting there, keep at it mate, it will be worth it in the end!
Andy
I appreciate the kind words! It's been a long, slow slog this car.
It's hidden an awful lot of problems, and there have been times when I'd just wished I'd bought an old MX5.
Especially when a mate picked one up for £650, and I ended up with four bushes and some trailing arm pins for £250
I really, really want to make BBWF this year though. Thankfully I have some great friends and the advice of my old man to keep me going
Hopefully see you on July 13th in the silver beast. It's probably going to be quite tatty, cosmetically, but if it gets me there under its own power, I'll be ecstatic
Danny Hoffman said:
voltage_maxx said:
Unfortunately, this gave us a problem, as the short stubs of pipe are factory fitted to the injectors with a machine fitted pressed collar.
After having sliced through the pipe, I wondered if I'd just bought myself a needless ticket to a full set of new injectors :/
Thankfully, we figured out a way of cutting the locking collars off with a hacksaw.
Violet was particularly good at this, and so we stood around and watched!
Rocker covers to look great, how long did it take?After having sliced through the pipe, I wondered if I'd just bought myself a needless ticket to a full set of new injectors :/
Thankfully, we figured out a way of cutting the locking collars off with a hacksaw.
Violet was particularly good at this, and so we stood around and watched!
[b]I'm interested in how you get on with the replacement injector hoses, one of mine was leaking a touch so I tried to source replacements as I'm sure I'd read somewhere that you shouldn't just cut lengths from ordinary fuel hose. I couldn't find anyone that would supply them and as a temporary measure just tightened the top clip which seemed to cure the leak. I'm not sure how long it will last though.
I'll have to ask Gareth about the rocker covers, but it wouldn't surprise me if he said something mad like two hours per rocker cover.
I, wouldn't have the patience, but he's really gifted with that kind of thing.
Matt did the infill paint in about 30 minutes, but again, he's got lots of experience
As regards the injectors, the hose is only the same type as fitted to the rest of the car.
The injector body itself has ribs on the nipple (ooo-errr
), which meant we had to push the hose on quite hard anyway.With a jubille clip on, as well, I'm confident it'll be safe.
Needless to say though, I'll be keeping a very close eye on all the fittings the first time the car's fired up.
I shall probably get it over the pit, so that I can check for leaks underneath the car as well.
V8 Fettler said:
voltage_maxx said:
It's hidden an awful lot of problems, and there have been times when I'd just wished I'd bought an old MX5.
Especially when a mate picked one up for £650, and I ended up with four bushes and some trailing arm pins for £250
MX5s are very nice, but you'll never grin manically when you start the thing in your lock-up. And you'll never be followed by the sound of distant artillery fire on the over-run (assume flapper), or loud cracks on the upshift when ambient <5'C. On the other hand, MX5s appear to be reliable by default and have almost benign handling characteristics. Compare and contrast. Have both!Especially when a mate picked one up for £650, and I ended up with four bushes and some trailing arm pins for £250
However, the TVR just has such a sense of drama to it....and I've not even driven it yet!
I've been lucky enough to sample some lovely RV8 engined cars over the years, but none that were 2 seater convertibles.
I can't wait!
So, one of the most obvious problems with the car when I got it, was the shocking state of the hoses on the car.
A lot were visibly cracked and perished - worryingly this also included the fuel lines
Anyhow - I managed to purchase a pre-formed kit of silicone hoses for the engine bay.
Unfortunately, it didn't include the straight lengths of hose running to the header tank or to the heater matrix.
With that in mind, last Friday, I headed to Viper Performance in Telford with a box full knackered old hoses!
I then came home with a much lighter wallet, and a pile of very lovely hoses, pipe clips, joiners and reducers etc.
The following day, I headed over to Rimmer Brothers in Lincoln.
Rimmer's are world specialists in parts for British Leyland Group car parts - and often have the only known stock of certain parts.
I may have gotten somewhat distracted by the Twin-Turbo V8 SD1 for sale in the showroom
I managed to come back with pretty much the entire engine breather/manifold hoses I was having problems getting hold of, as well as a replacement dash lighting rheostat and knob. New old stock and probably the best part of 30 years old!
My mate Onne and I, then set about plumbing in the first bit of hose to the heater matrix.
This led to a few, err 'innuendo laden positions'. Myyyyyy, you've got a long hose, oooooooohhhh. Etc. Etc.
Anyway, after a lot of huffing and puffing, we got the first couple of hoses plumbed in.
Check them out against the blingy rocker covers
So, now that the heater matrix is plumbed in, I could finally put the dash and centre console back together.
Firstly I had to reconnect all the switchgear - thankfully I remembered to label it all up last year!
Looots of wiring to cram back in!
And in case you were wondering what that weird silver drum on the right hand side is...
....it's an odd automotive 'cul-de-sac', the fibre optic dash illumination (which I'm sure some of you on here know all about)!
There's a bulb inside this and a lens which focusses the output into multiple separate ferrules that the fibre optics plug into.
It sounds awesome - actually all it gives a dull glow around the switches, but non the less. My car has fibre optics so -
So, wiring all back in, new dash rheostat connected and a charged battery connected up to the car, time to fire things up for the first time in a year.
With everything seemingly working OK, time to bolt the dash back together, and fire up a choice cassette on the stereo
A lot were visibly cracked and perished - worryingly this also included the fuel lines
Anyhow - I managed to purchase a pre-formed kit of silicone hoses for the engine bay.
Unfortunately, it didn't include the straight lengths of hose running to the header tank or to the heater matrix.
With that in mind, last Friday, I headed to Viper Performance in Telford with a box full knackered old hoses!
I then came home with a much lighter wallet, and a pile of very lovely hoses, pipe clips, joiners and reducers etc.
The following day, I headed over to Rimmer Brothers in Lincoln.
Rimmer's are world specialists in parts for British Leyland Group car parts - and often have the only known stock of certain parts.
I may have gotten somewhat distracted by the Twin-Turbo V8 SD1 for sale in the showroom
I managed to come back with pretty much the entire engine breather/manifold hoses I was having problems getting hold of, as well as a replacement dash lighting rheostat and knob. New old stock and probably the best part of 30 years old!
My mate Onne and I, then set about plumbing in the first bit of hose to the heater matrix.
This led to a few, err 'innuendo laden positions'. Myyyyyy, you've got a long hose, oooooooohhhh. Etc. Etc.
Anyway, after a lot of huffing and puffing, we got the first couple of hoses plumbed in.
Check them out against the blingy rocker covers
So, now that the heater matrix is plumbed in, I could finally put the dash and centre console back together.
Firstly I had to reconnect all the switchgear - thankfully I remembered to label it all up last year!
Looots of wiring to cram back in!
And in case you were wondering what that weird silver drum on the right hand side is...
....it's an odd automotive 'cul-de-sac', the fibre optic dash illumination (which I'm sure some of you on here know all about)!
There's a bulb inside this and a lens which focusses the output into multiple separate ferrules that the fibre optics plug into.
It sounds awesome - actually all it gives a dull glow around the switches, but non the less. My car has fibre optics so -
So, wiring all back in, new dash rheostat connected and a charged battery connected up to the car, time to fire things up for the first time in a year.
With everything seemingly working OK, time to bolt the dash back together, and fire up a choice cassette on the stereo
Edited by voltage_maxx on Saturday 29th June 01:12
More work on the Wedge tonight!
Lots of fiddly faffing type jobs tonight which are very time consuming, but have little to show for themselves.
Good news is though, that the cooling fans (plucked from an Audi 80 Tdi which was about to be carted off to be made into bean cans) are now mounted and wired up.
It was a total pig to do, as I had to drill and fab up some mounts, as well as solder in all the connections to the TVR loom.
Obviously, a really important job that needed doing though.
As I'm sure you guys know, Rover V8s do run hot, and in the closed confines of a fiberglass engine bay can take some cooling.
In fact, the lame attempt at a fan a PO had fitted, was so weak it couldn't keep the engine cool when it was idling on the drive 0_o
This pair of fans though have some SERIOUS blow. I could feel it coming over the top of the windscreen when I tested them
I've been faffing with a few other bits and bobs as well, but decided to leave it at this for tonight.
The aim is to have all the fuel lines changed, cooling hoses routed in, and the engine running by the end of the weekend.
In theory, all I then have to do is:
Rebuild and refit the clutch master/slave cylinders.
Fit brake master cylinder and servo.
Bolt in rear diff/brake assembly.
Bolt up rear suspension
Refit/fettle headlights.
MOT!
Lots of fiddly faffing type jobs tonight which are very time consuming, but have little to show for themselves.
Good news is though, that the cooling fans (plucked from an Audi 80 Tdi which was about to be carted off to be made into bean cans) are now mounted and wired up.
It was a total pig to do, as I had to drill and fab up some mounts, as well as solder in all the connections to the TVR loom.
Obviously, a really important job that needed doing though.
As I'm sure you guys know, Rover V8s do run hot, and in the closed confines of a fiberglass engine bay can take some cooling.
In fact, the lame attempt at a fan a PO had fitted, was so weak it couldn't keep the engine cool when it was idling on the drive 0_o
This pair of fans though have some SERIOUS blow. I could feel it coming over the top of the windscreen when I tested them
I've been faffing with a few other bits and bobs as well, but decided to leave it at this for tonight.
The aim is to have all the fuel lines changed, cooling hoses routed in, and the engine running by the end of the weekend.
In theory, all I then have to do is:
Rebuild and refit the clutch master/slave cylinders.
Fit brake master cylinder and servo.
Bolt in rear diff/brake assembly.
Bolt up rear suspension
Refit/fettle headlights.
MOT!
Been a super productive weekend on't TVR!
(sorry some of these pictures are a bit rubbish - I used my camera phone, which was handy )
First job was tackling some of the hydraulics.
Bolted in the servo and the NOS brake master cylinder. An absolute doddle really and fitted a treat!
HOW I WISH I could afford to use NOS parts wherever possible.
They're great quality and just FIT - as opposed to having to struggle with rebuilding original parts or using pattern parts.
As those who know me in the flesh will attest - I'm not the tallest of people
The TVR's pedal layout was something of a struggle for me. To reach the pedals I found myself in a very awkward
driving position, very far forward (basically under the windscreen) with the gear lever almost behind me (rofl)
Anyhow - having the brake and clutch cylinders out is allowing be to adjust the pedals to suit; winding the clevis pin forward on the brake servo for example.
I've also managed to get hold of some extended actuator rods - hence I'll rebuild the clutch with a longer throw rod
Talking of which I made a start on the clutch cylinders.
After suffering from broken castings, springs flying out across the garage and finally finding out I'd be given the wrong rebuild kit, I said 'oh bother - that's unfortunate' (or words to that effect ) and headed out for the night for some drinks with friends!
Started stripping the old fuel lines out.
When I say that some of them were in a state....
This was the main fuel feed to the fuel pump from the swirl pot!
I didn't end up taking many pictures for the start of the day, so just imagine lots of swearing, huffing, puffing and dismantling!
At about that point, my mate Gareth turns up in his MX5 (lovely thing it is too!).
We decided it was KFC O' Clock
After some tasssssty chikaaaahn, we got a call from my mate Alistair, who was in the area after viewing a VERY cheap Rolls Royce, so he was duly roped in to help out (sort of).
Once we came back we set to at ripping the rest of the fuel lines out.
I was careful to tie some string to the end of the fuel lines, which gave me a handy feed line to pull the new fuel lines through.
Gareth helped me measure, cut and prep the new lines to go in.
I was amazed - using the pull feed method, just HOW quickly I got the new lines in.
Here's a shot down the centre of the chassis.
I had no quarms simply tie-wrapping the new lines in place, as it's EXACTLY how the originals were installed!
I've changed all the fuel feed lines - in fact there's only about half a metre of hose left which is original!
Quick shot of the fuel pump, and new fuel filter:
I then went and sat myself (literally) in the engine bay for the next stage.
Add valley gasket...
.....then add fully rebuilt intake manifold, and connect up the heater hoses and fuel lines to the manifold
I also refitted the water pump and pulley
So, I'm VERY close!
One thing which might throw a spanner in the works, is tightening down the intake manifold.
Access to the manifold bolts is very poor with it fully built up.
The Rover workshop manual suggests torquing down the manifold base, with all of the inlet plenum, trumpets, pipe work etc removed.
However, trying to rebuild the manifold ON the car seems crazy - far too many chances of dropping things into the ports!
So, we shall see. I suspect it's going to involve lots of fiddling with ratchet spanners and UJ joints on ratchet extensions!
Just needs the coolant hoses, and injection loom connecting up though; New plugs and leads fitting and fuel and water, and we should have lift-off!
(sorry some of these pictures are a bit rubbish - I used my camera phone, which was handy
)First job was tackling some of the hydraulics.
Bolted in the servo and the NOS brake master cylinder. An absolute doddle really and fitted a treat!
HOW I WISH I could afford to use NOS parts wherever possible.
They're great quality and just FIT - as opposed to having to struggle with rebuilding original parts or using pattern parts.
As those who know me in the flesh will attest - I'm not the tallest of people
The TVR's pedal layout was something of a struggle for me. To reach the pedals I found myself in a very awkward
driving position, very far forward (basically under the windscreen) with the gear lever almost behind me (rofl)
Anyhow - having the brake and clutch cylinders out is allowing be to adjust the pedals to suit; winding the clevis pin forward on the brake servo for example.
I've also managed to get hold of some extended actuator rods - hence I'll rebuild the clutch with a longer throw rod
Talking of which I made a start on the clutch cylinders.
After suffering from broken castings, springs flying out across the garage and finally finding out I'd be given the wrong rebuild kit, I said 'oh bother - that's unfortunate' (or words to that effect
) and headed out for the night for some drinks with friends!Started stripping the old fuel lines out.
When I say that some of them were in a state....
This was the main fuel feed to the fuel pump from the swirl pot!
I didn't end up taking many pictures for the start of the day, so just imagine lots of swearing, huffing, puffing and dismantling!
At about that point, my mate Gareth turns up in his MX5 (lovely thing it is too!).
We decided it was KFC O' Clock
After some tasssssty chikaaaahn, we got a call from my mate Alistair, who was in the area after viewing a VERY cheap Rolls Royce, so he was duly roped in to help out (sort of).
Once we came back we set to at ripping the rest of the fuel lines out.
I was careful to tie some string to the end of the fuel lines, which gave me a handy feed line to pull the new fuel lines through.
Gareth helped me measure, cut and prep the new lines to go in.
I was amazed - using the pull feed method, just HOW quickly I got the new lines in.
Here's a shot down the centre of the chassis.
I had no quarms simply tie-wrapping the new lines in place, as it's EXACTLY how the originals were installed!
I've changed all the fuel feed lines - in fact there's only about half a metre of hose left which is original!
Quick shot of the fuel pump, and new fuel filter:
I then went and sat myself (literally) in the engine bay for the next stage.
Add valley gasket...
.....then add fully rebuilt intake manifold, and connect up the heater hoses and fuel lines to the manifold
I also refitted the water pump and pulley
So, I'm VERY close!
One thing which might throw a spanner in the works, is tightening down the intake manifold.
Access to the manifold bolts is very poor with it fully built up.
The Rover workshop manual suggests torquing down the manifold base, with all of the inlet plenum, trumpets, pipe work etc removed.
However, trying to rebuild the manifold ON the car seems crazy - far too many chances of dropping things into the ports!
So, we shall see. I suspect it's going to involve lots of fiddling with ratchet spanners and UJ joints on ratchet extensions!
Just needs the coolant hoses, and injection loom connecting up though; New plugs and leads fitting and fuel and water, and we should have lift-off!
Edited by voltage_maxx on Monday 1st July 00:08
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
Mr Tank said:
Hi Bob
Nice looking engine bay!
I see a samll problem.
The top rad hose has the overflow pipe running under it. When the bonnet is fitted and then opened the top pipe touches the bonnet and with the other pipe under it the bonnet will be difficult to open!
Andy
Hi Andy - thanks for the kind words Nice looking engine bay!
I see a samll problem.
The top rad hose has the overflow pipe running under it. When the bonnet is fitted and then opened the top pipe touches the bonnet and with the other pipe under it the bonnet will be difficult to open!
Andy
Hmmm - I see what you mean about the top hose.
I suspect there's going to be a lot of 'fettling' required, once I've got it on the road.
That, hopefully shouldn't be too difficult to re-route without draining the system.
Right now I just want to get the bloody thing running!
Mr Tank said:
Bob
No problem!
Ref the running I have a similar problem with my press car. I have at least got the injectors to fire but still no fuel so in my case its stuck injectors. Hope to get them out and cleaned by the fest, but if not it will still go on a trailer!
Andy
GAH! I hope it isn't stuck injectors, as that'd mean stripping the plenum back (again) No problem!
Ref the running I have a similar problem with my press car. I have at least got the injectors to fire but still no fuel so in my case its stuck injectors. Hope to get them out and cleaned by the fest, but if not it will still go on a trailer!
Andy
It was all running before I stripped the car back - albeit suffering from gummed up extra air valve, vacuum leaks etc.
I suppose I'll know if I'm seeing 3V pulses at the injector plugs, if there's fuel in the fuel rail and yet no fuel in the cylinders.
Whilst I know if I had a Holley 390 on there, it'd be running by now, I don't want to give up on the fuel injection.
Call me mad, but it's part of what makes these 'Vitesse' spec RV8 engines so special
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.
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