My Estoril Blue TVR Tamora Journal

[tranter5]

Thought I would introduce myself in this section as have only really been in the TVR bit. I am Dan, a 21 year old business student from Leicestershire. I thought I would share my new car with people and I want to start a journal say to so of things I do to it. The cars a TVR Tamora in BMW Estoril Blue. I bought the car last week after trading my Audi T Quattrosport in for it I am chuffed to bits with it. The car is in outstanding condition but I want it totally perfect! Over the next few months I am going to be doing small jobs on the car. Hope you like it I will put a few pics up that I took on a drive to Mallory park yesterday.

[tranter5]

Prior to me purchasing the car from Tony Gilbert prestige cars in Warwickshire He had sent the car for a full front end respray and the seats completely re upholstered in blue leather and cream stitching. A truly awesome job. Today I did my first little job on the car which was to take the wheels off and wash clay, polish and seal them. I also gave the chassis and suspension components a quick going over.

Wheels after washing, claying with bilt hamber, 2 coats of AG SRP and 3 coats of Poorboys Wheel Sealant and finally tyres dressed with Meguairs Endurance:







Suspension components cleaned with AG Degreaser:

[tranter5]

Basically any penny I ever get goes towards cars and I have bought and sold my cars from a 1.4 fiesta making profit on each and also buy and sell fishing tackle as a side earner. Plus I am doing a placement as a marketing executive this year so got a wage (small but enough) coming in to help run it. I am on the look out for a small diesel up to £2000 as my commuter car as I have only insured this for 3000 miles and commute 50 miles a day. If anyone spots any bargains please let me know

Edited by tranter5 on Sunday 26th September 18:44

[tranter5]

£908 on a 3000 mile a year kit car and specialist car policy garaged. I couldnt believe how good it was! Other companies wanted alot more money. TT was nearly 2 grand a year with a massive excess and the excess on the TVR polisy is only £150.

[tranter5]

List of jobs for next few weeks include:

-Refurb calipers Gloss Black with Yellow TVR writing as they look a right mess currently gone a whitey grey colour.(Tempted to do them all Yellow with the writing in black wouldnt mind trying something different) opinions/ideas anyone?

-Replace steering wheel nuts with stainless ones.

-Waxoil Chassis

-Paint rear exhaust shield gloss black

-Fit fire extinguisher

[tranter5]

bazking69 said:

tranter5 said:

Basically any penny I ever get goes towards cars and I have bought and sold my cars from a 1.4 fiesta making profit on each and also buy and sell fishing tackle as a side earner. Plus I am doing a placement as a marketing executive this year so got a wage (small but enough) coming in to help run it. I am on the look out for a small diesel up to £2000 as my commuter car as I have only insured this for 3000 miles and commute 50 miles a day. If anyone spots any bargains please let me know

Edited by tranter5 on Sunday 26th September 18:44

So it wasn't funded by a win on the 'GG's' then?!

lol no the plate came with it. I am going to sell it. a few people said it could be worth a few bob to a booky. reg transfers have offered me just under £1000. going to get a TVR plate for it or a MY** TOY plate

[tranter5]

Looks excellent mate. I love doing calipers on my cars red. I just think it may look out of place though with the colour of this car do you not think? Yes warming is the most important many paople taught me about before purchasing. I dont even drive the car until there is one bar showing on the water temp then I dont take the revs above 2500rpm until oil is at 60. I have also got a white foam board that I have under the engine on the garage floor that I check everytime before I start it so I can see if any oil has leaked. Any other TVR ownership tips?

[tranter5]

falkster said:

Very nice job on the wheels!!! I keep meaning to get round to do it on ours!!!

Its a very pleasing and worthwhile job in the long run. As the dirty just comes off with a very mild dilution of bilberry wheel cleaner and a hose. Thumbs up for the wheel sealant! thoroughly reccomended

[tranter5]

Lensey said:

tranter5 said:

Any other TVR ownership tips?

Yes, drive it Worse thing you can do with them is not drive them, a good regular drive keeps everything sweet

Lovely looking car and looks in great condition, well done.

Oh yes it will be getting driven plenty! I ve been out everyday in it so far need to calm down a bit more now though otherwise I will need a fuel pump fitting in me garage!

[tranter5]

with MSM insurance it already has de cats and has a TVR power exhaust the sound is incredible!

[tranter5]

New bolts arrived for the steering wheel and engine as the others looked a bit tatty so ordered some nice shiny stainless ones also a quick pic with the roof on. car will be being clayed polished and sealed ready for the winter over the next following weeks Another job in the next month is to remove the faded calipers and rub down and repaint in gloss black with fresh yellow writing. Currently they have gone a grey- white colour.

Edited by tranter5 on Monday 4th October 21:55

[tranter5]

Well a few more updates, first of all I bought a cheap Seat Leon TDI as my daily for commuting to work so the Tam can be used purely as my weekend/evening obsession getting 55mpg out of the seat. quick pic:



This week I got chatting to one of my dads golfing friends Steve who works in the metals and powdercoating industry who very very kindly after seeing my car at the weekend offered to tidy up my messy exhaust shield. The car has had a sports exhaust fitted by a previous owner and the shield for it wasnt very well made it had no paint and had been cut out leaving sharp jagged edges It had also gone very oxidised/corroded. Steve smoothed off all the edges and then powdercoated it in gloss black. The difference is outstanding!!! I will get some proper pics when its light at the weekend. Before and after pics:
BEFORE:




AFTER:









I am driving the car to Prestige Performance TVR in Melton Mowbray on Saturday for a 1 hour healthcheck so I can see if anything might need rectifying in the near future and to have a good look underneath and hopefully learn quite a bit more about how to keep it tip top!

[tranter5]

Just had a look at your blog will be keeping an eye on what you end up doing with the shield. Looks like you have the same exhaust as me? TVR Power? Your car looks very tidy indeed!

[tranter5]

Not updated a while due to being busy. The "reliable daily driver" Seat I bought turned out to be not so reliable and kept going wrong so I got rid of that and made a profit on it which I was surprised with. I then replaced this with a much cheaper Shed to use for the winter months. It cost £500 and came with 12 months MOT and tax. A ford mondeo verona... in a colour almost matching the TVR (this wasn't planned) Not the coolest thing to be driving at 21 but its comfy for my 60 mile commute and is under £400 to insure... added bonus is the quick clear screen for the frosty mornings!. Anyway onto the Tamora, I purchased an Optimate battery conditioner for it a few weeks ago due to taking it off the road for December and January because of the salt on the roads so I wanted to keep the new battery fresh. I am also in the process of refurbing the calipers gloss black... although So tempted to do them red but not sure if it would look right on the car with it being blue. any thoughts on this would be appreciated!!!

freshly powdercoated exhaust shield



Winter Shed



tucked up away from the cold and damp

Edited by tranter5 on Sunday 9th January 19:01

[tranter5]

cheers for the comments. I think I am going to stick with gloss black and yellow logo.

[tranter5]

Right then got chance to have a go at refurbing one of the front AP racing calipers today. The calipers had faded and were just looking generally untidy. So firstly I spent a good while cleaning them then sanding down with wet and dry ready for paint. I normally paint my cars calipers with a brush but decided to spray this time and the finish is just on another level! It took me ages masking it all up especially the TVR writing but I wanted an excellent finish. I am very pleased with the end result. Just a few photos until I get it outside will do more pics once wheel is on etc. let me know what you think

BEFORE



ALL MASKED UP AND READY FOR 3 COATS OF HIGH TEMP GLOSS PAINT



AFTER

Edited by tranter5 on Saturday 15th January 19:14

Edited by tranter5 on Saturday 15th January 20:06

[tranter5]

cheers guys just doing the back calliper on the drivers side tonight then going to turn it round tomorrow and get the passenger side brakes up to scratch. will have to get some better photos in daylight as the front calliper really has came up like it was powder coated, a really smooth finish... chuffed to bits! Also touched a few bits up around the suspension with some white paint pics to follow. now I have had the back up on axle stands its tempted me for another job.... Polishing the whole exhaust system underneath. I am getting all OCD now lol

[tranter5]

I have declared it SORN through December and January was going to leave it in the garage through Feb also but I just need to get out driving it. Less than 2 weeks and I ll be driving it a few days a week weather permitting. So thought I would get some jobs done in the time I would normally be driving it

[tranter5]

andrewturner said:

Out of interest, is that a factory paint colour?

Yep that is the colour it was built in as there are no colour changes recorded on the HPI certificate

[tranter5]

yes its got an auto protect warranty on it until September. think you can claim up to £2000 at a time on it... hopefully will never need to use it though!