New Qs: Warming up; Squeak; Cats; Panel Clips...

[alinton]

So, more questions after a few days of ownership, if y'all don't mind:

1. Whats the recommended warming up procedure please?

2. Got an annoying squeak from somewhere in the dash when going over bumps. Can't avoid the bumps; the squeak comes from somewhere near the centre of passenger side. Anyone had this?

3. Cats. Um. I hear the pops, and I know that in a Cerbera, this behaviour tends to destroy the catalytic converters. So, if I remove them and fit bypass pipes, will I need a new ECU chip (if so, why?); And will it get unreasonably noisy?

3a. Where is the ECU?

4. Any tips on preventing one side of the inspection panel from popping open occasionally?

So may questions, so little time...


Thanks!

A.

[Mark A S]

1. Keep it under 3k ish until the Oil Temp is 55 to 60. Don’t labour it, and preferably get in and drive strait away.
2. Don’t know
3. The cats can be knocked out of the conical pipes. New chip is not essential, but TVR power do a De-cat chip which I hear good reports about.
3a Under the drivers footwell, clamped to the bulkhead. Your need a torch and some agility!
4 Check the retaining clips for excessive wear.

[s6boy]

Answer to no.2 could be the engine mounts needing replacement.

ETA> This might help with question no.3

http://www.pistonheads.co.uk/gassing/topic.asp?h=0...

Edited by s6boy on Wednesday 23 September 10:40

[Chequred Demon]

Your annoying squeak could be the body rubbing on the chassis.

I seem to remember it took someone ages to track down on a much earler thread??

[Zippee]

For warming up I keep mine to 2500rpm until I see 40deg oil temp and then 3500 rpm until I see 70deg oil.
Obvioulsy common sense also needs to be applied depending upon how cold the air is outside as this affects the sensor readings.

[Lucozade]

warm up procedure: get in, start engine, drive off. Enjoy. Lifes too short to worry. The engine may last you a while or it may not. I've yet to see any proof that a full "warm up procedure" helps immensely.

[RiddleMcFiddle]

i personally think you'd spend a lot of your drive warming up the engine if you were too OTT with it.

Mine takes 15 - 20 mins to get upto 75c oil temps.

I get it upto 60c oil temp then start using the throttle a little more. I never take near redline until 70c+ oil temps.

modern quality multigrade oils offer great circulation from cold, so shouldnt need excessive warming up.

I also let mine warn up for 3 mins or so before driving off. A little overfuelling is ok, i tend to give it a few mins to get good oil circulation to the top end (most common type of engine failure).

[Whitey]

s6boy said:

Answer to no.2 could be the engine mounts needing replacement.

ETA> This might help with question no.3

http://www.pistonheads.co.uk/gassing/topic.asp?h=0...

Edited by s6boy on Wednesday 23 September 10:40

I concur on point 2

[softtop]

RiddleMcFiddle said:

I also let mine warn up for 3 mins or so before driving off.

I was lead to believe that there was a greater strain on the followers when the engine was idleing rather than at driving, revs. So better not to idle. Also if you just switch on and let it idle the time it takes to get oil flowing round the engine is longer, I thought it was better to increase revs to about 2,000 for about ten seconds or so to speed up the oil flow. I am no expert, so listen if you think it makes any sense.

[alinton]

Engine mounts yea?

Squeaks when going over bumps? Fair enough, if this is a known thing.

I'm finding that the Tuscan doesn't feel as sure on the road as the Cerbera I have. It feels a little bouncy too. Does the Collective think maybe the shocks need stiffening a bit?

Bumpy roads over here!

Cheers

Andy.

[Zippee]

Standard shocks on the mk1 Tuscan are absolutely awful. Change for Gaz gold (or Nitrons if you have the extra cash) and you'll notice a huge difference.

[alinton]

I'm told they were changed, but I don't know what to.

I'll have a look this weekend, but they are adjustable anyway.

A.

[RiddleMcFiddle]

at cold the oil pressure is 60 psi+, thats easily enough to get oil flowing around everywhere after 10 seconds of starting.

People saying to get in and drive off are referring to the lack of fast idle speed from cold, which can cuase over fuelling and lumpiness.

But in any case, driving off and keeping the revs/engine load down certainly wont hurt the car, just my personal preference to let it get a little heat through it for a few mins before i pull off

[s6boy]

alinton said:

Engine mounts yea?

Squeaks when going over bumps? Fair enough, if this is a known thing.

I'm finding that the Tuscan doesn't feel as sure on the road as the Cerbera I have. It feels a little bouncy too. Does the Collective think maybe the shocks need stiffening a bit?

Bumpy roads over here!

Cheers

Andy.

The near side mount is affected by the heat from the catalyst which is inches away and degrades at varying rates depending on the driving you do and whether or not it has heat shielding fitted over it. I also understand de-catting has an effect too

The comment about the shocks even if they have been replaced could still be valid if over a few years old they could have degraded. As you have bumpy roads there I wouldn't go too firm on the dampers anyway as the back can become a lot more nervous with only a small change.

[da_murphster]

My service bonnet opened all the time - spend ages adjusteing everything and cleaning up the 'ball and socket joints' to no avail.

In the end I ordered new ones - not expensive.

Fixed it no probs, much better - old ones must have been worn although they looked fine.

[AG Tuscan II S]

Hope this helps - when I got my car I spent a while getting confused about what I was supposed to do and why. Then I phoned my local TVR specialist which is on the M40 just outside oxford towards London.

Driving off as soon a possible is the recommended procedure for operating the speed six. The reason for this is because the valves and finger follower are being slapped into movement by the cam shafts rotating more slowly, due over fueling and slower running as has been said already.
This tends to increase the valve wear in the guides and finger follower wear. The increase in RPM due to driving (gently) means that enough rotational velocity is maintained in the valve train to smooth out the slapping motion and makes the action more pushy as opposed to slappy.

There should be enough residual oil in the valve area and oil pathways to avoid the need to increase RMP for periods of a few days. More than that though and the increase in RMP to 1500 for ten seconds is recommended to push oil up to the exhaust valves which are the furthest point on the circuit from the high pressure oil pump.

[AG Tuscan II S]

Oh - I spent hours fiddling with my service bonnet too - but it was worth it in the end. Multipart have made some more clips now - the dealers were out for months - think they are about a tenner for the pair, You need to remove the main bonnet to replace them which is a bit tricky I find. Oh yeah and one more thing - the seven mm bolts that holds the adjustment plate on the ball end are obviously easy to strip as someone had already done so on mine - four helicoils later...

[alinton]

I fixed the squeek.

It was the roof catch above the rear view mirror.

A little adhesive rubber foot on the inside of the lever fixed it, it holds the lever about .05mm away from the base of the catch.

Result!

A.

[alinton]

Where did you get the replacements from please?


A.

da_murphster said:

My service bonnet opened all the time - spend ages adjusteing everything and cleaning up the 'ball and socket joints' to no avail.

In the end I ordered new ones - not expensive.

Fixed it no probs, much better - old ones must have been worn although they looked fine.

[nelly1]

http://www.thetvrshop.com/ProductsDetail.asp?PartN...