What did you do in the garage yesterday?
Discussion
There's no point having one of these cars unless its giving you pleasure, I tend to measure this using my TVR pleasure equation...
Time driving & enjoying - time improving and repairing = % of pleasure given back by said TVR
If the balance tips too much towards the off the road time rather than the ripping up the road time the frustrations will creep in and the % pleasure figure can quickly plummet.
I couldn't imagine spannering for a living then having a TVR to look after in my spare time, it would drive me nuts too
I do mostly look after my car myself but I decided to leave the career a long time ago, TBH I'm not afraid to lift a spanner but as I get older & fatter I tend to find the most pleasurable mechanicing I do is writing a cheque to Lloyd Specialist Developments.
Massive respect to guys that do a full body off or fit a turbo or two in their single garages at home, it's just works out easier for me to make my money then pay someone else to do the bigger jobs.
It nearly always ends in a lot more of that driving pleasure thing
Just my weak lazy ways I guess
Time driving & enjoying - time improving and repairing = % of pleasure given back by said TVR
If the balance tips too much towards the off the road time rather than the ripping up the road time the frustrations will creep in and the % pleasure figure can quickly plummet.
I couldn't imagine spannering for a living then having a TVR to look after in my spare time, it would drive me nuts too
I do mostly look after my car myself but I decided to leave the career a long time ago, TBH I'm not afraid to lift a spanner but as I get older & fatter I tend to find the most pleasurable mechanicing I do is writing a cheque to Lloyd Specialist Developments.
Massive respect to guys that do a full body off or fit a turbo or two in their single garages at home, it's just works out easier for me to make my money then pay someone else to do the bigger jobs.
It nearly always ends in a lot more of that driving pleasure thing
Just my weak lazy ways I guess
ChimpOnGas said:
There's no point having one of these cars unless its giving you pleasure, I tend to measure this using my TVR pleasure equation...
Time driving & enjoying - time improving and repairing = % of pleasure given back by said TVR
If the balance tips too much towards the off the road time rather than the ripping up the road time the frustrations will creep in and the % pleasure figure can quickly plummet.
I couldn't imagine spannering for a living then having a TVR to look after in my spare time, it would drive me nuts too
I do mostly look after my car myself but I decided to leave the career a long time ago, TBH I'm not afraid to lift a spanner but as I get older & fatter I tend to find the most pleasurable mechanicing I do is writing a cheque to Lloyd Specialist Developments.
Massive respect to guys that do a full body off or fit a turbo or two in their single garages at home, it's just works out easier for me to make my money then pay someone else to do the bigger jobs.
It nearly always ends in a lot more of that driving pleasure thing
Just my weak lazy ways I guess
Dave I am way way overdue for some driving pleasure I can tell you Time driving & enjoying - time improving and repairing = % of pleasure given back by said TVR
If the balance tips too much towards the off the road time rather than the ripping up the road time the frustrations will creep in and the % pleasure figure can quickly plummet.
I couldn't imagine spannering for a living then having a TVR to look after in my spare time, it would drive me nuts too
I do mostly look after my car myself but I decided to leave the career a long time ago, TBH I'm not afraid to lift a spanner but as I get older & fatter I tend to find the most pleasurable mechanicing I do is writing a cheque to Lloyd Specialist Developments.
Massive respect to guys that do a full body off or fit a turbo or two in their single garages at home, it's just works out easier for me to make my money then pay someone else to do the bigger jobs.
It nearly always ends in a lot more of that driving pleasure thing
Just my weak lazy ways I guess
I am hoping this delivers if I did my home work correctly 
you know what its like you get behind the wheel and say f
k it this feels great 
most of the heatache as been self inflicted I gave my self to much labour and I dont have enough spare time so have been down the shop very late trying to get in front which as paid off QBee said:
You and I could do a lot worse than go see the king of TVR polishing, a guy called Steve Perkins, who lives north of Peterborough. He has that orange T350T with the black stripes that was in the time line at Burghley last year, and has just bought a metallic black Sagaris. 
How much is that going to cost me ?SILICONEKID345HP said:
QBee said:
You and I could do a lot worse than go see the king of TVR polishing, a guy called Steve Perkins, who lives north of Peterborough. He has that orange T350T with the black stripes that was in the time line at Burghley last year, and has just bought a metallic black Sagaris.
How much is that going to cost me ?Someone has posted a "how to guide" anyway. Perhaps we just follow that? I will post a link.
Sardonicus said:
am nearly thanks Alun got this far today inbetween jobs but going home at reasonable time tonight
Lovely,,, I'm respecting them there plug leads, got this far today inbetween jobs but going home at reasonable time tonight Dave's comments are about where I'm at, spent a fortune and I'm still not on the road, frustrated by my own forced year if austerity measures,,,,, total b
ks all of it! Nearly over so as Dave says,,,, I gonna do some driving this summer that's l I know.
Sardonicus said:
ave I am way way overdue for some driving pleasure I can tell you I am hoping this delivers if I did my home work correctly you know what its like you get behind the wheel and say fk it this feels great most of the heatache as been self inflicted I gave my self to much labour and I dont have enough spare time so have been down the shop very late trying to get in front which as paid off
Get it buttoned up Simon, jump in and join the boys for a blast down to Le Mans. I am hoping this delivers if I did my home work correctly you know what its like you get behind the wheel and say fk it this feels great most of the heatache as been self inflicted I gave my self to much labour and I dont have enough spare time so have been down the shop very late trying to get in front which as paid off Pure TVR therapy to get you over all those hours of love you've lavished on that beautiful engine.
Fantastic job, enjoy
Slight issue with the intermittent function on the wipers, replaced the wiper park switch and boy those contacts were corroded 
Looking at the state of the terminals I'm amazed the wipers worked at all.
All sorted for £8
Took the roof off & went to the pub for just one
to celebrate, bumped into the Triumph Stag owners club meeting and chatted V8s.
Looking at the state of the terminals I'm amazed the wipers worked at all.
All sorted for £8
Took the roof off & went to the pub for just one
to celebrate, bumped into the Triumph Stag owners club meeting and chatted V8s.ukdj said:
it's on the wiper motor
looks like this
That's the puppy looks like this
Its a common as muck Lucas part fitted to a host of British stuff (Classic Mini, FX 4 London Taxi ect ect.)
The terminals on the switch and those inside the multi plug connector corrode badly, mostly because of where it all sits. TVR designed a nice scalloped recess for the wiper motor to sit in which is the perfect shape for a little puddle to form, great for tadpoles, bad for car electrics
The wiper park switch sits at the low point in this puddle so terminal corrosion & subsequent failure is inevitable, its important to know the female terminals on the plug corrode as badly as the male spades on the switch itself, you can't really clean up the multi plug terminals so ideally you should replace it when you replace the park switch.
You can buy the above park switch & multi plug as a set here:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/CLASSIC-MINI-ROVER-MINI-...
Before attempting to fit the switch its essential to force the wipers to stop in the vertical position on the screen by tuning the ignition off as the wipers reach that point.
Actually its better to do this with the wiper blades held off the dry screen by pulling the arms away on their springs as you might when manually cleaning your screen.
As we know the wiper system on the Chimaera really struggles to sweep a dry screen (read "can't sweep a dry screen") so it pays not to try as it puts a great deal of unwanted strain on the motor, wheel boxes & spiral rack.
Use some dielectric grease when you put the new multi plug back on your newly fitted park switch to protect against future corrosion, you can't easily resolve the TVR fish pond the wiper motor sits in so some dielectric grease should at least ensure substantially longer terminal life and improved wiper reliability.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Dielectric-Grease-for-co...
I would love to see someone come up with a proper rose jointed rod system like TVR put on the later T cars, the old Lucas spiral rack system we have is pure 1950's in its design and to be honest it wasn't all that good back then.
You might get away with it on a 60hp Mini or your old Triumph Herald, but in my opinion this truly ancient Lucas spiral rack & toothed wheel box system has no place on a 150 mph sports car that's used on fast modern motorways in the winter months.
A proper high torque wiper system using rigid rose jointed rods would make a fantastic improvement to the everyday usability of the Chimaera, it goes without saying effective wipers are hugely important for safety.
But while we are still forced to suffer the archaic 1950's Lucas arrangement I highly recommend spending some time making sure every last element is in perfect working order.
When absolutely everything (wiper motor, park switch, wheel boxes, spiral rack, wiper arms and blades) are in perfect as new condition the system can best be described as marginal, but if any of these elements are even slightly worn or corroded its downright dangerous in my opinion.
A top tip is to use Rain-X, it doesn't solve the problem but for very little money you can give the marginal Chimaera wiper system a much easier life, you can even avoid using the wipers at all in light rain when you're moving at reasonable speed.
I feel quite strongly a properly serviced wiper system, an application of Rain-X on the screen and some decent modern blades like the new hybrid Michelin Stealths are all essential on a Chimaera.
Buy here:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/111606215122
Edited by ChimpOnGas on Friday 5th June 09:34
I think I finally sorted the misfire. All the extenders were split, it runs much better with out them fitted.
Then I went for a nice drive down to the marina and had an Indian takeaway. Lovely The TVR is just fantastic when it's running right. It's so nice to drive now everything is sorted. It gets a LOT of attention too!
Then I went for a nice drive down to the marina and had an Indian takeaway. Lovely
The TVR is just fantastic when it's running right. It's so nice to drive now everything is sorted. It gets a LOT of attention too! zed4 said:
I think I finally sorted the misfire. All the extenders were split, it runs much better with out them fitted.
Then I went for a nice drive down to the marina and had an Indian takeaway. Lovely The TVR is just fantastic when it's running right. It's so nice to drive now everything is sorted. It gets a LOT of attention too!
Then I went for a nice drive down to the marina and had an Indian takeaway. Lovely
The TVR is just fantastic when it's running right. It's so nice to drive now everything is sorted. It gets a LOT of attention too! Check out my extender delete solution Dan.
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
It lives fired straight up 
vids real short phone crashed out because of incoming call for some reason I then got sidetracked but who cares its running straight off my old map just at to wind out air bleed screw a tad (no stepper now) this was just after cam break in and filter change now I need to go break my rings in proper 
only teething propblem small leak from 2 hoses to pipe fittings so much for Mikalor hose clips now sorted but never good seeing small beads of coolant running down the vally gasket 
http://vid153.photobucket.com/albums/s228/thatdadd...
vids real short phone crashed out because of incoming call for some reason I then got sidetracked but who cares its running straight off my old map just at to wind out air bleed screw a tad (no stepper now) this was just after cam break in and filter change now I need to go break my rings in proper only teething propblem small leak from 2 hoses to pipe fittings so much for Mikalor hose clips now sorted but never good seeing small beads of coolant running down the vally gasket http://vid153.photobucket.com/albums/s228/thatdadd...Gassing Station | Chimaera | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff