winter refurb

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jfjfjf2 said:

Some clues to replacement reservoir cap from steve-V8s in thread titled 'vented bonnet and brake fluid reservoir"

JF

I cqn confirm the poverty model citroen c2 cap fits the ford reservoir... and gives just enough clearance for the vented bonnet louvres without fouling.

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SSPPGG said:

but lets see what the MOT man says.......and hopefully i will get out this weekend

well, the MOT man says yes, so at least i got to take the long route home.

insurers have asked for an engineers report also. (belt and braces i think, surely the MOT is enough)...but there is sometimes no arguing. will get that done tomorrow, then i'm OTR properly

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Well, got the independent assessors report emailed off to insurers this morning after it was assessed Saturday

Insurers called today to confirm they are now happy that I can have the griff is back OTR.....

4 months for a body off/chassis/diff/brakes/suspension/engine/gearbox/exhaust.....swap/upgrade, not too shabby

First drive...........

Can't believe how much tighter the car is with the new racing reds, and polybushes. VERY chuckable compared to before. need to properly check camber/caster/rebound/corner/tracking as all have been done either by eye/guess/string/angle gauge/tape measure at home.......but i don't think they can be far out.

New brakes are very, very good, balance (in dry at least) feels spot on, I was concerned that the new larger rears may effect this, but so far, so good.

The LS seemed a little lacking, even though i need to map it properly as the base map supplied with the ECU should have been "close enough" to be OK as I had specified which heads/cam/inlet etc was being used......then I turned my attention to the throttle cable again, to find a throttle stop under the dash was limiting the throttle opening to about half. How i missed that i dont know, I think i just checked the throttle moved "some" when i was sat in the seat, but didnt check it completely......have adjusted that now....much, much more fun.

The new exhausts are a little louder, and have a definite wail at higher revs..i want to hear it with someone else driving, as i'd love to hear what it sounds like from the outside

T56 is fine, very relaxed at good motorway speeds. Though the shifter relocation gives great shifts, i've a slight issue with 1/2 shift, in that it doesn't want to shift easily. The rest are ok. I'm hoping this is just clutch clearance (t56 is a bit fussy in this area and can be a bugger if the clearance is insufficient). so i've got an AP master cylinder with a 1 inch bore, which ought help. i remember fitting one of these before to a similar setup for a similar issue, so is suspect the stock .7 bore master is a little too small even with a lot of pedal travel If that doesnt work, then i will have to turn my attention to the gearbox, and see if i've upset a shifter fork during the shifter relocation, but it is usable as is with care.

Modified Elise seats are fantastic, much more support, though you definitely fall into them when getting in even more than the old ones

I've a few jobs to do, speedo and tach both run through the ecu, but read incorrectly, will get sorted when the ecu is mapped
fans are currently on permanently. again, these will get controlled via the ecu, but i wired them direct whilst the car was running in the garage.
just ordered a 160 degree thermostat. The LS typically runs 180 or 195, largely to assist in emissions compliance, but with my griff being non cat, i can run lower temps. i've no stat fitted at all at the moment, as i wanted to make sure the rad setup would cope with the heat generated, and so far, it seems to be sufficient as on the move, engine drops temps straight down, and at idle, temp struggles to become warm enough with the fans on
the air inlet is drawing filtered air from the engine bay, fine for a while, as this was the case with most carbed cars, but it would be better draw cold air, so i will need to re route or shield the air intake a bit....
fit a proper bonnet prop!
fit shields for the rocker covers to tidy the wiring

I love the colour the headers have turned now......



and am glad the interior remained as stock....

Edited by SSPPGG on Monday 16th April 15:10

Edited by SSPPGG on Monday 16th April 15:19

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Marty V8 said:

SSPPGG said:

and am glad the interior remained as stock....

The sign of a good well thought-out and engineered conversion is that it looks impressive, yet also looks as if its stock as well. Congratulations for succeeding on both counts.

thanks.....one of the drivers for keeping it as stock as possible was......i cant afford a retrim!.....

but i did try hard not to change the appearance too much. the big holes in the louvred bonnet does give it away though

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V8BJC said:

Looks superb Steve.
Looking forward to the blat to le mans already. Will the cob keep up now?

Yours is 500 hp, mine is 420, but mine is lighter, more aerodynamic, and I can drive better, so no

Edited by SSPPGG on Thursday 19th April 15:01

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Alexdaredevilz said:

Have you done the man maths of

How much did it cost in total?
How many man hours?

The engine/box/exhaust/fuel/ecu etc cost me 6k
The chassis/suspension upgrades etc cost me 1800
I sold the surplus driveline bits for a around 2k

I would say there was an additional 500 on "bits" fuel lines etc, that you might consider extreme maintenence on a 20 year car

So a net 6k for everything (not too bad when I see full services and parts quoted at a couple of thousand)

Hours....too many if you ask my wife, but in reality probably 10 hours per weekend for the last 12 week ends or so... If charged at garage rates (40 per hour), perhaps 5k, but that's for the engine install and chassis work.

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haircutmike said:

Never, ever ask the wife!

I asked her to marry me...

Has to be THE most expensive thing I ever did

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been a while since last post...the issue i had with the shifting on 2/3rd transpired to be worn synchros, so the box needed to come out. didnt want the occasional shifting problem to turn into a major breakdown. Took the opportunity to beef up some internals, so should be good for a while. fitted new synchros throughout, new shifter fork pads, seals etc. The repair didnt take long, but getting the correct bits from the states took an age (6 weeks eek!)

So Got round to mapping and dynoing the car yesterday, and setting rev limits etc. Made a solid 430hp, with great torque. revs very happy so limit set at 6700. V.V. mild cam, stock 5.7 LS1, with a little head port and polish.

Had a nightmare with the windscreen though, while it waiting at dyno guys workshop in the the "queue" for the dyno for a few days, took the opportunity to have a cracked windscreen swapped. Fitter cut the leather screen surround accidentally, so , decided not to fit the screen, but get the leather repaired. All sounds reasonable, right?

Unfortunately didnt tell me that the trimmer couldnt do this for 10 days....so after a "robust" conversation, screen is being refitted today, and will be removed and refitted over next winter, at which time the repair will be addressed. Some "national windscreen" companies really do need to sharpen their practices a little...Im still not sure the trim cant be repaired with the screen in situ....but will have a look at that when i see the car.

some final tweeking to get the rev counter and speedo to work, which dyno guy is trying to do today, then off to Growl. tomorrow...as long as the screen is done!.............

Edited by SSPPGG on Thursday 7th June 16:22

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quattrophenia said:

Cool, but does it sound better than the original RV8?

that is very subjective..... it still burbles when pootling, but sounds angrier when you push it, and at full throttle definitely has a harsher tone... oh, and louder as it has twin 2.5 exhausts.

Edited by SSPPGG on Thursday 7th June 16:35

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7 TVR said:

Look forward to meeting you and the car at the Growl!
Will be there saturday with some friends.

will be good to compare notes, mine is the patina'd tatty looking green one with an unpainted bonnet.....and hopefully a bloody windscreen!

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virgil said:

hi mate. Just got a quote to blast my chassis and zinc prime...300quid plus pickup/drop of...how did you find your place...looked for a zinc coaters who can shot blast or the other way round??

Dunno why, but I;m struggling to find people to do things for me in the southeast...

Cheers,

Virgil

mine was about 200 to blast and hot zinc coat, that was for chassis and all components.

i've built a few cobra replicas, and just "know" where to go locally for stuff.

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the story went a bit like this..

him "ive got an LS in the garage that im not using"
me "hmmmmm"....


so out with the ls1, and in with an ls3....

ill be putting a tr6060 6 speed in to replace the older t56

should have the new engine in by the weekend, looking forward to more ponies under the right foot

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7 TVR]SPPGG said:

the story went a bit like this..

him "ive got an LS in the garage that im not using"
me "hmmmmm"....


so out with the ls1, and in with an ls3....

ill be putting a tr6060 6 speed in to replace the older t56

should have the new engine in by the weekend, looking forward to more ponies under the right foot[/quote

Great news! Not heard of that box before have you any more info? The LS1 did not last long then!!

the LS1 is just fine, ran really strong (430hp) going to a new home in a friends cobra replica, i sort of fell on the new ls, ls7 clutch etc and with a mind to tt, decided the later heads were a must for improved breathing, and ive got some spare forged pistons suitable in the event i go that route.

the 6060 is just a new t56, partsworld currently sell them at 1250, including bellhousing, slave etc, so a pretty good deal, but mounts, prop etc will need to be changed. its a bit chunky see pic, but pretty much the same size as the t56 i removed

Edited by SSPPGG on Tuesday 14th August 10:21

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Alexdaredevilz said:

Upgrading the cam on this one? I hear the LS3's react very very well to a cam

they do, ive seen over 500hp from a cam and spring change....but I think that'll have to wait

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anonymous said:

[redacted]

mine is not sprayed yet, up at sportmotive as we speak for that.

here is one shamelessly stolen from the fibreon site (the chaps that make tyhe bonnet, so i am sure they wont mind!)




sportmotive make engine mounts, gearbox mounts etc that will pick up on the original TVR mounts, so no need to modify the chassis at all, unless you want to.

For this engine, I will look to add to some bracing across and around the engine bay under the engine, and around the bellhousing area, as this is the area on the TVR that has least bracing, a little like the effect you see on later speed 6 cars, where there is a plate stiffening the chassis right across the chassis under the engine

Edited by SSPPGG on Thursday 16th August 19:05

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a brief update......

engine waiting to go in



i'd almost forgotten how much more wires were installed in the LS conversion...the ls3 uses a different ECU, and therefore the whole engine loom is replaced



and behind the dash



and getting the new fuse/relay box as well as the ecu and battery in here took some doing (using the smaller red top battery it all fits inside the old battery box)

|http://thumbsnap.com/3htJ6dve[/url]

but after a solid days work, its in and fired up (only for a couple secs)



i'm waiting on a hydraulic fitting for the slave cylinder connector to an AN fitting, which is coming from the US, so i cant fit the gbox yet, so exhaust/water pipes etc will all have to go on after the gearbox....[url]

ordered a new rad (mine leaks) from these chaps http://www.aaronradiator.co.uk/..they do ali ones at £240, which seems reasonable.

Edited by SSPPGG on Tuesday 21st August 13:11

Edited by SSPPGG on Tuesday 21st August 13:16

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still waiting on gearbox bits, so i though id have a look at the PAS system.

im using a stock impreza rack, with a pinion rotated 180 degrees, and spline recut to the modified to the tvr UJ spline. (pic earlier in this thread)

the bolts threads will need 20mm spacers (might tig them to the underside of the brackets) or just make them in ali,

track rods need shortening, and i might need to cut the taper in the steering arms a little deeper, as the taper is correct, just a little shallow for the impreza arms, or i might find a different arm/tre that'll work with no mods.

I think itll all work out fine.

pics (camera fone....apologies!)

Edited by SSPPGG on Wednesday 22 August 23:16

Edited by SSPPGG on Thursday 23 August 06:50

Edited by SSPPGG on Thursday 23 August 06:50

Edited by SSPPGG on Thursday 23 August 06:53

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Didnt do much this weekend, apart from tidy up all the wiring under the dash, but is did decide to fit the scooby TRE to the ford steering arms.

after measuring the height of the rack, and the old arms, versus the new arms, (and because the scooby TRE taper though the same pitch is is thicker), i needed to enlarge the holes in the steering arms to make the TRE sit deeper and give me more thread above for the castle nut.

I used an old scooby TRE, to make up a "widgit", and using some very coarse grinding paste, enlarged the holes in the steering arms. so the scooby TRE now fit. took 20 mins to make up the "widgit" and about 10 mins per side to slowly grind the holes.



If it all went horribly wrong, there is plenty of material to open the hole to m14, and use rose joints, but this was worth a try, and worked out fine. I still have this option if i need more adjustment than i can achieve by raising the rack height to correct any bump steer, but as it is, this is where the TVR setup was originally.

The threaded portion you see above the steering arm protrudes 5mm more than it did before, which puts the centre of the TRE and steering arm correct to the TVR geometry (within 1mm anyway).

Also pent some time making sure the UJ will all clear the chasisis, this setup uses the original TVR UJ, but i will need to shorten the steering column in the wheel arch by about 20mm

Also made up the wiring harness for the rack.

This only needs 3 wires, power, ignition live, and engine run live. I think i will take this from the fuel circuit as the ECU only runs the fuel pump after the engine is fired (other than a short pulse to get some fuel in the rails)...i cant think of anywhere else to get a engine run only live...


I also made up some heat shield for the bottom of the bonnet, its not stuck down, as the bonnet needs painting



hope to see my gearbox bits this week sometime

Edited by SSPPGG on Tuesday 28th August 13:27

Edited by SSPPGG on Tuesday 28th August 13:34

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had a fun week this week

my box of stuff arrived from the US, which contained :-
a custom shifter for the 6060, and offsets the gearstick to a perfect location to fit the transmission tunnel



hydraulic connector, which connects the GM clutch hydraulics to an AN fitting, so that makes life easier

url]|http://thumbsnap.com/IfxTiCRA[/url]

a convertor plate, so that can fit a prop to the back of the gearbox using 2 spicer joints, and bin the "rubber donut" affair that GM typically use, as these commonly suffer with short props as the angle changes can be a little higher , so the gearbox is now fitted, and the propshaft measured and ordered from dave mac propshafts.


url]|http://thumbsnap.com/eusArdsH[/url]

so the gearbox is now fitted, and the propshaft measured and ordered from dave mac propshafts.


I also finished fitting the modified PAS rack, and connected up the UJ and steering column. It is cosy, but it all fits with no clearance issues, and the only modification to the chassis was taking a small nick out of the corner of one of the 4 plates that the rack bolts to, to permit clearance for one of the pipes, but its small, and will be hidden under the pinion. (and i did this before the chassis was powdered as i thought it would be a little cosy)

ive been asked a few times about the pump i plan to use.....

Pump Type
you need the TRW ephs unit from the later Mk4 astra, circa 2003, which I think was referred to as the Gen2 unit. Those fitted to the original MK4 Astra's (late '90's) weren't as reliable. Make sure its the TRW unit as ZF supplied some and they need a CAN signal to work as do the TRW ephs units fitted to the Vectra.

I don't know what the flow output of the Saxo unit that TVR use, but i tested it and the flow or pressure was insufficient.

The Astra is around 6l/min max but the pressure is around 90bar. So the pressure is going to be fine. You can get a situation called catch up where the rack moves so quickly the pump can't keep up and the steering gets very heavy. I had this when i tested the saxo type pumo.

With an LS pump, the flow was around 8-9l/min - made the steering too light steering.

Wiring
The thick red is positive (and needs an 80amp fuse) the thick brown is earth (that's Vauxhall for you)

The black goes to an ignition switched source and the green/white (or blue/white ) goes to a feed from the alternator, or a 12 V supply comes in after the engine has fired. The brown lead doen't get connected.

When you connect the ignition wires don't just connect them to the same source, one should go to the battery output from the alternator - the pump needs this 12v source to start slightly later. If not the unit will not quite ramp up normally - I think its runs at max speed before settling down. Its not a big problem, I think its something to do with stopping the system drawing too much current during engine cranking.

Edited by SSPPGG on Friday 7th September 15:47

Edited by SSPPGG on Tuesday 18th September 16:24

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finally decided on a colour for the repaint of the griff, wanted to stay green, but lighter....

reminds me of one of my favourite cars running round le mans
|http://thumbsnap.com/0RxWSgQ7[/url]

the interior leather and vinyl is a strong biscuit colour, so i need to have a reasonably strong exterior colour too.

sent the dash off to be re-veneered, and will be getting a new carpet and hood retrim over the next couple of weeks.[url]

Edited by SSPPGG on Tuesday 18th September 22:59