Tuscan Challenge Road Car (at the moment) build project

[schimg]

Geoff38 said:

Steve , I just noticed that You came to st neots to get the hub's , shame we had not been in touch earlier as our project barn is about 3 miles from there.

Always the way Geoff!

Would have been good to see what you have there...so am I correct in thinking you only have one set of rear hubs / splines?

cheers

Steve

[Geoff38]

sorry for the delay in reply , had to go to work for a couple of hours.

steve , I have the original set of hubs on the tuscan uprights , I have a set from the scorpio and a set from a griff/chim rolling chassis , if you can measure the pcd of the bolt holes that you require I will see if I have set to match. I suspect that all three might be the same pcd.

Perry , ok will tell the family I need a new suit from JL.

[Keithyboy]

Standard Tuscan pcd is 112 if it helps. I think Cerbera hubs are 114 (.3?) - they certainly don't mix as Mike Saunders and I tried it at Sillystone earlier this year.

[Graham]

Iirc its the drive flanges that bolt to the cv joint that are the problem not the hub that bolts to the wheel. The none cossy drive flanges are smaller.

I dont know if the bearing housing and bearings are the same. Not been able to find a spare set to measure

[schimg]

Graham said:

Iirc its the drive flanges that bolt to the cv joint that are the problem not the hub that bolts to the wheel. The none cossy drive flanges are smaller.

I dont know if the bearing housing and bearings are the same. Not been able to find a spare set to measure

Thanks G

I am hoping that I only need the Griff - chim output splines and can make use of the bearing housing and granada rear hubs that I have....probably being a little hopeful tho...

on the bright side I have just won a gear knob!
Priorities right there then!

[schimg]

My Cerbera Rear Calipers and rear discs arrived today...

At this stage I am going for Cerbera 450 brake set up.....AP rears and "6-bolts" fronts...

These are the one's on my cerbera rears...



and the fronts...



O.K.not massive but good enough for an 185 - 190 mph road car..I will fit a balance too..

This is a starting point...

And has common parts to the cerbera...and are desirable if I want to move them on...plus have another pair of fronts for spares...

The excess paint was cleaned off before fitting too....

Edited by schimg on Thursday 13th December 21:33

[schimg]

Staying out of the garage today...

Quick update on ...Brakes...I have now recieved the cerbera rear calipers and discs...more importantly they are in good excellant condition..



never the less .I sprayed the bleed nipples with penetrating fluid left them three days and undid them ...no problems...

I now have an engine... a 500 RV8 out of a Chimaera, I went in the car prior to the engine being removed it pulled v.well had good oil pressure and appeared honest , and ticked all the boxes


The engine came with ecu, wiring air flow meter all ancillaries including the aircon unit!.. (which I possibly try on my cerbera as the one on that appears to be playing games), the wiring loom which thoughtfully had been labelled up when the engine was removed.


The clutch worked well with decent feel and the engine came with a T5 box...changed gear fine...no nasty noises...



I will change the friction plate....study the rest


Dropped the pullies off the front of the engine to generally clean and check..plus dropped the plenum off (might fit a thermal plate, if one comes along) won't mess with trumpets or enlarge the throttle inlet (at this stage...more important priorities)however the valley gasket is starting to loose the coating .doean't appear to be a massive issue but will change it ..so will remove the inlet manifold and replace this.

But the engine is starting to look a lot cleaner....



polishing plenum and stripping off paint...



Right better get back to the turkey leftovers

[davetripletvr]

Like what you have done so far Steve, seems to be coming together, any more updates and pictures would be good. Think you should update on a weekly basis. Wouldn't mind coming and having a look in the flesh.

[schimg]

davetripletvr said:

Like what you have done so far Steve, seems to be coming together, any more updates and pictures would be good. Think you should update on a weekly basis. Wouldn't mind coming and having a look in the flesh.

Cheers Dave...kettle always here here matey...things will move on even more this week...as I am off to give Graham a hand bringing the Speed 12 down to the NEC in the morning...

Jonny (who maintains the SP12) has put together a set of the spacers (44)..and 8 adjusters all of the .12/8 high tensile bolts..nuts and washers (even the one's I neeed for the shocks) ...he is gonna show me how they go and has labelled them all up....even he is a nice man!
Now I will get the 22 rose joints...might try and get a deal at the Autosport show (I am there setting the tvrcc stand and working on the stand fr the whole event, oh Joy, thats four days work I could throw at this!)

I am picking up my front calipers from Brummiewedge and a set of carbon lorraine pads to go with the brakes..on Thursday off Paul as he is aat the show.

Then Graham Walden is bringing me a pair of the elusive headlight covers to the show ...he is going there to have a drink with his racing buddies evidently!!!

[Erijaso]

Steve, have you decided what your interior is going to look like?

I always wanted to convert one of these and wanted to try and emulate the original 1988 prototype road version.

G

[schimg]

Erijaso said:

Steve, have you decided what your interior is going to look like?

I always wanted to convert one of these and wanted to try and emulate the original 1988 prototype road version.

G

Hi Graham,

Well I was going to go for a similar dash to the one that I saw in Peter Wheelers challenge car, but then I came accross this body which had already been trimmed...and a fair bit of work already done on the dash side of things....

Ginny hoovered and cleaned all of the carpets (which have now been removed and stored away...


as (at the moment I intend to do the car in a cabury purple...it would be good to carry the purple theme through to the interior...now this might mean I just re-trim the edges of the carpet that came with the car or make new carpets and get them trimmed with purple piping...I still have half a hide from when I did the interior of my cerbera...

But the dash even had some TVR dials in there plus a loom which I will go through replace joints with solder and heat shrink and put wiring in protective casing...



However I have won a set of white dials off ebay speedo rev counter temp and a clock! Need a white oil pressure gauge next..

I also need some seats not sure which way to go ...TVR Tuscan seats was one consideration the other is one's out of an elise similar, or something like omp.ssparco...again not sure which will fit...

Be interested to see what they came up with on the interior of the show car though...might be the way to go...got any images?


I have been cleaning and prepping the engine ..






Gonna get the plenum engraved too!

[wadsapple]

so tell me how do you get your stuff shiny but not over the top i love the old patina you have atcheived

[schimg]

Well still haven't given up on this project (yet!), my Dad passed away a couple of weeks back so been busy sorting that side of things but here's a quick update..

Took the valley gasket off....and sump and rockers...
The inlets look like they have had some work...



The cam lobes look fine...and the inside of the engine is very clean with no gunge / bad deposits



Been buying stuff...24 rose joints...the spacers and headlight covers and some stainless fixings...





Then set George to work!



He's done a cracking job...

Fronts...




Rears...









Now it's diff and driveshaft prep time..


Plus I have stripped the front hubs bare...and sent them off to be crack tested...


Now I am awaiting the results....if they are cracked I am in the poo...and out of pocket for the testing

Need diff mounts...Graham Walden has lent me a set which fit my diff...so need another pair...or get some made....

I will take it all apart agaain once I know I have all the bits...then I will sort the chassis and cage out

As I am no mechanic I would appreciate any comments - pointers on stuff that I have done that is wrong...and needs altering...

Thanks in advance...

Edited by schimg on Wednesday 13th March 20:48

[Griffithy]

Hi Steve,

I am very sorry to hear about the passing of your dad.

Thank you very much for sharing your project with us.
Sadly I can not be of much help,
but I am following it with big interest.

All the best!

[schimg]

Well got the results of the crack testing.....one good one cracked....probably the best money I have spent on this whole project even though I am wee'd off about it!

Imagine what would have happened if I had cut that corner.....especially as I intend to take my son George in the car...mind he willbe probably old enough to drive it by the time I have finished it lol!

Looks like I need a nearside hub...

[schimg]

Griffithy said:

Hi Steve,

I am very sorry to hear about the passing of your dad.

Thank you very much for sharing your project with us.
Sadly I can not be of much help,
but I am following it with big interest.

All the best!

Thanks for the kind thoughts dad was an ex para dropped on d-day...taking some his ashes back to the chateua in Ranville where he dug with his bren gun..appreciated.

Pleased that you find this interesting...sometimes feels like I am just tryinmg to blow my own trumpet on here..concious that it's a racing forum not a rebuild forum!

Thanks Steve

[schimg]

Question

Been advised that the rear uprights for the cars have a couple of variants...

I assume ( and we know what does)that these changed when the race cars moved from 16ins rims to 18ins rims...

As I have a set of 18ins OZ split rims ...I need to establish that I have the correct rear uprights...

Are these the correct ones?



tia

as ever appreciate responses

Edited by schimg on Sunday 24th March 17:07

[Graham]

The change came with the move from 16 to 18" rims and moves the position of the hub carrier in the upright.

you can run 16" uprights with 18" wheels but not the other way around, talking to jr a couple of the current racers are running the older rear uprights..

as your running 18" wheels, as long as both uprights are the same I wouldnt worry

G

[schimg]

Here we go then..genuine Tuscan rear brakes...ex Colin Blower..the covering is protective wax...note how one piston sticks out more than the other...these are solid grooved ...I have been the challenge cars were considered to be over braked at the back so they went for lighter discs...these calipers have never seen fluid..not been used...I need rota's tho...




See the packaging...addressed to Mr Blower...

the front discs and rota's are again genuine unused...340mm



The cerbera 450 "6-bolt" calipers fit...





These have Carbon Lorraine pads...

I have cleaned up the diff...had the end cover off...couldn't see any visible damage...





After painting and cleaning up all of the brackets and such like I have sealed it back up ready for oil now...






I have managed to get brand new rear splines ...supplied to TVR




Now I will get the rear wheel bearings and assemble the rear hub assembly...

I will also fit the rear arb ..I will decide later if I will connect it though...cleaned it up though





I have also acquired another header...requiring a bit of love ...



Started to clean up though...


Plus turns out to be stainless...matching the one I already had...

Plus Les (TVR Chimaera) kindly engraved the plenum for me

and Ginny painted it...it will be lacquered after a couple of more coats of paint...

Engine looking more complete now valley gasket fitted


Need to do fuel rail next...might get it zinced ar just paint it...then will fit the plenum etc

Thanks for looking

[RedSpike66]

What a fantastic thread !!!