The road to TVR Tuscan ownership

The road to TVR Tuscan ownership

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Discussion

Andy665

Original Poster:

3,599 posts

227 months

Monday 1st June 2020
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Medic-one said:
Doh, just realised my youtube is in Dutch and I just copied and pasted that line across to the forum. But i'm sure you got the gest of it, it just says it's set to private so we can't see it.
Settings now changed so it can be viewed

Medic-one said:
This one of my favourite cars, on the list on "must own one, some day", and then preferably in that same colour...
I have come in to TVR ownership with my eyes wide open and so far no surprises, there are little foibles where sometimes something does not work and then starts again with no intervention but nothing that has me concerned or surprised - the great thing is that most of these foibles are documented and the support from fellow TVR owners is exceptional - by far and away the best of any marque I have owned to date

Edited by Andy665 on Monday 1st June 11:06

Medic-one

3,105 posts

202 months

Monday 1st June 2020
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Video works now. And it sounds great!

shalmaneser

5,930 posts

194 months

Monday 1st June 2020
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lovely noise!

robsco

7,822 posts

175 months

Monday 1st June 2020
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Don’t be afraid of using them. Driving it more than 100
miles from home won’t cause it to perish! I’ve done a couple of European trips, my last to the Amalfi Coast in Italy. 30 degree heat and cliff edge roads are tough on anything, but my old Tuscan took it all in its stride. Most issues are resolved by the car itself, as you are learning.

Rob-c33sg

139 posts

55 months

Monday 1st June 2020
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It's looking great sir - really nice work on the paint. I like that all TVRs had their quirks. Mine refused to open the doors today using the buttons by the radio but outside ones worked fine? Started working later. Who knows... smile Enjoying your updates.

Andy665

Original Poster:

3,599 posts

227 months

Wednesday 10th June 2020
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Stumbled across the attached yesterday and spent some time today creating it - Car Facts Disc - simply switch on your phone camera and tap the link when it reads the QR code - complete owner control over the content and updateabale as and when you like - the disc is same size as a tax disc and a great thing to have in your car for shows etc



Andy665

Original Poster:

3,599 posts

227 months

Wednesday 22nd July 2020
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Couple more jobs ticked off the list.

The heater box is not a pretty thing on the Tuscan, seen below at top right of image



Fortunately, a small plastic / carbon fabrication has been playing around with a cover so grabbed one quickly, lots of sanding down, priming, spraying and lacquering got a half decent finish to it and certainly really makes that part of the underbonnet area more presentable





Also decided to move the Anderson connector. The Tuscan battery is in a panel in the front wheelarch which cannot be accessed without taking the wheel off. To allow slightly easier jump starting they fitted an Anderson connector that was accessed from under the battery box (just behind front wheelarch) - hardly a great piece of thinking. The connector is pretty robust but pointing down to the road surface and immediately behind the front wheel guaranteed a load of crap would accumulate around it (even with a cover) and it would quickly corrode - more than a handful of Tuscans have been lost to fire because of this.

Whilst the Anderson connector on mine was new 2 years ago and well greased it was still showing signs of corrosion so was all stripped out and replaced with new leads and connector in the engine bay (bottom right of bottom picture), obviously carefully routed and suitably heat wrapped - provided massively better peace of mind

Edited by Andy665 on Wednesday 22 July 15:49

Andy665

Original Poster:

3,599 posts

227 months

Thursday 27th August 2020
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Thats the rebuild running-in service completed at TrackVRoad.

Apparently the clearances were very tight and 12 of the valves needed shims - no longer restricted to 3,500 rpm and the engine is transformed, much sharper now its breathing properly

Also got it MOT'd, had been subject to covid-19 extension to late Nov but made sense to get it done whilst with them, pass with no advisories which is always a relief

First time I have driven the car with the roof on, rear screen in and in the wet, unlike most Tuscans it is completely leak free despite the atrocious rain / wind during the 110 mile drive up on Tuesday and was impressively unaffected by the high winds on the journey up to Clitheroe

Car managed to stay incredibly clean despite the weather and a 250 mile trip




tgr

1,129 posts

170 months

Thursday 27th August 2020
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Spectacular

TR4man

5,208 posts

173 months

Thursday 27th August 2020
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Interested to see your gold heat shielding on the bonnet - that is something I need to do with mine to protect the bonnet from heat crazing.

Why they weren’t factory fitted, I don’t know.

Andy665

Original Poster:

3,599 posts

227 months

Thursday 27th August 2020
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TR4man said:
Interested to see your gold heat shielding on the bonnet - that is something I need to do with mine to protect the bonnet from heat crazing.

Why they weren’t factory fitted, I don’t know.
As is always the case this was only fitted after the heat crazing started, certainly seems to do a good job but whenever I get home I always lift the bonnet for a few mins - just to be on the safe side

Andy665

Original Poster:

3,599 posts

227 months

Thursday 15th October 2020
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Been an eventful few weeks in TVR ownership but happily all resolved.

After the running service was completed all seemed well for 400 miles and then it started to sound very tappetty. Obviously the Sped Six engine is a fairly mechanical sounding engine anyway but this was something that was not normal.

Did the old screwdriver on cam cover test and the noise was definitely coming from the rear and so soon (1,200 miles) after its rebuild I contacted the specialist straight away and sent them over a short video clip.

They initially thought it could be a valve shim that had shifted but agreed it needed to be looked at and arranged to collect the car.

Once they had the car and investigated further it was identified as a failure on one of the new finger followers, this despite me paying for them to be hardness tested before fitment. What was frustrating was that the original finger followers at the point of rebuild were all fine but replaced as a matter of course seeing as though these are the real weak spot on the engine so to have a new finger follower fail after 1,200 miles was a shock.

Specialist has replaced all of the finger followers again, along with the cams and delivered it back to me this week sounding as it should.

Just a freak failure and the specialist was superb, collected quickly and returned, no cost to me at all - just hoping I can now find a few dry days to enjoy it in the months ahead

QBee

20,905 posts

143 months

Thursday 15th October 2020
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TrackvRoad need a second shout out for that free warranty replacement - they have most likely sucked up all the labour and collection/delivery costs for something that wasn't in the slightest their fault. I don't know for certain, but i suspect that all the parts supplier paid for was the new parts.

There are some the good guys out in there in the TVR world.

Andy665

Original Poster:

3,599 posts

227 months

Thursday 15th October 2020
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I agree, the failure was not in any way due to their workmanship and they have been hit with a reasonably substantial bill and a fair amount of time (engine out job) but car delivered back to me within 2 weeks of collection

Poor service from businesses quickly spreads but I like to make people aware of the businesses out there who really do look after their customers

Rob-c33sg

139 posts

55 months

Thursday 15th October 2020
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Glad to hear it’s fixed Andy. I’m back at sportmotive tomorrow as I’m still not 100% on the handling of mine.

I’ll ask him to listen to my engine too because it does have a tappety sound once warmed up. It’s always had it but then again I’ve not had it that long! I think I read somewhere these engines do have that kind of sound and not to worry but maybe screwdriver test isn’t a bad idea just in case.

Andy665

Original Poster:

3,599 posts

227 months

Thursday 15th October 2020
quotequote all
Rob-c33sg said:
Glad to hear it’s fixed Andy. I’m back at sportmotive tomorrow as I’m still not 100% on the handling of mine.

I’ll ask him to listen to my engine too because it does have a tappety sound once warmed up. It’s always had it but then again I’ve not had it that long! I think I read somewhere these engines do have that kind of sound and not to worry but maybe screwdriver test isn’t a bad idea just in case.
As the oil warms and thins it will become slightly more tappety sounding , when were the valve clearances last checked / shimmed?

QBee

20,905 posts

143 months

Friday 16th October 2020
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Sportmotive are another of the good guys in the TVR world.

As the cars haven't been made since 2006 (ish), there isn't a dealer network to support us, just a collection of enthusiastic specialists who we all know and appreciate.
My own favourite specialist, Mat Smith, is hugely knowledgable and goes the extra mile for his customers, old and new, despite being a very small business.

Andy665

Original Poster:

3,599 posts

227 months

Friday 16th October 2020
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QBee said:
Sportmotive are another of the good guys in the TVR world.

As the cars haven't been made since 2006 (ish), there isn't a dealer network to support us, just a collection of enthusiastic specialists who we all know and appreciate.
My own favourite specialist, Mat Smith, is hugely knowledgable and goes the extra mile for his customers, old and new, despite being a very small business.
What I also like is the level of respect that appears to exist between the specialists. When I posted on the Facebook Tuscan Owners group page the video that I sent to TrackVRoad I had Dom from Powers call me and reassure me that TrackVRoad would look after me and not to worry about it - not many brands where I think you'd find this sort of thing happening and one of the reasons I have gone down the TVR route

MB140

4,028 posts

102 months

Friday 16th October 2020
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Lovely car. Cracking Job OP. TrackVRoad certainly seem like a top notch company.

I keep musing with the idea of buying one of these as a daily. I don’t have room to store more than 2 cars so the wife has one space and I have the other.

I’m from east Nottingham and we used to have Willow Sports cars and Str8six locally. Unfortunately now both gone.

Does anyone know of a specialist around the west notts area to buy/service them. James Ager has been muted but have no experience.

Sorry OP don’t mean to hijack your thread. Looking forward to following this. You have some real attention to detail.

Edited by MB140 on Friday 16th October 14:22

Andy665

Original Poster:

3,599 posts

227 months

Friday 16th October 2020
quotequote all
MB140 said:
I keep musing with the idea of buying one of these as a daily. I don’t have room to store more than 2 cars so the wife has one space and I have the other.

I’m from west Nottingham and we used to have Willow Sports cars and Str8six locally. Unfortunately now both gone.

Does anyone know of a specialist around the west notts area to buy/service them. James Ager has been muted but have no experience.

The general rule is to buy on history, lots of Tuscans with big mileages and lots still on original engines despite the horror stories, I certainly think the more often they are used the more reliable they are, know of a few people who still use Tuscans on a daily basis.

As for James Agger, think the service side of his business has a solid reputation, his sales side seems to divide opinion a little more but when I went to view a car he had for sale he seemed fine, I tend to go on what I find rather than what I hear