Restoration thread, I'm next

Restoration thread, I'm next

Author
Discussion

Bowks

Original Poster:

1,414 posts

204 months

Saturday 29th January 2022
quotequote all
caduceus said:
I only bonded my mk3 ones in yesterday...wish I'd seen this before. They look great!. Look forward to seeing them switched on. Are they self levelling?

May I ask how much an Emerald ECU conversion is?

Regards
Cad
It's only just occured to me. The intention is to make an adaptor to hold the bi-LED. This would replace the entire sealed unit. Hopefully a replicable part for this with faired in lights who are looking for a little more brightness.

Time will tell.

Bowks

Original Poster:

1,414 posts

204 months

Monday 7th February 2022
quotequote all
MuffDaddy said:
In other news, first Dyno test was 185BHP before any work.
Now pushing out 253.1BHP. Still have a decent wait before I get to try it out for myself.

253BHP from a 4.0l is pretty good?

R8FUN

266 posts

202 months

Monday 7th February 2022
quotequote all
That sounds excellent. My 5.0 Griff was 285bhp on Jools rollers, which he said was very healthy for a stock 5.0.
I presume you have had the Emerald fitted now?

Bowks

Original Poster:

1,414 posts

204 months

Monday 7th February 2022
quotequote all
R8FUN said:
That sounds excellent. My 5.0 Griff was 285bhp on Jools rollers, which he said was very healthy for a stock 5.0.
I presume you have had the Emerald fitted now?
Fitted and fettled, just needs the cold start stuff sorting.

Classic Chim

12,424 posts

148 months

Monday 7th February 2022
quotequote all
Bowks said:
Now pushing out 253.1BHP. Still have a decent wait before I get to try it out for myself.

253BHP from a 4.0l is pretty good?
That’s excellent.
What work did you have done to get it to that. The 4.0 is lamented as a bit slow which is often not the case.
Be good to know for others as that’s very impressive.

Bowks

Original Poster:

1,414 posts

204 months

Monday 7th February 2022
quotequote all
Classic Chim said:
That’s excellent.
What work did you have done to get it to that. The 4.0 is lamented as a bit slow which is often not the case.
Be good to know for others as that’s very impressive.
It's had a replacement cam a long time ago, maybe a little more sporty?

The precast fell out during the ECU install.

It has an Emerald ECU.

Other than that it's standard

46,000 miles since 1994. Most of those at a canter.

Bowks

Original Poster:

1,414 posts

204 months

Monday 21st March 2022
quotequote all
Well, I drove it today. For 30 minutes. It pulls, it pulls really hard in every gear from very low revs. No shunting. A few little fettling things and then it's coming home for a bit of the summer. Next stop panoramic roof, spray and trim. Oh and maybe a new cap on the rocker. That orange thing looks out of place.



phazed

21,844 posts

203 months

Monday 21st March 2022
quotequote all
A nice looking bay with very healthy figures!

Bowks

Original Poster:

1,414 posts

204 months

Monday 25th April 2022
quotequote all
It's back. Drove home this afternoon after a few minor fixes.

It's so quick, so responsive and smooth. The ECU change has certainly been worth the money. Also the three way switch to introduce pops and bags is very childish.

Post chassis refurb the steering was notchy. Turn out to be track rod ends, fix and also great. Geo done, may be sitting a little low and a little stuff for me but I'm going to enjoy it for a few months.

Anyone in the South West thinking of going Nitrons, chassis refurb or Emerald ECU let me know. Hopefully I will be at a fair few events.

Any requests for pictures, let me know. Hopefully I should have some more from the chassis refurb soon.

Body looks terrible and interior is also showing its age but they are on the list.

To do,

Fit panoramic roof

Work out why the stereo whines.

Enjoy car for a couple of months whilst considering interior and exterior mods.

New lights

Paint

Trim

Heated screen.

Bowks

Original Poster:

1,414 posts

204 months

Monday 25th April 2022
quotequote all
Also, anyone want/need and spark plugs?

Mattiegk

51 posts

104 months

Monday 25th April 2022
quotequote all
Bowks said:
It's back. Drove home this afternoon after a few minor fixes.

It's so quick, so responsive and smooth. The ECU change has certainly been worth the money. Also the three way switch to introduce pops and bags is very childish.

Post chassis refurb the steering was notchy. Turn out to be track rod ends, fix and also great. Geo done, may be sitting a little low and a little stuff for me but I'm going to enjoy it for a few months.

Anyone in the South West thinking of going Nitrons, chassis refurb or Emerald ECU let me know. Hopefully I will be at a fair few events.

A
i sent you a PM, where did you get the Nitrons set up? Mine is so damn low in Gaz golds i really need to get it looked at.

Bowks

Original Poster:

1,414 posts

204 months

Friday 29th April 2022
quotequote all


Next weekend I'm tackling this. Pictures to follow.

phazed

21,844 posts

203 months

Friday 29th April 2022
quotequote all
Those tops look great when painted the car colour.....

Mattchim

51 posts

104 months

Friday 29th April 2022
quotequote all
How do you go about taking off the top section with one of those fitted?

Bowks

Original Poster:

1,414 posts

204 months

Friday 29th April 2022
quotequote all
Mattchim said:
How do you go about taking off the top section with one of those fitted?
The whole shebang fits in the boot. This rear section gets loosened to allow the targa to be removed. It can then either remain on the car or go in to the boot too.

Mattchim

51 posts

104 months

Saturday 30th April 2022
quotequote all
i would love to see it when its done :-D

Bowks

Original Poster:

1,414 posts

204 months

Sunday 26th March 2023
quotequote all
Its paint week. First and as is with the roof on. Sorry for the delay in showing these, I did a piece for Sprint magazine and wanted them to have the pictures first. And then I forgot.







Next, the front end. I have some biLED being fitted under MK3 cowls. With these I have halo drl/turn signals which can either sit around the headlight or replace the existing turn signal.

Thoughts on smoothing out the dog bites. Obviously you need to imagine the headlight treatment.


Bowks

Original Poster:

1,414 posts

204 months

Sunday 26th March 2023
quotequote all

RobXjcoupe

3,151 posts

90 months

Sunday 26th March 2023
quotequote all
Bowks said:
Its paint week. First and as is with the roof on. Sorry for the delay in showing these, I did a piece for Sprint magazine and wanted them to have the pictures first. And then I forgot.







Next, the front end. I have some biLED being fitted under MK3 cowls. With these I have halo drl/turn signals which can either sit around the headlight or replace the existing turn signal.

Thoughts on smoothing out the dog bites. Obviously you need to imagine the headlight treatment.

Yep, get rid of the dog bites. Also smooth off the left and right edges of the intake to make it more oval rather than dog legged.

Classic Chim

12,424 posts

148 months

Tuesday 28th March 2023
quotequote all
My own view is your messing around with a classic design and the dog bite story though possibly just myth is all part of Tvr history. It’s something many people who never owned a TVR know about, it’s like a fond memory as I think it was a young Clarkson who first brought it to the public’s attention.
I personally think the dog bite chop gives the car a slightly more masculine look and helps offset all its female curves Oi Oi biggrin
But smoothing it off would risk making it look much like any other front end on many a modern car or small sports car.
Are you sure the indicators in the headlight area will be visible enough from anything other than a head on view.
Even though I enjoy modded TVR and it’s all part of the fun of them it will cost a lot to achieve and invariably down value the car in many people’s view especially a new buyer.
Maybe I’m just old fashioned but I’ve rarely seen body mods that improve the original pencil lines and often just cause a confusion of the cars design.
The Cerbera is the car that got the publicity Tvr craved and sharing the dog bite design with the most popular car Tvr ever created ( Chimaera ) this ensured that informed people could recognise a Tvr almost instantly. I remember the first few Tvr I saw rumbling past back in the 1990’s and thinking the Cerbera and Chim was the same car other than one was a soft top. biggrin
Only by looking closer did I realise the Cerb was longer!
I'm just thinking by confusing the Chimaera design with possibly the Griffith design with its more rounded front you are in fact making it look less desirable because it’s a one off design.
But it’s all in the eye of the beholder.
If you want to personalise your car it’s your choice. smile

And if you look the dog bite broke up that rather ugly Valence/ bumper line and made it look good. The valance line alone looks like dull thinking to me.
Changing the shape of the radiator opening rarely works unless it was on the new TVR biggrin



Edited by Classic Chim on Tuesday 28th March 09:34