Worth a gamble or not?
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232132559253 Ebay ref number for the correct part , also avoiding silly postage costs from many specialist suppliers 
So the car visited Straight6 today at Lewknor for an assessment of where we are. The dampers are in poor condition so after a chat with Ben Lang I am ordering the 'sport' Bilstein setup. The good news is there is very little to sort out, mainly just 'gripes from a car that has been standing around for a few years. The throttle apparently wasn't fitted with return springs, this was sorted and has made it so much easier to modulate on the pedal. Wishbone bushes are in good order and they confirmed it's a solid car. For sure it needs setting up, idle control etc isn't great, it's liveable but room for improvement. Had some interested parties after posting it up for sale at Kop Hill but have put them on hold whilst we sort out the last 10%, which will make the car IMO.
I can't thank them enough and it was a very pleasant surprise dealing with them after the last guys. The plan now is to work through the list and take it back to Straight6 to set the car up properly. The drive back was cool. There's something about it that just makes me smile. So much torque to waft about with and it's such a small car in modern terms to place on the road. Must admit I'm a little smitten.
I can't thank them enough and it was a very pleasant surprise dealing with them after the last guys. The plan now is to work through the list and take it back to Straight6 to set the car up properly. The drive back was cool. There's something about it that just makes me smile. So much torque to waft about with and it's such a small car in modern terms to place on the road. Must admit I'm a little smitten.
yonex said:
So the car visited Straight6 today at Lewknor for an assessment of where we are. The dampers are in poor condition so after a chat with Ben Lang I am ordering the 'sport' Bilstein setup. The good news is there is very little to sort out, mainly just 'gripes from a car that has been standing around for a few years. The throttle apparently wasn't fitted with return springs, this was sorted and has made it so much easier to modulate on the pedal. Wishbone bushes are in good order and they confirmed it's a solid car. For sure it needs setting up, idle control etc isn't great, it's liveable but room for improvement. Had some interested parties after posting it up for sale at Kop Hill but have put them on hold whilst we sort out the last 10%, which will make the car IMO.
I can't thank them enough and it was a very pleasant surprise dealing with them after the last guys. The plan now is to work through the list and take it back to Straight6 to set the car up properly. The drive back was cool. There's something about it that just makes me smile. So much torque to waft about with and it's such a small car in modern terms to place on the road. Must admit I'm a little smitten.
Nice result I can't thank them enough and it was a very pleasant surprise dealing with them after the last guys. The plan now is to work through the list and take it back to Straight6 to set the car up properly. The drive back was cool. There's something about it that just makes me smile. So much torque to waft about with and it's such a small car in modern terms to place on the road. Must admit I'm a little smitten.
thanks for the update 
another TVR rolling 
Small update.
The new Bilsteins are sorted now, went for the Tuscan S 'sport' setup, very keen on getting them on and seeing what happens. The rear lights have been re-quoted as I didn't really think the original quote was sensible! The issue is once they are sorted the new paint will show everything else up! I have been tempted by a very good offer to paint the whole car, this will obviously change everything investment wise. It'll never be 'original' but wouldn't take much and seeing this guys work it'll look amazing.
Decisions, decisions!
The new Bilsteins are sorted now, went for the Tuscan S 'sport' setup, very keen on getting them on and seeing what happens. The rear lights have been re-quoted as I didn't really think the original quote was sensible! The issue is once they are sorted the new paint will show everything else up! I have been tempted by a very good offer to paint the whole car, this will obviously change everything investment wise. It'll never be 'original' but wouldn't take much and seeing this guys work it'll look amazing.
Decisions, decisions!
Would you get the money back on new lights and a full repaint? Not sure it’d stack up financially tbh. If you’re doing it to return it to how it should be, as a matter of principle, I’d maybe approach one of the breakers and see how much a rear end cut would cost - it could possibly work out cheaper just glueing a new backside on compared to remoulding the original light recesses. I considered buying a new bum to get rid of my rear carbuncle, I’m learning to live with it now though.
Looking good very very good.
Looking good
very very good.Off to the ex owners place tomorrow to pick up all the paperwork, I'm so looking forward to finding out all the ins and outs.
I really need a set of standard rear lights, smoked, unsmoked, if anyone has some please get in touch with me!
Starting miss the old thing, had a brief look Wednesday but no driving. The OSF wheel bearing wasn't bad but replaced anyway as it was flagged on the inspection.
Just putting this out there, would you colour change or keep it malachite, it has to remain green as the dash stitching etc matches and the hood is an unnecessary expense. My paint guy is exceptional, I'm going to ask him what's possible? I recall a light metallic green which was lovely, what would you do?
Hurry up Bilstein!!!!!
I really need a set of standard rear lights, smoked, unsmoked, if anyone has some please get in touch with me!
Starting miss the old thing, had a brief look Wednesday but no driving. The OSF wheel bearing wasn't bad but replaced anyway as it was flagged on the inspection.
Just putting this out there, would you colour change or keep it malachite, it has to remain green as the dash stitching etc matches and the hood is an unnecessary expense. My paint guy is exceptional, I'm going to ask him what's possible? I recall a light metallic green which was lovely, what would you do?
Hurry up Bilstein!!!!!
yonex said:
Just putting this out there, would you colour change or keep it malachite, it has to remain green as the dash stitching etc matches and the hood is an unnecessary expense. My paint guy is exceptional, I'm going to ask him what's possible? I recall a light metallic green which was lovely, what would you do?
As you say the car's up for sale, leave it as is. As many people will like the existing colour as any colour you might change it to.So the spreadsheet is complete, only took a day or so to sift through everything!
First owner was in Felbridge, East Grinstead, second based London W4, before Roger owned it. Where to start with the money that has been poured into it! Before I took the car on there are invoices for £20K, Roger in his 17 year ownership, 10 years of actual on the road driving spent £13K, Roger, you were nothing if not committed to this Griff mate!
It's actually really cool going through the bills and seeing when and where the car has lived. A lot was spent at Portfield in the early life of the car, it strikes me that it was never cheap to run, I mean service bills of £1600 in 1997 seem fairly robust? Every time they serviced it the chassis was steam cleaned and then waxoyled, seems overkill to me and personally I wouldn't be steam cleaning a Griff too often! The radiator seems to have always been a bit of a pain. At around 16000 miles it leaked, unbelievably they put sealant in the damn thing. I say unbelievably because that invoice was about £1200, obviously there wasn't a money issue? It has been a constant note on reports since, leaking until 2008 when it was 'repaired'...for £35! Given the sums thrown at it I would have sorted it myself, more of that later. It had a new diff at 10000 miles, can you see a Porsche owner putting up with this, as well as some bushes.
Yearly it was around the £1500-2000 mark until 2003. This is when the bug for upgrades started to come along it seems?
In 2003 TVR carried out the Spider conversion, that was over £2K on its own. Spending peaked in 2004 when TVR took it back for a full retrim, carpets and hood, £4500, yes, it made me wince as well...and I never paid the bill. It explains why the interior is so clean.
Leven seem to have supplied a fair amount of bits and pieces, all the alloy parts on the dash and also a fair amount of service work. All the wishbones and bushes were replaced at least twice in its life and the last time was in 2006, since then it has only covered 6000 miles.
A couple of things are weird. It seems to eat glovebox catches, I mean it must have had a dozen of them! That, and chrome valve caps, every single service it has four new ones? I know there are other invoices missing but I will have to wait and see if I can get hold of them. I must have one of the earliest HPI 'Equifax' documents, produced in 1995 along with all the TVR handbooks and Warranty Programme, I can bet the latter took a bit of a hammering with its individual claim limit of £1000
Original TVR Vehicle Spec
Bilsteins are here, so time to get those fitted, I say 'time' but I am many miles away so the task will be undertaken by my good mate again, next week I have some decent time off of work so will be getting stuck in and hopefully seeing how it is all coming together.
The aforementioned radiator looks like a dogs dinner. It's not leaking but given the value of the engine rebuild there is no way I am leaving things to chance. I have wandered in and out of threads discussing alloy vs stock and am going to get it re-cored, alloy looks nice and is lighter but they are more fragile....and we are not in a race
Hope to get some more pictures up soon.
Thanks for reading!
First owner was in Felbridge, East Grinstead, second based London W4, before Roger owned it. Where to start with the money that has been poured into it! Before I took the car on there are invoices for £20K, Roger in his 17 year ownership, 10 years of actual on the road driving spent £13K, Roger, you were nothing if not committed to this Griff mate!
It's actually really cool going through the bills and seeing when and where the car has lived. A lot was spent at Portfield in the early life of the car, it strikes me that it was never cheap to run, I mean service bills of £1600 in 1997 seem fairly robust? Every time they serviced it the chassis was steam cleaned and then waxoyled, seems overkill to me and personally I wouldn't be steam cleaning a Griff too often! The radiator seems to have always been a bit of a pain. At around 16000 miles it leaked, unbelievably they put sealant in the damn thing. I say unbelievably because that invoice was about £1200, obviously there wasn't a money issue? It has been a constant note on reports since, leaking until 2008 when it was 'repaired'...for £35! Given the sums thrown at it I would have sorted it myself, more of that later. It had a new diff at 10000 miles, can you see a Porsche owner putting up with this, as well as some bushes.
Yearly it was around the £1500-2000 mark until 2003. This is when the bug for upgrades started to come along it seems?
In 2003 TVR carried out the Spider conversion, that was over £2K on its own. Spending peaked in 2004 when TVR took it back for a full retrim, carpets and hood, £4500, yes, it made me wince as well...and I never paid the bill. It explains why the interior is so clean.
Leven seem to have supplied a fair amount of bits and pieces, all the alloy parts on the dash and also a fair amount of service work. All the wishbones and bushes were replaced at least twice in its life and the last time was in 2006, since then it has only covered 6000 miles.
A couple of things are weird. It seems to eat glovebox catches, I mean it must have had a dozen of them! That, and chrome valve caps, every single service it has four new ones? I know there are other invoices missing but I will have to wait and see if I can get hold of them. I must have one of the earliest HPI 'Equifax' documents, produced in 1995 along with all the TVR handbooks and Warranty Programme, I can bet the latter took a bit of a hammering with its individual claim limit of £1000
Original TVR Vehicle Spec
- Body - Mercedes Malachite Green
- Trim - Doeskin Full hide
- Dash top - Fern Green
- Seats - Doeskin Full hide
- Carpets - Brooklands green wool (wool, really?) doveskin leather piping
- Hood - Grey
- Dials - Mint green
Bilsteins are here, so time to get those fitted, I say 'time' but I am many miles away so the task will be undertaken by my good mate again, next week I have some decent time off of work so will be getting stuck in and hopefully seeing how it is all coming together.
The aforementioned radiator looks like a dogs dinner. It's not leaking but given the value of the engine rebuild there is no way I am leaving things to chance. I have wandered in and out of threads discussing alloy vs stock and am going to get it re-cored, alloy looks nice and is lighter but they are more fragile....and we are not in a race
Hope to get some more pictures up soon.
Thanks for reading!
Edited by anonymous-user on Thursday 2nd November 19:13
M3ax said:
Have you decided to buy it yet? . Such a great car and you've done an ace job so far. Congrats on that.
Thanks. Last weekend I was talking to his widow and she just kept saying how he dreamt of getting it back on the road and would be over the moon with it. I don't need to sell it and will only do so when I get the right amount of money, until then I'll just chip away at the niggles now before the huge decision whether to go with a total respray and OE rear lights or just paint the bits needed. Just typing that I already know what's going to happen!. Such a great car and you've done an ace job so far. Congrats on that.Also, I have had so much help. Met some great people along the way and consider one in particular a good mate now, it's funny how these things bring people together.
The dampers old and new....
Big difference in the top mount, also these are the early green dampers which are 'interesting' in their construction to say the least.
Tuscan S front damper with griffith spring, Revalved rear damper with a Tuscan S spring.
The original rear spring looks like it's progressive, either that or it's tired? I was a bit concerned about the lengths but a quick chat to Ben sorted that out, they are all set up and the car will sit a little differently to it did stock. I cannot wait to see what a difference it makes, even more when it gets on properly aligned.
In other news after some detective work I think this stuff is worth a try on the wishbones etc.
Big difference in the top mount, also these are the early green dampers which are 'interesting' in their construction to say the least.
Tuscan S front damper with griffith spring, Revalved rear damper with a Tuscan S spring.
The original rear spring looks like it's progressive, either that or it's tired? I was a bit concerned about the lengths but a quick chat to Ben sorted that out, they are all set up and the car will sit a little differently to it did stock. I cannot wait to see what a difference it makes, even more when it gets on properly aligned.
In other news after some detective work I think this stuff is worth a try on the wishbones etc.
Edited by anonymous-user on Saturday 4th November 15:03
Its TVR's own rack and internals may be obsolete. Pinion seal available from TVR parts, Powers performance etc but someone will be along in a minute to tell you what the seal is off - BMW as far as I can remember. Getting very rare now and expensive when they come up but if you search plenty of folk have down a conversion with a Subaru rack.
http://www.powersperformance.co.uk/store/slug/stee...
£30!!!
If you can get out the old one and measure it your local seal company will no doubt sort it for £5! Ring Kiley Clinton in Birmingham - they refurb these as best they can and will no doubt supply you.
0121 772 8000
£30!!!
If you can get out the old one and measure it your local seal company will no doubt sort it for £5! Ring Kiley Clinton in Birmingham - they refurb these as best they can and will no doubt supply you.
0121 772 8000
Looking good - nearly done! Yep, original rear springs were progressive, new Tuscan spec are single rate and stiffer. The green dampers were crap apparently, not rebuildable either.
I've got small bushed original yellow billy shock bodies - made a noticeable difference on mine going from original to a rebuild/springs to Ben Lang's specs
I've got small bushed original yellow billy shock bodies - made a noticeable difference on mine going from original to a rebuild/springs to Ben Lang's specs
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