Best place for a recommission and a bit of engine work?
Discussion
QBee said:
Don't forget to give your tyres some attention.
From what you have said they have been on the car for at lest 8 years, possibly a lot longer.
They lose their suppleness and hence grip after 6 years.
So you might get a nasty surprise when having fun.
From what you have said they have been on the car for at lest 8 years, possibly a lot longer.
They lose their suppleness and hence grip after 6 years.
So you might get a nasty surprise when having fun.
New Michelin Pilot Sport 4 already fitted (thread of same title on here
). 
When Col rebuilt my engine (after the crank nose got worn down...) he fitted stealth cams.
He reckons that they perform very well and I take his word for it (as I only have experience of my Griff) and he can compare mine against all the other cars he drives. It's certainly not lacking in power and has a reasonably flat torque curve from about 2000rpm which makes it very 'usable'.
Enjoy it when you get back on the road
He reckons that they perform very well and I take his word for it (as I only have experience of my Griff) and he can compare mine against all the other cars he drives. It's certainly not lacking in power and has a reasonably flat torque curve from about 2000rpm which makes it very 'usable'.
Enjoy it when you get back on the road
tivver500 said:
When Col rebuilt my engine (after the crank nose got worn down...) he fitted stealth cams.
He reckons that they perform very well and I take his word for it (as I only have experience of my Griff) and he can compare mine against all the other cars he drives. It's certainly not lacking in power and has a reasonably flat torque curve from about 2000rpm which makes it very 'usable'.
Enjoy it when you get back on the road
Thanks for this.He reckons that they perform very well and I take his word for it (as I only have experience of my Griff) and he can compare mine against all the other cars he drives. It's certainly not lacking in power and has a reasonably flat torque curve from about 2000rpm which makes it very 'usable'.
Enjoy it when you get back on the road
Out of interest, do you know what numbers your engine made (understanding fully that all rolling roads are different!)...and also the rest of your engine spec?
With the H404 cam in mine made 320bhp, but was about as cultured as Chubby Brown when it came to road manners. And hence needs changing. Not having any shunt would be nice to start with, even if it means sacrificing a bit of power
Murph7355 said:
Thanks for this.
Out of interest, do you know what numbers your engine made (understanding fully that all rolling roads are different!)...and also the rest of your engine spec?
With the H404 cam in mine made 320bhp, but was about as cultured as Chubby Brown when it came to road manners. And hence needs changing. Not having any shunt would be nice to start with, even if it means sacrificing a bit of power
Very strange. Maybe depends on how it was set up. Out of interest, do you know what numbers your engine made (understanding fully that all rolling roads are different!)...and also the rest of your engine spec?
With the H404 cam in mine made 320bhp, but was about as cultured as Chubby Brown when it came to road manners. And hence needs changing. Not having any shunt would be nice to start with, even if it means sacrificing a bit of power
I had the H404 camshaft in my 5.5. It was mapped by Joolz, Had the most minor of shunting, ( if you can call it that) at about 1700-1900 rpm but otherwise it was like a very smooth pussycat all the way through the rev range. It would call from idle in fifth year without any hesitation. This was running on and Emerald ECU with a triple plenum.
My V8D 5 litre with a V8D stealth cam didn't shunt - as mapped by his Joolsness. And that was on the CUX. It is even smoother now I have also gone the Emerald route, but the reason for that was because I changed the engine to a 4.6 and added a turbo. Also mapped by his Joolsness, also doesn't shunt.
Murph7355 said:
Thanks for this.
Out of interest, do you know what numbers your engine made (understanding fully that all rolling roads are different!)...and also the rest of your engine spec?
With the H404 cam in mine made 320bhp, but was about as cultured as Chubby Brown when it came to road manners. And hence needs changing. Not having any shunt would be nice to start with, even if it means sacrificing a bit of power
No idea on the figures but very driveable and enough 'grunt' for me..... (I am an 'elderly' driver but also run a Leon Cupra with 300bhp and a KTM Duke bike with about 600bhp/ton!!)Out of interest, do you know what numbers your engine made (understanding fully that all rolling roads are different!)...and also the rest of your engine spec?
With the H404 cam in mine made 320bhp, but was about as cultured as Chubby Brown when it came to road manners. And hence needs changing. Not having any shunt would be nice to start with, even if it means sacrificing a bit of power
spitfire4v8 said:
^^ something else wrong if it only made 320hp too .. h404 in a tvr 5 litre is 350plus hp all day long. A stealth gets you to 340-350 and the h404 is higher hp than that.
Mark Adams was the last to have a go at mapping it and was certain the cam was the challenge (pretty sure the condition of the cam was checked at the time). The Stealth cam was recommended at that point.Manners were better than prior to the session but there was still shunt (annoyingly this time at 70-80mph in 5th). Pulled like a train when running through the gears etc - absolute numbers I'm not that bothered with. Rolling roads vary etc so who knows. But the manners were the issue.
Engine has single 72mm plenum, ACT exhaust and an Omex 710 ECU.
I have very positive experience of Emerald ECUs in my Caterham. So that may be a route later.
Will see where we get to.
When given help on here I like to bring things to a conclusion So here goes...
Picked the car up last week!
First things first, Col and Tina at TVRSSW have been fab. A pleasure to deal with, with decent updates all the way through the process and answering all manner of banal questions/listening to requests.
The car was sent to them on the basis that there was no rush and to fit it in When other works allowed. A number of unforeseen issues (out of everyone's control) also saw to delay things.
Anyway, some details...
I have itemised lists of every piece of work done on the car. I've broken them down into rough categories - general servicing/getting it back on the road after being laid up for 8-9yrs, and then "upgrades". Bits of the car that I was never really happy with and wanted to get sorted. (I'm not going to post costs up here...should my OH ever have need to log on here it could prove even more expensive
Am happy to give broad input offline if people are considering similar though).
- 12k service carried out (good way to find out what needed doing too)
- leaking fuel system drained and all hoses replaced
- clutch master cylinder replaced
- alternator replaced
- brake flexi hoses replaced
- both electric windows sorted
- speedo sensor replaced
- a few odds and ends reglued
- a few electrical connections sorted (this proved to be a common theme!)
- new tyres (Michelin Pilot Sport 4S are great tyres!)...I sorted these before sending it to be fair. But they really deserve a place under "upgrades"
- MOT (!)
And last, but by no means least (in every respect!), the aircon.
This proved a massive challenge to sort, needing parts that aren't readily available and a bunch of electrical issues sorting. The whole cabin cooling and heating system had always been a bit of an enigma to me and the various dials never really seemed to do very much.
They now work, though to be perfectly honest I'm not sure how ultimately useful/effective they really are
On the (incredibly hot) drive home (~220 miles), including getting stuck in roadworks I was convinced the system wasn't actually working. However testing over the last week has shown the system does issue cool air - I'll reserve the word "cold" for the time being!
I think part of the "problem" here is how hot it's been. The aircon struggles to battle ambients and, of course, one shouldn't try and cool the outside world! (The whiffs of cold air around your legs are nice though when they make it there).
At the risk of getting pelters I think it also underscores the wisdom/futility of a convertible in the height of summer (of which more later).
Anyway, I cannot stand things not working, and now this does. The dials do something and lights come on and off when they're pressed so from that perspective, it's a success
The cam was replaced with a Stealth cam. Adjustable pushrods have been put in. Cats have been put into the system too to ease any MOT headaches (it still sounds like thunder!). And the Omex has been fully remapped.
I've posted power/torque curves below...
The dyno chart had two axes for power and torque, hence I've roughly transposed them into Excel here.
I've had cause to get into plenty of details with engine mapping and dyno's in the past, so am not fussed about the outright numbers shown. They thing for me in doing this was to remove shunting and that is now 99% gone. The 1% feels largely down to the way the throttle works/I interact with it...so it's not 100% perfect, but is an infinite improvement and a decent compromise.
It feels like it still pulls as strongly as it did before, possibly even stronger as it pulls harder lower down. And the car will pull from tickover in any gear.
It's a little lumpier when cold, but I 'm also OK with that. It eases after a few miles.
I think I made a comment on another thread (the supercharge/turbocharge one)...but why anyone would want more power in one of these I do not know
So I now have an engine that allows you to be lazy if so desired, and is nice driven that way...but that picks up and goes if you want to find out where the bulkhead is with your right foot.
So I had a look round for alternatives and went with some that "clamp" to the dash.
The dash panel itself, once removed, was showing signs of wear. I could have left this, but decided to get it changed while everything was in bits. Also had the warning lights all changed to LEDs.
This work threw up a number of electrical issues to be traced and fixed. And once everything was put back, it was secured more firmly, including things around it like the steering cowl.
A couple of photos below...
Whilst these changes haven't made a massive difference to the way the interior looks, it feels so much nicer/higher quality to use (and from sitting in other TVRs over the years, I always considered mine to be well put together previously).
(The phone holder is a cheap way of me getting modern tech in the car...if anyone has hints on tightening up vent outlets and/or other phone mounting ideas let me know...I'm half tempted to change the head unit for a more up to date one - Pioneer do one with an integral phone holder - but at the moment am electing to stop spending and drive it).
And that's pretty much that.
The car's extremely visceral to drive. It's very loud (a nice noise) and goes like stink in absolutely any gear, getting up to big speeds really quickly. I'm still adjusting to it having not driven it for a long time, and even when I had it wasn't running nicely.
It's amazing how different the car is to the other cars I've owned in the intervening period. Utterly exhausting in this weather - as mentioned above, I'm not sure convertibles in the height of summer are an especially "pleasurable" experience, especially for bald blokes who cannot stand sun cream. To be half way sensible you need to wear long sleeves, trousers and a hat, and at that point the heat really makes things hard work. Whisper it, but I'm looking forward to autumn/spring.
The car demands concentration, especially on bumpy b-roads. The more I drive it, the more confidence it will instil....but it's clear that liberties should not be taken (another thing on the list of maybes is that I think my front wheels are at least an inch too wide...I may look at changing these).
At the end of every drive thus far I think the best word I can use is "wired". Every sense feels like it's had a work out. (And at the beginning of every drive I always make sure my phone is on as there's still that slight doubt it might cause me grief Karma kicked me on this when I took the 911 out instead of the Griff and it threw a check engine light . Again, experience will help calm nerves. I hope!).
And perhaps the best two experiences thus far are why I got it recommissioned...my two boys.
My 6yr old threw his hands up in the air on full acceleration and had the biggest smile that never left his face. There is only one car he wants picking up from school in now.
My eldest simply went very quiet He's not been picked up in it yet (been off school) but this will also be the car of choice for him too.
A couple of quick additional photos of an uncleaned car. I'll no doubt be posting more regularly in here in the future. Meanwhile thanks to all those who offered suggestions and advice. The Griff is back!
So here goes...Picked the car up last week!
First things first, Col and Tina at TVRSSW have been fab. A pleasure to deal with, with decent updates all the way through the process and answering all manner of banal questions/listening to requests.
The car was sent to them on the basis that there was no rush and to fit it in When other works allowed. A number of unforeseen issues (out of everyone's control) also saw to delay things.
Anyway, some details...
I have itemised lists of every piece of work done on the car. I've broken them down into rough categories - general servicing/getting it back on the road after being laid up for 8-9yrs, and then "upgrades". Bits of the car that I was never really happy with and wanted to get sorted. (I'm not going to post costs up here...should my OH ever have need to log on here it could prove even more expensive
Am happy to give broad input offline if people are considering similar though).- Servicing
- 12k service carried out (good way to find out what needed doing too)
- leaking fuel system drained and all hoses replaced
- clutch master cylinder replaced
- alternator replaced
- brake flexi hoses replaced
- both electric windows sorted
- speedo sensor replaced
- a few odds and ends reglued
- a few electrical connections sorted (this proved to be a common theme!)
- new tyres (Michelin Pilot Sport 4S are great tyres!)...I sorted these before sending it to be fair. But they really deserve a place under "upgrades"
- MOT (!)
And last, but by no means least (in every respect!), the aircon.
This proved a massive challenge to sort, needing parts that aren't readily available and a bunch of electrical issues sorting. The whole cabin cooling and heating system had always been a bit of an enigma to me and the various dials never really seemed to do very much.
They now work, though to be perfectly honest I'm not sure how ultimately useful/effective they really are
On the (incredibly hot) drive home (~220 miles), including getting stuck in roadworks I was convinced the system wasn't actually working. However testing over the last week has shown the system does issue cool air - I'll reserve the word "cold" for the time being!
I think part of the "problem" here is how hot it's been. The aircon struggles to battle ambients and, of course, one shouldn't try and cool the outside world! (The whiffs of cold air around your legs are nice though when they make it there).
At the risk of getting pelters I think it also underscores the wisdom/futility of a convertible in the height of summer (of which more later).
Anyway, I cannot stand things not working, and now this does. The dials do something and lights come on and off when they're pressed so from that perspective, it's a success
- Upgrades
- Engine
The cam was replaced with a Stealth cam. Adjustable pushrods have been put in. Cats have been put into the system too to ease any MOT headaches (it still sounds like thunder!). And the Omex has been fully remapped.
I've posted power/torque curves below...
The dyno chart had two axes for power and torque, hence I've roughly transposed them into Excel here.
I've had cause to get into plenty of details with engine mapping and dyno's in the past, so am not fussed about the outright numbers shown. They thing for me in doing this was to remove shunting and that is now 99% gone. The 1% feels largely down to the way the throttle works/I interact with it...so it's not 100% perfect, but is an infinite improvement and a decent compromise.
It feels like it still pulls as strongly as it did before, possibly even stronger as it pulls harder lower down. And the car will pull from tickover in any gear.
It's a little lumpier when cold, but I 'm also OK with that. It eases after a few miles.
I think I made a comment on another thread (the supercharge/turbocharge one)...but why anyone would want more power in one of these I do not know
So I now have an engine that allows you to be lazy if so desired, and is nice driven that way...but that picks up and goes if you want to find out where the bulkhead is with your right foot.
- Dash
So I had a look round for alternatives and went with some that "clamp" to the dash.
The dash panel itself, once removed, was showing signs of wear. I could have left this, but decided to get it changed while everything was in bits. Also had the warning lights all changed to LEDs.
This work threw up a number of electrical issues to be traced and fixed. And once everything was put back, it was secured more firmly, including things around it like the steering cowl.
A couple of photos below...
Whilst these changes haven't made a massive difference to the way the interior looks, it feels so much nicer/higher quality to use (and from sitting in other TVRs over the years, I always considered mine to be well put together previously).
(The phone holder is a cheap way of me getting modern tech in the car...if anyone has hints on tightening up vent outlets and/or other phone mounting ideas let me know...I'm half tempted to change the head unit for a more up to date one - Pioneer do one with an integral phone holder - but at the moment am electing to stop spending and drive it
).And that's pretty much that.
The car's extremely visceral to drive. It's very loud (a nice noise) and goes like stink in absolutely any gear, getting up to big speeds really quickly. I'm still adjusting to it having not driven it for a long time, and even when I had it wasn't running nicely.
It's amazing how different the car is to the other cars I've owned in the intervening period. Utterly exhausting in this weather - as mentioned above, I'm not sure convertibles in the height of summer are an especially "pleasurable" experience, especially for bald blokes who cannot stand sun cream. To be half way sensible you need to wear long sleeves, trousers and a hat, and at that point the heat really makes things hard work. Whisper it, but I'm looking forward to autumn/spring.
The car demands concentration, especially on bumpy b-roads. The more I drive it, the more confidence it will instil....but it's clear that liberties should not be taken (another thing on the list of maybes is that I think my front wheels are at least an inch too wide...I may look at changing these).
At the end of every drive thus far I think the best word I can use is "wired". Every sense feels like it's had a work out. (And at the beginning of every drive I always make sure my phone is on as there's still that slight doubt it might cause me grief
Karma kicked me on this when I took the 911 out instead of the Griff and it threw a check engine light . Again, experience will help calm nerves. I hope!).And perhaps the best two experiences thus far are why I got it recommissioned...my two boys.
My 6yr old threw his hands up in the air on full acceleration and had the biggest smile that never left his face. There is only one car he wants picking up from school in now.
My eldest simply went very quiet
He's not been picked up in it yet (been off school) but this will also be the car of choice for him too.A couple of quick additional photos of an uncleaned car. I'll no doubt be posting more regularly in here in the future. Meanwhile thanks to all those who offered suggestions and advice. The Griff is back!
Everything was going very well until the unclean car photos 
Shocking.
Lovely looking car.
Slowly home in with the car. You have identified front wheels or tyres might be too wide which is interesting.
It’s a car with such a light footprint you do want to avoid too wide unless the compound is soft.
Compared to the handling more modern tech involving 1000’s of miles testing with a tyre company etc a decent top range set of shocks for these with a good geo set up and even corners weighting is very cheap really so well worth using someone like Matt Smith Sportscars or any of the good Tvr centres should set it up well. It’s your best shot at it anyway.
Shocking.
Lovely looking car.
Slowly home in with the car. You have identified front wheels or tyres might be too wide which is interesting.
It’s a car with such a light footprint you do want to avoid too wide unless the compound is soft.
Compared to the handling more modern tech involving 1000’s of miles testing with a tyre company etc a decent top range set of shocks for these with a good geo set up and even corners weighting is very cheap really so well worth using someone like Matt Smith Sportscars or any of the good Tvr centres should set it up well. It’s your best shot at it anyway.
Classic Chim said:
Everything was going very well until the unclean car photos
Shocking.
Lovely looking car.
Slowly home in with the car. You have identified front wheels or tyres might be too wide which is interesting.
It’s a car with such a light footprint you do want to avoid too wide unless the compound is soft.
Compared to the handling more modern tech involving 1000’s of miles testing with a tyre company etc a decent top range set of shocks for these with a good geo set up and even corners weighting is very cheap really so well worth using someone like Matt Smith Sportscars or any of the good Tvr centres should set it up well. It’s your best shot at it anyway.
That's clean for my cars Shocking.
Lovely looking car.
Slowly home in with the car. You have identified front wheels or tyres might be too wide which is interesting.
It’s a car with such a light footprint you do want to avoid too wide unless the compound is soft.
Compared to the handling more modern tech involving 1000’s of miles testing with a tyre company etc a decent top range set of shocks for these with a good geo set up and even corners weighting is very cheap really so well worth using someone like Matt Smith Sportscars or any of the good Tvr centres should set it up well. It’s your best shot at it anyway.
On the wheels/tyres, I ended up down a tyre size front and rear and thus far haven't noticed any negative difference. The fronts are a squeeze onto this width rim though IMO. And narrower wheels obviously weigh less so there'd be benefit there.
I'll definitely look into geo and corner weighting (makes a huge difference on Caterhams so can easily see big benefit on the Griff). Though the handling isn't bad.
Murph7355 said:
I have a Caterham 7 in the same position 
2 seaters, new kids and lack of time don't mix that well.
Boys are now 5 and 8 and really showing an interest in cars, so time. To encourage it more. Not quite sure how I'll juggle taking them out yet - will cross that bridge later.
Looks like it could be more than a few weeks away though as places are busy. Regardless I'll post photos and a breakdown of what was needed once done
i can kill 2 birds one Stone. Ian Wilson at Trackv Road Cltheroe Lancashire. Hes expert on Lotus 7 (ex UK Champ) and TVR. Ive been dealing with him last 13yrs Ian one of the best. honest straight and respected TVR mechs in the business. I strongly recommend TrackV Road. 2 seaters, new kids and lack of time don't mix that well.Boys are now 5 and 8 and really showing an interest in cars, so time. To encourage it more. Not quite sure how I'll juggle taking them out yet - will cross that bridge later.
Looks like it could be more than a few weeks away though as places are busy. Regardless I'll post photos and a breakdown of what was needed once done
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