Trevor's coming home!
Discussion
Lunch time at last so off I went to collect the S, whjat will it be like after the heads have been rebuilt and the engine tuned?
I left the desk and walked all through the buildings to the restaurant then outside to the courtyard, through this then along the pathway and crossed the bridge over the dyke bringing me toward the security gates and then a short further walk to the car.
The car was baking inside despite there being little sun, I switched on the aircon and drove down to the carpark exit. I turned out of the carpark through the security gates to the spine road leading to the bypass moving slowly in the works traffic of the building contractors who are developing the road infrastructure around the site at present.
Once on the bypass I could get a bit of speed up, I couldn't wait to pick Trevor up (Trevor is my S). I had already phoned the garage to ask if someone could drive my car back to work for me and then I'd drop them back again, it was a 32 mile trip but I considered it a small price to pay....more about small prices later.
On the main road a couple of miles from work the police were stopping vehicles and of course the traffic was very slow here .....come on get a move on ....nothing to see here just put your bloody toe down. I wanted to get to that garage.
I've passed the police roadcheck now and approaching the roundabout, there's a long line of traffic to my right and I'll be stuck here for ages if I don't go and go now so I dropped into second and the turbo on the good old VW was singing away as I floored it turning left in front of the long line of cars signalling their intention to turn right. The VW has fantastic performance since I fitted the tuning box and it's now around 145bhp with great acceleration up to 5500 rpm which is great for a diesel which usually hit maximum torque around 3000 rpm.
I'm away again but not for long as I approach the roadworks and sit for ages waiting for green. Eventually, off I go.
Now I'm on the main road to Deal from Sandwich and I can see a Tractor waiting to pull out of a side turning.....NO! .....stay there please stay there ....he did as I speeded up to pass the junction.
I arrived in Deal with heavy lunch time traffic at the roundabouts and progressed slowly to the garage. I couldn't see the car but guessed Trevor was out the back. The man at the garage presented me with the bill to settle before giving me the keys and going to look at the car. Jeeeeesus ...£838! OK it had better be good.
I paid the man and took my keys having studied the bill closely. They'd done a fair bit of work and had taken it to be tuned at a specialist.
I walked out to the car and noticed the roof wasn't on properly, so I dealt with this as I didn't want one to blow off on the way back to work.
OK, let's get him started. I switched the immobiliser off and turned the engine over and it fired straight away. Uhhhhmm, it sounds a bit noisy still ....is that the top end rattling?
No, I don't think it is. I reach in with my foot and gave him a light rev and the rattle was gone. As I let teh engine settle it returned. It wasn't a rattle, no it sounded more like the exhaust but it was fine when I took it in. I mentioned this to the guy from the garage who was taking my other car back to work for me and he shrugged and said it sounded OK.
Alright I said, let's go back to Sandwich. In I jumped and off we went but I only got a short way and could clearly hear that there was a bad manifold blow. I flagged the other guy down and told him that I was taking it back and off I went. When we arrived back I was told to speak with the guy I had paid earlier. Ge was on the phone, so I waited and eventually he came to see me and I told him I wasn't happy with the blowing manifold.
"It sounded alright to me" he said. What... are you deaf I thought? It sounds terrible. I told him that he should be looking at the manifolds and where the downpipes join the system for leaks as I wasn't happy to take it like it was.
"It should be alright" he said. Yes ....I know it bloody "SHOULD BE" I thought.
"I can't drive it like that" I said, "can you sort it out as it was fine when I brought it in". "These tubular manifolds are prone to not sealing" I added. "Perhaps you should use two gaskets I said"?
So, Trevor is still there and covered in bird poo!
I left the desk and walked all through the buildings to the restaurant then outside to the courtyard, through this then along the pathway and crossed the bridge over the dyke bringing me toward the security gates and then a short further walk to the car.
The car was baking inside despite there being little sun, I switched on the aircon and drove down to the carpark exit. I turned out of the carpark through the security gates to the spine road leading to the bypass moving slowly in the works traffic of the building contractors who are developing the road infrastructure around the site at present.
Once on the bypass I could get a bit of speed up, I couldn't wait to pick Trevor up (Trevor is my S). I had already phoned the garage to ask if someone could drive my car back to work for me and then I'd drop them back again, it was a 32 mile trip but I considered it a small price to pay....more about small prices later.
On the main road a couple of miles from work the police were stopping vehicles and of course the traffic was very slow here .....come on get a move on ....nothing to see here just put your bloody toe down. I wanted to get to that garage.
I've passed the police roadcheck now and approaching the roundabout, there's a long line of traffic to my right and I'll be stuck here for ages if I don't go and go now so I dropped into second and the turbo on the good old VW was singing away as I floored it turning left in front of the long line of cars signalling their intention to turn right. The VW has fantastic performance since I fitted the tuning box and it's now around 145bhp with great acceleration up to 5500 rpm which is great for a diesel which usually hit maximum torque around 3000 rpm.
I'm away again but not for long as I approach the roadworks and sit for ages waiting for green. Eventually, off I go.
Now I'm on the main road to Deal from Sandwich and I can see a Tractor waiting to pull out of a side turning.....NO! .....stay there please stay there ....he did as I speeded up to pass the junction.
I arrived in Deal with heavy lunch time traffic at the roundabouts and progressed slowly to the garage. I couldn't see the car but guessed Trevor was out the back. The man at the garage presented me with the bill to settle before giving me the keys and going to look at the car. Jeeeeesus ...£838! OK it had better be good.
I paid the man and took my keys having studied the bill closely. They'd done a fair bit of work and had taken it to be tuned at a specialist.
I walked out to the car and noticed the roof wasn't on properly, so I dealt with this as I didn't want one to blow off on the way back to work.
OK, let's get him started. I switched the immobiliser off and turned the engine over and it fired straight away. Uhhhhmm, it sounds a bit noisy still ....is that the top end rattling?
No, I don't think it is. I reach in with my foot and gave him a light rev and the rattle was gone. As I let teh engine settle it returned. It wasn't a rattle, no it sounded more like the exhaust but it was fine when I took it in. I mentioned this to the guy from the garage who was taking my other car back to work for me and he shrugged and said it sounded OK.
Alright I said, let's go back to Sandwich. In I jumped and off we went but I only got a short way and could clearly hear that there was a bad manifold blow. I flagged the other guy down and told him that I was taking it back and off I went. When we arrived back I was told to speak with the guy I had paid earlier. Ge was on the phone, so I waited and eventually he came to see me and I told him I wasn't happy with the blowing manifold.
"It sounded alright to me" he said. What... are you deaf I thought? It sounds terrible. I told him that he should be looking at the manifolds and where the downpipes join the system for leaks as I wasn't happy to take it like it was.
"It should be alright" he said. Yes ....I know it bloody "SHOULD BE" I thought.
"I can't drive it like that" I said, "can you sort it out as it was fine when I brought it in". "These tubular manifolds are prone to not sealing" I added. "Perhaps you should use two gaskets I said"?
So, Trevor is still there and covered in bird poo!
z_chromozone said:
to55ers 
I bet they thought they could get away with it as well.
Z
I can't always do everything myself and it would be nice to think that I can trust someone to provide a good service but it seems really difficult at times to get satisfaction from many companies. It's really frustrating. It not as if I have paid for a cheapy job at £838.
To be fair, the car picked up really well and didn't jerk like before. It felt a hell of a lot better.
I just called them and had a grumble at the owner and he said he was annoyed with his guy for not commenting on it when he drove it to & from the tuning place the day before.
So he's going to take my manifolds off and face them and then put them back which he hopes should cure the problem, more money!!
I did reiterate that I didn't want the car back until I am 100% happy with it!
Well, they were blaming it on my manifolds not being flat across the face of all the ports.
I did argue that they should know that as tubular manifolds are never perfectly flat across their face.
Most manifolds pull up into shape when tightened and I guess they didn't torque it up properly. You can also use 2 gaskets if need be.
And I noticed that my new carpets were covered in black oily marks on the driver side!
Still a bit of meths should sort that out and it'll be good to have him back.
I did argue that they should know that as tubular manifolds are never perfectly flat across their face.
Most manifolds pull up into shape when tightened and I guess they didn't torque it up properly. You can also use 2 gaskets if need be.
And I noticed that my new carpets were covered in black oily marks on the driver side!
Still a bit of meths should sort that out and it'll be good to have him back.
bridgdav said:
Its been nearly 30 minutes and 'K2' hasn't posted....
Either the cars OK and he is blasting away...?
OR
The cars Not OK and he is still blasting away at the garage...?
Hi Dave,
Well it was a bit of both, the car sounded better at tickover but as soon as I drove a mile up the road it was blowing again just as badly as the day before.
It was too late in the day to return with the car so I took him home. Driving home was much more of a pleasure as the S now pulls more smoothly and is quieter except the exhaust, no more rattles from the top end!
Looking at what they had done, the heads look nice and new in gloss black and there are new headbolts and gaskets. It's just a shame they didn't spend a little more time getting the manifold to seal properly.
When I got him home on the drive I left him ticking over (now nice and smooth, was lumpy before) and I placed a finger down between the branches of the manifold flanges and I could feel the leak. They obviously hadn't removed the manifolds and re-faced them like they said they would. I noticed a bit of exhaust paste around one of the gaskets and it looks like that was all they had done. So I'll be blasting back to (and at) the garage in the morning!
Looking in the engine bay, I began to wish that I'd asked them to paint my rocker covers whilst they were off. Nevermind, it'll b a little job for me one weekend.
Also, on the drive home it still felt as though my injectors need doing and I got a quote of £15 each from my old mate at Lucas Service who runs the fuel injection service centre. Takes an hour while I wait, so they'll be coming out for a refurb soon.
It was great to be back in Trevor again with the roof down, just a shame he sounds like a tractor at the moment!
Hi Kev...
I know its not PH policy to name garages and report on their work etc....
BUT...
I would ask you... Have you taken him(your words) to a garage that know what they are doing....with respect to TVR's and your S...?
It sounds that you have spent a lot of money, effort and time on him(your words) when you could have spent less elsewhere...?
IMHO
Dave
I know its not PH policy to name garages and report on their work etc....
BUT...
I would ask you... Have you taken him(your words) to a garage that know what they are doing....with respect to TVR's and your S...?
It sounds that you have spent a lot of money, effort and time on him(your words) when you could have spent less elsewhere...?
IMHO
Dave
bridgdav said:
Hi Kev...
I know its not PH policy to name garages and report on their work etc....
BUT...
I would ask you... Have you taken him(your words) to a garage that know what they are doing....with respect to TVR's and your S...?
It sounds that you have spent a lot of money, effort and time on him(your words) when you could have spent less elsewhere...?
IMHO
Dave
Hi Dave,
I know what you mean, it was a fair bit of money for a rebuild, in fact around £300 more than they estimated but several people recommended them to me and to be fair the car runs so much better now.
The cost of an exchange engine from a good supplier was from £700 + VAT & fitting and went up to around £1500 from places like specialised engines for a standard unit which was really over budget. I knew my lump was not in a really bad state whereas a recon unit is a bit of an unknown quantity.
This garage specialises in engine work only and although not a TVR specialist they did know their stuff where the Ford V6 is concerned. The work they did also included taking the car to another local garage who do a fair bit of work on Tivs and they set the car up after to get in running nicely on their equipment and the cost for this was just £55, which is pretty good. I may use this place for more regular work.
I'll have to cut my spending on him for a bit now, time to get my hands dirty again!
Looks like I should get the car back again tomorrow, the manifolds have been removed and machined as they were apparently very pitted and I also asked them to take the rocker covers off and paint them whilst they still have it in the workshop.
I did moan a fair bit this morning when I took the car back, so I think they got the message ....DO IT PROPERLY!
I managed to get to speak with the guy who rebuilt my heads (he dropped me back to work) and he confirmed that my engine is in very good nick but had suffered overheating at some point causing the heads to distort a little which he sorted by machining them, he's lapped and polished the valves and polished all the head to help gas flow. It certianly did pick up nicely and went very well indeed despite the bad manifold blow. Should be nicer still when they are not leaking.
They have done a good job albeit expensive!
I'll be saving up for the visit to Austec and a remap now.....
I did moan a fair bit this morning when I took the car back, so I think they got the message ....DO IT PROPERLY!
I managed to get to speak with the guy who rebuilt my heads (he dropped me back to work) and he confirmed that my engine is in very good nick but had suffered overheating at some point causing the heads to distort a little which he sorted by machining them, he's lapped and polished the valves and polished all the head to help gas flow. It certianly did pick up nicely and went very well indeed despite the bad manifold blow. Should be nicer still when they are not leaking.
They have done a good job albeit expensive!
I'll be saving up for the visit to Austec and a remap now.....
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