BIG UPGRADE PROJECT...!
Discussion
Hi all,
As some of you might know, I have been spending allot of time and money on my car since I decided to keep it back in August. I was going to sell her to get a newer 500 but didn't find any that I wanted...other than one that got written off the day after I looked at it!!!
The upgrade project has not only made the car look like new, it has also made it more unique and special to me. I love the car and can't see myself ever wanting to sell her, so re-sale value doesn't really bother me.
The whole thing started at the beginning of August when I started to remove the old stereo system that I had put in when I got the car. I had to take out all the old carpets and the seats etc so I could apply the sound proofing and run the cables etc. The Dynamate soundproofing was used to decrease road/engine noise, prevent vibration, and increase SPL. Using Dynamate means that I can hear the stereo system clearly at lower volumes without having to deafen myself. Next was the running of all the cables needed for the system, this included: Power cable with 80Amp fuse, Earth cable, remote cable with relay, 4x phono cables, cd changer cable, speaker cables, crossover cables and an origin b2 Ariel.
I built the cd changer a complete housing that could be removed if I needed more boot space, I wanted to put it to one side of the boot but there wasn't enough room for the roof! This was made from fibre glass and MDF, then covered in fleece material and painted with resin to harden the shape.
The Amp rack was next on the list and it took some time fitting the amps and processor to the 12mm MDF as there wasn't much room. To keep things cool, 4 fans were used to suck air in at the bottom and blow it out at the top. After this I started the long process of covering the whole rack in masking tape, this was then covered in more fleece material and painted with resin to form a hard protective shell. The results were good and I’m please with the finished look of it.
Wiring up everything from the head unit, to the processor, amps and origin b2 etc took a long time, this was partly to do with the weather.....it just kept raining!!!
Before I could complete the system I sent the car to GD Auto Trim to be trimmed in some new blue carpet, as the old carpet had faded and gone a bit mouldy in places. I bought the carpet on a roll from www.coverdalecarpets.com/ and only cost £135. Fitting was £300 and well worth it. I also got them to fit a new plastic rear screen for £130. Some rubber underlay was used for extra comfort and soundproofing.
While the car was being trimmed I built the MDF box fro the little 8" sub. The size of this had to be very accurate for the sub, which was difficult as I needed a rectangle box rather than a square one so it would fit! The magnet of the sub is huge and there is only about 2-3mm gap between it and the box inside! This only just fits between the top of the fuel tank and the boot lid, although I had to cut out a very big hole in the rear of the parcel shelf to allow it to sit forward into the cabin. I rebuilt the rear of the parcel shelf using a piece of MDF and fibre glass resin. This just ment that the rear face was virtual as appose to the angled one that is normally there in Chimaeras. This is not really noticeable unless you knew!
The part of the upgrade was the full re-spray, this was due to a few scuffs and chips on various panels of the car. I had a friend do it as I know his work is very good and it only cost me £2000 which is a good price considering he had the car for about 6 weeks!
When I got her back I finished installing the front speakers, crossovers that are behind the seats in the cubby holes and the sub! I then took it along to ‘Just Ice’ where I bought the products from to get a guy named Phil to set it all up for me. This took just over 3 hours as we had to use a RTA (Real Time Analyser) to get a ‘flat line’ across the dynamic range before we could tune it to my requirements. The RTA uses a mic that sits on a little piece of wood to mimic my ears if I was sitting in the driver’s seat, and then the same for the passenger seat etc etc….! This process sets up the EQ (equalization) and time delay so that when you hear a song, it sounds like it’s coming from the centre of the sound field, rather than from the speakers in the doors and the sub behind you! We even arranged the placing of various instruments around the front of the dash, so it sounds like it would live. It has got to be heard to appreciate the quality and dynamics, and the volume is loud enough to anyone’s taste! (If anyone with a TVR is interested in a demo, please let me know and I would be happy to show you)
My Fiancés Dad happens to own his own Engineering Company so I had some Aluminium vents made to replace the plastic ones. He is going to make some more so if anyone is interested please email me @ makin.tracks@ntlworld.com
Over the 3 years of owning the car I have also done the following modifications:
1. Leaven Technology:
Steering Column Stalks set
Windscreen Air Vents
Handbrake Handles
Dash Buttons
Cigarette Lighter Cover
Blower Switch Knob
Stainless Steel Pedals
Oil Filler Caps
Petrol Filler Caps
Dash Air Vents
High Specification Badges Front and Back
Gear Lever Surround
Windscreen Washer Kit
2. ACT
8mm Blue Magnecor leads
Blue Silicon Hose Set
Stainless Radiator Pipe
Bosch Coil
Rotor Arm and Distributor Cap
3. Wayoyl Chassis
4. Clear Front and Side Indicators
5. Degrease Engine Bay
6. Fox FP6 Alloy Wheels. (17” front – 18” rear)
7. Afterburner rear light clusters
8. Renovo Blue Hood Kit
9. Drilled and Grooved front Break Discs
The following modifications are to be done in the New Year:
1. Stage 2 Engine upgrade with ACT twin plenum etc
2. Mark Adams Chip with Rolling Road Session @ Austec
3. AVO Adjustable Shocks and Geometry Set-up
4. Upgraded Breaks all-round
5. Polyurethane Bushes
Hear is a link to ‘Webshots’ where you can view some pictures of what I have been up to: http://community.webshots.com/album/235133431GFZQDb
Thanks for reading this EXTREAMLY LONG THREAD and enjoy the pictures.
Take care and I hope you all have a great Christmas (with lots of Leven Tech Goodies)!!!
>>> Edited by twerlie on Wednesday 22 December 17:23
As some of you might know, I have been spending allot of time and money on my car since I decided to keep it back in August. I was going to sell her to get a newer 500 but didn't find any that I wanted...other than one that got written off the day after I looked at it!!!
The upgrade project has not only made the car look like new, it has also made it more unique and special to me. I love the car and can't see myself ever wanting to sell her, so re-sale value doesn't really bother me.
The whole thing started at the beginning of August when I started to remove the old stereo system that I had put in when I got the car. I had to take out all the old carpets and the seats etc so I could apply the sound proofing and run the cables etc. The Dynamate soundproofing was used to decrease road/engine noise, prevent vibration, and increase SPL. Using Dynamate means that I can hear the stereo system clearly at lower volumes without having to deafen myself. Next was the running of all the cables needed for the system, this included: Power cable with 80Amp fuse, Earth cable, remote cable with relay, 4x phono cables, cd changer cable, speaker cables, crossover cables and an origin b2 Ariel.
I built the cd changer a complete housing that could be removed if I needed more boot space, I wanted to put it to one side of the boot but there wasn't enough room for the roof! This was made from fibre glass and MDF, then covered in fleece material and painted with resin to harden the shape.
The Amp rack was next on the list and it took some time fitting the amps and processor to the 12mm MDF as there wasn't much room. To keep things cool, 4 fans were used to suck air in at the bottom and blow it out at the top. After this I started the long process of covering the whole rack in masking tape, this was then covered in more fleece material and painted with resin to form a hard protective shell. The results were good and I’m please with the finished look of it.
Wiring up everything from the head unit, to the processor, amps and origin b2 etc took a long time, this was partly to do with the weather.....it just kept raining!!!
Before I could complete the system I sent the car to GD Auto Trim to be trimmed in some new blue carpet, as the old carpet had faded and gone a bit mouldy in places. I bought the carpet on a roll from www.coverdalecarpets.com/ and only cost £135. Fitting was £300 and well worth it. I also got them to fit a new plastic rear screen for £130. Some rubber underlay was used for extra comfort and soundproofing.
While the car was being trimmed I built the MDF box fro the little 8" sub. The size of this had to be very accurate for the sub, which was difficult as I needed a rectangle box rather than a square one so it would fit! The magnet of the sub is huge and there is only about 2-3mm gap between it and the box inside! This only just fits between the top of the fuel tank and the boot lid, although I had to cut out a very big hole in the rear of the parcel shelf to allow it to sit forward into the cabin. I rebuilt the rear of the parcel shelf using a piece of MDF and fibre glass resin. This just ment that the rear face was virtual as appose to the angled one that is normally there in Chimaeras. This is not really noticeable unless you knew!
The part of the upgrade was the full re-spray, this was due to a few scuffs and chips on various panels of the car. I had a friend do it as I know his work is very good and it only cost me £2000 which is a good price considering he had the car for about 6 weeks!
When I got her back I finished installing the front speakers, crossovers that are behind the seats in the cubby holes and the sub! I then took it along to ‘Just Ice’ where I bought the products from to get a guy named Phil to set it all up for me. This took just over 3 hours as we had to use a RTA (Real Time Analyser) to get a ‘flat line’ across the dynamic range before we could tune it to my requirements. The RTA uses a mic that sits on a little piece of wood to mimic my ears if I was sitting in the driver’s seat, and then the same for the passenger seat etc etc….! This process sets up the EQ (equalization) and time delay so that when you hear a song, it sounds like it’s coming from the centre of the sound field, rather than from the speakers in the doors and the sub behind you! We even arranged the placing of various instruments around the front of the dash, so it sounds like it would live. It has got to be heard to appreciate the quality and dynamics, and the volume is loud enough to anyone’s taste! (If anyone with a TVR is interested in a demo, please let me know and I would be happy to show you)
My Fiancés Dad happens to own his own Engineering Company so I had some Aluminium vents made to replace the plastic ones. He is going to make some more so if anyone is interested please email me @ makin.tracks@ntlworld.com
Over the 3 years of owning the car I have also done the following modifications:
1. Leaven Technology:
Steering Column Stalks set
Windscreen Air Vents
Handbrake Handles
Dash Buttons
Cigarette Lighter Cover
Blower Switch Knob
Stainless Steel Pedals
Oil Filler Caps
Petrol Filler Caps
Dash Air Vents
High Specification Badges Front and Back
Gear Lever Surround
Windscreen Washer Kit
2. ACT
8mm Blue Magnecor leads
Blue Silicon Hose Set
Stainless Radiator Pipe
Bosch Coil
Rotor Arm and Distributor Cap
3. Wayoyl Chassis
4. Clear Front and Side Indicators
5. Degrease Engine Bay
6. Fox FP6 Alloy Wheels. (17” front – 18” rear)
7. Afterburner rear light clusters
8. Renovo Blue Hood Kit
9. Drilled and Grooved front Break Discs
The following modifications are to be done in the New Year:
1. Stage 2 Engine upgrade with ACT twin plenum etc
2. Mark Adams Chip with Rolling Road Session @ Austec
3. AVO Adjustable Shocks and Geometry Set-up
4. Upgraded Breaks all-round
5. Polyurethane Bushes
Hear is a link to ‘Webshots’ where you can view some pictures of what I have been up to: http://community.webshots.com/album/235133431GFZQDb
Thanks for reading this EXTREAMLY LONG THREAD and enjoy the pictures.
Take care and I hope you all have a great Christmas (with lots of Leven Tech Goodies)!!!
>>> Edited by twerlie on Wednesday 22 December 17:23
Soundproofing, CD changer housing, Amp, Amp rack, 4 Fans MDF sub and box processor, crossover......
Going to need those new year engine performance upgrades to get restore the power to weight ratio.
Item 4. "Upgraded breaks all round"
Does that mean better holidays this year then?
>> Edited by sparkythecat on Wednesday 22 December 17:47
Going to need those new year engine performance upgrades to get restore the power to weight ratio.
Item 4. "Upgraded breaks all round"
Does that mean better holidays this year then?
>> Edited by sparkythecat on Wednesday 22 December 17:47
So far so good but it sounds like the real work will start next year. I've been thinking of pretty much the same mods in terms of engine and suspension, also at Austec, but with a wilder cam thrown in as well as uprated injectors. Having a chat with Steve T suggested that the Bosch ones can add a fair bit of the old HP them selves. Need to have a chat with the boys to get an idea of cash requirements first though.
Good luck with it!
Rob
Good luck with it!
Rob
Rich...chimhunter said:
So far so good but it sounds like the real work will start next year. I've been thinking of pretty much the same mods in terms of engine and suspension, also at Austec, but with a wilder cam thrown in as well as uprated injectors. Having a chat with Steve T suggested that the Bosch ones can add a fair bit of the old HP them selves. Need to have a chat with the boys to get an idea of cash requirements first though.
Good luck with it!
Rob
From what I understand back to back comparisons of box fresh Bosch vs. box fresh Lucas injectors on a rolling road did show an improvement, with no other modifications. I had my injectors upgraded to pave the way for further work, but I do feel there is a benefit to doing it even if you go no further. Cold start is better and there is more power to be had. In my case, this is with what must be a slightly more tired engine with nearly 61k on the clock.
Cheers,
Steve
Very very nice mods, and photos too. I've ICEd up my Cerb quite extensively too - just couldn't resist it either 
Gassing Station | General TVR Stuff & Gossip | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff