New Griffith Complete rebuild
Discussion
Can you Advise?
Managed to aquire a J reg Griffith 4.0 free of charge, obviously this has been stood for 4 years and is sadly in poor condition inside and out. The plus points are that it has less than 50k on the clock,the chassis is very good with the exception it needs a shot blast and a repaint and i have the luxury of a warehouse in which to undertake the work. My main aim is to completly restore this car down to every nut and bolt with the added intention of installing one of V8 developments 5.0 stage 3 long engines, big brake conversion and a steve heath traction control unit. Aside from the fact that I have some friends in the painting and trimming business which brings the paint job and trimming job to 3k!, would it be realistic to budget for 12k for the rest of the restoration?? Assuming i will be undertaking the bulk of the work and already have most of the tools and machinery required for the Job. And also any advice on undertaking this job would be much apprieciated.......
MB
Managed to aquire a J reg Griffith 4.0 free of charge, obviously this has been stood for 4 years and is sadly in poor condition inside and out. The plus points are that it has less than 50k on the clock,the chassis is very good with the exception it needs a shot blast and a repaint and i have the luxury of a warehouse in which to undertake the work. My main aim is to completly restore this car down to every nut and bolt with the added intention of installing one of V8 developments 5.0 stage 3 long engines, big brake conversion and a steve heath traction control unit. Aside from the fact that I have some friends in the painting and trimming business which brings the paint job and trimming job to 3k!, would it be realistic to budget for 12k for the rest of the restoration?? Assuming i will be undertaking the bulk of the work and already have most of the tools and machinery required for the Job. And also any advice on undertaking this job would be much apprieciated.......
MB
free of charge?
you lucky lucky so and so
what a great project, you will get so much satisfaction from being able to do most of the work your self, especially as you have the space, and this is a good place to ask for advice on any part of your project.
have a word with a chap on here called Ant, he has done a write up on how to remove the bodywork from the chassis, also later on, there is a chap called Quinny, who has done many rebuild and maintainance write ups on many parts of the car, I think they can all be found here on the griffith pages,
http://www.thegriffithpages.com/index.php?option=c...
welcome to the fold, and post up some pics as well
you lucky lucky so and so
what a great project, you will get so much satisfaction from being able to do most of the work your self, especially as you have the space, and this is a good place to ask for advice on any part of your project.have a word with a chap on here called Ant, he has done a write up on how to remove the bodywork from the chassis, also later on, there is a chap called Quinny, who has done many rebuild and maintainance write ups on many parts of the car, I think they can all be found here on the griffith pages,
http://www.thegriffithpages.com/index.php?option=c...
welcome to the fold, and post up some pics as well
Edited by clive f on Sunday 24th January 12:44
Cheers for the info on the Griffith pages, Looks like the body will be coming off this weekend then! if it is a simple as it sounds.
As for free, its been stood at a garage for years, so ive done a "you scratch my back and ill scratch yours" deal for it.
Ill be keeping a diary of this work and Ill post it up if anyones interested.
MB
Ps anyone in lancashire/Manchester thats free at weekends with nothing to do
As for free, its been stood at a garage for years, so ive done a "you scratch my back and ill scratch yours" deal for it.
Ill be keeping a diary of this work and Ill post it up if anyones interested.
MB
Ps anyone in lancashire/Manchester thats free at weekends with nothing to do
Hi
This all sounds very interesting,maybe I will deliver the panel to you as it will give me a chance to have a nosey if thats OK.
Yes the panel will fit as it was first made for my J Reg Pre-Cat Griff which has also had a body off refirb,I wish you well with the project.
P.S WELCOME TO THE PRE-CAT CLUB I AM SURE YOU WILL LOVE IT,HAD MINE 6 YEARS AND LOVED EVERY MINUTE OF IT NO OTHER CAR I HAVE EVER OWNED HAS COME ANYWHERE NEAR THE GRIFFITH FOR SHEAR ENJOYMENT AND GRIN FACTOR.
G.M
This all sounds very interesting,maybe I will deliver the panel to you as it will give me a chance to have a nosey if thats OK.
Yes the panel will fit as it was first made for my J Reg Pre-Cat Griff which has also had a body off refirb,I wish you well with the project.
P.S WELCOME TO THE PRE-CAT CLUB I AM SURE YOU WILL LOVE IT,HAD MINE 6 YEARS AND LOVED EVERY MINUTE OF IT NO OTHER CAR I HAVE EVER OWNED HAS COME ANYWHERE NEAR THE GRIFFITH FOR SHEAR ENJOYMENT AND GRIN FACTOR.
G.M
Your welcome to have a nosey, im in lancashire, but the car is in the warehouse on the East Lanc's road near Eccles ( dont know if thats a distance away or not) As to the panel let me know i can either meet you or come down and have a nosey at the griff maybe give me some suggestions on the rebuild??
MB
MB
Sounds like great fun. I bought my Griff fully restored and in an odd sort of way would love to have the excuse to do what you're doing. I reckon £12k should be more than sufficient given you are getting two of the more expensive items at cost price.
I'm sure you've got it all planned out in your head so what colours are you going for?
I'm sure you've got it all planned out in your head so what colours are you going for?
In two minds as to go for a silver paint job, with a maroon type roof with the interior leather as a maroon type ( like the red/maroon you get in the new audis) Cant make my mind up and just go for a simple black interior??
Its a tough one if i am having to live with it!
Looking at other options in respect to the engine
Real steal do a stroker kit for around the £1600 mark or v8d long engine at over the 4k mark even with stage 3 heads and a cam etc will string this together well under 3k but will this comprimise reliability? what did you do with your engine?
Its a tough one if i am having to live with it!
Looking at other options in respect to the engine
Real steal do a stroker kit for around the £1600 mark or v8d long engine at over the 4k mark even with stage 3 heads and a cam etc will string this together well under 3k but will this comprimise reliability? what did you do with your engine?
patriot7 said:
what did you do with your engine?
Mines got this lot on it:Red Glow pearl paint
New interior upgrade including complete new carpets, trimmed in cream leather, new mats, new centre tunnel, new sun visors, new hoop re-trim, all completed by D & C trim, Blackpool.
Completely re-trimmed roof, removable panel and folding targa section, including new rear screen.
Professional conversion to two part roof by Surface and Design including seals, locating studs and fibreglass lapped edges.
All roof sections trimmed inside in cream leather.
Tuscan seats completely re-trimmed by D & C trim in cream leather with red stitching.
New Gaz adjustable suspension all round.
New manifold gaskets,
New rear wheel bearings
New lower front wishbones
New aluminium radiator
Wax oiled chassis
New front brake pads
Recondition rear diff bushes
Upgrades include:
73mm inlet plenum
ACT 45mm carbon trumpet base
45mm inlet manifold
ACT silicon hose kit
Stainless steel water pipe kit
Induction kit and filter
New rear Toyos
Other extras include:
Pioneer AVIC head unit with pop up full screen display, sat nav, DVD player and 6 disc boot mounted changer
Modwise boot release kit
Modwise electric window kit
Full leven interior upgrades
Gold Leven badges
Sorry about the formal list - it's from the For Sale advert. Out of all this stuff I have to say the roof conversion is the most useful. It makes it so much easier to store in the boot. The Tuscan seats are also excellent with great lumber support.
Colour is such a personal choice, but I would go for a colour that rewards cleaning and polishing while not looking filthy after the first drop of rain. The same goes for the interior - with the roof off the interior is going to get dusty (especially with all the nooks and crannies on the Griff) and so a colour that looks good when it's not spotless is a bonus for me. Go for something exciting - bright colours won't look tacky if you choose wisely.
How did you fare with the 45mm inlet manifold and trumpets, was it a noticeable difference?
Im toying with the idea of trying them out on my chim this summer
I have a torque v8 package on mine done by Iann whalley and it has made an awsome improvement, so just wondering if the trumpets/manifold will improve further, I suppose it would be a good tester before splashing out for the Griff?
Pretty impresive list by the way
How did you find your rebuild in terms of enjoyment?
Im toying with the idea of trying them out on my chim this summer
I have a torque v8 package on mine done by Iann whalley and it has made an awsome improvement, so just wondering if the trumpets/manifold will improve further, I suppose it would be a good tester before splashing out for the Griff?
Pretty impresive list by the way
How did you find your rebuild in terms of enjoyment?
I'm doing a rebuild of my LHD Griff 500 at the moment. Started a thread here but because of lack of interest I've started one on the TVRCC forum instead. Perhaps you can take some info from the pics that I keep on posting there.
My budget is a multiple of yours but I'm not doing any of the work and the far majority of the cost is in hours. We also don't know what state your car is in. You might need to replace items and it can quickly add up. I've found that once you get started with something like this it is hard to leave things as they are. If you have a gleaming new engine (mine is new), it is not easy to leave the tatty aircon pump in... I originally wanted to stick to a certain budget but now I've just forgotten about that idea and I'm creating my own new Griffith. New engine, new interior, new paint, new diff, etc. etc. Expensive but very gratifying.
So I can't say if your budget is going to be realistic or not, it depends on what you want to do.
A lot of cars in the UK that have been standing a while, often outside, have a bad chassis - if you want it repaired it's going to be a lot of work. The stripping alone took 40 hours by an experienced TVR mechanic in a fully equipped shop and rebuilding will be longer. Please note that Griffs were haphazardly 'designed' and some things are not logical. Figuring out HOW to best strip the car will also take you time if you haven't done it before.
Not sure if I was any help here but I wish you the best of luck.
Onno
My budget is a multiple of yours but I'm not doing any of the work and the far majority of the cost is in hours. We also don't know what state your car is in. You might need to replace items and it can quickly add up. I've found that once you get started with something like this it is hard to leave things as they are. If you have a gleaming new engine (mine is new), it is not easy to leave the tatty aircon pump in... I originally wanted to stick to a certain budget but now I've just forgotten about that idea and I'm creating my own new Griffith. New engine, new interior, new paint, new diff, etc. etc. Expensive but very gratifying.
So I can't say if your budget is going to be realistic or not, it depends on what you want to do.
A lot of cars in the UK that have been standing a while, often outside, have a bad chassis - if you want it repaired it's going to be a lot of work. The stripping alone took 40 hours by an experienced TVR mechanic in a fully equipped shop and rebuilding will be longer. Please note that Griffs were haphazardly 'designed' and some things are not logical. Figuring out HOW to best strip the car will also take you time if you haven't done it before.
Not sure if I was any help here but I wish you the best of luck.
Onno
Cheers, I'm hoping not to use any outside sources and learn to do the work mostly by myself and with a little help from some mechanic friends from time to time as needed. I suppose the machining of the block etc and checking the built engine over will possibly be the only requirements. Labour cost's seem to outstrip the material costs overall, hence blowing the budget open! One i need to steer clear of.
I suppose in reality it will give me a good insight and pleasure in undertaking this with a sense of wellbeing at the outcome. I can see where you are coming from in replacing items for new items once you se the picture all coming together, probably that will be me too!
I assume yours is all nice and well put together now?
I suppose in reality it will give me a good insight and pleasure in undertaking this with a sense of wellbeing at the outcome. I can see where you are coming from in replacing items for new items once you se the picture all coming together, probably that will be me too!
I assume yours is all nice and well put together now?
patriot7 said:
I assume yours is all nice and well put together now?
No, no, we've only started a month ago. We're going to be building up a rolling chassis (chassis newly sanded and painted) now and after that it is off to the bodyshop for sanding, priming and spraying. Then the new interior needs to be 'built'. I'm expecting her to be done by mid-summer.Onno
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