I know it's hand-built but why is it so hard to ...........?

[Ireland]

My rad is leaking so I decided to take it out this evening to see if it can be re-cored or if I need a new one.

It's just the latest in a lot of jobs I've done on my car and it got me thinking about the fact that they are a seriously quick and good-handling car but the way they are put together can sometimes leave a bit to be desired.

For instance to change a rad fan you need to remove the rad to open the two bottom shroud mounting bolts.

Why?

Would it not have been simpler to just use a couple of retaining pins where it could be lifted off?

The lower water pipe is also and absolute pig to get at to loosen the jubilee clips because the air-con suction and power-steering pipes are in the way.

All of these could have easily been routed through the wing and enter the engine bay from the side further back where there is space.

These are just two things I noticed tonight but surely these, and other, things would have been noticed by the people in the factory who assembled the cars day one.

I would have imagined all these little details being sorted on the prototypes.

Obviously not.



Anyhow, how many other little things like this have the rest of you noticed on your cars as you worked on them that you'd have done differently ?????


Just curious .....

[C3BER]

The question should be what is easy to change.

Other cars are just as bad, just look at the lotus elan. A rad change means the whole front end has to come off.

[Ireland]

Yeah, but it must have been a complete pain in the backside for the factory staff putting the bloody things together.

I know it would frustrate the hell out of me knowing I was making something that with a few very small tweekss could be made so much simpler and better.

Maybe that's why I never worked for TVR, eh ?

[C3BER]

So many odd things about the cerb which does make you think why the hell did they do it that way. I am sure there are answers to cooked starters, more black boxes in the boot than a jumbo jet and what is this about the water pump and the engine as one...aaarrrgghhh.

[WorAl]

THE CLUTCH FLUID RESERVOIR!!!.

Why the fk is it under a cover, which is siliconed AND Screwed down? Why? just why? It's the stupidest thing I think I've ever seen. ALL reservoir/filling caps should be accessible under the bonnet. ALL!!

[Mr Completely]

I love my car BUT things I've observed this year like Propshaft vs Chassis crossmember location, the Master Cylinder locations and Seat retention mechanism are just appalling (Sp ?)

Can't imagine the engineering minds who could have sat back and said "Yeah, that's a good job".


Keeps me (and her ) off the streets though.

[greenm]

Well like most design engineers thay have never had to take a starter motor off at night in the rain? Or as said above try and even find how to find the clutch resivior never mind then actually getting some fluid inot it after of course dismantling half the intake gear? They must all be sadists and have never worked on a car never mind the TVR??

Its great though isnt it every time I make a new discovery and fix something i feel very pleased and I am new at it???

[Demondad]

Have I read before that the engine has to come out to remove the heads?! But you still come back for more of this car, it IS a fantastic car.

[BCA]

I honestly reckon that a few very talented engineers worked on different parts, mixed them up together, a few shortcuts were made, no one talked to each other and a few key areas were left to someone else to tie together. I don't actually think it has anything to do with being hand built, more to do with being cheaply/ quickly developed with few resources and a need to be flexible with construction in certain areas.

The end result was IMHO an absolute disaster that accidentally also managed to be one of the finest cars ever built. If it had been carefully engineered with decent development time/budget and thought to packaging all round, it would have cost alot more, but also could have possibly been kept alive and evolved year on year like a 911. I actually think it had that much potential, I genuinely believe it to be one of the greats. Even now when I hear it fire up from inside the house - I cant help but think it must be similar to when someone fires up a 250GTO or similar... Not many cars have that combination of beautiful design and a unique engine/sound/special something, these are future classics, undoubtedly.

We are all very lucky to experience them, even when we're reapplying bd sealant to bits of it.

[Dave 500]

To be fair its not only a TVR thing, Audi had to take the engine out of my RS6 to get to an exhaust sensor

[Tanguero]

Changing the spark plugs on my Jag XJR-s with V12 used to take a full day and you had to dismantle a fair proportion of the top of the engine to do it.

By comparison the Cerb engine bay is a joy to work in - there is enough room to hold a party in there!

[JensenA]

I agree with what Ireland said - It's the silly things that could easily have been inmproved if someone could have been bothered - Like the Fan cowling bolts, lower rad hose, clutch reservoir cover etc etc.
But.....How many of us have been arsed to actually improve these ourselves?

[Ireland]

We have to add changing a steering rack to the list of mega-difficult jobs (well for one person anyway).

I eventually managed to get the old one out and the replacement in position.

Access is on a par with changing a starter motor or top diff bushing.


However, I probably will do something about improving the way the bottom of the fan housings are attached before the rad goes back in.

[Ireland]

JensenA said:

..... lower rad hose .....

I see what you mean.

I had to take the rad back out and fit the hose to it.

I couldn't get my hands down in the stupidly small space to get the hose on.

It actually was easy enough once I put the rad back in with the hose attached.