Anyone know of this pre-cat?

[FactBV]

Wasn't looking for another pre-cat but this one came up today.

http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/2364455.htm

Spoke to the owner tonight, seems a genuine guy and may well go and see it tomorrow. It has been to a couple of Growls, anyone know of the car?

He did mention that the heater had been blocked off and also that there was a small static oil drip from the front of the engine; is it an engine out if it is the front crank seal?

Any other insight that you may have into the car, would be a great help.

Many thanks

Peter.

[Hoover.]

don't know the car at all... and no offence to the owner

love the engine bay.......

wheels horrid, but it comes with originals

silver trim bits in cockpit just look wrong.....


good price though

[FactBV]

Hoover

Indeed, I also prefer the original wheels plus the rear lights etc. Also, it was a 4.3 which was later converted to a BV. I think that the last original 4.5BV for sale only went for a few thousand more.

Any thoughts on the potentially leaking front crank seal?

Also, the heater always worked fine on my pre-cat, any thoughts as to why some one would just blank it off? Maybe it was just heating up the footwells which are hot enought anyway!

Thanks

Peter

[roysum]

Oil leak could be crank seal or possibly valley gasket amongst others. Shouldn't require engine out to rectify. (Guessing it's v. similar to a serp).

[FactBV]

Roysum

Thanks for that, also just getting the bible out and running some different searches.

Peter

[JamesK]

As nice as it is the car does appear to be a bit of a "bitsa" given it's not a factory BV.

Nitrons/wheels and mods don't make the price too bad having said that ( if it's as clean as is implied).

I'll ignore the best engine comment *cough*

For reference I paid a few grand more than the asking price here for mine but I don't consider that much of a comparison.

Edited to add that my heater is totally asthmatic - much worse than my 500 was. Maybe it's been blanked off!!!

Edited by JamesK on Monday 3rd January 13:15

[spend]

I have an inkling that's the car where the rev counter took down the ignition & was in at Joospeed for a few weeks (amongst many other visits..). Can't recall the owners name ATM, but it will come to me - he had a cerb as well.

[FactBV]

Went up to see the car today, not one for me.

Peter

[43scotty]

Hi Pete, the previous owner is a friend of mine he did alot of work on the car, We had 3 or 4 trip to lemans ( I have a 43BV ) no problems with the car when he sold it.

[Ant.]

43scotty said:

Hi Pete, the previous owner is a friend of mine he did alot of work on the car, We had 3 or 4 trip to lemans ( I have a 43BV ) no problems with the car when he sold it.

Is that Steve? Used to be Stersg or something on here?

I thought I recognised the engine bay...

[laz11]

FactBV said:

Went up to see the car today, not one for me.

Peter

Just sent you a mail

[Hoover.]

Pete.. having met you a few times I think you are more a purist so prob better looking at somethin less modified

owe by the way BV 430 is a more powerfull then a standard ??? question to ask ( maybe I'm biased lol)

[43scotty]

Is that Steve? Used to be Stersg or something on here?

Yes it was Steve's car alot of the engine bay work was down to steve, Dom at TVR Power will know the car, think he fitted the shocks also had it on his rollers.

[spend]

Steve Guest? Stesrg ph?

He did the BV heads himself several years ago IIRC.

[Pasco]

I remember seeing this car at the growl a couple of years or so ago as it has the same rear lights clusters as mine.
To me this car represents good value for money as the mods on the motor would cost at least 3k.

Will put a smile on someones face that's for sure

[FactBV]

laz11 said:

FactBV said:

Went up to see the car today, not one for me.

Peter

Just sent you a mail

Thanks, just sent a reply.

Peter

[FactBV]

Hoover. said:

Pete.. having met you a few times I think you are more a purist so prob better looking at somethin less modified

owe by the way BV 430 is a more powerfull then a standard ??? question to ask ( maybe I'm biased lol)

To be honest it is a real dilemma.

When I had the factory BV it was very difficult to know what to do for the best. In the end I spent a lot of money trying to keep it looking as much like a standard 4.3BV and as close to the original posters and articles as possible; well as best you can with a 500 chassis, gearbox, diff etc. Actually, in many ways, it was the ultimate combination with a new 500 chassis /running gear, a 4.3BV engine rebuilt by TVR Power etc etc. and heaps of provenance. It wouldn’t have been my first choice of colour but a really great car.
In reality a lot of my time and money also went on re-engineering the car to make it actually work, i.e. windows to go up and own, lights rewired to see where you are going, two stage fans, a boot release, the list went on for pages as most Griff owners will know too well.
Unfortunately, my background is as an aircraft engineer, so I keep trying to make things work and design a solution to problems although I often find it more frustrating than enjoyable (to be fair it was my only car and I had no garage at the time, which has changed now on both accounts). Therefore, on paper, I am pretty sure that a TVR is not really the car for me which is probably why I have always had mercs. I end up wasting loads of time and money by keep messing with it and its money that you will never get back, although to be fair they have stopped deprecating.
However, there is just something about a Griff that makes me want to get another and as I have a garage and it will be a second car, it might be "enjoyable". Clearly I am ill. So my plan was, as I know that I am going to keep buggering around with it, was to by a pre-cat basket case and rebuild it with a new chassis, so that it looks perfectly original but modify it underneath and just build it how I would like it (and start off with some decent wiring)! The problem is some guys have completely rebuilt 500’s, there were two recently that cost £40-45k, that went on sale for £25k shortly afterwards. You are then in Aston territory but hey if you have the money and enjoy the process why not. I haven't got £45k to spend on a second car.

I suppose the reality is that any pre-cat that has not had the chassis touched in 20 years will need outriggers, sooner or later and in most cases sooner. So even cars for sale at £9-13k often need a chassis work, the interiors look very tired, at 100,000 miles the gearbox or diff needs work...although there are exceptions of course. In the adverts, they often say that the car has had “a new this or new that” but new is sometimes 5-10 years ago.
I only went to see this car as I though that it might be a short cut as it seemed to have a lot of what I was looking for underneath it all. The wheels would go and the originals put back on (he had those), the carbon dash replaced with the wood veneer, cheap enough. The four pipes at the back replaced with two... off we go again!
So in summary, I think that I need a basket case pre-cat, with a shot chassis and engine but from the chassis up in tact. Or a sad Muppet like myself who spends loads of money sorting out all the Griff problems and then puts it up for sale. Dark blue and cream would be a good start!

Deep down I always thought that a pre-cat with a LS6 engine on carbs, with a 500SE front end (proper size head lights), with the two lower lights ditched and a large oval grill in place, with some air conditioning, the battery in the boot...................I’ll get my coat now!

Peter

[cjs]

Peter, you have a PM.

[FactBV]

cjs said:

Peter, you have a PM.

Thanks, just replied.

Peter