Tuscan Mk2 S Refurb
Discussion
Hello all, I have a Mk2 Tuscan S, she was the factory development car working with Bilstein for suspension set up and was the British Motorshow car on the TVR stand. She has odds and sods from her factory life and was never fully finished to production car spec. Extra sensors, mounting brackets for equipment and holes in the body where cables ran through. Unfortunately I ran over what I think was a steel cable in the road and it whipped up and battered her rear end. Caused paintwork damage and smashed the offside rear light lens. Following this I made the decision to strip the car and finish what the factory started but to a higher standard. I am at the stage of reassembly, I have a terrible memory and always just crack on and forget to take progress photos, but I’ll show what I’ve got so far.
The car before the strip down on the show stand, with Bilstein and on a quick European jaunt at Reims.
[url]
|https://thumbsnap.com/QVYvA2oZ[/url]
The car before the strip down on the show stand, with Bilstein and on a quick European jaunt at Reims.
[url]
|https://thumbsnap.com/QVYvA2oZ[/url]The strip down took around 50 hours, relatively simple getting the body to a stage where it could be lifted. I had two problem body bolts, one through the rear roll hoop and chassis, the nut removed easily but the bolt would not come out the housing. I had to dremel the head off and lift the body over it, hammering it out the chassis after much heat and penetrating oils. The second was behind the fuel tank, simply would not budge, snapped an easy out, cobalt drill bit until eventually resorted to the dremel, oddly once the head was off the threaded shank simply unwound. The usual Tuscan faff with the pedal box and the space around it, clutch feed line and one brake line had to be cut at the body manifold. The two bolts under the transmission tunnel I got bang on when pin pointing were to drill holes and these were barely hand tight.
It took 8 of us to lift body, little bit of wiggling to free it off the chassis, got caught on the near side top wishbone bolt and an abandoned attempt as it was heavier than first thought!
It took 8 of us to lift body, little bit of wiggling to free it off the chassis, got caught on the near side top wishbone bolt and an abandoned attempt as it was heavier than first thought!
Then began the brake down of the chassis. Under trays, exhaust system, prop shaft, gearbox, diff all came out easy enough. Fuel lines, pump and filter next. ARB’s and any other brackets. I left the corners on as I needed to be able to move the chassis outside. I give it a good clean down to remove road grime and wax oil. I am not a fan of wax oil, but it had done its job very well. Used numerous green scotch pads and many bottles of degreaser to reveal a chassis in very good condition barring a few surface rust spots, mainly around the battery tray, pedal box mount and seat mounts. Everything round was good except for the front of the near side outrigger. I think a trolley jack has been used and there were minor indentations.
After initial inspection of the chassis, out came the steering rack, the engine and all four corners off. My initial plans were to take back the surface rust and then repair with POR15, but after a few weeks of deliberation I decided it would be best sent to a professional for a proper finish and repair to outrigger. Off to sportmotive who did an excellent job and quick turn around given the chassis didn’t require lots of work.
[url]
|https://thumbsnap.com/571LKu1C[/url]
![](https://thumbsnap.com/sc/3CfdCjGr.jpg[/img]</a> <a href="https://thumbsnap.com/xz322zkR" Target="_blank" rel="nofollow">[img]https://thumbsnap.com/sc/xz322zkR.jpg[/img]</a> <a href="https://thumbsnap.com/xz322zkR" Target="_blank" rel="nofollow">[img]https://thumbsnap.com/sc/xz322zkR.jpg)
After initial inspection of the chassis, out came the steering rack, the engine and all four corners off. My initial plans were to take back the surface rust and then repair with POR15, but after a few weeks of deliberation I decided it would be best sent to a professional for a proper finish and repair to outrigger. Off to sportmotive who did an excellent job and quick turn around given the chassis didn’t require lots of work.
[url]
|https://thumbsnap.com/571LKu1C[/url]During deliberation on what to do with the chassis I spent some time cleaning and painting parts ready to go back on. I’ve used POR15 for the diff and gearbox in Pontiac blue, a few engine brackets have been done in this colour too. Any chassis brackets were done in POR15 white. Engine and accessories have been done using VHT paints, silver, black and gold. The brake callipers have been done in VHT gold. The pedal box had a total refurb, stripped back and re coated, fitted a set of the curved pedals and stainless shaft, ordered some custom flexi lines from HEL.
There is a lot of prep involved, cleaning, degreasing, priming and painting. I always feel this is the worst and most laborious part of a restoration but once the pieces start going back on and it all comes together, it’s those terrible times scrubbing, sanding and cleaning that make the finished car gleam.
There is a lot of prep involved, cleaning, degreasing, priming and painting. I always feel this is the worst and most laborious part of a restoration but once the pieces start going back on and it all comes together, it’s those terrible times scrubbing, sanding and cleaning that make the finished car gleam.
With the fresh chassis returned I’ve just started to build back onto it. Extra protection with some reflective wrap and then embossed aluminium heat shield down the full length of the transmission tunnel. This was a pain to shape, thumbs and brain were aching afterwards but a much better fit than leaving it flat.
Manifolds went off to Zircotec in an attempt to reduce heat absorption through the cabin.
ARB’s were done in translucent purple to match the brake lines by camcoat, look absolutely amazing under the light in the bedroom, but flat purple under the car where they will never be seen! So that was likely a waste of money.
I’ve ran a new hand brake cable and fitted the fuel filter bracket and differential mounting brackets. Where possible everything is being replaced with stainless fasteners, I have stainless bolts nuts and washers overloading the garage, all bagged up matching the originals, ready to be fitted. I have mainly used Kay’s fasteners on eBay for these and they have never let me down.
For the engine to be fitted I am currently waiting on friends to help me lift chassis out of garage, move the crane to the front and then the chassis back in. So that’s where I am stuck at the moment. I can’t mount anything else on chassis as it will be too heavy to lift. I am mainly going through bagged parts deciding what can be saved or needs replacing. Finding lighter and easier oil hoses is my current musing.
Manifolds went off to Zircotec in an attempt to reduce heat absorption through the cabin.
ARB’s were done in translucent purple to match the brake lines by camcoat, look absolutely amazing under the light in the bedroom, but flat purple under the car where they will never be seen! So that was likely a waste of money.
I’ve ran a new hand brake cable and fitted the fuel filter bracket and differential mounting brackets. Where possible everything is being replaced with stainless fasteners, I have stainless bolts nuts and washers overloading the garage, all bagged up matching the originals, ready to be fitted. I have mainly used Kay’s fasteners on eBay for these and they have never let me down.
For the engine to be fitted I am currently waiting on friends to help me lift chassis out of garage, move the crane to the front and then the chassis back in. So that’s where I am stuck at the moment. I can’t mount anything else on chassis as it will be too heavy to lift. I am mainly going through bagged parts deciding what can be saved or needs replacing. Finding lighter and easier oil hoses is my current musing.
Granturadriver said:
Wow, looks great!
When did you start this project? And did you had the colour scheme already in mind when starting or was it an ongoing process?
Will you stay with the original body and interior colour scheme or will you go a different route?
Started October last year, doing quite well speed wise but could have gone quicker, lost a few weekends to the minus degrees weather, snow and my day job.When did you start this project? And did you had the colour scheme already in mind when starting or was it an ongoing process?
Will you stay with the original body and interior colour scheme or will you go a different route?
No I didn’t decide on colours until everything was stripped, few days indoors google searching. I had originally thought of going the usual black and silvers but then thought ‘let’s not be boring, no one will see it anyway’
Well, the paint all depends on the sale of my 3000M, currently at Selby TVR, so if someone would kindly buy that I’d be very grateful. If the funds come from the M the Tuscan will likely get a full respray and I’d like to add a drop of purple to the colour, similar to reflex charcoal but replace the green in that for the blue already on the car. If not then the rear end will receive a repair in the current black sapphire.
Dave85chim said:
Where did you get your heat shield from?
The gold reflective tape was from a rally supply company online but I can’t remember their name. The aluminium embossed heat shield is from Car Builder Solutions, I tend to get all sheet material from there, they have been good in the past and continue to be. Modrich said:
Interesting how your car was the Tuscan S Bilstein development car, it looks like it has some none S springs on it looking at 2 of the coilover/springs sat on your garage floor, they look dark red/magenta, are these marked with C0959 part numbers? If so they are Sagaris front springs. What other springs do you have and how do you find them?
I believe the latest Eibach spring colours for the S are D0117 Dark Green front (same as non S) with S specific Bilstein damper and D0896 Dark Blue rear spring with S specific Bilstein damper...
I had a look today but no markings on them, the Bilstein stickers have faded and worn away unfortunately. They are dark green on the front and dark red on the rear. It was very crashy and hard over uneven surfaces. Potholes and speed bumps felt more like I drove into them than rode over them. This maybe due to the age of the shocks or the settings. I didn’t experience any of the usual Tuscan handling problems though. Slight tram lining every now and then but nothing jumpy. I believe the handling was lazier on the mk2.I believe the latest Eibach spring colours for the S are D0117 Dark Green front (same as non S) with S specific Bilstein damper and D0896 Dark Blue rear spring with S specific Bilstein damper...
A little slow with this but chassis is now moved and engine is at the front of garage so I can start building the chassis up properly. Fitted rear anti roll bar and positioned diff ready to be lifted in. Steering rack fitted also, trying to fit the awkward bits that need to be weaved between chassis rails.
Fully stripping each corner now, ball joints and uprights but a few of the cap heads are rust welded, along with the thread lock that’s already on them. Using a scaffold pole on a breaker bar to get enough leverage.
A step backwards on the engine as I painted the timing cover during the snow, needless to say it hasn’t stuck so the timing cover is coming off for paint to be removed and the surface keyed. The harmonic balancer is an effort. Broke the first cheap silverline puller, then bent the much more heavy duty US pro puller, which wasn’t great to use, but has done the job. Had to use the spanner linking trick to get the leverage, not entirely convinced I was using the tool correctly.
Unfortunately Racetech have been infuriating to buy from. Ordered engine mounts, paid and received confirmation, to get an email the following day to say they were out of stock. I had organised friends to come down and help fit the engine which had to be cancelled. Expected stock in a week, two weeks later I had to message them asking where they were to then receive them a few days later. Upon fitment, one has been manufactured with the studs too close together so won’t go through holes in chassis. Hit and miss with this supplier as some stuff has been brilliant, next day delivery, but other stuff has not been the best. Hopefully get some more parts fitted over Easter.
Fully stripping each corner now, ball joints and uprights but a few of the cap heads are rust welded, along with the thread lock that’s already on them. Using a scaffold pole on a breaker bar to get enough leverage.
A step backwards on the engine as I painted the timing cover during the snow, needless to say it hasn’t stuck so the timing cover is coming off for paint to be removed and the surface keyed. The harmonic balancer is an effort. Broke the first cheap silverline puller, then bent the much more heavy duty US pro puller, which wasn’t great to use, but has done the job. Had to use the spanner linking trick to get the leverage, not entirely convinced I was using the tool correctly.
Unfortunately Racetech have been infuriating to buy from. Ordered engine mounts, paid and received confirmation, to get an email the following day to say they were out of stock. I had organised friends to come down and help fit the engine which had to be cancelled. Expected stock in a week, two weeks later I had to message them asking where they were to then receive them a few days later. Upon fitment, one has been manufactured with the studs too close together so won’t go through holes in chassis. Hit and miss with this supplier as some stuff has been brilliant, next day delivery, but other stuff has not been the best. Hopefully get some more parts fitted over Easter.
Slowly working away with this, been busy and away with work so not many hours in the garage.
The daily driver blew the high pressure fuel pump and took the timing chain with it, the repair costs are eating the Tuscan budget so I’ve had to settle for cleaning the wishbones and uprights to be sorted at a later date when money allows.
I have the rear corners dry assembled, still waiting to lift the diff in. Once the diff is in I’ll fully grease, lube, route and torque everything correctly.
Upon cleaning the shocks and springs it revealed part numbers and codes, make of them what you will. I don’t know wether to go with Nitrons or Bilsteins when they get replaced. Pretty confident I’ll replace the metalistic bushes with poly.
Upper wishbones fitted to the front and I have begun to disassemble the uprights and steering arms. I can’t split the lower ball joint from the arm for love nor money so they will disappear to a TVR specialist to be done. Steering rack is in and I hope to get all four corners assembled and on its wheels before I drop the engine in.
Continuing my backwards progress with the engine and a battle to remove the sump. With timing cover off I removed scavenge pump which is a thing of beauty, shame it’s hidden away. The rear crank seal was a pain, advice from Dom at powers was to ‘lean on it’ I did just that and it came free with no damage, that is until I dropped my impact wrench and it caught the inner casting for the seal housing and took off a half inch of aluminium, one of those days! The sump is now off but four of the alan head screws rounded off so I’ve had to drill those out.
That’s where I am at the moment, need to send things off for blasting and paint upon return, order some new bits I’ve broken and then march forward with the build.
The daily driver blew the high pressure fuel pump and took the timing chain with it, the repair costs are eating the Tuscan budget so I’ve had to settle for cleaning the wishbones and uprights to be sorted at a later date when money allows.
I have the rear corners dry assembled, still waiting to lift the diff in. Once the diff is in I’ll fully grease, lube, route and torque everything correctly.
Upon cleaning the shocks and springs it revealed part numbers and codes, make of them what you will. I don’t know wether to go with Nitrons or Bilsteins when they get replaced. Pretty confident I’ll replace the metalistic bushes with poly.
Upper wishbones fitted to the front and I have begun to disassemble the uprights and steering arms. I can’t split the lower ball joint from the arm for love nor money so they will disappear to a TVR specialist to be done. Steering rack is in and I hope to get all four corners assembled and on its wheels before I drop the engine in.
Continuing my backwards progress with the engine and a battle to remove the sump. With timing cover off I removed scavenge pump which is a thing of beauty, shame it’s hidden away. The rear crank seal was a pain, advice from Dom at powers was to ‘lean on it’ I did just that and it came free with no damage, that is until I dropped my impact wrench and it caught the inner casting for the seal housing and took off a half inch of aluminium, one of those days! The sump is now off but four of the alan head screws rounded off so I’ve had to drill those out.
That’s where I am at the moment, need to send things off for blasting and paint upon return, order some new bits I’ve broken and then march forward with the build.
More progress! A full Saturday and majority of the bank hol Monday on the Tuscan. Dropped into the British GT at Donington to aid my motivation on Sunday.
Engine back together, sump baffle and sump back on, rear crank cover and seal, flywheel and that was the back end done. Scavenge pump back in, sprocket attached and timing cover plus accessories all in place. A few dummy runs with the timing cover, it’s slightly awkward and an exact fit. Didn’t want to get it wrong when it was covered in sealant adhesive. Same with the manifolds, a few practice goes for positioning and what screws or nuts need to be fastened first. There’s a method to this and if you don’t get the correct order of nut and fasteners it’s then impossible to turn or access them.
Having problems with the harmonic balancer in that I can’t get it fully home on the shaft without turning engine. I think I’ve got about 5mm to go but will have to get inventive.
Three attempts at dropping the engine in. First one we were fighting the engine as the crane was dead centre down the chassis but engine twisting at rear. Repositioned for an easier fit and then once it was all aligned I noticed I had no access at all to fit lamba sensors. Back up the engine came. My manifolds have to ports for the lamba sensors on each bank. TVR had mullered two holes through the heat shield and then a single hole through the passenger footwell, that the wiring for the sensors passed through and could be connected to test equipment in car. What this meant for me was a direct feed of hot air into passenger footwell. The sensors were originally in the lower of the two ports with the wiring running through the heat shield. I’ve had to move them into the higher ports with no holes in heat shield but will have to better protect wiring with a thermal shield.
The diff put up an almighty fight and is still on going. I am about a quarter of a hole out on the offside mounting bracket. Hoping if I slacken all mounts back off that will give me enough play to jiggle the bolt through. Access was difficult and the first attempt was to lift the chassis higher and the diff onto a jack in the position that we believed would pass through chassis rails. This failed numerous times before we decided to go backwards and lean both rear hubs outwards, pulling the driveshafts away from area. Removing both shafts from diff and the forward mounting brackets. Diff now fit through chassis rails and could be moved forward to avoid rear mount. Once aligned with rear mount and Jack had the weight, in with the rear mount screws and the near side forward bracket. Back on with the diff shafts and both hubs tilted back into position.
That’s where I am at at the moment. Between this and the last post I’ve had stuff blasted, painted, seals removed, new ones fitted and lots of bits got polished before todays work.
Engine back together, sump baffle and sump back on, rear crank cover and seal, flywheel and that was the back end done. Scavenge pump back in, sprocket attached and timing cover plus accessories all in place. A few dummy runs with the timing cover, it’s slightly awkward and an exact fit. Didn’t want to get it wrong when it was covered in sealant adhesive. Same with the manifolds, a few practice goes for positioning and what screws or nuts need to be fastened first. There’s a method to this and if you don’t get the correct order of nut and fasteners it’s then impossible to turn or access them.
Having problems with the harmonic balancer in that I can’t get it fully home on the shaft without turning engine. I think I’ve got about 5mm to go but will have to get inventive.
Three attempts at dropping the engine in. First one we were fighting the engine as the crane was dead centre down the chassis but engine twisting at rear. Repositioned for an easier fit and then once it was all aligned I noticed I had no access at all to fit lamba sensors. Back up the engine came. My manifolds have to ports for the lamba sensors on each bank. TVR had mullered two holes through the heat shield and then a single hole through the passenger footwell, that the wiring for the sensors passed through and could be connected to test equipment in car. What this meant for me was a direct feed of hot air into passenger footwell. The sensors were originally in the lower of the two ports with the wiring running through the heat shield. I’ve had to move them into the higher ports with no holes in heat shield but will have to better protect wiring with a thermal shield.
The diff put up an almighty fight and is still on going. I am about a quarter of a hole out on the offside mounting bracket. Hoping if I slacken all mounts back off that will give me enough play to jiggle the bolt through. Access was difficult and the first attempt was to lift the chassis higher and the diff onto a jack in the position that we believed would pass through chassis rails. This failed numerous times before we decided to go backwards and lean both rear hubs outwards, pulling the driveshafts away from area. Removing both shafts from diff and the forward mounting brackets. Diff now fit through chassis rails and could be moved forward to avoid rear mount. Once aligned with rear mount and Jack had the weight, in with the rear mount screws and the near side forward bracket. Back on with the diff shafts and both hubs tilted back into position.
That’s where I am at at the moment. Between this and the last post I’ve had stuff blasted, painted, seals removed, new ones fitted and lots of bits got polished before todays work.
The cam cover was coated in textured black by camcoatpeormance, they have done a great job. The spark plug cover was blasted, masked, painted, sanded and polished by myself with VHT engine gold.
I haven’t stuck the cam cover down yet, there appears to be a National shortage of the Viton gaskets and I hear stories of them being hard to get a good seal. I seem to have mastered the loctite 598 sealant adhesive and at £30 a tube I’m going to make sure I use it all!
I haven’t stuck the cam cover down yet, there appears to be a National shortage of the Viton gaskets and I hear stories of them being hard to get a good seal. I seem to have mastered the loctite 598 sealant adhesive and at £30 a tube I’m going to make sure I use it all!
Oooo, that’s about 40-50% less of a bead than what I put on the sump and timing cover, I was informed to be generous with it but I suppose those areas are potentially more at risk of leaks due to some of the sealant being below the oil line.
Thinking about it that would make sense for the cam cover as it will only be subject to splashes of oil and not submerged or under any high pressure. As you say, it also needs to be removed for maintenance.
The spark plug cover I was toying with the idea of using adhesive backed ‘foams’. I seen someone previously using the neoprene type but the worry was the heat from engine may cause it to melt. I would prefer a compressed foam type simply for appearance and repeated use.
If the car never sees the rain and only I am washing it, if I am particularly careful, is there a need? As far as I am aware it’s simply to stop water ingress into spark plugs. Does it perform some secondary function of locating or vibration damping?
Thinking about it that would make sense for the cam cover as it will only be subject to splashes of oil and not submerged or under any high pressure. As you say, it also needs to be removed for maintenance.
The spark plug cover I was toying with the idea of using adhesive backed ‘foams’. I seen someone previously using the neoprene type but the worry was the heat from engine may cause it to melt. I would prefer a compressed foam type simply for appearance and repeated use.
If the car never sees the rain and only I am washing it, if I am particularly careful, is there a need? As far as I am aware it’s simply to stop water ingress into spark plugs. Does it perform some secondary function of locating or vibration damping?
It is a gel sticker yes, a chap on Facebook group ran an order, I asked for it in gold. This was probably a few years ago, it’s been sat waiting for its day of glory since.
Intended use for the car is European jaunts, shows and occasional track day. I am pretty confident it will never see the severity of water to get under the spark plug cover so I may just leave it unsealed for now and see how I get on. Can always seal it at a later date.
Intended use for the car is European jaunts, shows and occasional track day. I am pretty confident it will never see the severity of water to get under the spark plug cover so I may just leave it unsealed for now and see how I get on. Can always seal it at a later date.
Much further with this now, you quickly forget all the little things and they soon add up. Chassis is pretty much finished. Hoping to clean up and mount exhaust system this weekend and that will be the last thing to go on.
Bought the brake line kit from Powers, good kit and easy enough to fit. The fuel lines were a nightmare, I had to buy new nylon fuel line and use the old banjos. Borrowed a heat gun from work but could never get the right heat, too hot and it melted the line, not hot enough and I couldn’t force the banjo in. Wasted lots of time and attempts, not fully confident they will hold once fuel running through but only one way to find out!
Gearbox was also a pain as it would never go fully home. Spent days trying to force it, taking the bell housing and clutch off and on, different methods leaving alignment tool in place. Alignment tool would go fully in with ease but then gearbox wouldn’t budge the last half inch. Had given up for the week and then one morning it just went in as it should with hardly any effort?! Diff was the same, loads of attempts and had it 95% fitted but couldn’t get the last bolt through, gave up and then all of a sudden it just slotted through.
I cleaned up and ran wiring harness which I was a little nervous about as I couldn’t remember where it all went. Thankfully it’s obvious once you have it laid in its rough position. Most things are labelled and they only reach to the point they connect.
Air compressor and alternator went on easy, again trying to reference photos of fastener directions and spacers was difficult, lesson learned to take better pictures and videos before stripping.
Still not happy with the finish on some items and they will be removed at a later date to be professionally coated. Oil and coolant tank were professionally polished, again not fully happy with them, they are much better than when I took them off, I’ve just seen others have polished to a deeper finish. I like to have stuff perfect.
Once exhaust is fitted I’ll fill the oils and fit undertrays, that will be chassis complete to accept body. They’re maybe a few backwards steps I have to take to get body on.
I’ve ripped the carpets out the body, still got to remove the underlay and I’ll fill in a few holes that shouldn’t be there and cut some that should. I’ll renew heat shield lining the body.
Hoping to get the body on in next few weeks so fingers crossed for good progress.
![](https://thumbsnap.com/sc/ZhDRXsSH.jpg[/img]</a> <a href="https://thumbsnap.com/vieyRdJ7" Target="_blank" rel="nofollow">[img]https://thumbsnap.com/sc/vieyRdJ7.jpg)
Bought the brake line kit from Powers, good kit and easy enough to fit. The fuel lines were a nightmare, I had to buy new nylon fuel line and use the old banjos. Borrowed a heat gun from work but could never get the right heat, too hot and it melted the line, not hot enough and I couldn’t force the banjo in. Wasted lots of time and attempts, not fully confident they will hold once fuel running through but only one way to find out!
Gearbox was also a pain as it would never go fully home. Spent days trying to force it, taking the bell housing and clutch off and on, different methods leaving alignment tool in place. Alignment tool would go fully in with ease but then gearbox wouldn’t budge the last half inch. Had given up for the week and then one morning it just went in as it should with hardly any effort?! Diff was the same, loads of attempts and had it 95% fitted but couldn’t get the last bolt through, gave up and then all of a sudden it just slotted through.
I cleaned up and ran wiring harness which I was a little nervous about as I couldn’t remember where it all went. Thankfully it’s obvious once you have it laid in its rough position. Most things are labelled and they only reach to the point they connect.
Air compressor and alternator went on easy, again trying to reference photos of fastener directions and spacers was difficult, lesson learned to take better pictures and videos before stripping.
Still not happy with the finish on some items and they will be removed at a later date to be professionally coated. Oil and coolant tank were professionally polished, again not fully happy with them, they are much better than when I took them off, I’ve just seen others have polished to a deeper finish. I like to have stuff perfect.
Once exhaust is fitted I’ll fill the oils and fit undertrays, that will be chassis complete to accept body. They’re maybe a few backwards steps I have to take to get body on.
I’ve ripped the carpets out the body, still got to remove the underlay and I’ll fill in a few holes that shouldn’t be there and cut some that should. I’ll renew heat shield lining the body.
Hoping to get the body on in next few weeks so fingers crossed for good progress.
Little slow with this as my back gave in and a very skilled surgeon had to have a slice, grind and stitch.
Spent the down time ordering new parts and going through the bags and boxes of all the little bits I’d forgotten to send to powder coat.
Sanded back the engine bay on the body and filled in every hole, scratch, oddity I could and then prepped it for paint. Very pleased with myself as before paint it looked like it was going to be a really good finish. Then I rattle can sprayed it Satin black, which revealed every uneven surface, as the paint dried over two weeks it started to reveal sanding swirls. Hoping polishing would maybe hide them I spent a few hours with the polisher and paint correction compound gradually getting finer. The paint came up really well but sadly revealed more sanding marks and uneven surfaces I’d so proudly thought I’d gotten rid of! I’ve had a few painters mention black shows up everything and if the car is black it will have spent longer in the body shop being perfected. Now I know what they mean. It’s a vast improvement over previous, but I thought I’d done a better job than the finished article alludes.
I had holes in the passenger footwell where sensors connected to engine from test equipment. Also in the transmission tunnel where two lambda sensors were fitted in the straight run of the exhaust and then fed back into cockpit. I filled in the holes with fibre glass filler. I’ve chose to fit a blanking plug into the extra lambda ports that are not needed after sanding back and polishing the stainless exhaust system.
My chassis heat blanket was a bit of a faff. Instead of the usual one piece blanket with folds and creases to form it around the chassis, mine was individual sections, shaped to fit the area they covered, holes poked through them and then cable tied together. Holes also where test equipment ran and it wasn’t really doing it’s job as burn marks on the body testify. I managed to source a new old stock one from Central TVR. It’s certainly not in new condition but it’s whole and covers exactly where it needed so should do a better job than the old one. I thought at one point I wasn’t going to source one so went another route and fitted a mixture of zircotec and gold mat heat reflective material. Now I have the blanket and the zircotec, hoping it will give a big improvement on heat transfer through the body.
I’ve removed heat exchangers for heater and aircon, to give the area a tidy up and see if I can improve the fit and appearance.
I’ve redone some wiring connectors, mainly the Trinary switch and changed a couple that had blanks for connectors with the correct amount of terminals for OCD reasons. I’ve wrapped the looms in new conduit or fabric tape. I think a few quick or roadside repairs have been made previously and never fully sorted so that was the main reason behind the wiring corrections.
I also disassembled front and rear brakes to have them powder coated professionally. My attempt at painting them over winter looked very good, but as soon as they were handled and reassembled the paint hadn’t adhered.
I’m nearly ready for body on, just got to sikaflex blower panel back on, check chassis work that everything is routed and tightened as it should be. I’ll have to undo power steering reservoir and flop it over inwards to let the body drop over the top, but all being good and if the manpower turns up we should lift it on next weekend.
Spent the down time ordering new parts and going through the bags and boxes of all the little bits I’d forgotten to send to powder coat.
Sanded back the engine bay on the body and filled in every hole, scratch, oddity I could and then prepped it for paint. Very pleased with myself as before paint it looked like it was going to be a really good finish. Then I rattle can sprayed it Satin black, which revealed every uneven surface, as the paint dried over two weeks it started to reveal sanding swirls. Hoping polishing would maybe hide them I spent a few hours with the polisher and paint correction compound gradually getting finer. The paint came up really well but sadly revealed more sanding marks and uneven surfaces I’d so proudly thought I’d gotten rid of! I’ve had a few painters mention black shows up everything and if the car is black it will have spent longer in the body shop being perfected. Now I know what they mean. It’s a vast improvement over previous, but I thought I’d done a better job than the finished article alludes.
I had holes in the passenger footwell where sensors connected to engine from test equipment. Also in the transmission tunnel where two lambda sensors were fitted in the straight run of the exhaust and then fed back into cockpit. I filled in the holes with fibre glass filler. I’ve chose to fit a blanking plug into the extra lambda ports that are not needed after sanding back and polishing the stainless exhaust system.
My chassis heat blanket was a bit of a faff. Instead of the usual one piece blanket with folds and creases to form it around the chassis, mine was individual sections, shaped to fit the area they covered, holes poked through them and then cable tied together. Holes also where test equipment ran and it wasn’t really doing it’s job as burn marks on the body testify. I managed to source a new old stock one from Central TVR. It’s certainly not in new condition but it’s whole and covers exactly where it needed so should do a better job than the old one. I thought at one point I wasn’t going to source one so went another route and fitted a mixture of zircotec and gold mat heat reflective material. Now I have the blanket and the zircotec, hoping it will give a big improvement on heat transfer through the body.
I’ve removed heat exchangers for heater and aircon, to give the area a tidy up and see if I can improve the fit and appearance.
I’ve redone some wiring connectors, mainly the Trinary switch and changed a couple that had blanks for connectors with the correct amount of terminals for OCD reasons. I’ve wrapped the looms in new conduit or fabric tape. I think a few quick or roadside repairs have been made previously and never fully sorted so that was the main reason behind the wiring corrections.
I also disassembled front and rear brakes to have them powder coated professionally. My attempt at painting them over winter looked very good, but as soon as they were handled and reassembled the paint hadn’t adhered.
I’m nearly ready for body on, just got to sikaflex blower panel back on, check chassis work that everything is routed and tightened as it should be. I’ll have to undo power steering reservoir and flop it over inwards to let the body drop over the top, but all being good and if the manpower turns up we should lift it on next weekend.
Body back on over the weekend. Had to move a few things that were already fitted to make sure they didn’t foul on the arches. Tape and cable tie some lines out the way so they didn’t become trapped. Undone the two near side front most wishbone nuts and knocked back the bolts as we caught on them lifting it off. Cleared the garage of anything we could trip over or fall into. Much smoother than lift off, six people lifting, three either side along the sills, then another two, one at the front one at the back providing some stability. Lifted it out the garage and in front of the chassis. Dropped it down for a quick rest and talk about getting fingers caught in the outrigger channels and then it was straight up, shuffled backwards over the chassis, once we were happy we had the wheels roughly in the centre of the wheel arches began to lower it down and into place. Couldnt have gone better, everything lined up and all is looking good. Yet to have a good poke around but feeling confident.
Gassing Station | Tuscan | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff