winter refurb

winter refurb

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SSPPGG

Original Poster:

2,120 posts

202 months

Saturday 31st December 2011
quotequote all

started as a 4.6 upgrade, and got a little carried away....






SSPPGG

Original Poster:

2,120 posts

202 months

Saturday 31st December 2011
quotequote all
found a set of these suit me really well, as the std ones are not too comfy for me, but am having a little extra padding added to them


SSPPGG

Original Poster:

2,120 posts

202 months

Monday 2nd January 2012
quotequote all
Russell Mc said:
Whats the spec on your 4.6?

Seats look sweet by the way
decided to fit an LS instead.....just trial fitted that into the chassis, along with t56....went in just fine, no chassis clearance issues or mods needed at all.

also fitting a btr diff, instead of the gkn, so will make the diff mounts next week

running twin exhausts to the silencers, to keep the ground clearance decent, so far i think i will only lose 15mm compared to standard, (but with a large bore single pipe, clearance was compromised too much as the large bore needed to be run much lower.

re seats, they are great, but only 1/2 inch padding. trim chap is adding an additional 3/4 inch, whilst doing a small repair on the bolster. they are really comfortable


Edited by SSPPGG on Monday 2nd January 21:39

SSPPGG

Original Poster:

2,120 posts

202 months

Saturday 7th January 2012
quotequote all
black and green said:
email or PM thing sent regarding headers / Y pipe smile
sorry they went yesterday.....apologies, i dont seem to get emails via ph for some reason!

SSPPGG

Original Poster:

2,120 posts

202 months

Saturday 7th January 2012
quotequote all
a good day in the garage today today

made up a bracket to fit the btr diff into the pre cat chassis,
fabricated some gearbox mounts and welded those to the chassis (this is the only chassis mod, needed as the pre cat has not much to mount to in the right place in the chassis
made up a gearbox crossmember with some bushed type mounts

SSPPGG

Original Poster:

2,120 posts

202 months

Tuesday 10th January 2012
quotequote all
ive seen a blue chim in town a couple of times, but nothing else, though i havent lived there long.....the woodbridge at coalport, used to drink there, as i did live in Telford for a while.

We should meet up soonest, when is the next meet? Im a tvr club member, but I dont seem to get access to the site

Edited by SSPPGG on Tuesday 10th January 21:16

SSPPGG

Original Poster:

2,120 posts

202 months

Tuesday 10th January 2012
quotequote all
Pete, i ordered a set of bushes from Steve Heath, and got a set which dont fit the sides of the precat griff gkn diff, but as i am remaking the brackets to suit the btr mounted into the precat griff, i plan to make them use the poly bush set i have.....i hope. but thanks for the offer.

SSPPGG

Original Poster:

2,120 posts

202 months

Tuesday 10th January 2012
quotequote all
seats back from the trimmers, replaced 2 bolsters, added padding, and recoloured the leather in couple of places which were worn a little. 160...so ive a comfy padded set of supportive seats for 260..im happy

decided to attack the rear diff bush.....last job before blasting. was set for a fight. i got the biggest hammer. bush must have sh@t itself, because it gave up and was on the floor in 10 mins...i did however bust a drill bit drilling out the rubber though.........glad it was a cheap drill bit

stripped off the engine bay heat mat, opened and went to fit the new stuff, to find it was nowhere near right. a quick look at the pics on ph for sale, and my engine bay, the precat is rather different shape around the bulkhead. Stil, john is going to have a look at making me some to fit "my" car I'm forming the impression that I cant assume the precat is the same in a number of areas to later cars......i like being "special"

Edited by SSPPGG on Tuesday 10th January 21:24

SSPPGG

Original Poster:

2,120 posts

202 months

Tuesday 10th January 2012
quotequote all
i spoke with a couple of people who rebuild diffs, as while the diff was out, thought it might be an idea to give it a" freshen"..though there was nothing obviously wrong as such.

the recommendation from both of the chaps i spoke with (and have done diffs and boxes for me before) was that the btr was a much stronger diff, and as iv'e used them before behind 550 hp 7l ls7, knew it was up to the job, whereas the gkn was "marginal"....

i also had a spare btr in the garage......so apart from making the brackets, was a fairly safe decision.

last thing i want is a diff giving up on a european trip or something, when for the sake of a few hours work i can put the btr in there.its an easy swap

i know a few folk have used the gkn at high bhp levels, but prefer to be safe.....




SSPPGG

Original Poster:

2,120 posts

202 months

Saturday 14th January 2012
quotequote all
removed all the bushes today from the suspension....took about 3 hrs to do the lot...

adopted the ......"burn the rubber out, cut a couple of shallow slots in the metal part of the bush, and used a heavy screwdriver to "peel" open the bit between the slot" method...pretty easy really,

so the chassis and wishbones are all off for blasting next week.

SSPPGG

Original Poster:

2,120 posts

202 months

Saturday 14th January 2012
quotequote all
no chassis mods needed whatsoever not even for the 6 speed t56...haven't had to dent or "clearance" the chassis at all...fits like a tight glove!

i have used engine and gearbox mounts from Ian at sportmotive.

the engine ones bolt into the existing holes on the chassis, his gearbox mount brackets are designed for the chassis mounts which are 2 small "turrets" on which the t5 normally sits, so i have added these to my chassis rather than make up something , as the precat rover box was mounted a little differently,

if mine was a later car, wouldnt even have to do that.
So far, compared to some of the replicas i've built, this is pretty straightforward...

Jellison did send me a bunch of pics of his build, which have helped hugely

SSPPGG

Original Poster:

2,120 posts

202 months

Saturday 14th January 2012
quotequote all
Just read Jellisons article again,

If you keep the t56 shifter in its original location, it comes up right through where the handbrake mounts on the chassis.....a non starter.

if you use a remote shifter, like a modified t5 tvr one, , you need to chop the chassis rails around that area i think to get some clearance. didnt fancy that

ive opted to fit a t56 mid shift kit, to the gearbox, which will bring the shifter out of the box through the inspection plate, about 6 inches further forward from stock, placing it "sort of" in the correct place, though centrally.

i will need to make or get an offset shifter which will sit under the whalebone......thats the plan anyways





Edited by SSPPGG on Saturday 14th January 23:52

SSPPGG

Original Poster:

2,120 posts

202 months

Wednesday 18th January 2012
quotequote all
the chassis is now blasted....good news. no rot under the surface, so can carry on without getting any welding done!

had the chassis sprayed in "thermal zinc spray" - never seen it done, but sprays molten zinc over the freshly blasted chassis. should provide some additional protection, and the chap sprayed a good coating around the outriggers.

chassis powder blasted off ok, the fronts had been redone latterly, and powdercoat would not come off, so not all powdercoats are the same!. opted to get those burnt off, and zinced too.

still undecided on powder vs por, but now the chassis is zinced, erring to powder.

got some larger rear bearing carriers and calipers for the later vented disc setup....as it was all apart anyway, and planned to fit new bearings and discs, the additional cost was not that much


SSPPGG

Original Poster:

2,120 posts

202 months

Wednesday 18th January 2012
quotequote all
ive spoken to powdercoaters, they've suggested they do a trial, but if you know a product that works, perhaps i can make sure they use that......


SSPPGG

Original Poster:

2,120 posts

202 months

Wednesday 18th January 2012
quotequote all
midlands, picking the chassis up tomorrow, so hope to pop it straight to powdercoaters

i've used redditch shotblast and powdercoat in the past, but open to rcommendations

SSPPGG

Original Poster:

2,120 posts

202 months

Monday 30th January 2012
quotequote all
a few more pics

the chassis before stripping



the t56 fits



the engine and headers








Edited by SSPPGG on Monday 30th January 20:29


Edited by SSPPGG on Monday 30th January 20:43

SSPPGG

Original Poster:

2,120 posts

202 months

Monday 30th January 2012
quotequote all
chassis (and wishbones etc) all zinc sprayed, now off to powdercoat




SSPPGG

Original Poster:

2,120 posts

202 months

Monday 30th January 2012
quotequote all
nope, had the chassis, all wishbones and every other bit I could find blasted and zinc coated at applied surface treatments in wolverhampton - good job, at 200 all in. Was worth the extra for molten zinc spray

the chassis is now with redditch shotblast and powdercoat to do the powdercoat work.

SSPPGG

Original Poster:

2,120 posts

202 months

Thursday 2nd February 2012
quotequote all


the rebuild commences !!



SSPPGG

Original Poster:

2,120 posts

202 months

Saturday 4th February 2012
quotequote all
a good day in the garage today

got all 4 corners on today. fitted front brake lines, fitted the diff rear mount i made for the btr, and made up the front diff mounts.

had to make these as the precat didn't have the btr diff fitted, so nothing off the shelf available