novice hoping to learn how to work on own car!
Discussion
Dear PHers,
Having spent many years reading the advice and marvelling at the skills of many of the TVR contributors here, I'm finally trying to make some enquiries on how best to learn about working on my own car (Tuscan Mk 1). Apart from the economics advantage, its fascinating that there appears to be so much expertise here - far more than I would have thought a layman would have, unless I have grossly underestimated the fellow layman.
In any case, at a point of career change, and with some time at hand, I was wondering if there might be any advice for a complete TVR-mechanic novice in order to begin climbing the knowledge ladder.
Any advice at all would be much appreciated!
Having spent many years reading the advice and marvelling at the skills of many of the TVR contributors here, I'm finally trying to make some enquiries on how best to learn about working on my own car (Tuscan Mk 1). Apart from the economics advantage, its fascinating that there appears to be so much expertise here - far more than I would have thought a layman would have, unless I have grossly underestimated the fellow layman.
In any case, at a point of career change, and with some time at hand, I was wondering if there might be any advice for a complete TVR-mechanic novice in order to begin climbing the knowledge ladder.
Any advice at all would be much appreciated!
Post up your location. There are plenty of people who will lend a hand if needed. It’s one thing starting something on these cars and another getting it finished should you get stuck, not have the right tools, right part or it looks a bit different to the pictures when it come apart.
Excellent Superfly as I believe owners become far more connected to their Tvr when they learn and actually work on it.
Best thing is to choose a topic, something you’d like to change or fix and ask some questions on here and see where it leads.
If you have no mechanical experience at all I’d have to say it will be a steep learning curve but plenty of reading and as the poster above says, ( hi Grey
) search out some local owners who might already have good knowledge and take it from there.
Best thing is to choose a topic, something you’d like to change or fix and ask some questions on here and see where it leads.
If you have no mechanical experience at all I’d have to say it will be a steep learning curve but plenty of reading and as the poster above says, ( hi Grey
) search out some local owners who might already have good knowledge and take it from there. I see you are in London, whereabouts?
I have a Chimaera but I'm happy to talk you through anything on the car apart from the speed six engine.
I am based in the Dorking area and have the good fortune to have a two post lift in a garage if you want to be pointed around the finer details of your car.
I have a Chimaera but I'm happy to talk you through anything on the car apart from the speed six engine.
I am based in the Dorking area and have the good fortune to have a two post lift in a garage if you want to be pointed around the finer details of your car.
With any new TVR I start by compiling a list of faults and other things I want to improve and work through it over time. My list for the Tuscan was over three pages and included things like refreshing the interior to replacing the wiper blades. With the help of this forum and other sources of information, I do much of the fettling/adjustments/part replacement myself, but leave jobs requiring specialist knowledge/tools to the experts, e.g. major paintwork or trimming, internals of the engine, gearbox, clutch and diff.
The TVR sagaris manual has all of the relevant torque settings, but beyond that there's not really any other literature.
The cars are fairly crude and don't really require any specialist tooling. I pretty much did everything myself apart from geometry.
Have at look at this Flickr album I put together. It shows the type of things you can tackle.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/barkleydogue/albums/...
The cars are fairly crude and don't really require any specialist tooling. I pretty much did everything myself apart from geometry.
Have at look at this Flickr album I put together. It shows the type of things you can tackle.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/barkleydogue/albums/...
superfly said:
Wow looks like you pretty much took the whole thing apart. Don’t tell me you started off a novice!
In an ideal world I’d like to get to the level of confidence and proficiency to be able to do that too.
Umm Im fairly novice and a desk jockey. Had built a few other things before. In an ideal world I’d like to get to the level of confidence and proficiency to be able to do that too.
And yep pretty much took the whole thing apart
m4tti said:
The TVR sagaris manual has all of the relevant torque settings, but beyond that there's not really any other literature.
The cars are fairly crude and don't really require any specialist tooling. I pretty much did everything myself apart from geometry.
Have at look at this Flickr album I put together. It shows the type of things you can tackle.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/barkleydogue/albums/...
Hi Matt, was I imagining things or have you sold the Tuscan?The cars are fairly crude and don't really require any specialist tooling. I pretty much did everything myself apart from geometry.
Have at look at this Flickr album I put together. It shows the type of things you can tackle.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/barkleydogue/albums/...
m4tti said:
Umm Im fairly novice .........
May I humbly say that is an understatement.OP, you can do a lot with simple tools and common sense. Despite the image, TVRs are pretty simple. As has been previously said.
The Varley manual is useful but no workshop technical manual.
Where do you mean by Central? There's a few of us out Lewisham way.
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