Restoration Diary
(Click on any photo to see a larger version)

May 2003

Since the last update the two main areas of work have been the wiring loom and the engine bay.

Firstly the engine bay, being sprayed red we were in a position to start bolting bits back on. The clutch cover, air box and heater box were some of the first parts to go on. With these we cleaned them up and resprayed them gloss black prior to fitting, when refitting we carefully used Dum Dum on the edges to provide a water tight seal. The fixings for these are scrivetts, put simply a screw with a plastic moulding, however these were not available in Europe, at all, so we carefully used new screws and the old plastic parts, they worked just fine.

Prior to refitting the heater box I cleaned the heater matrix, descaling it (plenty of muck coming out) and checking for leaks (none!!), so no excuses for a cold car on those winter nights. With this back on we were then able to rig up the cooling hoses, this proved quite straight forward as we had them partially plumbed in anyway, and just followed the parts book for incorporating the heater matrix. This included the heater valve which fixes to the bulkhead. On the subject of cooling we have had some bad luck as our Kenlowe fan fixings have caused a leak in the radiator, this is currently being repaired and we have a mark 2 version for fixing the fans this time! (Tony's update - Rad is dead, and will need to be recored. An added expense we really don't need, but at least we won't make the same mistake twice.....)

Just below the heater box goes the battery holder which we refitted (cleaned and hammerited), and we put in the battery. Behind the heater box and in the same position on the offside we refitted the bonnet catches. These became small jobs and works of art in themselves as we took apart each one to its components and fully cleaned 30 years worth of grease and muck and then reassembled with fresh paint and grease. This fitted in without incident and are now ready to receive the bonnet.

Moving over to the driver side of the engine bay, lots of activity took place in the form of pedals and steering. Both of which I could write several pages on each, but I will condense it here. The steering system consists of the main rod which links the rack, the uj’s and then the rod which travels to the steering wheel. This main rod is contained within a housing which is then in turn used for fixing the steering to the body. Again, we chose to fully clean this mechanism, it is difficult to describe but the main rod is held in to the housing by two bushes at each end. To remove it we had to devise a unique method that I now cannot fully recall to remove the bushes, I can remember it was an awkward job, but it is now fully cleaned greased and it has made a world of difference to the friction in the system. Refitting all these parts was logical, just carefully following their order from the parts manual, and being thankful that we had kept all the parts, even if it did take me a while to track them all down in their ‘safe places’! With this in place we ceremoniously bolted the steering wheel back on, it is surprising light even when stationary, and makes manouvers around the driveway so much easier.

The pedal box. When we removed this we left it intact, so our first job was to take it all apart (after taking some photographs) and yes, clean it! This involved lots of wire brushing, hamerite and new grease. We then reassembled it with inevitable reference back to the photos and fixed it back into the car. This we again did some time ago so I cannot recall specific details, but it went in logically, bringing back memories from when we removed it 18 months ago. With the pedals in place our attentions turned to connecting the said pedals! Easy one first then, throttle, cable through the pedal, straight up out of the footwell and into the throttle mechanism. Although we have since played with this on several occasions, 95% of the travel is very smooth, except the first part on minimal throttle, which seems reluctant when taking your foot off the throttle to return that last 5%, something we will need to check next time the engine is running.

Next the clutch, this was also quite straight forward, we used a new cable supplied by Adrian Venn (this in itself probably reduced pedal pressure by half!). This was fixed to the clutch mechanism from underneath the car by Tony and we then in turn fixed to the pedal via the TVR-specific cast aluminium bracket. This bracket also houses a long thin bolt which acts as the stopper for the pedal, a small but important detail which decided to break! But we managed to fix it after some scratching of heads. A quick press of the pedal resulted in a easy light feel, a success!

Finally the brake pedal. We had a good look at our old brake servo unit and balanced the cost of refurbishing versus replacing. In the end we opted to replace it as for a relatively small amount of extra money we got a brand new unit which we new was safe, it saved us the time and trouble of working out how to refurb the old unit, and the new one looks good! We fitted this with a few teething troubles, this however is documented on our ‘blogger’ updates. The brakes are yet to be signed off as we have yet to connect the brake pipes up to the servo unit. This we are putting off until we either buy/borrow a flaring tool (as an aside, with the flaring tool we will probably also make some decent copper/nickel fuel pipes, as we have decided the plastic/rubber ones won’t be very durable).

Wiring

Not mincing my words, this was a job that I was not looking forward to, the loom was big and ugly and I was afraid of the unknown! Most car fires are electrical related so this was one area I did not want to get wrong, this would test my Electronics GCSE to the limit, and also the lateral thinking ability of Tony and me! At the time of writing we haven’t finished the loom yet but we are over half way there, and we have overcome the biggest hurdle as we now understand it.

Our first job was to get a copy of the schematic diagram and use an enlarged copy of this in the garage with the loom laid out in the car. The best way to get to grips with it is to break it down, the main areas being lights, engine, instruments, switches. You can then break it down further, such as lights splits into front and rear, sidelights, indicators etc. When looked at each part in turn it is much easier to take onboard and digest. A bit of logical thinking is then required for parts such the sidelights, which involve the front and rear of the vehicle, the switch that operates them and another connection that turns the instrument lights on.

Now understanding the system, our job was to systematically work our way around the loom, looking at it in detail and replacing parts as necessary. This includes suspect wires, and as a matter of course we are replacing every terminal and connection (with poor connections (in particular to earth) being the source of many niggling electrical gremlins). Certain areas of the loom we have been able to eliminate or modify, the best example is the cooling system; by using twin Kenlowe fans we abolished the need for separate fan relays. We will also be using a new fuse box with a lot more fuses than original, and this will be mounted, along with the relays, inside the car as opposed to on the bulkhead in the engine bay.

The current state of the wiring as of this update (11 May 03) is engine bay fully complete. This includes rewiring and new terminals throughout, routing of the wires and enclosing in heat shrink and convoluted tubing. This not only looks great but will make it easier to trace wires as there is not a mess of individual sproiling wire.

Two extra modules we are using in the new wiring are electronic ignition, which was very simple to add, and an FIA approved power cut-off switch. The isolator switch has been mounted inside the car and was also simple to do. Involving running the main battery feed to the switch first, then bringing it back to the main vehicle power feed, definitely made easier by the fact we have the loom out rather than retrofitting it at a later date. We will also we fully renewing the wiring for a stereo system.

Our pending work on the wiring is to wire up and install the rocker switches, wire in the dash board, wire in the new fuse box/relay system inside the car.

Work on the horizon includes sending the car away for final top coat of paint (to be reported on later but reasoning being we want to drive the car this summer, and to do it ourselves is hard in a single garage, whilst still learning new techniques). We will sending our seats for recovering (we looked at replacements but decided the originals fit the car so well, and this is proving to be the cheapest option. We need to measure and cut our new carpet panels and have the edging sewn on.

With those jobs all planned for May and June, it leaves smaller finishing jobs to do. The more intense ones being refitting window mechanisms, fitting of other trim such as lights, grills, door handles. The final job being MoT and running in……. We are certainly at the stage of light at the end of tunnel, and will now be spending as much time as possible in working on the car, and using up our time at work chasing up parts and finding out information.

(Tony's advice on wiring - Wiper motors are a nightmare, but if they don't work as per the diagram, reverse the working parts on the switch! Be very very careful when putting the connections back onto the starter motor, because if you accidentally shear off one of the posts, you'll have to drop the entire exhaust system and the n/s manifold to get to the starter. Trust me on this, not a pleasant job, ended up putting us back two weeks.... Final note, if you're interested in the source of the wood we made the dash out of, it's from Europa. If anyone would like any amateur advice on anything we've been through ourselves, please do let us know - we'll do our best to help!