:: Diary - April 2020 ::

:: Friday, April 3, 2020 ::

Here we are at the end of the second week of COVID-19 lockdown (albeit the 3rd or 4th week of not being able to do very much at all). The garage is the tidiest it has ever been, apart from the 3 bags of rubbish that I have ready to chuck out, when the recycling centre re-opens.

I unearthed a box of TVR Sprint magazines dating from when I joined in mid 2003, up to mid 2011 when I must have put that box in the garage. I have all the more recent issues in the house. I extract the issues that have my own articles in them (from when I was the TVR Club's S-Series editor) but the rest are all looking for a good home. Or the bin, if nobody wants them.

There were also a bolt of other assorted car magazines in the box, but since I haven't looked at those for 10 years, I'm not going to start looking at them now, so those go straight in the "recycling" pile.

In between all this tidying, I found a very nice wooden gear lever, that I vaguely recall picking up somewhere for pennies. It's a bit chipped and scratched, but I decide to restore it, just for something to do. I sand it down with fairly fine grit paper, then clean it with panel wipe that I have left over. When that dries, I give it a couple of coats of clear lacquer, and it looks good!

So today I fitted the new gear lever knob, just for a change. I'll leave it and see what it's like to drive. And mainly, if it doesn't keep coming loose like the metal one does.

I have also contemplated fitting a wooden steering wheel - I have found the correct fitting etc to fit the existing wheel boss (6 bolts, 74mm PCD). They're not cheap though, and there's nothing really wrong with the existing leather wheel, it's just looking a bit worn - not frayed or anything like that, just worn. It's also (probably) better quality than the replacement, so I think I'll have a go at refurbishing it before I think about buying a new one.

:: Monday, April 6, 2020 ::

This weekend would have been our trip to Burghley, near Peterborough, if it hadn't been for this nasty virus. Not to be deterred, though, Adrian sent us all a WhatsApp message on Saturday morning as if we were meeting up anyway. That led to us living the whole weekend in real time, with various "how far till we stop", "I'll have a cream cake", "fill up with fuel", etc until we "reached" our destination. Then we had a virtual dinner (with considerably less calories than a real one) and a couple of virtual pints before bed time.

On Sunday morning we were up bright and early cleaning cars before setting off to the non-event, where we had virtual burgers and hot dogs, spoke to lots of virtual people (who were considerably nicer than the real ones) before heading back to the hotel for another dinner and more drinks - not too many as we have to drive home tomorrow.

So today we were supposed to be driving home, with stops for fuel and more tea and cakes before we "got home" at around 5.00 pm. We all agreed that we had a great weekend, one of the best yet - and surprisingly inexpensive!

In the real world, between all of this, I decided to have a look at my steering wheel - it's a wee bit scraped, the colour is wearing off in places and it has a couple of those white stains that you sometimes get on shoes after they have been soaked.

So first I remove the wheel from the car - that's not too difficult, I just prise off the centre cap and use a 22mm socket to undo the bolt, leaving it on the last couple of threads while I pull the wheel off (I had an experience years ago with a Ford Escort, when I took the nut right off, the wheel was so tight on the shaft that it needed a really hard haul to get it off - and when it did, it nearly knocked my teeth out...).

With the wheel off, I decide to leave it on the boss while I refurbish it. First I use a cleaner and a scotchpad to remove some of the old colour, then give it a good clean with a solvent. While that's drying, I dig out a bottle of black leather colourant that I found while cleaning out the garage, then I spray a couple of coats of that on, and leave it to dry.

Later in the day, when our virtual convoy is somewhere near Berwick, I spray on a couple of coats of glossy leather sealer (the stuff I bought for the seats all those years ago) and leave that to dry overnight.

:: Tuesday, April 7, 2020 ::

Back to the steering wheel - I give it a wipe over and polish with some leather conditioner, and fit it back into the car.

Then I take the car outside to get a photo in the sun, and realise as soon as I clear the shade of the garage that the dye that I used isn't black, it's blue! It's the stuff I bought originally to colour the seat piping when I did them the first time... I never bothered at the time, and then I couldn't find the dye when I came to do them last year. Well I found it now!

It looks all right though - in fact it matches almost exactly the colour of the top of the dash, so what could have been a total waste of time, has turned out to be really good!

We also discover today that Dave has won the TVR Car Clubs monthly "picture this" photo competition, I think for the second time. I've won it twice before as well, so we've done pretty well against the general club membership.

:: Sunday, April 12, 2020 ::

I've moved the car in and out of the garage a few times while I've been tidying stuff, and I've noticed that there's a tinny rattle from the exhaust just above engine idle speed. Yesterday I had a bit of a look, in case it was hitting the chassis or something, and while the rattle stopped when I pressed my foot against the silencer, I couldn't see any reason for the rattle.

So today I decided to take the exhaust off and see if there's anything rattling inside it - maybe a loose baffle or something.

I drive the rear of the car up onto a pair of wooden blocks, and then jack the front up onto axle stands. I take out the single bolt at the rear and then prop up the rear of the exhaust on a 10-litre adblue container, which is just the right height. Then I take out the two central bolts holding the silencer up.

Then I prop up the front of the exhaust on a block of wood on a trolley jack, and undo the six 13mm bolts holding the downpipes on to the cat replacement pipes. I let the jack down half way, then go to the rear to remove the adblue bottle, and finally slide the exhaust out to the front of the car. Then I undo the clamps and remove the J-pipes from the front of the exhaust (Noticing the they aren't sealed or clamped properly, and are loose and leaking).

And here it is! I pick it up and shake it a bit, and sure enough there's a tinny rattle from inside the silencer. I tilt it up to the back, and knock it on the ground a couple of times. I hear something fall onto the monoblocks but I can't see what it is - but then the rattle is gone!

I turn it over, shake it, then hit the front on the ground and shake it, but there's no rattle!

This is good news! Let's stick it back on the car and see what happens!

So - first I wire brush all the soot and sealer shit off that front joint, then slide the exhaust under the car, and lift the back onto the adblue bottle, then lift the front on a jack and wood block till I can get the silencer mountings in place. Leave it all hanging loose for now, then back to the front to replace the J-pipes.

A smear of HTV sealer on the join and inside the pipes, then push the j-pipes on and fit them to the bottom of the cat pipes - 3 bolts each side. Nip those up loosely, then use the jack to push everything up into place and tighten those nuts, then fit exhaust clamps to the two joints - nice and tight this time! Then tighten up the silencer and rear mountings - sorted!

I start the car up and crawl underneath - no leaks, and no rattle!

So - I take out the axle stands and drive the car off the blocks outside the garage - the rattle has definitely gone! Just as well, because if it hadn't, I think I'd by hanging from a beam in the garage by now...

Then I have another couple of wee jobs - a heater vent in the dash that has got itself twisted, sonI straighten that. I also take the steering column shrouds off, and spend more time fitting them to get them to align properly.

:: Thursday, April 16, 2020 ::

This is day 2,137 in the Big Brother House (well, it feels like it), and so far there's no sign f when it will be safe to emerge from our cocoons. Not that I'm in a hurry, mind you - I think that too many people are keen to get "back to normal" too early, and risk starting the whole process again.

No, I'll stay here and play with cars (mostly) and other things occasionally, like the garden and wee house improvements. On Monday I decided to re-roof my garden shed - peel off the old felt, pull out all the nails, then cut and fit 3 strips of new felt before putting the end boards back on and making a couple of new bits.

I've also ordered a new loft ladder, so that'll be another task for this weekend!

In the meantime, I decide to clean up the car's engine bay - polish the shiny bits, clean the non-shiny bits, treat all the rubber bits, and clean and paint a couple of wee rusty bits.

It's looking not to shabby at all! I just need to figure out how to clean the exhaust manifolds and downpipes, ad whether I should clean them on the car, or take them off first.

I was going to do the same to the Chevy, but it's freezing, so that can wait!

It's 17 years tomorrow since I bought the TVR - and it now looks and drives better than it ever has (and so it should considering the amount of dosh that has been thrown at it!). I still look at it and think how beautiful it is, I still start it up just to hear what it sounds like... I just can't drive it at the moment - well I could if I could persuade the cops that I was going for essential supplies or on a mission of mercy. In the meantime I'll have to make do with moving it in and out of the garage for no real reason...

:: Friday, April 17, 2020 ::

I decided to have a go at cleaning the exhaust manifold on the car. I start with some 400-grit wet and dry, to take off most of the brown oxidisation staining. This has some limited success, but they still need a good polish with Autosol - after several hours and various skint knuckles and hands, I've got the manifolds a lot better, but still not "mirror shine". Access is limited though, so I think I might take one off and see if I can get it any better on the bench.

While I'm feeling pretty chuffed with myself, and the state of the car, Dave sends on some photos of work he has been doing on the Griffith.

It's not bad I suppose... To be honest, I just don't have the patience to put that amount of time into getting everything "just right". It's pretty impressive though!

:: Wednesday, April 22, 2020 ::

I'm not happy with the exhaust manifolds, they still look corroded. I was going to take them off to clean, but let's try something else first - Harpic Max Plus toilet cleaner! I've seen some use this on motorbike exhausts, to good effect. I've seen others stay that it's bad for the stainless steel. I don't know... I put a tiny drop into a wee pot, and then brush it on liberally, making sure I don't get any drips on to any other parts. I leave it to dry for a bit and then hose it off with plenty of water.

It's better, so now for another polish. I run the engine for a bit to help evaporate some of the water, then leave it to cool.

Then I get a firm foam sanding block (don't know what grit it is, but pretty rough!) and sand all the bits I can reach. That takes off the last of the corrosion. Then I polish them up again.

That's better! Very happy with that!