TVRs and Stuff

:: Diary - April 2024 ::
:: Tuesday, 2 April 2024 ::

We're all due to be going down to the TVR Car Club 2024 season-starter event at Elvaston Castle near Derby this weekend. Dave and Jim's cars are freshly MOT'd, Adrian had his done last month in a fit of uncharacteristic foresight, and mine was done in September. Mine was all cleaned up and then chucked in the barn at the farm 3 weeks ago while I sorted the Porsche's jacking point. It's still there, the Porsche is still here, and it's bucketing rain so I'm reluctant to swap them over.
This concern is somewhat academic though, since the forecast says rain until - well - every day for the next fortnight at least, so the TVR at least is going to get wet. This is not unusual - a check at this diary shows that in the last 6 years (since 2016 but not counting "the COVID years" where the event didn't take place), we've only had one year where this TVR event was sunny all weekend, two where it was tolerably dry, and three where it was pishing down. The odds are not in our favour!
So today, the TVR Car Club sent out an email - because of persistent rain, a raised water table and possible damage, parking is to be restricted. Those who have booked tickets will get in, others will have to park in the public car park. A quick check shows that all of us except John and Adrian have booked in, so that's maybe not a problem.
We shall watch this space to see if it gets better or worse before Friday!
In the meantime, I need to get the cars swapped. And dig out the waterproof trousers. And the seat covers.

:: Thursday, 4 April 2024 ::

It's dry today so I decide that this might be my chance to swap the Porsche to the farm and bring the TVR back to the house ready for our trip on Saturday. I also plan to start and warm up the Chevy's engine, just to try and get it ready for collection.
Yes, the Chevy... I forgot to mention that I sold it on 19 March in an online auction... the next step is that the buyer pays the auction company and then we exchange details so that he can arrange to collect the car. Then we both click buttons to say he has collected the car, the company transfer te money, then he takes the car.
The slight complication is that the buyer is in Italy, so it's an international bank transfer, over the Easter holidays. So the money isn't sent to the auction company until Tuesday there. So now that we are in touch, he is arranging for a transport company to collect the car at some point, as yet unconfirmed. I need to declare the car as "exported" which I haven't done before. It's all a bit different!
Anyway, the task for today is to make sure that it starts so that I can get it onto the transport lorry (having already boldly declared that will be fine...)
Problem - although I put it on a trickle charger on Tuesday, somebody has switched it off, so the battery is as flat as a pancake. Easy, methinks - just start up the TVR then run a jump lead across (which I did have the foresight to bring!). Except that the TVR's bonnet won't open - it's stuck... I also forgot to mention that when I was replacing the brake master cylinder in February, I found one of the bonnet pins loose, so I tightened it back up in its original position. Or so I thought...
Until today, when I can't get the bonnet open no matter how hard I pull the handle. Bugger, bugger and thrice bugger. I look around the shed and my eyes fall on the cover over the Chevrolet - it's got two webbing straps that go underneath to stop it blowing off in strong winds - totally redundant when the car's in a garage. I take one of the straps, wrap it round the bonnet pull handle and tie it back tightly to the steering wheel, then go around both sides of the bonnet pushing and pulling and nudging sideways etc until it releases...
Right, connect up the jump leads, start the Chevy and then swap the TVR and the Porsche, then bring the TVR back to the house via the petrol station, with the bonnet shut.
Same routine to get the bonnet open again, then I stick a couple of bits of tape over the catches and another couple of bits inside the bonnet to show where the pins are.., Try closing it down until the pins mark the tape - the bonnet is bang in the middle of one catch but off-centre on the passenger side (the one that was loose in March). I loosen the pin, and move it about 5mm inwards and backwards. Then I lubricate the catches and the pins and shut it again... Pull the release lever and it opens easy! Sorted!
(unless it's now too loose and pops open when driving,,, we'll find out over the weekend!)
So with that fixed, I give the car a final clean-up and that's it ready!.

:: Saturday, 6 April 2024 ::

Up bright and early for the first TVR weekend of the year! It has been bucketing down rain all day yesterday and overnight, although it's off for now. Still, I decide to put the roof on, just in case...
So, we all meet up at our usual meeting point, all spruced up and ready to go. The cars too. After Jim's normal pre-journey coffee, and the removal of roofs we're off!

The first leg is pretty uneventful and takes us from Newbridge along the M8 motorway and around the Edinburgh City Bypass. When I say "uneventful" I mean "no particular incidents that merit explanation". However, I quickly become aware of the growing use of an advanced driving technique known as "The Jersey Slide". Now I have never been to New Jersey, far less driven there, but apparently it's what you call that dickhead manoeuvre when a driver in the far right lane dives across the front of everybody in any lanes to their left, to batter down a slip road on the left at unabated speed. Sometimes they even signal, as a token effort at giving a shit about anyone else. Even if they do, it doesn't mean "I would like to move over so could you kindly let me in" - it means "unless you start braking pal, you're going to launch me sideways into the scenery and to certain death".
I wish I could do it, instead of getting into the left lane at least half a mile before your slip road and definitely before the first 300-yard board. and then following a couple of lorries for that last half-mile while they are forced to slow, or kill these arseholes. Nevertheless, you have to admire the skill involved in majestically carving your way through people with at least 3 brain cells and a survival instinct. I can't bring myself to do it - I'm just too shite at driving.
Don't get me wrong now, I've had my moments of "oh shit that was nearly too late", especially on roads that I don't know, but I can't muster the grace and beauty of a proper deliberate last-minute high-speed "Slide" - Maybe one day eh?
Anyway, as we journey around the bypass and then out along the A1 past Dunbar, I am fortunate enough to be able to witness and study this particular technique in detail at every intersection except one, and I am amazed to see that it can be performed in a wide variety of vehicles - mainly cars, but also vans, light trucks and even a motorbike.
I need to update my driving skills. Does anyone know where there is a school or instructor who can help me master this skill, I can't find anything in the "Learning to Drive" textbooks or in the Highway Code... I did find "Arseholes Anonymous" on yell.com, who might have the relevant contact details. I also tried the Tourettes Society (who might help me to cope better with this technique when performed by others) but they just told me to fuck off.
Back to today's journey. After a wee splash of fuel at non-motorway prices, we make our customary first stop at Purdy Lodge near Berwick - quick, tasty breakfasts at reasonable prices.

When we emerge, we decide that with rain forecast further south, we'll put the roofs on and head for Wetherby Services where we are meeting Adrian. With maybe a wee biscuit and a drink just to be sociable.
Once again, onwards! With the sat nav suitable programmed for our final destination, I lead out for the run down the A1 and M18 to Derby. This leg of the journey does have some rain, although not too bad.
There's an art to driving in a group, especially if you are in the lead. You want to go fast enough to get where you're going, but slow enough so that people can keep up without having to do anything stupid, and also so that they can see where you are going. This means frequent mirror checks to make sure everybody is still there, and early decisions on lane choice etc (so far as the sat nav gives you enough warning!).
During one of these mirror checks, I see blue flashing lights away on the horizon behind me. The next check confirms it's closer, and I can see that it's a police car. In the third mirror check I can see some clown poodling along in the outside lane, with this police car now up his chuff, blue lights and headlights flashing, siren on full blare. Eventually dopey spots the police car and panics, holding it up even more, before it's able to blast past and off up the motorway at Mach 1. Dave had a better view of this than I did and said that the driver seemed to be totally oblivious.
A few miles later the sat nav says we have to turn off in just over a mile. Having not yet mastered the Jersey Slide, and not wanting to put my compatriots in the position of having to learn it impromptu, I get in lane early and follow a lorry for bloody ages before the slip road appears...
We arrive at the hotel and straight into our well-rehearsed formation parking display.

Check-in is the usual Premier Inn laborious key-typing process, along with the normal explanation of meal deals etc. A wee bit of TV watching and various other freshening-up activities later, we return to the cars to secure them for the night and tuck in their little waterproof night-caps in case it rains (and also to deter nosy eyes looking inside).

Then dinner. There are only 3 staff on duty, to run the whole place - ordering, waiting, cleaning up, serving behind the bar and the hotel reception and phones. 3 staff. Needless to say, it doesn't work. Can't fault the staff, they are rushing around like daft trying to do all these jobs, but it still doesn't work.
And it's not as if they didn't know it was going to be busy - they called us all on Thursday to say that the restaurant was going to be busy, so we should book. They also said that we shouldn't come down for breakfast between 7 and 8 tomorrow, because the place would be heaving. SO they knew. But regardless of that, only 3 staff are on the roster, and one of them was supposed to finish at 6 but stayed on till 8.30 because she knew that it wouldn't have worked at all otherwise.
As a result, we sit down at 7.15, our order is taken after a slight delay, the food arrives fairly quickly (albeit having spent far too long on the warming shelf serving from the kitchen) and it's all very delicious. However, the plates then sit on the table for 45 minutes... Other tables arrive, have 2 course, pay and leave during the time we stare at these dirty dishes...
Then they ask us to order desserts. Now some of us have already ordered desserts - but apparently those don't count and they have since sold all the apple pies, to people who arrived after we ordered them, but were served faster. Cue much disappointment.
Cue also me explaining that this just isn't good enough (and I didn't even order apple pie!) and that while the staff have clearly done their very best, someone in management needs to get a grip on the expectations of their staff, and roster accordingly. Or attend themseves, to help out. Personally, I would introduce a contract clause that required every manager to stand still, while every disappointed customer was allowed a 30-foot run-up to boot them full square in the plums. That's the kind of customer feedback that'll learn them.
Further customer service consultancy advice is available, for a fee.
Anyway, the staff are very apologetic and promise to look after us tomorrow.
and so to bed...

:: Sunday, 7 April 2024 ::

IIIiiiit's showtime!!! None too soon either, because I was awake half the night because of the racket from upstairs. I think that Humpty-Dumpty musy have been in that room and fell out of bed, and called on all the kings horses and all the kings men, along with Shergar, Red Rum, Hercules from Steptoe and Son and Champion the Wonder Horse, led by the Grand old Duke of York who marched them up and down the room every 2 minutes.
But first, breakfast. We have been told not to appear before 8am, and when I walk past the room on my way to take the cap off the car, I can see that the breakfast room is heaving - there's not an empty table to be seen!
Things have calmed down by 8.00 when we all turn up, se we're able to relax a bit and enjoy our breaakfast. We need to leave by 8.45 or so though, because we have all been allocated times to turn up at the show, and also different gates for different car models. I have set the sat nav for "Gate A" which is where they say the S-Series cars have to go, between 9:00 and 9:15 am. Eric, John and Adrian have to turn up at Gate B. I have no idea where that is, but they do...
Off we go, arriving at "Gate A" after about 10 minutes. There's a man there who says "plan has changed, you've now to go in Gate B." I explain that I don't know where that is. He waves his hand vaguely up the road "Up there past the public car park". I don't know where that is either. Nevertheless, by this time there are TVRs all over the road from both directions, so I take off with the entourage in tow.
We do find Gate B and are directed up the track, and eventually to the castle where there's another man with a map. "Ah, pre-80s" he says. "This isn't pre-80s" says I. "What is it then?" he says as he looks up and down the car. "It's an S Series, the most overlooked TVR in the history of the Club". He looks as if he has never heard of them, and points us on anyway.
So, we are dispatched to our allocated space in front of the castle, alongside the "other" pre-80s models. Which turns out to be a very good thing.

You see, there's a couple of 1970s Vixens included in this line-up - the white one in this photo and the yellow one in the last photo.

I quite fancy one of those, and I know of one for sale, but I also hear that they are tiny inside with very small doors, so I want to see up close, and make sure I can get in and out without looking and feeling like a tinned stick insect. I ask the owner of the white one for a closer look and he offers me a seat inside. It's snug but comfy, a bit like taking off your Oxford bags and putting on skinny jeans. I like it!
While I am chatting to him, his mate with the silver 3000M next door also joins in - and we talk about Lotus Elans, Cerberas, and various other cars and topics. Then it turns out that he has a Porsche Cayman but would like an air-cooled 911. I show him a photo of mine. He seems very interested asking about how much I would sell it for (and is unfazed by the answer!), how many miles it has, service history etc. I say that I wasn't looking to sell but will think about that, and speak to him again later.
By the time that I have finished all that, Jim and Dave are nowhere to be seen, so I set off for a wander around the rest of the event. First the courtyard...

where there is a dsplay of Chimaeras...

More Chimaeras...

With a display of Sagariseseses (Sagari?) opposite

Tuscans and Tamoras

more Tuscans

The Cerberas are out the side of the house in the gardens, but I forgot to take a photo of those. One couple arrived in a 4.2, and immediately spotted the mini-Cerb that was on display at the NECC in September. It's exactly the same colour as their car so of course they want a photo!

It turns out that she is Polish but does a pretty impressive Scottish accent (better than Mel Gibson's) and manages to sing more verses of "bonnie Banks of Loch Lomond" than I could. We chat a bit and head off, but not before she tries to convince me to visit the Goodwood Revival in September because that's where they live...
Then they turn up again outside the cafe and another conversation ensues - I honestly can't remember it, but it was bizarre, she's bonkers and he just stands and smiles indulgently. Then she announces that her husband has french ancestry, and I (recklessly) admit that I do too, if you go back 500 years or something.
So now she's convinced that her husband and I are long-lost distant cousins and there's a family resemblance...

They are both great to chat to though, and eventually I head off back to look for the boys. I find them unsurprisingly, in the cafe. All except Eric, who has apparently spotted a Tuscan for sale and is deep in discussions.
By this time people are starting to leave, and when we get back to our cars, the Vixen and the 3000M (and the potential Porsche purchaser) have both left. We hang about for a bit longer speaking to folk, and finally decide to head back to the hotel.
The route out is different from the route in, and contains multiple brutal exhaust-scraping speed humps, and comes out on the main road in a different place. The trusty sat nav sees us right and guides us back to the hotel, where again we secure the car hats before a rainy night ahead.
The restaurant is much quieter tonight, so dinner is far more pleasant. Last night's manager offers some freebies to keep us happy, and they have even ordered in more apple pies. I didn't want that but I suppose I have to!
This has been an expensive weekend, with negotiation on selling a Porsche, buying a Tuscan, and trying a Vixen for size...
and so, once again, to bed...

:: Monday, 8 April 2024 ::

Better night's sleep interrupted only by a noisy party coming in taxis in the early hours, and then a guy starting his diesel van right opposite my window at 6am, and then sitting in it for a full hour before buggering off. Dave was in the room next door to me so he's lucky he left with his nose intact...
First task is outside - it has been raining overnight again, but it's off just now, so I remove the hood cap and wipe the car down. Dave and Jim and I have decided that it's time that our chicken mascot has a new owner. Last year at Mallaig, John had bought ferry tickets and none of us had, so we were lucky to get on the ferry as "standby". He spent ages telling us how wise a decision it was to buy tickets and that we should have too, etc...
This year, we have all bought advance tickets for the show. On Thursday, the TVR Car Club announced that because of the recent very bad weather, some of the areas that were to be used for parking are waterlogged, so the areas allocated for show parking had to be reduced, so if you don't already have ticket, you won't get in. We all have tickets. Except John. John is silly. Don't be like John.
In honour of this glorious irony, the organising committee have elected that John should be the custodian of our chicken, awarded regularly to the member who has cocked up most spectacularly.
And here it is, safely tie-wrapped to the windscreen wiper.

After the award ceremony, we head back inside for breakfast, where Jim and I discuss a possible run for "Drive-it Day" in a couple of weeks. Dave wonders why he's not invited. We ask about the Glasgow meeting last month where a mysterious "Dave" and "Eric" turned up as new boys, as announced in the TVR Sprint magazine. Dave protests that must be a different Dave and Eric. Eric agrees... Jim and I check the backs of our heads for zips...
Breakfast over, checked out of rooms and we decide that the weather should hold out for a couple of hours - so "roofs off" is the order of the day, then we set off for fuel at Sainsbury's and then our first stop 2 hours up the road at Scotch Corner, through a massive road works queue on the M1. I notice just after we leave that my nearside mirror glass has been knocked downwards and I can't adjust it back up, so my view back in the nearside lane can only see wheels...
When we reach Scotch Corner services, the car park is busy but I find half a dozen spaces together, and we go inside for a wee coffee and a toastie. When we come back out, it has started raining so we have to dry the seats etc before putting the roofs back on. At least it lets me practice driving a Vixen with a fixed roof!
On we go, with John leading this time, and me at the back, struggling to keep up or catch up in places because of busy traffic and taking gaps that are big enough for one car but not 2. Or 5. Anyway, I'm still with them when we have a pee stop and decide not to stop at Dunbar, since that would meean we would reach the Edinburgh Bypass right in the middle of the evening peak. We decide to head straight home, so I adjust the mirror glass manually and off we go again.
The other 4 get through the traffic lights at the end of the bypass, and I don't, so that's the last I see of them... The bypass is heaving, it's mostly a stationary car park for half its length so it takes about half an hour to do those 8 miles or so.
I get home, it's raining again, I need another pee so the car gets chucked nose-first into the garage and abandoned.
Yet again, a brilliant weekend in (mostly) great company.

:: Saturday, 13 April 2024 ::

I’m going to take you back to the very first diary entry on 13 April 2003. I said “Today I did it. Today I went out and bought a TVR. Not a nice shiny new TVR, oh no… That would have been too easy (apart from the cost!).”
Well, I can repeat that for today, when I decided to buy a 53-year old one. It's a beautiful red 1971 TVR Vixen Mk3, with period alloy wheels and a black interior. Like the S Series, it’s not in concours nick but pretty good!
Rewind again to 2003 “Drove home thinking "Oh no what have I done... stupid git you should have checked X Y and Z etc etc etc...”
I remember seeing my first TVR, a burgundy Grantura or maybe a Mk1 Vixen with the "CND" Mk1 Cortina rear lights, leaving a motor racing event in around 1970. It was beautiful, and even at 14, I remember telling my brother that I wanted one.
Since I bought the S in 2003, I’ve enjoyed every minute with it. Well, maybe not in its most temperamental or awkward moments when I could cheerfully have doused it in petrol and incinerated it, but generally, it was a fantastic purchase that has led me to great adventures and great friends.
I bought the Cerbera in 2008 because, well, let’s face it, they look and sound fantastic and I used to love seeing them turning up at meetings and shows. I sold that in 2013 because (a) you can’t really enjoy them on public roads because they are brutally fast, and (b) you can’t really enjoy them on public roads because mine, at least, had a habit of not getting you back home along those same public roads, but bankrupted you in bus fares. I didn’t nickname it “The Purple Kettle” for nothing!
But lately, I’ve been taken by the old Granturas, Vixens and M-Series - I fancy a return to simpler times before computers and ECUs etc.
I sold the Chevrolet in March - it’s going to Italy but hasn’t been collected yet - it’s due for collection on Tuesday. So there will be a big hole in the garage!
Then this Vixen comes up for sale locally… I had a look at another couple at the TVR Club show last weekend, and decided to go and have a look at it.

It’s beautiful…

So it’s bought! It's getting a few jobs done and a new MOT (although it doesn’t need one) and then we’ll arrange collection!
Oh, and in case you're wondering... the S is staying here too!
But the question is... does the Vixen get its own website? Or do I add it to this one...

:: Tuesday, 16 April 2024 ::

The Chevy buyer has had a bit of difficulty with arranging transport, but they called yesterday to say that they will be picking the car up today. So the first task is to get it home from the farm!
So I take the TVR along to the farm, then go through a 3-car shuffle to get the Chevy out.
First, the Chevy won't start, so I move the Porsche across within jump-lead range.
Chevy starts.
Remove Porsche from garage.
Pump up the G-Jacks under the Chevy and move it to the middle of the garage,
Extract Chevy, park it out of the way.
Replace Porsche in garage.
Put TVR in garage seeing as I can't drive it home at the same time as the Chevy.

The Chevy has been sitting since Soptember, so I fear sticky brakes and various other problems - but no, after an initial couple of stompy brake-stops, it goes and stops fine. I get it home and park it up, and put all the stuff I'm sending with it, into the boot. Sorry, trunk.
Then the transport guy phones and says he'll be here first thing.
Tuesday dawns and a few hours latr, so do I. Straight out to start the Chevy to make sure there's no last-minute drama.
The lorry turns up at 9, and after a bit of paperwork, a few whatsapp mesages to the buyer, and a couple of confirmation button-clicks, I have the dosh so he has the car! As wwe're loading it, the buyer messages several questions (that I would have asked before bidding to be honest) and also asks for a video so he can hear the engine running. He's happy.
There then follows a brief delay while we pump up one of the lorry's tyres, and one on the trailer, using his wee pump plugged into the Chevy's cigarette lighter, cos the cable doesn't reach from his own lighter to the back of the lorry.
So, off she goes, heading for the docks in Kent tomorrow morning, and from there to Italy...

:: Monday, 22 April 2024 ::

First thing is - the Chevy has arrived in Italy! The buyer is on Whatsapp Chat before 7am (don't know what time that is in Italy) asking about where things are - UK number plates, how to get it into reverse (which isn't that obvious, to be fair) and various other minutae. He's very happy with it though, so all good!
But the main news is - the Voxen is ready for collection. My next door neighbour is taking me through, so that he can also bring back the spare wheel (which doesn't fit in the Vixen because of the roll cage!).
So with free road tax organised, exchanges of funds and keys, we're off on our way home, onto the busy bit of the Edinburgh Bypass, where I soon find out that it has a dramatic wheel wobble at 60 mph, which is exactly the speed that everyne else is doing... it really is dramatic, teeth-shaking stuff. Also, the steering wheel isn't centralised - the top of the wheel point to around 7 o'clock - a minor thing but it really rips my knitting.
Oh and the fuel gauge doesn't work - it has around 4 gallons of fuel in it, but registers absolutely zero...
And the driver's door mirror is feckin useless...it's too low and flat glass, so you get a good view of the back wheel even when it's adjusted as high as possible.
And it's a wee bit tappety at idle - sounds like valve clearances.
Otherwise, though, it's brilliant - all of the gauges sit exactly where they should be, no overheating or other drama. I get home, park it at the house, and have a proper look.
Gorgeous!

Nice bum!

and cosy interior.

Here's the source of that unbridled 100-ish bhp - the famous Ford 1600 crossflow Capri GT engine.

So the first task is to get her into the Gitcave, where it's kinda lost in the space!

Lift up, front wheels off, and off for balancing!

When I refit the balanced wheels, I take the car out for wee try - the M8 motorway is busy though, and although I do manage to get up to 70mph briefly with much less steering shimmy, the test isn't that conclusive because everybody else is cruising along in 2 lanes doing around 55 mph...
Back home, back in the garage and sit and check that all the switches work. The headlights are like damp glowworms, the number plate lights and reversing light don't work, the wipers work (slowy) but the washers don't, and there's two switches that don't seem to do anything (at the bottom of the dash, above the radio). One of them isn't even connected and the other seems to be upside-down...
First thing is to remove the steering wheel - set it straight ahead, then remove the central boss trim, and loosen the bolt on top of the colum (but don't remove it - you only smack yourself in the teeth one with a newly-released steering wheel, and then you learn). Pull it off the splines, turn it to "straight ahead" position, and put it back on, replace the bolt and tighten...
Windscreen washers - the pump works, there's water in in the bottle, but the jets seem to be clogged up with polish. I clear those with a needle and get a wee trickle of water. The jets are in the back edge of the bonnet so are easy to access - I pull off the tubing, remove the jets and blow them through with an airgun - clear! I also blow through the plastic tube between the two jets. Now the passenger side washers work great but the driver side is still a trickle...
Because the jets are in the bonnet, there's about half a mile of plastic tubing from the reservoir (on the bulkhead) all the way forward to the bonnet hinge, then all the way back to the jets. I need to take those off and blow through as well, but no more time today! I've had enough excitement.

:: Tuesday, 23 April 2024 ::

Not a lot achieved on the Vixen today. I decided that I would start with an easy job - the back number plate lights and reversing light - neither of them work.
I start by unscrewing the metal cover off the back, and removing the bulbs - they test ok, they work. Next test is - is there a supply to the light unit? It turns out that there is a supply =on the number plate input wire, but it's not reaching the bulbs. There's no power reaching the reversing light at all.
Next step is to remove the unit to check the wiring into it, which should be simple - pull back the trim and unbolt it from the body. This is slightly awkward because Vixens don't have an opening boot lid - you have to access the back of the lights, by crawling in behind the seats. That's hard enough, but this one has a roll bar with a cross-brace that's about "an an arm length plus one inch" from the car's arse. Fortunately, with my young agile 3-stone-lighter body, I'm able to wriggle in (just) and remove the 2 screws holding the rear trim, which discloses that the reversing light connector has been overstetched when the boot floor was installed, and has pulled apart.
Another 3 screws let me lift the boot floor and pull up some spare wiring loom, and reconnect the reverse light. Unfortunately, it still doesn't work... so I remove the two holding bolts and take the light unit out for closer inspection. Then a short call to the fire brigade to extract me from between the roll bars...
The light is an old Lucas unit, made when things weren't designed to fall apart, which unfortuntely meaans that it doesn't come apart either. But various continuity tests show that it has various dirty connections. I clean all of those up as best I can, and it seems to be working!
I refit the unit to the car, remembering to connect the earth wires to the holding bolts first. Ta-da! All sorted!
Em... no... The number plate lights work as expected. The reverse light still doesn't work, and also, when you switch it on, the number plate lights go off... so there's a short somewhere. Maybe that's why it was disconnected in the first place eh? I can't be arsed trying to diagnose that just now, so I take the reverse bulb out, which seems to at least leave the number plate light working.
Before I re-install the boot trims, I also have a look at the fuel gauge sender. If I connect the gauge wire to earth, it should read "full" - but there isn't a flicker. The faults seems to be in the gauge or in the wiring - that's for another day too, after a bit of research into wiring diagrams etc!
Let's do something easier - tyre pressures. The seem vary hard, and a check with a gauge shows about 30 psi all round (give or take a few pounds). They should be 22 front and 24 rear, so I adjust them to suit.
That's all for today, because I spent most of the day painting a shed roof, so between clambering up and down ladders, then potholing in a TVR boot space, I've had enough!

:: Wednesday, 24 April 2024 ::

Another afternoon spent tinkering about with the Vixen, after giving that shed roof a second coat of paint this morning.
Another welcome distraction is that Jim brings his wedge out to see its older cousin. The wedge is beautiful, you wouldn't believe it was the same car that he bought 3 years ago.

I start with the windscreen washers - a minor thing but the drivers side are still not working well. I pull the hose off at the pump and blow it through with the air line - big jets from the passenger side, nothing from the drivers side... I follow the hose along the chassis and up inside the bonnet to a T-piece - take that apart and blow back to the tank - plenty bubbles!. Then blow to each nozzle in turn - pass side ok, drivers side blocked. Disconnect from nozzle, blow through again - huge dollop flies out of the hose into the garden somewhere. Reconnect and driver's side - works perfectly!
Next, brake fluid test - the fluid looks clean, but the tester says it has 2% water. Normally, advice is to change brake fluid at 3%, but I think I'll do it anyway. When I have new brake fluid to put in!
Next - the drivers door sticks slightly when you go to open it (it needs a good pull!) and the window mechanism is very stiff. Also, I want to know how the mirror is mounted to the door so I can get one the same for the passenger side. So... the door trim has to come off!
There are 3 screws holding a (real!) wood trim and aluminium channel along the top. Then the door handle and window winder need to come off - they aren't held on by the standard U-clips, but by pins that I have to drift out. Last, there's a screw at the top front of the trim, and one at the top rear - then it just comes off!
I grease the window regulator mechanism and the sliding channel, and also the back of the door lock. Then I put some nylon and rubber lubricant down each window channel.
The mirror is held on by two almost-inaccesible bolts through the door skin. In my view, it's too low on the door and too far back, but I can't move it and leave two holes in the door, so it's stuck where it is. Maybe I can fit a convex glass?
I reassemble the door trim, and check that it works a bit better.
Next, the fuel gauge. Unlike the S-Series, you can reach most of the wiring behind the dash, without taking it out. The fuel gauge is at the end, so it's the easiest!

It has two green wires to one terminal (which is live when ignition is on) and a black wire and a green/black wire to the other terminal (which both appear to be earthed). I need to check a wiring diagram (which I don't have yet) but I think the green/black goes to the sender, while the black wire should be a "permanent earth" to the gauge casing. Looks like I need to crawl into the back again!
I also notice that when I turn the gauge over, the needle moves to "full". Should it do that? Further testing required!

Last, there's a wee map light beside the glove box, which doesn't work. While I'm under the dash, I find the wire to it, which comes from one of the mystery switches in a wee panel beside the heater dial. The wire is trapped against the dash by the battery cut-off switch, which isn't good. I loosen the switch and free that up. The map light still doesn't work - it doesn't seem to have an earth wire so that's another thing to check!

:: Thursday, 25 April 2024 ::

So today, it's back to the fuel gauge, this time armed with a wiring diagram downloaded from the interweb.
First I disconnect it from the loom, noting again where the wires go - colours exactly as per the wiring diagram.

Here's the back of the gauge, with the panel light bulb holder, and two terminals marked "Batt" and "sender" - can't be simpler eh? Still no explanation for the black wire though - it's not connected to earth... Anyway while I'm rummaging around in the wiring behind the dash, I find another black wire that IS earther, with a round terminal on the end. If I hold that agains the gauge, the panel light works!

OK on to testing of the gauge itself. Connect a piece of wire to the "Batt" terminal, and another bit to the "sender" terminal. Hold the gauge against the battery "-" terminal, the "batt" wire to "+" terminal, and touch the "sender" wire to battery "-". Nothing, not a flicker... Now I'm pretty convinced that (a) the gauge wasn't wired in properly, and (b) the gauge isn't working (possibly as a result of (a) above?).
Where am I going to buy another 50-years old AC Delco gauge (which works on a different resistance range from other senders designed for Smiths gauges)?
I put the old one back in for now, mainly to prevent loose wires dangling about.
On to more familiar territory (albeit a fairly distant memory) - Ford 1600 crossflow valve clearances! The engine sounds quite "tappety" even after a run, so a wee check wouldn't go wrong. First I warm up the engine and then remove the plug leads (which are all conveniently numbered and easily accessible) and then the rocker cover (4 Allen cap bolts in an imperial size). God, that was easy, compared with the amount of dismantling that you have to do to get to that stage eon more modern engines!
I turn the engine over with a socket (imperial) and watch the valves. This photo shows the valves on No 2 cylinder "on the rock" - i.e. the exhaust has just closed and the inlet is just opening. With a firing order of 1 - 2 - 4 - 3 (checked using the order of plug leads round the distributor), when Cylinder 2 is at the top of its exhaust stroke, then no 3 cylinder is at the top of its compression stroke, so its valves are closed - so those are the valves to check and adjust.

Time to break out the 50-year-old feeler gauges! The adjustment is 0.25mm inlet, 0.55 mm exhaust. The actual clearances are much bigger... so a 7/16 inch ring spanner on the adjuster to tighten them down... Repeat for the other 3 cylinder - some are ok but most are too wide (some slightly, some a lot).
Rocker cover back on, refit plug leads and start her up - yes that sounds a lot better!
Manouevring the car back into the garage reminds me that I miss a nearside mirror, and the drivers side is useless - so I'm going to order a pair of convex glass ones.

Later, a wee online search shows a brand new identical fuel gauge, still in its box, for auction on ebay, with no bids and 5 days left to go. I decide to contact the buyer and make an offer he can't refuse. Half an hour later, offer accepted and new gauge on its way!
Later again, I have a look through the box of paper that came with the car. There's receipts for servng and repairs, and MOTs from 1971 all the way to around 10 years ago, which confirm that the current mileage is genuine. One lady owner in particular, in the 1980s and 90s, seems to have spent a lot of money on various repairs and improvements, including a respray.
There's also a separate folder containing correspondence with the factory, just when it moved to Bristol Avenue, about paint colour codes and some accessories, and also newspaper and magazine articles from the time. There's also a wee booklet that is an "alternative parts list". Now I haven't seen that when searching online - there appears to be a mythical list that's no longer available - but I seem to have a contemporaneous printed one, completely accidentally! Most of the bits are Triumph although there's obviously the Ford engine and gearbox, and a few MGB bits as well. It does confirm that the AC Delco fuel gauge needs a different sender from the Smiths gauge fitted later, so they are not interchangeable. There's a reciept for refurbishing the fuel gauge from not that long ago, and also a receipt for a new sender a long time ago, but did those repairers fit the right unit?
So, now I have to wait for the new fuel gauge and mirrors to arrive, although that doesn't render the car undriveable!
I also need to hang on to all those old imperial spanners etc that have been hanging around my toolbox (and my dad's) since the beginning of time...

:: Saturday, 27 April 2024 ::

A slightly disappointing day...
It starts off well enough - the guy that I am buying the fuel gauge from, phones to say that he's in France and won't be back to post it out until Thursday. Turns out that he races a 1960s Tuscan V6, and has various contacts in the world of pre-80s TVRs. His 2-minute call turns into half an hour.
Then I decide to go back to valve clearances - among the pile of receipts that I looked through and sorted on Thursday night, was one for an engine rebuild, including a Kent camshaft. There's also a Kent data sheet that says that because of the different cam profile, the valve clearances should also be different - 0.41mm inlet and 0.46mm exhaust. So my first task today is to warm up the engine remove the rocker cover and reset all those clearances.
I notice on the garage floor that there's drips of oil under the differential. I've also noticed a bit of a "clunk" when taking up drive, like backlash in the diff. Let's have a look!
Here's the diff, and you can see oil on the exhaust underneath. Closer inspection shows that it's leaking from the joint in the casing, not the pinion seal, and a quick check shows that some of the casing bolt can be tightened up very slightly. Hopefully that will sort the leak for now.

There's no play in the driveshaft or propshaft UJs, although there is a bit of backlash evident at the pinion. Not any more than the S has, I don't think.

I also remove the diff filler plug and refill it with oil - it doesn't take much.
Overall, through, the underside of the car is in pretty good nick - it's not pristine but it's better than you might expect in a 50-year-old car.
So where's the disappointment?
Here's the offside rear brake backplate. Spot the error.

No? Well, the brake slave cylinder has been installed upside-down, with the bleed nipple on the bottom. That ain't never gonna bleed properly nohow.
Now, I've noticed that the brakes feel soft, and I said earlier this week that the brake fluid has absorbed slightly too much water for my liking, and I put the softness down to that. But now I realise that there's bound to be air in the system...
All of that goes through my head in a second. But that's not the main disappointment either.
Here's the nearside rear brake backplate. Spot the problem. As well as the brake slave cylinder being installed upside-down, there's brake fluid on the inside of the wheel and out across the tyre. You can see it's leaking brake fluid down the backplate.

I take off the wheel and remove the brake drum. All the bits seem fairly new, but they could have been there for years, because the car has hardly been used. Everything is soaked in brake fluid. This needs to be fixed before I can take the car out again.

Using my handy alternatve parts list, I find that all of these brake components are Triumph TR4 - I go online and order 2 new wheel cylinders and a full set of brake shoes for £60 or so - should be here on Tuesday or Wednesday, so I should have time to fix this before its planned debut at the local TVR Club meeting next Sunday. In the meantime, there's nothing more I can do. I shut the garage door and walk away. Deep joy.

:: Sunday, 28 April 2024 ::

It's been a long time since I wrote so much in a single month - probably at the time of the power steering install on the S. I'm still thinking about splitting the website and adding "the Vixen Pages" so that they can be accessed separately - I have already found a few resources that don't seem to be available online, but which might be helpful to some owners.
Today, though, it's again all about the Vixen. I'm going to take the nearside rear brake apart so that the new bits are ready for fitting as soon as they arrive, on Tuesday or Wednesday.
First, I spray some degreaser on the inside of the wheel and the brake drum, to remove all the brake fluid, and then hose them off and dry them in the sun.
Dismantling the brakes - the first step is to remove the brake shoes - there are two spring clips with pins through - grip the pin with pliers, push back and turn, and out they come. Then I use a pair of pump pliers to lift the shoes off the cylinder and adjuster, taking care to disengage the handbrake lever. Note the position of the ssprings and off they come too.
The adjuster can stay, but I do back it off a few turns to assist in reassembly later.
Right, now for the wheel cylinder. First step is to loosen the brake hose a wee bit, while the cylinder is still on the car - it's won't come off because the hose is fixed to the cahhsis and it won't unscrew enough without kinking. Then I remove the clevis pin on the end of the handbrake cable - it's held in place by a split pin that has mostly disappeared, but I manage to file off the bit that's left and extract the pin.

Then I have to disconnect the cylinder from the backplate. It's held on by 3 sliding clips that interlock behind the backplate - Nos 113, 114 and 115 in this diagram from a parts suppiers' website. You need 3 screwdivers in 3 hands, and a full vocabulary of swear words, to prise the prongs apart and get a putty knife or something in between 113 and 114, so that the prongs can slide over - then with your 4th and 5th hands, use a punch and hammer to knock no 115 upwards until it pops free. Clip no 113 can't come out yet because the handbrake lever is in the way. Part no 114 is missing entirely from my car...
With two of those clips removed, this leaves you enough space to pull the cylinder out a bit and remove the wee handbrake lever, then you can remove the third clip and separate the cylinder from the backplate. I hoped that the cylinder would pull forward enough so that it could be unscrewed from the end of the hose, but it doesn't - the hose fitting doesn't fit through the hole in the backplate. So I disconnect the hose at the other end and remove the lot, then unscrew the hose fro the cylinder and fix it back to the car, clamped, to prevent brake fluid running everywhere.
That diagram also explains the reason that the wheel cylinders look as though they are upside down. On the TR4, the cylinder goes sideways, and the shoes are to the front and rear of the backplate. The bleed screw is at the same level as the brake hose. The Vixen has the same assembly, but turned through 90 degrees, so now the bleed screw is below the brake hose...
Anyway, now the backpate looks like this, ready for new cylinder and shoes...

While the wheel cylinder looks like this... In this photo, I have removed the bleed nipple from its original "Triumph" position and tried it in the hose inlet - they appear to be exactly the same including the conical sealing surface inside.

and this photo shows the rest of the bits that make up a rear brake!

While I'm manky, I go to the other side of the car and loosen the brake nipple and brake hose connector, then remove the brake hose from the connection and bracket on the car, at the other end. I remove the hose and bleed nipple, swap them over and tighten them up, then refit the hose connector to the rest of the braking system.
Sorted - hose on the bottom and nipple on top!

Now I really can't do any more until the bits arrive, except order up a cylinder fitting kit so that I can obtain the missing clip.

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