:: Sunday, August 3, 2014 ::
Well, today was supposed to be TVR Car Club day, but now it isn’t. The hotel forgot to tell us that they have a wedding on. Or they did, and somebody forgot to tell the rest of us. Or they did, and I forgot I was told. Must have been mass hypnotism though, because none of us remember being told. The meeting is now going to be next week. Provided, that is, that no more fair damsels in the shire of Clackmannan suddenly discover that they are eight and a half months up the duff.
Never mind though, at least it means that I have a spare Sunday. And its pishing rain, so there’s no point wasting it by driving about aimlessly in wee sports cars. And I’ve got no urgent work to do. There’s no excuse, I can’t procrastinate any longer - I’ll have to fix that exhaust rattle. I think it’s just rattling against the chassis at the downpipes, but I want to be sure there’s no loose baffles inside.
First I remove the single bolt at the rear, into the petrol tank cradle. Then I jack the front of the car up onto axle stands. This reduces the available clearance at the back, and it’s difficult to reach that bolt (see I remembered!). Then I wedge a bit of wood under the rear of the exhaust, and remove the two rubber mountings on the side of the transmission tunnel.
Then I support the front of the exhaust with a jack and a block of wood, and remove the six bolts that hold the exhaust to the bottom of the downpipes (or catalyst replacement pipes, in my case). The pipes are tight against the chassis, as I thought. With the bolts removed, I remove the bit of wood at the back and lower the jack and pull the exhaust through to the front of the car.
I discover that the clips on the one of joints under the sump is loose. I take both clips off and remove the “hockey sticks” from the front of the exhaust. One of them almost falls off, the other one has to be battered off every millimetre of the way.
One of the pipes on the main system has a flat bit at the bottom - it’s been like that since I got the car, when the exhaust was lower and kept hitting things - well, more things. It’s always been a bastard to get it to seal.
2 years ago at the Classic Car Show at the NEC I bought “exhaust expanders” - they’re like a torpedo thingy with a bolt in the end = when you tighten the bolt, it expands outwards. Time to put the theory to the test! First I use it in the front of the main system, and although it doesn’t make it perfectly round, it’s a lot closer. Then I do the same in the ends of the “hockey sticks” - a wee trial fit and it looks good!
I lift the system and give it a good shake, listening for any rattles - then same again, upside down. Can’t hear any loose bits inside!
So - put it all together again! First though, I loosen the top joints in the cat replacement pipes so that I can angle them outwards a wee bit more - this also swings the end downwards by a fraction so should improve exhaust / chassis clearance.
I push the main system back under the car, and prop the back end up again on my wee bit of wood - then I jack the front of the system up, making sure the side mountings line up, and I put the nuts and bolts together loosely.
Then I apply high-temp silicone exhaust sealer to the joints, slip an exhaust clip over the end, and push the hockey sticks onto the front of the system. Then I put two thin bits of ply as spacers between the exhaust and the front of the chassis, and connect up and tighten the downpipes. Then I remove the jack, and tighten the rear bolt and the two side bolts so that the exhaust is hanging correctly, then put the clips on the hockey stick joints and tighten them last. When I remove the ply spacers, the front of the exhaust is about 1/4 inch from the chassis - not much, but better than it was, it was rubbing against it.
So the moment of truth - I check the car’s in neutral (I Learned my lesson on this the hard way) and I start it up, and it burbles away nicely, I have a wee crawl underneath and check that none of the joints are leaking. All sealed, first time! I leave it to idle while I tidy up, so that the heat will cure the sealer without revving the engine and blowing it out. It sounds good - and no rattle!
See now, that wasn’t so difficult now, was it?
:: Sunday, August 10, 2014 ::
It’s TVR Car Club Day!
It’s pishing rain!
Spot the pattern?
I put the roof on, and set off to meet Jim and Dave, after a stop for for fuel and another stop for cash. When I get to Dave’s they have decided to set up an obstacle course with 2 cones where you turn. I fuck it up, can’t see in wet mirrors, can’t turning the steering with sore hands, can’t fecking drive.
So after a chat under a convenient tree-shaped umbrella, we set off. It’s still pishing rain. On we go, onto the motorway, until I get bored and turn off on to a more interesting road - which turns out to be shut. Back on the motorway…
The car’s going well though - no exhaust rattles, everything seems good - except there’s a hell of a smell of fuel in here with the roof on. I start to wonder if maybe the tank filler is loose, or leaking. Then I realise. I have a 5 litre can of petrol in the boot. It was sitting on top of a wee box of elementary tools, fuses etc, and held in place by the roof panels. Except with the roof on, it’s not held in place no more… Right enough, when we get to the venue and open the boot, there’s the fuel can perched on its end, filler neck downwards.
Now I don’t know about you, but I’ve got 3 petrol cans, and they all leak. You can tighten them up to a level that would give Hercules a rupture, and the bloody things will still leak. This one does - the carpet is soaked in fuel, and it’s started to dissolve the glue. Fantastic.
I can’t even leave the boot open to air it, because it’ll fill with water - I’ll have to sort it later. Or just set it on fire, which is tempting…
There’s not many people here today, but we order our lunch and get blethering. Discussion includes the pre-80’s extravaganza, the accuracy of OS plans, the appearance of more “experts” on PH who don’t have a clue (many do but some just gobshite), buying houses, the difficulties of car maintenance when you’re too old, fat or sore to get under cars any more, navigation, and many even more diverse topics.
And so we head for home. We have a wee run because we’ve got plenty time, and the weather is better. No it’s not.
I’m at the back, and I get separated from the other two by a VW Caddy van whose tactic for roundabouts seems to be “slow down quarter of a nile early, and then sneak up on them at walking pace, but stop anyway whether there’s anything coming or not, and then negotiate the roundabout itself at 0.5 miles per hour. Mini roundabouts seem to be even more confusing…
Anyway, we get home before it’s dark, and I put the car away. Roof off to air the interior (not that it leaks, honest!), boot open and everything emptied out to air the fuel fumes out, and bonnet open just - well, just because. I’ll have to check and stick the carpets back down.
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