TVRs and Stuff

:: Diary - August 2024 ::
:: Sunday, 4 August 2024 ::

It's TVR Car Club day! We're meeting at Dave's for a wee preliminary run, so I head off in plenty of time to splash in a few gallons of fuel. Then we meet up for the obligatory preliminary 15-minute chat of total blethers before we set off.
The wee Vixen is going well! Since I adjusted the carburettor, it seems to be pulling better and more evenly. It's also a lot smoother (relatively speaking!) than it was when I got it in April. I've done around 1,300 miles in it since then, and it's a wee bit better (in my opinion) each time!
The relocated interior mirror makes the view behind much clearer too!
We arrive first at the venue, because the car park isn't very big, and it soon fills up - especially today when there's extra interest and lots of cars and people that I have never seen at a meeting before, because we have a guest speaker lined up.

He's Kevin (Gerbil) Monaghan, who was in charge of the bodyshop at the TVR factory in Blackpool. He obviously knows all there is to know about preparation and painting of cars and various other parts, and has some interesting stories to tell about life in the factory and and about the difficulties of management. A good insight into TVR, why they were successful, and why they eventually weren't.
Before that, we chat about our own cars. Eric has bought a Wedge that's mostly in bits - so I am the only one of our band who now doean't have one.
Jim is thinking of selling his...
They are all going to the TVR Pre-80s weekend next Saturday - I'm not because I have something else on that day, even although I'm the only one who owns a pre-80s TVR...
I'm thinking of selling the Porsche because I hardly use it - it has only moved once since last September, when I fixed the jacking point in March, and it hasn't moved since. It's a brilliant car but TVRs have better friends.
We set off for home and are joined by a Tamora who joins our wee group for the first half of the journey. We drive along the motorway generally at 60-is mph, but there are a couple of faster overtaking bits where the Vixen is going faster than I have driven it before - and it all feels pretty settled, no wheel wobbles or vibration etc. Its like a different car from the April version!

:: Thursday, 8 August 2024 ::

I went back the other day to trying to get a fuel gauge that works properly...
To recap - when I bought the car, the fuel gauge didn't work at all. I tested it off the car, it was dead, so I had it refurbished.
While it was away for repair, I fitted another gauge, which works (especially for our wee tour in June), but back-to-front - it says (almost) empty when the tank is full, and full when it's empty. It's usable, but could be better!
Got the "correct" gauge back and refitted it to the car. It still doesn't work.
I tested the tank sender with a meter - it reads 267 ohms at empty, 18 ohms at full. I don't think that's a standard sender though, bccause they are supposed to be 4 inches diameter and mine is only 3 inches.
I tested the gauges by wiring them up to the battery, with an adjustable potentiometer as a pretendy "sender", so that I could measure the resistance needed across the gauge scale.
The "temporary" gauge in the car reads empty at 0 ohms, full at 230 ohms - so almost the right range, but back to front.
The "proper" gauge reads empty at 7 ohms, full at 28 ohms... so it's also back to front but is going to read "full" untol the tank is nearly empty... so no good either.
Neither of those are going to work with the sender I have...

As I say, the temporay back-to front gauge is usable but to be frank, it's getting on my tits...
So I ordered another gauge, as near as I could get to the "period" look - black face, retro dial, chrome bezel, that says it ranges from 260 ohms empty to 20 ohms full. It arrived yesterday so I fitted it - easy wiring-in job!
And here it is! It's not quite linear, so this is it about 100 miles from "full".

To check where "empty" is, I syphon fuel out of the tank - around 7 gallons, leaving a gallon in the bottom (the point where the car can't draw fuel out of the tank any more). The gauge reads dead on "empty", so it means it - there's no "reserve" below "empty". 4 gallons (or around 100 miles) takes it to just over 5/8ths full - so 1/2 full is around where to start thinking about filling up when "on tour"!
Today has mostly been spent pouring petrol from tank to jerry can and back again - but I also found time to clean the car up for a wee local show that I am going to on Sunday.
It's looking not too bad!

:: Sunday, 11 August 2024 ::

The rest of the squad are away to the pre-80s TVR meeting at Croft. Despite being the only one who owns a pre-80s TVR, I didn't go because it was my wife's birthday on Friday, and we had a separate family event on Saturday. So instead I booked the car into a wee local show for today. It's only 15 minutes down the road, so getting there early is easy!
Here we are, all parked up in the sunshine, just inside the public entry gate.

I do like a clean engine bay, I do!

And so do lots of others!

Right next to me is this motor bike. I watch as the owner pushes it off a wee carrier on the back of his car and attaches all the shiny bits, the seat etc. Then he sets up his seat and video camera... he also has a camera on the peak of his cap. He sits and watches, and switches them on if anyone comes near the bike.
The bike started life as a Kawasaki off-roader, but it's got a different engine, different suspension, different everything. It has a TV with a remote control, ad a fax machine... Don't know the last tie I sent or received a fax, but there you go... The owner says it's a one-off, only one like it in the world. He doesn't park beside the other bikes because it doesn't fit. I suspect that the bike is perhaps not the only misfit...

There's a few other interesting motors here though...
A lovely trike, with its own wee caravan and outdoor kitchen!

I speak to these two owners for a fair bit...

and this mini owner - it's all fibreglass...

Lovely old Edsel - spoken to this owner many times before.

This man rebuilt this Spitfire from a shell and a pile of boxes. Although he had never sprayed a car before, he sprayed it the original colour himself, in a workshop with a spray booth made from a 3m square gazebo, polythene walls and an extractor fan. It's lovely. He admits that it could do with a bit more polishing, but he likes it as it is, so who's to argue!

A Briston 401 - I haven't seen one of these for years, I had a pal whose dad had 2!

Passed my driving test (yes I did - shut up at the back there!) in one of these.,

Austin 1800 "Land Crab".

Jaaaaag you slaaaaag!

How not to attract attention...

Hudson straight six...

with the "magic hand" miniature gear change on the column as well as the ordinary gear lever on the floor...

Chevrolet...

AC Cobra Coupe.

A DAX kit car with a Ford 2.1 engine - an absolute flying machine.

Batman turned up at around 11am in his Mazda MX5 Batmobile, but was only there for a couple of hours, he left at 1pm for his dinner dinner dinner dinner...

The wee Vixen attracted a lot of interest, and I spent more time with the car, talking to people, than I spent looking around (and talking to people). Robert turned up for a wee chat - he has an S3 in a lighter blue than mine, he had been at the Biggar show this morning.
Eventually it's time to head for home. The wee car has been brilliant today, it's been a great day out after a week of being busy!
The next tasks are:
The S gets its MOT test this week, it ran out at the end of July;
The Porsche MOT runs out on 2 October, but I think I'll book that in early so that I can put it up for sale I think - I'm just not using it; and
The Range Rover MOT runs out on 6 October, so I need to think about getting that booked in too.
Which of those is likely to be the most expensive? Only one guess allowed!
Why did I have to get interested in a hobby that costs a fortune and takes up so much space?

:: Wednesday, 15 August 2024 ::

Yesterday I swapped over the TVRs, so that the S is here ready for its MOT today.
While I was at the farm, one of the motorhome owners was locking up the big shed - I know that's for the big motorhomes. He comes over and says "Are these all yours?"
"Yeah, had them a while..."
"You can't hide money..."
Now I don't want to be rude, but the only fitting response is "How much was your motorhome? Bet it was more than the 3 of these combined."
"Erm, well... maybe..."
Nearly as bad as the usual "how often does your TVR break down?"...
Anyway - the TVRs are swapped, and the S brought back to the house, still respendent in Derbyshire dust and water stains since July. So this morning I'm off to the local garage for its 22nd MOT by the same tester.
It passes, no advisories!
It's a good job that "running like a bastard until it warms up" isn't an MOT failure though, because it has been like that for years. I replaced a coolant temperature sensor a few years ago, and that seemed to improve things for a while, but it's back to being a bastard again - manoeuvring out of the garage at the farm (under the watchful eye of the aforementioned motorhome owner) involved several restarts unless you rev the bollocks (and clutch plate) off it.
To celebrate, I drive out to the Porsche specialist, and book an MOT for that, for the start of September (28 days before expiry of its current MOT, so I hope that I'll get 13 months...)

:: Monday, 19 August 2024 ::

So... progress update (or lack of!)
On Friday, I took the newly-MOt'd S back along to the farm, and decided I would come back in the Porsche, just to give it a wee run.
That means that the two TVRs are in the same place at the same time! Look at them, all snuggled up together...

On Sunday, I decided to use the Porsche to visit family in Edinburgh - all jolly good fun. On the way there, though, I notice that it's not quite rolling to a stop - when it's almost stopped, it seems to suddenly "grab". I think I have a sticky brake caliper...
When I get home, I go around feeling wheels - the rear left is decidedly warm compared to the others. Definitely a sticky brake!
So today, I get the car lifted, handbrake off - 3 wheels turn easy, the back left is tight... So I remove that wheel, and push back the pads - wheel frees up (so it's not the handbrake mechanism inside the hub).
I loosen the brake pipe - loosening is made easier when the metal pipe snaps off after about 1/2 a turn. I fold over the end and crimp it shut with pliers to prevent the system draining over the floor. Remove two bolts and the caliper is off... noting that the brake pads need renewd while I'm here!

I wind up the air compressor to pop the pistons out of the caliper, but they won't move... I contemplate making up a new brake pipe and reconnecting the caliper so that I can pop the pistons on the car, but I decide that the caliper is too far gone, so I'll get a new one - and new brake pads.
Once I have cleaned up and gone indoors, I discover that rear 911 calipers aren't that easy to come by any more, and have gone up a lot in price since I last replaced one. Eventually I settle for a caliper, pads, mounting pins and springs for just short of £300. After the order is placed, they get in touch to say that the caliper is on back-order, and is due in September, although they might maybe just about get one in August... That's the MOT date buggered then!
So now I have a 3-wheeled Porsche on stands in my home garage, and two TVRs, that I hope to use in September, parked somewhere else 4 miles away. This is not exactly convenient.

Even less convenient is that somewhere during all this brake-feckin-up melee, I have done my back in, so by teatime I can hardly move. Just as well the parts will take ages to arrive, because I couldn't fit them anyway!
I'm definitely getting too old for all this...

:: Monday, 26 August 2024 ::

Progress update!
Absolutely nothing... no word on the Porsche caliper, but it's looking like delivery at the end of September. I could cancel that order and get one quicker... maybe... but at 3 or 4 times the price! So I'll wait, with a 3-wheeled Porsche taking up my garage space.
Meanwhile, the insurance on the S is due for renewal in mid-September. I have a renewal quote that's £100 more than last year's premium. So I get on some insurance websites and get a lowest quote that's about a quarter of the renewal price - but with a company I've never heard of. But more interesting, is that I have a quote from the company and broker that I'm already with, but at half the renewal price - and £40 cheaper than I paid last year.
I've just been through the same exercise for my "day car" in July, and saved over £100... and the same with the Porsche in March. Car insurance is a bleeding con, it really is...
Always cross-check that automatic renewal quote carefully boys and girls!
I'm not calling them yet - they'll want the premium 3 weeks early. I'll keep the money and the interest until the last minute that I have to pay!

:: Friday, 30 August 2024 ::

Still no update on delivery of the Porsche brake parts!
I decide to fill in my day by writing a few web pages, on cars that I have owned - a 2003 Saab 9-3, a 2008 Lexus GS450 hybrid, and a 2007 Range Rover. This is all getting a bit more "modern" than the cars that wee on there before, but I just reaalised that all of those are older than the TVR was when I bought it as a "classic"!
I was also going to include the Cerbera, but I only sold that 11 years ago, and I am still suffering from PTSD and financial hardship as a result of that experience, so it's too early to tell that story yet. It's all documented on here, if you search between February 2009, when I bought it, to the end of 2012 when I sold it. Maybe one day I'll be well enough to cope with re-living the trauma...
Click on the "cars I have owned" over on the bar on the left to read!

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