TVRs and Stuff

:: Diary - March 2025 ::
:: Sunday, 2 March 2025 ::

It's TVR Car Club day!
Bit of a change today - Jim's wife Debbie is coming along to say hi, and my wife is attending her first ever TVR lunch! It's still only March and both TVRs are along at the farm, waiting to set up home together for the first time in their new garage, so we go in the day car.
Dave and Eric go in Eric's Tasmin, which has fairly improved since he got it, both in appearance and mechanically. He's sorted out a lot of wee niggles, but mainly, he has removed the 4-speed gearbox (same as the Vixen's) and replaced it with a 5-speed (same as the S, but with maybe a different input shaft and bellhousing). He says it fits right in...
Good attendance today, we're spread over the whole room, instead of along one edge. Only 3 or 4 TVRs though.
We talk about the usual stuff, and have a good lunch, although the "sticky toffee pudding" dessert that Dave and Eric get is a bit "DIY" - basically a caramel chocolate crispie on top of a slice of plain sponge. Unusual... My apple pie is a bit more conventional.
We also spend a bit of time discussing forthcoming TVR events that we might attend. The season opener is at the start of April, and we're booked up for that. Wedgefest is at the end of June so that's a possibility. There's no details yet of a pre-80s event, but the rumour is that it might be held "further south" (i.e near London) because the poor wee souls don't like travelling 200 miles to Croft, where it was last year. We shall see...
We also have to fit in our own "Scottish tour" somewhere over the summer months...
Debbie has brought me a gift - her brother-in-law made a book in tribute to Jim, containing all of the photos shown at his funeral, and all of the words said in tribute. It's a beautiful reminder of a remarkable man.

Then it's time for home...

:: Friday, 14 March 2025 ::

Despite the apparent lack of activity on here. I have been busy!
You know how you start one job, then another one comes along, which leads to something else? It's hard to remember, when you're up to your arse in alligators, that your original objective was to clear the swamp.
Well, we have a stone-paved (well, concrete that looks like stone) patio and path in the back garden. I had it all re-levelled and pointed about 10 years ago. When I say "re-pointed" I mean "a non-matching cement chucked in its general direction by a chimp with hand-eye co-ordination issues, who forgot his spectacles that day". The new path to the garage has shown up how bad the rest of the paving is, with most of the joints falling out and weeds everywhere.
So you start a little bit, digging out the old cement and trying a new resin-based joint filler. You have to dig out enough so that you can use a whole packet, because once it's opened, it doesn't keep for long.
It looks good, so you buy some more and do another bit. And repeat...
I've been at this for days, and this is the result so far...

And this is the bit that I still have to finish cleaning out and then re-pointing.

But all of that was put on hold yesterday, because the new workshop was delivered! It only took them an hour to put it up, so that left plenty of time to put up a couple of shelves and transfer stuff out of the garage.
So today, the first task is to bring the last of my stuff along from the farm. There isn't much left - just one boot load - including a sand blast cabinet, a dehumidifier and a lawnmower, and sundry other small shite, some of it for the tip.
Back to the new shed - first task is to build a couple of shelves under the workbench, so that the sandblaster fits underneath and there's stiil plenty storage space for other stuff on top.
Then I replace the gate and the gatepost, and refit the gate latch - better fit than it was before! It's still to be painted, but that has been a lower priority than getting all the stuff shifted into its new place.

Here's the garage as it stands now - there's a pile of crap in the far corner for the tip (booked for Monday). On this side, the leaf blower, the hammer drill and the other tools are for breaking out the old slab pointing and for blowing out between the slabs afterwards - those will be moved to the shed for the next part of that operation.

Then it will be time to transfer the cars from the farm to here, and Operation Frexit will be complete!

:: Saturday, 15 March 2025 ::

One more step! (well two steps, that took most of the day...)
I can't bring the cars from the farm yet - I need to wait until after I have been to the tip on Monday. So in the meantime, I'm going to paint the new shed!
I have an old HVLP sprayer that I bought to spray a fence - unfortunately it sent more paint through the fence than onto it, so it has languished in its box for ages... it's an Apollo Spraymaster but it's so old that it's not even listed on their online instruction manuals. However I know a wee bit more about how to adjust spraygins than I did then, so I decide to give it a go...
I blast on the first coat in no time at all, and then paint the gate and the garage side door, and then spend twice as long painting around windows, door handles, hinges etc.
Then I have to visit a site near Lanark (yes I know it's Saturday but this is the only time I have available, I have to write the report on Monday) which give 3 hours for the first coat to dry before I come back and spray on a second coat.
By tea-time, I've finished it! It looks not too bad at all... All those years spraying grafitti on concrete underpasses have finally served a purpose!

Car relocation is now scheduled for Tuesday - the first day I'm available AND the first day I can get 2 lifts to the farm to collect them!

:: Monday, 17 March 2025 ::

Operation Frexit is complete!
Due to a wee change of plan (by others) we had a couple of hours free this afternoon, so decided to bring the cars back.
Starting with the Vixen. Or rather, not starting, because it's being a bastard. There's no fuel in the onlline filter, so as I suspected before, the mechanical pump isn't moving fuel until the engine is running, but the engine won't run because it's not getting fuel...
Off with the air cleaner, start the S and wire up the jump leads (which I had the foresight to bring with me!). Then Jock sprays easystart into the top of the carb while I try to start it - and eventually, it does!
Remove the jump leads ands leave them both to warm up. Then I drove the Vixen to the house and get a lift back for the S.
And here they are, settled into their own garage together for the very first time!

I've parked the S a little bit too far over (more out of old habit) so the space for the Vixen is a wee bit tight against the workbench side. I'll shuffle them over a wee bit tomorrow so they're both closer to the middle of the bed.

So far, so good though!
Now I need to get the S ready for its trip at the start of April, and fit a new fuel pump (that I have already bought) to the Vixen.

:: Thursday, 20 March 2025 ::

I received an email last night from a reader in Suffolk, who has just fitted the same Subaru / Vauxhall power steering to his S, following the ramblings of my little web site. He says it all appears to be working, with one tiny modification.
I wired the maain supply to the pump directly to the battery, via a big fuse. Then the pump has a little "trigger wire" that tells it to switch on when the engine is running. I connected that to the small ignition light terminal on the back of the alternator. That means that the pump ony works after you have done the wee throttle blip to put the ignition warning light off. That's a habit you just get into, never found it a problem.
When I took the car for its first MOT after fitting the power steering, it nearly failed because the tester said te PS wasn't working - I had to show him why, and he said that was ok.
Our man last night said that he wired a 100 oh 3 watt resistor into that circuit, so that the ignition warning light goes off, and the pump works, without revving the engine first. I can see the attraction of that, so I might do the same to mine. Or I might not - as I say, I don't find it a particular problem.
Nice to get feedback though, makes it all worthwhile!
So today, it's a nice day. Both TVRs are here, begging for some attention. I think I'll fit the new fuel pump to the Vixen.
Here's the new pump that I bought - it's exactly the same brand and part number as the one I'm taking off.

This job took me ages along at the farm, with limited tools and limited light to let me see what I was doing. Here, I have the two hoses disconnected, and the pump disconnected from the engine, in about 5 minutes.
I clean up the mounting face on the side of the engine block...

and then fit the new pump with a new gasket and a smear of blue Hylomar. I don't know how old this Hylomar tube is, I bought it years and years ago and it seems to have lasted forever!
I connect up the hoses and start it up - it seems to catch much more readily, and the glass filter in the fuel line is almost full, even when the engine is at higher revs.
I take the car out for a wee drive, and it seems a wee bit "missy" and hesitant - I noticed that when I brought it back from the farm on Monday too. When I get back to the house I re-set the mixture and idle speed screws, and adjust the throttle cable to take out slack. Better, but still not quite right...
I take out the spark plugs and find that they are all a greenish colour. Not seen that before, but a wee bit of research suggests that it's normal with ethanol-based fuels, although it could also indicate that the fuel octane level is too low. Since the fuel has been sitting in the car for 6 months, there's every chance that it has "gone off". I'll have to try to burn some off so that I can refill the tank mostly with fresh stuff.
Or I might just drain it out and put in fresh stuff and see if that cures it...

:: Tuesday, 25 March 2025 ::

I've been busy with a wee bit of work and also some garden work, but I've had a bit of time to play with TVRs - that's the benefit of having them both here at the house!
On Sunday, I decided to give the S a bt of a clean. That took me most of the day because it gets pretty dusty along at the farm - even under a cover! It's looking not too bad!
Then I went out in the Range Rover for a wee errand - and the left-hand indicators aren't flashing, just flickering. The front ones are ok, it's the nearside rear. When I get home I take out the unit and find that it's half-full of water... I was out last night and it was absolutely pishing down, and it looks as if the seal along the top of the lens has gone. I take out the reversing light bulb (all the rest are built-in LEDs) and shake most of the water out, and it works again - but there's still a lot of water sloshing around in there, and it has removed a lot of the silvering on the reflectors - i think it has been full of water for a while. I order a new one on the good old bay.
Then yesterday, I spent a while syphoning the Vixen's fuel tank empty - about 30 litres of fuel into 2 jerrycans...
So today, it's down to the petrol station for a couple of gallons of fresh fuel, pour that in and start it up! I take it for a wee drive and it's running beautifully... then I take a sharp left up a motorway slip road and suddenly it's misfiring and missing... I notice that the rev counter has gone haywire at the same time...
Then it sorts itself out until the next left-hand bend... tacho goes haywire, engine misfires then it's ok... Sounds more electrical than fuel...
When I get home, I check all the leads and wiring, and find a duff connection to the coil. Cut that off, fit a new connector, have a wee test drive and all is well!
Gratuitous photo of the Vixen sitting in the drive way.

Just at this point, the postman arrives bearing gifts - a land rover rear light unit!
Out with the old unit - unclip a bit of trim and the boot seal, remove 2 screws and it just unclips...

The new unit is simple to fit, one multi-connector, clip it in, replace 2 screws and the trim.
Sorted!

:: Wednesday, 26 March 2025 ::

I discovered this morning that this website had disappeared - well, not the whole thing, but the "tvrgit.com" domain name that points to it. That means that it's relegated to a wee dark corner of the internet where nobody can find it. After a bit of investigation, I discover that the domain name registration expired on Saturday, and didn't auto-renew for some reason - I think because my bank card had expired since the last renewal.
As you might have noticed, this website is free from "cookies" or other adverts or sponsorship, or any form of profiling. You come here, you read rampling pish for free, you leave and that's it.
That doesn't mean it's free though, oh no... there's a charge for the domain name, and a web-hosting charge for the chunk of the internet servers that's taken up by all these photos and rambling. Some poor bugger has to pay, and that's me!
I've had no notification or reminder - the payment fails and within 3 dayss they've turned you off. Bloody Americans... (that's another thing - buying a domain name server host in the UK was so expensive at the time, compared to the USA, and I've never bothered to transfer it. In the event of global war, or the tangerine man-baby taking the hump because his nappy needs changing, I'm fucked.)
Anyway, payment made, then you have to wait a couple of hours while the wee internet pixies go out and put the direction signs back up, and it's all back working again! Slavering pish restored!
Meanwhile, I take the Vixen out for a wee run, just for fun, and to book an MOT. I know that it legally doesn't need one, but it's worth getting it looked over at least once a year eh? That's booked for a couple of weeks' time.

:: Sunday, 30 March 2025 ::

We're off next weekend to somewhere near Derby, for the TVR Car Club season opener, and I've booked in the S (although I wish I had booked the Vixen) so it's time to think about tidying the S up a bit. I've already cleaned the bodywork, so I started yesterday by giving it a bit of a wipe down under the bonnet, and then dust the interior, clean the glass, wipe the wheels etc...
Then I decide that I'll change the spark plugs - I can't remember when I last changed them, and they've been taken out and cleaned several times before. Time to go all-in and buy a new set. Changing them doesn't take long.
Water and oil levels and tyre pressures all checked and ready to go!
At the same time, I lifted the Vixen for a wee check of the chassis condition - the last time I was under there I noticed a few scrapes and chips, so I think I'll touch them in before its MOT next Wednesday. The chassis is a pale grey colour, and I can't find paint to match. I have a big tin of smooth black Hammerite, so I could buy a tin of white and mix some, eh?

The local B&Q doesn't have any, so I pop along 3 doors to The Range. I don't know if this is universal, but our local branch is useless, they don't have a bloody clue about customer service. But they do have a wee tin of white hammerite! So I take it to the till, where (unusually) there's no queue, behind two women baying for a basket of stuff, none of which appear to have the correct bar codes on them. So the hapless employee has to enter each product by hand, apparently with more key strokes than Elton John performing his entire back catalogue in slow motion. Eventually the total is announced - £14.97 - at which point one of these women announces "oh hang on" and scoots off into the shop to return with a garden light shaped like an owl with hypnotic eyes. Then there's the usual looking for a card inside a purse inside a handbag inside a shopping bag but which shopping bag, before payment is finally made...
By this time, the queue has built up to resemble the Israelites waiting behind Moses for the Red Sea to open up... except here there's no miracle, or even the appearance of another till operator to help get the queue down a bit (which would be a miracle, in this branch at least).
I go to the till. "£14" says the operator. Card in hand, flick at wee machine, "ping", receipt printed, whole transaction takes about 20 seconds...
Anyway, back home, I get back under the Vixen and wire brush the loose bits, just to clean them up a bit. I don't need much paint, so I get a wee aerosol cap, and drop in a wee scoop of white, then I use a different scoop to drop in some black, and mix it together, to get grey see? Working from the front of the car to the back, I paint all the exposed metal I can see. It's not quite the same shade of grey (in fact, it's a completely different shade of grey but who's going to see?).
The suspension wishbones, anti-roll bar, etc are all red, so I get back under and paint those as well.
Back to the S - I pack some tools for the weekend, along with some cleaning stuff to take, just in case.
It's great this, being able to work on 2 cars in the same day! There's not a lot of space, but there's enough!

:: Monday, 31 March 2025 ::

Back to the S - I give it a hoover inside, and it's looking good enough to drive - so I do! I have a wee aimless drive around for an hour and it's brilliant!
Back to the garage and the Vixen. I mix some grey paint (a wee bit darker than yesterday's) and give all the wee touched-in bits of chassis a second coat. It's better, but slightly too dark.
Once that's dried I decide, for no good reason at all, to have a wee drive in that too. It's also brilliant! There's a hesitancy at low revs though, just as you reach 2000 revs - just where the carb is coming off the idle circuit and on to the primary throttle...
So, back at the garage, I have another go at adjusting the idle mixture - but I can hear a whistle at idle... I think the carb to manifold gasket is maybe leaking.
I have a spare gasket, so off with the carb!
Remove the air cleaner and it housing, then disconnect the throttle and choke cables, and the fuel feed line from the pump.
Then there are 4 nuts holding the carb to the manifold... they're fiddly but with them out of the way, the carb is off!

First I clean up the manifold face with a solvent to remove any traces of old gasket.

There's a metal heat insulating spacer with a gasket above and below - I clean all those faces too. Then I can replace the carb, retighten the nuts and refit the cables, the throttle return spring and the fuel hose. It starts!
I replace the air cleaner while it's warming up, and then re-adjust the idle speed and idle mixture. It seems smoother, and there's no whistle! It's late though, so no time to try it on the road tonight!

[last month] [home] [next month]