:: Diary - May 2014 ::

:: Friday, May 9, 2014 ::

MOT is due on 7 June, but I usually take it in a month early so that I get 13 months MOT.

Not this time though. It failed. I think he was glad, this is the twelfth time it’s been MOTd by the same tester, and he seems to get right pissed off if he can’t find anything and has to issue a pass. Mind he seems to be pissed off most of the time, his demeanour makes Victor Meldrew seem like Ronald McDonald.

So what was the reason for failing? Well, there is apparently excessive wear in the steering rack - he showed me the excessive movement at the steering wheel before the front wheels move. Je says it’s not the steering UJs, it’s the rack. Judging by the number of questions about this on the forums, and the fact that mine is now 24 years old and has done 98,000 miles, I suppose that I shouldn’t be too surprised.

Now most of the components on a TVR S are pinched from other things - Ford engine, Sierra hubs / drive shafts etc, SAAB brake and suspension bits, etc. These bits are already getting harder to find (when did you last see a Sierra on the road?) Motor factors used to be full of bits for the bloody things when I bought the TVR all those years ago, but they are getting to be tricky to find. Even scrapyards have stopped stocking the bloody things because of lack of demand.

The steering rack, though, is a real special pain in the arse. You see, for reasons that nobody can now fathom, TVR didn’t just order in a pallet of surplus stock steering racks and bolt them onto everything in sight (like they did with mirrors and brake disks etc) but decided to make their own. As far as I can gather, you start with a Vauxhall Chevette (or Shove-it) rack, and you fit Mk 3 Ford Cortina tie rods to the ends, with special bushes that don’t fit anything else, and a Cortina or Sierra steering pinion. Then you fit Sierra balljoints. You then bolt this mish-mash into your TVR and voila! you have a unique solution to a problem that didn’t exist.

20 years later, you sell the company to a Russian whose money/sense ratio is measurable in billions, and the whole thing goes down the lavvy, along with most of your one-off parts supplies.

So there’s only one choice: I need to get the rack refurbished. Fortunately the forums are full of places who have done them before, so it’s a relatively simple matter of remove rack, put in box, put box on van, pay money and wait till it comes back. Only one of those is difficult for a tight-fisted Scot.

Before I do that, though, I’ve also got a broken cold start sensor wire, so it’s over-fuelling and (just) failed its emissions. I want to fix that and get it checked before I take the rack off, in case I also need to look at something more serious during the “wait till the rack comes back” phase.

I’ve got till the 21st of June though, so I can fart around for a good 3 or 4 weeks yet, eh Adrian?

:: Saturday, May 10, 2014 ::

Right - let’s sort this sensor wiring.

Here’s the problem This bit of the loom has always been tight, but you can see that one of the wires has chafed through, and the other isn’t far off. So before we start,we’ll note that the brown wire is on top and the brown/yellow wire is underneath.

The breaks are right on the edge of the connector, so hard to solder. So the first step is to take the connector off the sensor, and snip through the remaining wire. With the connector on the bench, I manage to pull the wire and electrical contact out forwards. I use a wee jeweller’s screwdriver to open up the tangs and release the old old wire.

Then I find some new wire of the right gauge, and push it through the connector from the back, before I strip the wire end, re-bend the tangs and then solder the wires to the connector. Reinstall the first connector and repeat for the second one. So that’s the connector ready to re-fit to the loom.

I slide a bit of heat shrink onto each wire, then strip the ends, check carefully which way up the connector goes and which wires have to be connected where, then twist them onto the loom, and solder. Once the solder has cooled, I slide the heat shrink up, and then, em, shrink it with heat…

Maybe I should have used black wire… but it’s sorted. I take the car out for a wee drive, and it seems to be running better than it was yesterday, and doesn’t seem to stink of fuel as badly, once it’s warmed up. I’m happy!

As I go to close the garage door, I see a line of drips. Looks like antifreeze, smells like antifreeze, tastes like antifreeze. I wonder what it could be? Further investigation suggests a leak from the top corner of the radiator when its under pressure - it looks like my blow lamp repair has lasted 13 months (see April 2013 for details). Probably leaving the engine running through the MOT test yesterday wasn’t a good idea. I think I’ll get it re-cored while the rack is out.

First, though, I’m going to take the car back to the MOT centre early next week to make sure the emissions are now ok.

Such is the way of the TVR-ist. You have to enjoy the rare occasions where you reach a state of TVR joy, because the pain will surely follow. At least it’s only a slight itch, rather than the wallet-rape caused by a Cerbera.

:: Wednesday, May 14, 2014 ::

I’ve been trying for the last 2 days to get the car back along to the garage to get the emissions checked, but work and stuff keeps getting in the way. I hate when that happens. I could have taken it in yesterday at about 4:45 but I thought there was probably more chance of getting my head kicked in at that time, so I decided to leave it…

But today, checked that they weren’t too busy this afternoon, and then took the car along, after a 10-mile hoon and Italian tune-up which seems to have cleared out the tubes, it’s certainly running a lot better. The “pass” limit is 3.5% CO, and it was at 5-point-something on Friday. Today, after fixing a wee bit of wire, it’s at 1.8%. Isn’t that magic? I remember when you had to spend ages with footery wee screwdrivers and spanners screwing idle screws in and out an eighth of a turn at a time, or adjusting needles and bending float arms and blowing through jets etc to get your car to run right (albeit with the emissions of a third world glue factory, right enough). I can almost remember when all you had to do was feed the horse, and the emissions from one of those were a lot more dangerous (but bloody good for the roses). Now it’s all computers and shit.

But with the emissions sorted, I can now turn to taking out the steering rack for refurbishing, and the radiator for re-coring (oddly, despite refilling it before I left, it doesn’t seem to be leaking today…)

:: Friday, May 16, 2014 ::

How is it that last week, I had days when I had sod all to do, but this week it’s all come at once?

And who writes the script that says that after taking a fortnight, the client finally sends you the tiny bit of information you need, and then hassles you to finish it in an hour?

Anyway, this afternoon I finally have time to get the steering rack off the car. Jim has one to send away as well, to replace Dave’s spare one that is now on his car, and I have negotiated a reduced carriage charge for 2. I want to get them parcelled up in the next couple of days because I’ll be away after Wednesday, until next Monday, and I’m away tomorrow with the Porsche Club. It’s a hard life eh? So I need this rack off the car today.

Taking the rack off is a dawdle. I jack the front of the car up, support it on axle stands and remove the wheels, then use a joint splitter to remove the two balljoints from the hubs. I like this style of splitter, you don’t damage the boots.

There’s no power steering, so no fostering about disconnecting pipes, so the next step is to line up the wheel dead straight, then remove the steering joint from the column at the bulkhead. Then remove the pinch bolt on the steering rack pinion, and knock the steering shaft backwards off the pinion.

Then there are 4 13mm bolts clamping the rack onto the chassis, and it slides sideways out of the chassis and onto your toes.

I’m struggling to feel any wear in the rack though - the pinion moves as soon as you push the track rods, and vice versa. Maybe the wear is only evident when the weight is on the wheels? Anyway - onwards!

I decide to remove the balljoints before I send it off - they are seized solid anyway, and there’s no chance of ever adjusting the steering alignment. So I clamp the arm in a vice, and apply a bit of leverage. It won’t budge.

So it’s time to fire up the blow lamp. That heats up the joint, but also dissolves the paint that’s clogging the threads. After a couple of heat / wire brush cycles, the joint eventually starts to move. I count 9 turns before the joint comes off.

Then turn the rack over and do the other side. this time, though, when I lean on the stilton to take the joint off, the rack falls out of the vice. What happened there? Well it turns out that the vice jaw has sheared through!

So I rig up a couple of spanners and the stilson on the floor, and manage to get the ball joint off. That’s on 9 turns as well. Then I measure the overall length, and the thread lengths, so that I can put it together to the same spec when it comes back from the refurb.

Next is the radiator - I unscrew the hose clips and remove the bottom hose so that the water drains into a bucket. Then remove the top hose, and the two bolts in the top of the chassis frame, and the radiator is out too!

There’s evidence of a slight leak from a seam at the top right, but that’s it ready to take to a repairer.

I’m still not convinced about the rack though. I engage the steering lock and then try moving the triangular bit of the shaft through the bulkhead bearing. There’s a definite play!. A further test, clamping the triangular bit in mole grips and wedging them in place with bits of wood, shows that the wheel is turning a fair bit before the shaft can move… I think I’ve found my “excessive play”!

Removing the steering column doesn’t take long - a single screw holds the top steering cowl on, and there are tw in the bottom cowl. I disconnect the boot switch and put it aside.

Then I remove the two bolts and spacers holding the column to the bracket under the dash. That lets me lower the steering wheel onto the seat, and disconnect the column switches for the lights / indicators / wipers etc, and the ignition switch. The rack then just slides out.

Here’s the column - it’s Ford Sierra (I think) and is designed to be collapsible - one section slides inside the other in an accident so that you don’t get speared through the chest. The end bit slides through a triangular plastic bush, just where the blue drift is pointing in the photo. That bush is worn and allowing play between the two bits of the column.

I fix it by hitting the flat bits of the outer triangle with a hammer, rotating a third of a turn each time, so that the outer triangle gradually moves in to grip the inner section, with no play.

There’s only one way to see if that has worked - so I put the balljoints back on where they were, and put the column then the rack back into the car. I refit the wheels and lower the car. Now there is just the tiniest bit of play at the steering wheel, before the front wheels move. It seems that the rack itself is ok after all!

So now, I need to find out if that would pass, so that I still have time before Wednesday to send the rack away if it really does need fixing. But the car’s got no radiator… I’m going to try to book another MOT before Wednesday, and put the radiator back temporarily if I have to.

Hopefully, I’ve saved myself £100. Might pay for a new vice… (I think I need to take up a new vice, I’m fed up with some of my old ones, and too old for some of the others).

:: Sunday, May 18, 2014 ::

I had a visit today from Jim in his nice new 1992 V8S - it’s lovely, and it sounds brilliant!

But without wanting to detract from its obvious charms, my main interest is - how much play is in the steering? It feels exactly the same as mine does now…

I think it’s worth trying to get another MOT booked before Wednesday - I’ll go down in it tomorrow to book, and ask him to have a look and tell me if it’s going to pass - if it does, then great. If not, then I still have time to get the rack out and send it away before I go my wee holiday on Thursday. What I can’t do, because my name isn’t Adrian, is leave it till I get back next week, and THEN send it away for 2 weeks - I need the car for mid-June!

So, I spend 45 minutes refitting the radiator and refilling the system, making sure to bleed it (it only has to get me 2 miles to the MOT station but might as well do it right).

:: Monday, May 19, 2014 ::

Pee, Po, Belly, Bum, Drawers and other rude words. I take the car along to the MOT man and while he agrees it’s better, he says he can still feel backlash in the rack. Bollocks.

So it’s back to the garage, jack up the car and remove the rack - same method as last Friday, but quicker - the rack is out and track rod ends removed etc in 30 minutes.

So - now to get it packaged up with Jim’s and sent off for refurb. I need to phone tomorrow to get it collected on Wednesday before I go on holiday, otherwise I am going to lose another week.

While it’s away, I need to get the radiator sorted, have another go at the steering column, and soften the dampers slightly - they are too hard but ok when I have a passenger. That’ll be after I get back next Monday…

:: Tuesday, May 20, 2014 ::

Jim brought his rack over today, along with various bits of polystyrene and a roll of gaffa tape. After 10 minutes of polystyrene chopping, cardboard cutting and sticking, we’ve used the whole roll of gaffa tape to make a giant toblerone with 2 steering racks inside. Lovely!

They are collecting the rack tomorrow, should be back in 2 weeks or so, bags of time…

:: Tuesday, May 27, 2014 ::

I’ve been to the Monaco Grand Prix! I’ve wanted to do that since I saw it on TV when I was 12 (when it was called “the Monte Carlo Horseless Carriage Speed Trials” and competitors had to wear bowler hats and ties (or maybe my memory’s going and I’m getting it confused with a Laurel and Hardy film).

Anyway, it was absolutely brilliant, I enjoyed every minute of the weekend.

But today, it’s back to reality - the TVR has an MOT till next Friday, and I need to get it sorted for my next weekend excursion. The rack’s away being repaired, but I need to sort this radiator leak while it’s in bits. So for the second time in two weeks, I drain the system and remove the radiator. Then I take it to the man who re-cored it years ago, and he says he’ll have a look and call me tomorrow.

:: Wednesday, May 28, 2014 ::

The steering rack man phoned - it’s finished and will be delivered tomorrow.

The radiator man didn’t phone and I didn’t realise until after 5, when he had already gone home. I’ll have to find out what’s happening.

What I did do, though, was remove the steering column and put some grease on the “telescopic” triangular section, which damps out that last tiny bit of play. Then I refit the column and have an absolute nightmare, for some reason, getting the plastic cowl sections to line up.

:: Friday, May 30, 2014 ::

The steering rack arrived yesterday, ready to fit.

I also picked up the radiator, all repaired and ready to fit.

I am, however, up to my arse in alligators, so I haven’t fitted them yet. I need to get an MOT booked so that I have an incentive.