Operation Set Up: Accomplished

Just an FYI, there is a very good chance that these headings are only going to get more lame. There's nothing I can do about that. I'll try to at least make them relevant.

But yes, this morning yielded a successful engine/chassis decoupling. She put up a mean fight though. I struck hard in the first three rounds, quickly unleashing my wrenching abilities on her bell section, and my opponent seemed within KO's reach. But then the beast threw me a quick one as she tried to pawn off the Jungle Cat (twisty pipes leading into the catalytic converter), as my foil. After ravaging and slicing it to shreds in round five with a sawzall, I realized I had gotten nowhere. But I didn't back down, found that the beast's weak ankle was really her (giant thin metal piece thing that goes between the flywheel and the motor but I actually have no idea what it's called or how I could personify it), and finished her. Mortal Kombat style. For rizzle.

Anyway, here's a few pictures:

Again, if anyway wants a motor, it honestly is in great condition. The car has about 70,000 miles on it, and the motor was never a problem, just that shitty Bosch fuel injection that controlled it.

And tomorrow is another day. I gotta get this drawn up in CAD.

Operation Set Up

Only had a couple hours to work on the car today, but as I said: I would indeed get work done.

The rigging is set up to pull the motor. It's definitely a home-brew contraption, but I am in full confidence that it will work. Here's it is:

I've got the block and tackle on loan from my cousin. It's hanging from a tow strap that circles a main beam that runs down the middle of the house. It's definitely strong. But to be doubly safe, we're going to set two adjustable lally columns on either side of the car, further strengthening the beam.

Each column is probably rated somewhere in the neighborhood of 5000 pounds, probably a lot higher even. Aside from Superman flying in, or Batman using some gadget off his utility belt, there's not a stronger way of doing this.

Hopefully this goes well tomorrow morning. Also, if anyone's in the market for a crappy Ford Cologne motor, shoot me an email. Seriously.

Beginning... Again.

A quick update- actually quick. College classes are over as of last Thursday. TVR work begins as of tomorrow.

Stay tuned.

'Til then... enjoy:

A Little Off Topic...

Final papers are still consuming my waking life. I haven't even been home to look at the TVR in about three weeks (longer/shorter than that? My brain is turning into mush), so I apologize for the lack up updates.

This posting, honestly, has little to do with my restoration. The only inkling of relationship lies in the fact that my TVR is British, and so is this:

A 1961 Lotus Type 14 Elite

Look up the word beauty in a dictionary, and this should certainly be there.

The picture itself, is awful. The angle at which the shot was taken makes little sense, and the photographer provides few images of the front of the car, the area which, arguably, defines a car's character.

It's grey, silver, and black. Not even a hint RoyGbiv. Think of Ferrari's and Mustangs that were featured in old films and that were hung on your childhood walls- they were bright reds and yellows, had racing stripes that screamed 'look at me for God's sake so you can give me a ticket!'

But not this Lotus. The dull grey lifts me out of an age defined by plasma TVs and satellite enforced speed cameras and puts me in an Audrey Hepburn movie. Simplicity. Minimalism. Smooth lines, a long swooping front end and wire-spoke wheels define what all my mind's most creative and deepest inner thoughts and passions could marry to form an image. It's possibly the only time that my mind has personified a car to the point that I might have a lust for it. That may sound wrong, but there is just no way of getting around how gorgeous it is.

If anyone feels so inclined to buy it for me, by all means...

ebay Posting

The Engine- 2.3L Turbo Pinto

I've been meaning to write this post, but my collegiate studies have been getting in the way. (Hell, I should really be working on a paper right now... but that would be far less interesting.)

Anyway- the engine that is going into this beast. Yes it's a 2.3L Pinto motor, but please hear me out. As I've mentioned, this car is going to be light, so a big 'ol V8 is completely unnecessary. My goal was to find something that is relatively compact, easy to work on, has parts readily available and is decently powerful. This engine is that.

It was yanked out of a 1986 Ford Thunderbird Turbo Couple that originally was planned to be dropped in an early '90s Ford Ranger to become a drag truck. That Ranger suffered catastrophic damage from a certain 4-legged brown animal named Bambi stepped in its path before the swap was even made. The owner let the motor sit in the corner of his body shop for 2 years and accumulate a massive layer of overspray before realizing that he might as well just get rid of the damn thing. I apologize for not having better pictures, as I neglected to take any before really working on it, but here are a couple that the guy emailed to me while I was considering the purchase:

"Pics look horrible," the seller wrote in the email. And he was right. I could hardly tell that there was even an engine in that hunk of a mess. But I agreed to go look at it, so down to Howell, NJ I drove.

I'll be honest, once I saw it in person I didn't feel any better. There were wires everywhere, a layer of primer overspray on everything, everything was just piled on top like it hadn't been moved since the time fuel injection was invented. The thing is, even though it was all a mess, it was at least all there:

-full long block

-wiring harness for the engine and a lot of the car

-computer

-intake

-turbo

-bellhousing

-clutch

-fan

-fuel rail, injectors

Long story short, the guy assured me the engine was in full-running condition when it was pulled, that it only had 76,000 miles on it, and that would work. I gave him 300 cash and drove home.

I then spent my weekends in October and November of 2009 cleaning the motor down to using a fine-tooth brush and repainting everything. I didn't take many pictures along the way, but here's what it looks like now (and again I promise better pictures in the future.)

And one of me attempting to make sense of a lot of colored wires and diagrams that don't 100% match up:

Some history about the motor.

It's nearly identical to the Mustang SVO engines that were used from 1984-86. It's a turbocharged 2.3L all steel fuel-injected Pinto motor that at the time made around 215 HP in the Mustangs, which is more than the V8 GT's made. Seriously impressive stuff. The differences between the SVO and the Turbo Coupe Motors, which made 190 HP stock, are minimal. I've been told the SVO has a more aggressive cam lift, and that it allows more boost, as it was fitted with an intercooler, albeit a small one.

To upgrade my engine to make the HP that I want, which will be around 300-330 at the crank at full boost (which I will hardly actually keep at full boost), I bought an LA2 computer and the larger vane air meter (VAM) to go with the it. Parts that I still need to buy are a high pressure fuel pump, a 3 inch exhaust, a higher lift cam, a MASSIVE intercooler, a bypass valve, a boost controller, custom headers, external waste-gate, and probably some other things that I can't think of right now.

Let me make this clear: I DO NOT intend to run this thing at full boost all the time. Most likely around 12-15 psi in regular driving, which should equate to about 215-240 HP at the crank. That will be more than enough to propel my car.

And I guess that's all for now. Once again, it was a long post. I'm sorry. Brevity is not my strong point.

Rear Diff

I'm fairly certain I've mentioned this, but I definitely need to find a limited slip differential for the project. The most obvious choice is from a 70's or 80's XJS with a V12 because they're the exact same as what's in mine, only with different innards. The problem is that I have been having a lot of trouble locating one in the states.

Which is when I came across a listing on UK ebaY motors. (On a side note, I really don't understand why ebay is always written with a capital B... on the Web site it the letters are lower case except for the Y. Oh well, whatever.)

So I realized that there are a ton of listings for Jaguar rear diffs on the UK ebay motors site. One in particular, right here, is the EXACT one that I need. Should I spring now for it? It would probably cost upwards of 400 USD. Or should I hope that it's a usual occurrence for these to show up/hope that I can find one in a junk yard somewhere.

I'll probably choose the latter due to lack of real funds for it and not really having any need in finding one right away, but I will certainly keep an eye on it.

One more thing, just looking at pictures like this keeps my curiosity and excitement going for hours.

Yeah, that probably sounds really weird and lame. Oh well.

A Bit of Reflection

In my free time between weekends when I actually have some spare time between working on group projects and studying for German, I inevitably find myself thinking about what I can do for this project. What parts can I buy? Where can I find a good welder? Should I reuse the TVR body or not?

I have almost entirely come to the conclusion that I should NOT reuse the body. My only reservation is that it really does look awesome. It's entirely unique and tied to the 80's, it's recognizable to a select few people and in many ways holds the soul of what that car is. It won't be easy facing the fact that I may never take a drive with that fiberglass shell hugging me.

However, I am also increasingly excited about the prospect of building my own car. It wouldn't be easy, and I would have to learn a lot and have a lot of help. But I believe that I am capable of such a feat, and almost take it as a challenge to myself.

I know, I know: I'm getting a bit cocky. Hell, a few months ago I wasn't even sure that I would be able to do this project at all. But the steps have been working out, and I have been succeeding at each miniature task that I've attempted. That gives me confidence, and I am realizing that I'm smart enough and have the ingenuity to see this thing through.

Well, I was going to list a bunch of links and show pictures of different parts I've found; race pedal assemblies, digital dashboards, brake bias valves and other goodies. But that would definitely be getting a bit ahead of myself. For now, I will focus on getting the Cologne motor out, the suspension apart, and finding a good welder.

Step by step... that's how this project has been going, and it's how it needs to keep going if I want to succeed.

Separated at Death

I'll be honest- there's no real suspense here. The operation was a success. It's not the first time in history that a TVR body was dismembered from its chassis, but it was just as great as the first. (The end of that is what she said.)

Anyway, with the help of Brian, Andrew and my Dad, we were able to split the car in two in just around 3 hours. And it would have take half the time if it weren't for 2 lousy bolts that some idiot missed. (Ok yeah, it was me.)

Here's a before picture:

Here's a picture during:

And here's a picture after:

As you can guess, the separation has caused the body to lose all feeling to it's extremities, and it won't be able to move on its own for some time. The team has given it 3 to 12 months to come out of this state before the master of the house (Mom) gives it the needle.

Anyways, as you can see, the rolling chassis comes out with basically everything it needs to work on its own sans a radiator, engine management system, intake system, and gas tank. If it had those, I could start it up, and almost drive it around.

...which got me and my Dad thinking. How cool would it be if we never reattached the body? The answer is very very retardedly fucking cool. Like if Steve McQueen, Zooey Daschanel, and Rachel McAdams had a love threesome and spawned a car. That's how cool. I'm talking a car that weighs somewhere around 1,200 pounds, and has 330 hp at the crank. A 2001 Corvette Z06 has 385 HP and weighs in at 3,115 pounds, giving it a power to weight ration of about 8.1/1. The TVR would be about 3.6/1. I'm talking 0-60 in under 3 seconds. Weld on some side rails, fabricate my own front fenders/body, mount a couple seats- it would be awesome.

Well, it's a thought anyway, and one that I am looking into. I'll keep you posted on more details of that.

Back to the car. The frame is in surprisingly good shape. The passenger side outrigger needs to be replaced, and there's a broken weld near the rear for the center tunnel that needs to be cut out and replaced. But that's the bulk of the damage. Naturally all of the suspension components are looking rather dirty and rusty, but it's all just on the surface and should clean up nice. Here are some pictures of various parts of the car:

And here's one more after I did a quick power wash and hand scrub:

It actually cleans up pretty nice.

Tips for anyone else trying to do this: Make sure you have everything disconnected. That's really about it. Maybe on a coming post I will post everything I can remember that I disconnected to help you out.

And that's all for now. The next steps are getting that motor out of there, finding a really good welder, and starting to disassemble the suspension.

As always, I'll keep you posted.

The Car

What good is a blog about a car without any pictures? No good. Or at least only mildly interesting at best. (I mean c'mon! This is 2010. People want pictures, not words. Everyone has places to be and other Web sites to browse! Yeah, I know.)

First things first, I'm actually a little farther past step one in this project than my first post might suggest. Not crazy far though. Currently, I am getting ready to take the body off the chassis. For those who don't know, it's a fiberglass body over a tube chassis, basically mated together with all of about 14 bolts, and two dozer or so annoying wires, hoses, brake lines and whatever else those Brits could think of crowding in this thing.

Here's the car as a whole:

As you can see from both pictures, I've already taken the rocker panels (outrigger covers?... I'm not sure exactly what to call them) off. And no, it's not pretty underneath. There's a decent amount of rust on them, so I'm thinking they'll just have to be replaced completely. Here's few more closer shots.

The only good news I have to report on this is that the rest of the chassis is not like this. Still fully covered in paint, and nothing looks too bad.

Here's the plan: I'm renting two engine hoists this Saturday, and pulling the body off. The basic technique will be as follows.

Two heavy duty tow straps. One will wrap around both front wheel wells and under the car and connect to a hoist. I'll use a 2x6 wedged where the hood normally goes for added support so as to refrain from crushing the whole front clip into itself. The other strap will go through the rear wheel wells, with a 2x4 in between it and the car for added support, and connect on top to a second engine hoist. I got the idea from this guy, who says it worked pretty well. It definitely seems to make sense anyway. (Scroll down the forum a bit to get to the images.)

I've got my dad and a couple friends coming over to help. We'll basically keep raising the body until there is enough room to simply roll the chassis, engine, drivetrain and all right out the back. Then, I'll place enough cinderblocks under four points of the body to keep it at that height it's at so that I can continue working on it and getting under it when need be.

That's the plan. Will it work? I think so. Will it take a lot of time? I sure hope not. Will I drink a Bud afterwards? Most definitely. I'll keep everyone posted, and make sure to take lots of pictures too.

That's all for now.

A Bit of History

Hi Everyone,

This is my story about completely restoring my TVR, and mating it up with a 2.3L SVO motor. But before I get into all that, a little history...

About 5 years ago, the summer before my senior year of high school, I bought my first british sports car- a 1986 TVR 280i, and it was just about the coolest car I could have dreamed of at the time:

Classic 80's wedge design, tubular chassis, German-build ford motor, fiberglass body, in-board rear disk brakes. It weighs somewhere around 2,500 pounds, has a 5 speed, leather seats, a top that drops, and of course the motor is bolted to the rear wheels, which is a strict requirement I have for cars I own.

The car was awesome, and I had a blast driving it. I learned how to heel and toe, hit apexes, kick the rear end out for some fun(so long as it was wet enough)- you know, all the things that Mom and Dad dread thinking about.

Of course though, the car is British, and it decided to break down... a lot. The clutch slave cylinder decided to go, brake pads wore down, the electrical systems were constantly faulting (damn you Prince of Darkness!!), my warm-up regulator went bad, the radiator started to leak, the front springs went bad, the chassis got cracks and broke... it was a nightmare. Anyone who has owned a TVR knows that finding parts for them is no more fun or easy as conducting mouth surgery on yourself.

But, I managed to fix it time and time again, doing my best to at least keep it road worthy for the warmer months. (I don't even want to get into how poor the heater and defroster work.) Still, it wasn't easy keeping up with it all, and even though some things would break and get fixed, the car as a whole became more and more dilapidated.

But even worse than that, I got behind the wheels of much faster cars, like S2000s, Corvettes, SLK350s, 350Zs, (even my Mom's Mini Cooper S was killing me off the line) and I quickly learned that my precious 280i is nothing short of a dog off the line. (It didn't help either when I bought a motorcycle and REALLY felt how slow my car was.) It was time for a change, a drastic one.

Which is where I am today, and yes, I PROMISE that most posts won't be this long, and that they will be filled with many more pics.

Briefly about what the plan is:

I have a new motor, a 1986 Ford 2.3L. I'll do a separate post on that alone but in short, it's getting mated to the TVR.

The whole car is coming apart. The body is coming off, and I'm replacing everything that I can, and fixing everything that I can't. i.e. new brakes, new suspension components, new engine, limited slip diff, new radiator, new engine management system, stripping the chassis and re-coating it, and so on and so forth.

So, stay tuned, give me tips if you have them, and please, PLEASE don't ridicule me too much for putting what's going to wind up being a small fortune into a car that many argue is not worth the time or money.

I know it's a TVR, and that they break, and that they don't even handle that well, and that I could just as well go out and buy an S2000 or heck, an MR2 or Miata or something and have more fun while spending less money and wasting less time. This project isn't about that. It's about a car that I've come to like very much over the years. It's about me learning a lot more than I already know. It's about preserving something that I think is worth preserving. Don't worry, I plan on buying the other cars too.

So for now, that's all.