Yeah, I can feel the itch from here. I look forward to being able to roll on a nice thick coat of paint onto the inside of my car.
Interesting - your gas pedal is mounted differently than mine. Mine was hinged on the floor - Porsche style. And then rusted to a non-moving brown mass.
In reply to TVR Scott (Forum Supporter) :
The pedal box looks like a standard Triumph (or similar) unit, although it's mounted on a plywood block. The gas pedal has it's own little mount/hinge plate that is bolted to the box. Yours may have been modified, although with TVR that may have been the way they did it that year (or week, or day). I haven't seen enough of them to know what's "normal" for a 2500M.
It has been a while since the last update, but things have been going on with the TVR... or coming off, rather. While waiting on the engine build I figured I should continue stripping the body. Getting the peddle box out meant getting the brake booster and brake/clutch cylinders out of the way, so I continued with that area and tried to get the dashboard out without too much destruction. Not happening... the wood at the bottom was pretty much rotted away, but the brackets holding it onto the tunnel were solid, as in rusted solid. Had to cut the bolts off. Then I tried to separate the dash (wood) from the crash pad (fiberglass). That didn't seem to want to work, so I figured out that the entire dash was held in by 3 bolts, one on each side and one in the middle coming through the firewall (other than those into the tunnel). An oscillating hacksaw got them out, and the dash structure was free! But that just exposed this...
A lot more wiring than under a Triumph TR3 dash! I know a lot of that mess will not be staying, and I intend to rewire anyway, so I cut off the fat harness going through the firewall and just pulled it all out of there. The interior got much less cluttered with that gone. Then the wiper motor and assembly came out, and the hood latches were removed.
That left the heater chamber ("plenum"?), which is a fiberglass panel screwed into the firewall and sealed with a fat bead of putty. TVR used a bunch of fairly small flat-head screws for this, and they were hard to remove without shredding the heads. But, with that out of the way the engine bay is pretty much cleaned out for bodywork and painting!
You can still see the battery platform in that photo, but that's gone now. Also pulled the panels from the passenger door. Moving to the rear of the car, the only remaining wiring is to the tail lights and gas tank. The tail light assemblies seem to be in pretty good nick, but once again the nuts holding them in place were rusted and most bolts just broke off. Still, the lights are off and the remaining harness was yanked free.
Looks a little naked now. The piles of parts are getting taller. Boxes of wiring and lights, gauges to be rebuilt, interior panels to recover, starting to overwhelm the build.
My next concerns involve how far I need to go into the doors. The mechanisms are all functional, but very stiff... I know they should come out for a good cleaning and lubrication, but I'm afraid that I could easily get in over my head. The window-frame and hardware seems very corroded, and I suspect I'll be drilling out a lot of screws and rivets. I'm assuming it's not really any different than with a steel door in that one still has to work through the little "windows" cut into the inner doorskin. Sounds like a job that might involve the experience and know-how of friend and mentor Michael!
My future self cringes more than a little at the pics of your dash. I've been pretty good at ignoring that so far.
Looks like good progress, though.
For the doors i would strongly recommend lube and working them to free them up. Ive never been happy with a door ive completely disassembled and rebuilt. I just don't have the knack.
Glad to see a bare tub! Its all easier from here. Parts going back together is fun! And that woring looks standard for the era. It'll be a lot better reassembled and rewired.
Actually, the wiring won't be all that bad. that silver thing with about a dozen wires going into it is a warning buzzer... for seat belts, ignition, etc. It'll be gone. Also all that red wire is to instrument lighting, and a lot of the black (and white, go figure) seems to be grounding for all the instruments. Too many idiot lights too! It will be simplified dramatically. As to the doors, I'm sure I can get the windows to work OK without disassembly, but it looks like any seals along the tracks and sill may need to be accessed from within. I'm also considering replacing the exterior door pulls, which are pretty pitted. I believe they are Ford Cortina originally, but it's a fiberglass door, so any donor could do... maybe MGB, Spitfire, heck maybe Ford or Chevy! As long as they can integrate with the latches.
I'd like to say I've got a lot of progress to report, but that's just not the case. I'm still waiting on my engine, but the builder is being held back by some minor head machining (a valve seat) that his machine shop just can't seem to find the time to get done! I can report that my custom-tuned distributor did get done and delivered, but it was such a nightmare of failed communication and poor business practices that I'd rather not go into the details. In the mean time I've just been puttering around with cleaning up and painting the odd component here and there, but I need to see that engine bolted up to the gearbox and in the frame to really get me motivated!
They say that idle hands are the devil's workshop, and maybe that's true in that it leaves me too much time to figure out ways to spend more money!
I've been back to the Good Parts well again, and "invested" in their 6-3-1 equal length tuned header. Ceramic coated inside and out (in "polished silver" finish). 2.5" outlet, and I'm thinking staying at 2.5" all the way back to a big dual outlet Flowmaster chambered muffler at the back. The other bit there is GP's dual brake master cylinder set-up, with the cockpit-adjustable bias knob. Maybe overkill for a street/autocross car, but I couldn't resist!
The postman brought this to me today! More bling! This and that shiny header should make that TR6 lump really pop when the bonnet is lifted.
A while back I posted a photo of the shell with one of my TR3's Minilite-style wheels tucked in the well, and most agreed that that style wheel looked good... but the low-profile tire on the 15" rim just looked a bit under-tired. Well here's one of my MINI's 17" rims running 225-45s. I'm thinking 17s are too much for this classic sports car... and definitely the more modern rim style is ill-suited. I was really just checking to see if there would be room back there for 225-45s, as I'm still leaning toward the Konig Rewinds running 225-45-16s. Not conclusive, but seems to be plenty of room.
Looks great Stu. Where did you end up finding the windshield? What is the Ford that shares the same glass?
Im odd. We all know this.
I dig the 17! Really fills in the ginormous wheelwell.
In reply to CoolHandMoss :
I have the windshield (and back glass) that came with the car, but the windshield is cracked. They are from an English Ford from the early '60s, I believe the Consul. I remember Zephyrs and Zodiaks, but don't think I've seen a Consul. Bill (Dominion Spares) is working on getting a quantity of them from GB. The British suppliers, like Gray's Motoring Solutions list them, but you have to get it shipped here. My back glass is good, but I'd like to get an acrylic one and then hinge it for access.
Well, I have my engine, back from Ohio, already broken in, or at least test run. It should be a real beast... for a TR6 motor any way. I've been cleaning up the gearbox in anticipation of getting the driveline completed. I cleaned it up (exterior) and have new oil seals, gaskets, throw-out bearing and clutch components ready to go, all on the assumption that the gearbox is good. Since then I've heard that the TR6 gearbox is the weakest link in the driveline! Particularly suspect is the layshaft gear and bearings. Now I'm thinking that I've gone this far, maybe I should have it gone through, have the HD layshaft ($450!) installed before I continue. In which case, maybe it's time to look at the 5-speed conversions like the one I have in my TR3. That would be close to $2k with the Toyota Celica/Supra box, assuming one can still be found. Moss now sells a slick conversion using the Miata box, but that's like $5k! I've heard about a guy in South Carolina who is using TR6 bell housings welded to an adapter plate for the T-5 box... now that sounds promising! Now I'm sure many of you GRM guys would build something yourselves, but I'm just not that guy... but I'm open to suggestions and assistance!
Another area I'm struggling with is carburettors, as the English spell it. I've got 4 Zenith-Strombergs, but have decided I don't want to go that way... not as tune-able, don't flow as much, I'm not that familiar with them. And the guy everybody recommends for rebuilds just wasn't interested in working with me. Next choice, highly recommended by my engine builder, is the Hitachi SUs as used in the Datsun 240Z. Jeff Palya at Pal-Tech is "the Man" for those. Unfortunately he's been ill for a while, is getting on (I hear) and I've been seeing comments online from customers waiting many months and still not seeing their carbs. Strike 2. Now I'm looking at Mikuni HSR carbs, essentially modern motorcycle carbs set up for automotive use. Customer testimonials seem to be 100% positive, but naturally each progressive option is more expensive than the previous one.
So, Inter-web oracles and Triumph gurus, instruct me in the path of true enlightenment so that I may continue my quest for the ultimate TVR (Triumph powered, anyway).
I need to think about the t5 stuff a bit. May be the solution, but....
How hard is the stock trans to pull when the whole car is assembled?
In reply to Dusterbd13-michael :
Good question, Michael. In a Triumph it's easy because you simply remove the tunnel cover and pull it out through the passenger compartment. I removed the gearbox from the TVR with the engine after pulling the body off. I suspect there's room in the tube frame to drop just the gearbox out the bottom.
With the autocross TR6 I ran in Virginia, the gearbox wasn't really an issue. We changed from a 4 speed to one with an A-type overdrive after a few years, but the original gearbox held up fine. That car was driven by people with various skill levels, some with less mechanical sympathy than others. The only breakage we experienced was a half-shaft yoke from a clutch dump in a turn. I'd guess, given who rebuilt it, that your engine will have more power than our car. I suspect the original gearbox would work for a while but would wear out faster than other options. That Miata swap is nice, but cripes is it expensive.
As for induction, you could also go with DCOE Webers or EFI. Neither would be cheap. Triple Strombergs would flow plenty of air but require adjustable jets to be tunable. I'd go with the Mikunis or an EFI setup, but the latter only if you have patience and deeper pockets.
Is there enough space above the carbs to run English S.U.s? They are a bit taller than Strombergs, but so are the Hitachis from a Datsun. There are a fair number of S.U. cores around, they are totally tuneable, and all the rebuild parts in the world come from GRM & CM advertiser Joe Curto. They are the only thing I would consider short of making an EFI system.
I tried taking the stock engine out of my car without removing the trans. It unbolted fine, but I could get enough clearance to separate the clutch and input shaft.
I didn't try taking the trans out first. I just bolted it back up and pulled it all as a unit.
Thanks, guys. I was expecting the old school "nothing but DCOEs" response, but I see open minds here (somewhat). Actually I'm not open minded enough, or maybe too old school myself to really consider EFI. I'm just not knowledgeable or experienced with the electronics. As far as "proper British S.U.s" vs. the Hitachi units, either will fit but the Hitachi flow 10% more air. If I had a nice set of HS6s sitting around I'd use them. The Mikuni carbs flow 30% more than the comparable S.U. or Z-S carbs (supposedly). New S.U. carb sets from Moss run $1200-$1500, so I can get the Mikunis (rebuilt and set up) for far less.
As to the transmission, it's good to hear the opinion that they're not all that fragile. Dusterbd13-michael and I talked about it, and he's about got me convinced to just put in the clutch pieces and run it. If/when it fails I can then pursue other avenues. I might be able to get a local TR guy to look in the 'box before I button it up and assure me that things look right. And if the T5 conversion is cheap enough and reasonably well thought out, that may still be a viable option. Now I've got to get out to the shopoand clean up some before TVR Scott comes to visit on Wednesday... really looking forward to meet up!
There's a very nice '74 2500M on BAT right now. Actually a 5.0 converted one, but it looks well done.
Well done indeed. I have always had a soft spot for red interior but I have to admit, in the particular instance of that car I don't think it was the best choice. Did tvr ever even put red intior in these cars?
In reply to CoolHandMoss :
No idea, but I rather like that red interior as it contrasts nicely with the (rather bland) white exterior. Looking at pictures on the internet it seems most M interiors were an unpleasant shade of brown (like mine) or black, but when people "restore" them color and style seem to be personal choices.
That's for sure. Mine has the horrible marble brown pattern everywhere. I don't think I can stand to keep it that way.
So, that white over red TVR 2500M sold on Bring-A-Trailer for $48,000! Sure, it has a 302/5-speed, but wow! There seems to be a recent trend toward some recognition and appreciation for TVR on BAT. It did appear to be a nicely done swap, and the bidding probably would have petered out $10k sooner if there weren't 2 guys who both seemed to really want this car. It's interesting that in Europe it's the correct, original cars that seem to pull the top money, whereas here it's the V-8 swapped hot rods. I hope the publicity improves the brand name recognition, so we don't have to follow up the "what is it?" question with a lengthy explanation. A rise in values wouldn't hurt either!
My choice if you don't want to go old school would be a fuel injection system, this one is pretty sweet. These are custom, so I am sure he can just paint the manifold black or perhaps change Triumph to TVR.
I still have the enormous SU carb that was on my car when I bought it.
We could make you a log-style manifold and you could run that. Wouldn't look that different than that EFI manifold.
In reply to TVR Scott :
Maybe it wouldn't LOOK that different, but it wouldn't be an improvement! That "enormous" SU carb is an HD8, so 2", not an improvement from two 1.75" carbs. Again, I'm not ready to go EFI on an old Triumph engine, but I guess I can take a look, now that much of the research and experimentation has been done. I hear good things about Patton's EFI set-ups.
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