What have I gotten myself into?
Discussion
Lurked for a bit learning what I could. This is my first post here.
Came out as the top bidder in an auction yesterday for a 390SE in Wiltshire. Reg No. C390 AYG.
Looks like it was an early 390SE (trailing arm rear) w/ an A.R.E. stamped engine (018). At some point the chassis was stripped and re-coated. The engine was rebuilt by J.W. Eng Dev in 2008. Reputable shop? Opinions welcome.
Initial plan is to pick up and drive back to my home in Germany via the chunnel. Maybe a terrible idea, but what is life w/o risk?
Now that this beauty is coming into my ownership, does anyone have any info or history on this car? I see it was previously owned by a board member (C Pryor) circa 2010 and it had a cooling issue. Seems to have been resolved as the mileage has increased steadily by 800, 600, and 1500 in the past three years.
You all seem like a fun and helpful community with a genuine love of your cars. Looking forward to the highs and lows of TVR ownership.
Came out as the top bidder in an auction yesterday for a 390SE in Wiltshire. Reg No. C390 AYG.
Looks like it was an early 390SE (trailing arm rear) w/ an A.R.E. stamped engine (018). At some point the chassis was stripped and re-coated. The engine was rebuilt by J.W. Eng Dev in 2008. Reputable shop? Opinions welcome.
Initial plan is to pick up and drive back to my home in Germany via the chunnel. Maybe a terrible idea, but what is life w/o risk?
Now that this beauty is coming into my ownership, does anyone have any info or history on this car? I see it was previously owned by a board member (C Pryor) circa 2010 and it had a cooling issue. Seems to have been resolved as the mileage has increased steadily by 800, 600, and 1500 in the past three years.
You all seem like a fun and helpful community with a genuine love of your cars. Looking forward to the highs and lows of TVR ownership.
Well, we made it home in one piece. A few bouts of overheating as forewarned by the seller. Pulled over to "burp" the system of air via the overflow tank, twice. The third time she vomited on me and sent fluid everywhere. Expelled a good amount of fluid so I topped her off and she made the next 3 hours of driving with no issues.
All together, we covered just shy of 500 mi with no major issues. I'm calling it a success.
Secured barn space for her w/ a local farmer.
Car cover is on order w/ Prestige Covers.
Customs paperwork is complete and I'll attempt a TÜV tomorrow.
Plans for now:
Slight miss when warm. I expect this is an ignition issue. Possibly the HT lines. I do not like the routing through the bay and will attempt to rectify this. Bonus, the seller threw in a trunk full of spares including replacement HT lines.
8ea new NGK BPR6ES will go in at the same time.
Ordered 6L of Valvoline VR1 20W50 as the seller said this is what he'd been running.
Mann 940/24 Filter
2L of Difflock Evo1
Picked up a liter of mineral ATF and 2L of white spirits to flush the gearbox as it is quite notchy and slips out of reverse. It did stick in 4th when very warm at one point on the drive, too.
Any other low hanging fruit I may be missing?
I do have one additional question:
Everything I have read specifies oil pressure in psi. My gauge is definitely not in psi. Not sure if it is bar or atm. Has anyone seen this? Seems to sit around 1.2-1.3 (17.5 - 20.5) at first start, drops to 1.0 (14.5 - 14.6) when warmed up and rises to 1.5 (21.8 - 22.0) under load. Compared to what I've seen these are all low. Though, if the other gauges are any indication of accuracy it could easily be off by a factor of 1.5 Thoughts?
All together, we covered just shy of 500 mi with no major issues. I'm calling it a success.
Secured barn space for her w/ a local farmer.
Car cover is on order w/ Prestige Covers.
Customs paperwork is complete and I'll attempt a TÜV tomorrow.
Plans for now:
Slight miss when warm. I expect this is an ignition issue. Possibly the HT lines. I do not like the routing through the bay and will attempt to rectify this. Bonus, the seller threw in a trunk full of spares including replacement HT lines.
8ea new NGK BPR6ES will go in at the same time.
Ordered 6L of Valvoline VR1 20W50 as the seller said this is what he'd been running.
Mann 940/24 Filter
2L of Difflock Evo1
Picked up a liter of mineral ATF and 2L of white spirits to flush the gearbox as it is quite notchy and slips out of reverse. It did stick in 4th when very warm at one point on the drive, too.
Any other low hanging fruit I may be missing?
I do have one additional question:
Everything I have read specifies oil pressure in psi. My gauge is definitely not in psi. Not sure if it is bar or atm. Has anyone seen this? Seems to sit around 1.2-1.3 (17.5 - 20.5) at first start, drops to 1.0 (14.5 - 14.6) when warmed up and rises to 1.5 (21.8 - 22.0) under load. Compared to what I've seen these are all low. Though, if the other gauges are any indication of accuracy it could easily be off by a factor of 1.5 Thoughts?
No luck at the TÜV...
E-brake weak and imbalanced. I'll add a brake bleed and adjustment to the list in my previous post.
Excessive oil leak from engine, appears to be seeping from the whole bottom side. Sump Pan gasket? Any common leak points I should investigate?
Oil leak from diff. Appears to be coming out of the pinion input. Before I replace the seal, I'll give the breather a check to make sure it's not excessive pressure causing the blow-by. Regardless, once drained, I'll refill with Liqui Moly LS 85W-90.
E-brake weak and imbalanced. I'll add a brake bleed and adjustment to the list in my previous post.
Excessive oil leak from engine, appears to be seeping from the whole bottom side. Sump Pan gasket? Any common leak points I should investigate?
Oil leak from diff. Appears to be coming out of the pinion input. Before I replace the seal, I'll give the breather a check to make sure it's not excessive pressure causing the blow-by. Regardless, once drained, I'll refill with Liqui Moly LS 85W-90.
I had UK MOT problems a few months back. Most carrying out such a check, do not know the car/s that it is based on and make the mistake of applying modern car standards, which just does not fully apply for all older cars.
The handbrake in my and others experience is not great at the best of times, you will need to make sure all is free, adjustment of the cable may be required, but the shoe to disk adjustment should be made not the cable.
My oil leak came mainly from the rear oil seal, a bit from the front of the sump. Having cured them it then moved to the next weakest point, for me that was the oil filter remote to block gaskets.
The diff is prone to leak there is plenty on the net about these and rebuilds, mine seems to leak from the drain thread, something for me to look at over the winter.
Something like this:
https://49fordcoupe.smugmug.com/Rebuilding-the-Jag...
The filling of the gearbox and diff are fiddly at best. I found a cheap pump-up plant sprayer is ideal for refills.
Notchy gearboxes are common, some go for a rebuild, others as per Adam go for engine oil and molyslip, for me this has by far been the best combination. I have tried a few other gearbox oils, but found that I had all sorts of issues when the engine was cold.
Currently, I have leaky core (freeze) plugs that will be a winter project to add to the never-ending mountain.
Have a search on here there is plenty of subjects covered, some multiple times.
I am sure someone of longer standing and more experience will come along soon to put out much more wise words.
Good luck on your quest, be prepared to spend time probably a lot of time poking around at something that seems to be what I do a lot.
The handbrake in my and others experience is not great at the best of times, you will need to make sure all is free, adjustment of the cable may be required, but the shoe to disk adjustment should be made not the cable.
My oil leak came mainly from the rear oil seal, a bit from the front of the sump. Having cured them it then moved to the next weakest point, for me that was the oil filter remote to block gaskets.
The diff is prone to leak there is plenty on the net about these and rebuilds, mine seems to leak from the drain thread, something for me to look at over the winter.
Something like this:
https://49fordcoupe.smugmug.com/Rebuilding-the-Jag...
The filling of the gearbox and diff are fiddly at best. I found a cheap pump-up plant sprayer is ideal for refills.
Notchy gearboxes are common, some go for a rebuild, others as per Adam go for engine oil and molyslip, for me this has by far been the best combination. I have tried a few other gearbox oils, but found that I had all sorts of issues when the engine was cold.
Currently, I have leaky core (freeze) plugs that will be a winter project to add to the never-ending mountain.
Have a search on here there is plenty of subjects covered, some multiple times.
I am sure someone of longer standing and more experience will come along soon to put out much more wise words.
Good luck on your quest, be prepared to spend time probably a lot of time poking around at something that seems to be what I do a lot.
Careful with the pinion seal, to avoid changing the crush tube on reassembly, if in any doubt about this, ask more here.
So for the engine sump leak, first check the bolts securing the sump, if any loose just nip them up, then clean off with white spirit and take it for a run, and re-check.
So what exacly is "Liqui Moly LS 85W-90"? If it's LS it must not have Moly in (it would wreck the LS clutches). On looking, it seems it's just a brand name. Quite strange, really!
So for the engine sump leak, first check the bolts securing the sump, if any loose just nip them up, then clean off with white spirit and take it for a run, and re-check.
So what exacly is "Liqui Moly LS 85W-90"? If it's LS it must not have Moly in (it would wreck the LS clutches). On looking, it seems it's just a brand name. Quite strange, really!
Edited by adam quantrill on Wednesday 31st August 17:24
You are correct "Liqui Moly" is simply a brand name. Quite popular and held in high regard throughout Germany.
They did, in fact, get their start producing a liquid form of molybdenum. I cannot say with absolute certainty whether the LS gear oil contains moly. The Product Information and Safety Data sheets offered no clues. But, from what I have read in other forums (German language) the addition of MoS2 is prominently advertised on all products to which it is added.
Thanks you for the advice re: the sump gasket. After a cursory inspection, the sump gasket is in very poor shape. It may not even exist. It appears to be purely FIPG. When I have the pan off I will inspect what I can see. If there is racking or warping beyond my ability to tweak back to shape, I will fab some load spreaders from thin bar stock.
I'm confident a little care and a thorough cleaning will yield a pass next week. Both leaks could more accurately classified as seepage than leakage. However, German TÜV inspectors can classified as either overly fastidious or blind. Unfortunately, I drew the former.
They did, in fact, get their start producing a liquid form of molybdenum. I cannot say with absolute certainty whether the LS gear oil contains moly. The Product Information and Safety Data sheets offered no clues. But, from what I have read in other forums (German language) the addition of MoS2 is prominently advertised on all products to which it is added.
Thanks you for the advice re: the sump gasket. After a cursory inspection, the sump gasket is in very poor shape. It may not even exist. It appears to be purely FIPG. When I have the pan off I will inspect what I can see. If there is racking or warping beyond my ability to tweak back to shape, I will fab some load spreaders from thin bar stock.
I'm confident a little care and a thorough cleaning will yield a pass next week. Both leaks could more accurately classified as seepage than leakage. However, German TÜV inspectors can classified as either overly fastidious or blind. Unfortunately, I drew the former.
Nipping up my sump bolts had no effect on leaks for me.
The sump was sealed to the block with RTV, as a consequence of this every bolt hole was deformed, as the sump is not designed for this type of sealing really.
Having peened them back into shape I have used a cork gasket and suitable washers to spread the load around the bolt heads to the sump.
Having driven a few miles I nipped up the bolts again. So far so good.
The sump was sealed to the block with RTV, as a consequence of this every bolt hole was deformed, as the sump is not designed for this type of sealing really.
Having peened them back into shape I have used a cork gasket and suitable washers to spread the load around the bolt heads to the sump.
Having driven a few miles I nipped up the bolts again. So far so good.
Hello VperSpace,
Welcome along to the wonderful world of wedge wonderment.
Lovely looking early 390SE you've got yourself there.
Massive respect to you for driving it all the way home to Germany.
Are you on FB at all?
Are you a member of the TVRCC?
There's 3 different wedge groups on FB.
There's around 17 wedges within the German branch of TVRCC & few more wedge owners floating around Germany too.
I own a 400SE.
My oil pressure switch may have always had a weep but started leaking properly after my engine got hotter than normal when my electric coolant fan packed up.
The oil leak was only spotted when I had it running when up on axle stands.
Good.luck with all your future adventures.
Chris x
Welcome along to the wonderful world of wedge wonderment.
Lovely looking early 390SE you've got yourself there.
Massive respect to you for driving it all the way home to Germany.
Are you on FB at all?
Are you a member of the TVRCC?
There's 3 different wedge groups on FB.
There's around 17 wedges within the German branch of TVRCC & few more wedge owners floating around Germany too.
I own a 400SE.
My oil pressure switch may have always had a weep but started leaking properly after my engine got hotter than normal when my electric coolant fan packed up.
The oil leak was only spotted when I had it running when up on axle stands.
Good.luck with all your future adventures.
Chris x
Thanks for the feedback. Seems like the diff leakage was caused by a clogged breather. Cleaned it out last week and no sign of leakage since.
Replaced the sump FIPG with a cork unit coated in Hylomar. Seems to be holding for now.
Before:
After:
Flushed the gearbox with 2:1 white spirit and ATF. Surprisingly didn’t look too dirty. Plenty of shavings on the magnet though. This came out in the initial draining.
Refilled with Difflock Evo1. Too early to say how it will perform. But, it is no worse than before.
Rad fans stopped working at some point. But, I’ll make a new post for that.
Replaced the sump FIPG with a cork unit coated in Hylomar. Seems to be holding for now.
Before:
After:
Flushed the gearbox with 2:1 white spirit and ATF. Surprisingly didn’t look too dirty. Plenty of shavings on the magnet though. This came out in the initial draining.
Refilled with Difflock Evo1. Too early to say how it will perform. But, it is no worse than before.
Rad fans stopped working at some point. But, I’ll make a new post for that.
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