The Tuscan renovation i didn't see coming.
Discussion
I got my first TVR last April after having my eyes on them for several years, i nearly bought one in 04 when i was 24 and i came extremly close to signing on the dotted line for one which was for sale for 45k. Thank god i didn't as i would have never afforded the payment let alone the running.
So last year i (with a limited budget) found a 2001 tuscan which had just had a power rebuild along with many replacement parts such as anderson connector, battery, various faults fixed, clutch, gaz gold pros. It had done running in miles when the guy sold it.
All sounded good, except for he was miles away, he sent me some detailed pics over and the car looked good, he did say it had some stone chips and a couple of small fibreglass cracks where it had been reversed into a wall. These were only 2-3" so that was ok.
Interior looked ok but a little tired. I didnt car though i was about to get a mechanically sorted car
So i went and picked it up. Sadly the paint although described was a little tired, just lacked lustre really and wasn't that great. Interior was the same, very tired
Never mind i got it for a good price and if i took away the money he had just spent it meant i got a tuscan for about 6.5k !
Here she is after a good clean and polish- it looked good but up close was tatty
Actually looking back at those it looks alright
maybe i'm just a fussy bugger.
Sadly after 3 days the engine blew up! Turned out to be the block and to cut a long story short power rebuilt it on a block which had previous poorly repaired work. Dom said it was a risk he took but then regretted- he rebuilt the engine for me but now with a fresh block! can't say fairer than that! This is why people use power- he does honour his warrenties, no doubt he could have wriggled out but he didn't so big kudos to Dom, It was also rebuilt very quickly so i got her back quick sharp.
So the car was then run in, then it was a case of enjoy the summer.....
Which i did
Now was when i started changing parts, the crappy old goodyear f1's were thrown out in favour of yoko ad08's. The car was given its running in service at taylor tvr who also done a supurb slightly more aggressive geometry set up, along with raising the rack by 10mm.
I had the wheels painted black, repainted the tatty calipers, dyed the carpets,fitted an s splitter and kept trying to polish the tired paint up
The car now drove really nicely, most bump steer gone and really handled well.
So well infact that on the one and only trackday i did in the car i was able to have a real play with a gt2 and a v10 r8!
The car really surprised me how well it handled, thats coming from an ex evo9 owner and i had a track focused m3 too. The TVR is harder to drive but get it right and it really does feel good
As can be seen though the splitter did argue with the ground at one point really flimsy pos that was, not sure where it came from but was rubbish.
Then i started to see all these pictures of mint chassis's. Mine was coated in about 3 foot of waxoyl
Out came the jetwash, then the degreasers, then the bilt hamber stuff, then marine clean and at some stages even petrol
Eventually after several weekends the chassis was clean, there was very minor surface rust where the paint had chipped, i went round the car whacking and poking it and was happy to find it was solid.
Theres a thread here which shows the work which went into the chassis
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
And some finished pics
As you can imagine this is the point where you are glad you did it, all the hard work paid off and i now have one of those mint chassis's
Notice the last picture the hose running behind the shock? Well thats the pipe from the scavanger pump to the oil tank, it had started weeping where the steering rack was on it, this was due to raising the rack and when i turned the wheel the little knuckle on the rack rubbed and eventually made a little hole.
So i got a local place to make me some pipe up and re routed it- the pipe would never have run in its original location, power told me they have done race cars like this so i stole the idea
It was a really difficult job as the connection on the block is at an angle meaning its almost impossible to get the new connector on. I had to buy a 45 degree connector and then it went on easily (after trying with the original for about 4 hours)
Now i had really started with it....
Drop links, arb bushes, mini service, brake pads, fluid, air filter, exhaust straps, loads of jubilee clips, eery bolt i could realistically get to was changed for stainless.....
So i'll start a retrim i thought
Carpets were crap and i hated the blue trim.
So i did the following
i ordered some black carpet from martrim and some black alcantara, i was confident in doing a lot but wouldnt do some other stuff such as seats and roll bars etc.
So last year i (with a limited budget) found a 2001 tuscan which had just had a power rebuild along with many replacement parts such as anderson connector, battery, various faults fixed, clutch, gaz gold pros. It had done running in miles when the guy sold it.
All sounded good, except for he was miles away, he sent me some detailed pics over and the car looked good, he did say it had some stone chips and a couple of small fibreglass cracks where it had been reversed into a wall. These were only 2-3" so that was ok.
Interior looked ok but a little tired. I didnt car though i was about to get a mechanically sorted car
So i went and picked it up. Sadly the paint although described was a little tired, just lacked lustre really and wasn't that great. Interior was the same, very tired
Never mind i got it for a good price and if i took away the money he had just spent it meant i got a tuscan for about 6.5k !
Here she is after a good clean and polish- it looked good but up close was tatty
Actually looking back at those it looks alright
maybe i'm just a fussy bugger.Sadly after 3 days the engine blew up! Turned out to be the block and to cut a long story short power rebuilt it on a block which had previous poorly repaired work. Dom said it was a risk he took but then regretted- he rebuilt the engine for me but now with a fresh block!
can't say fairer than that! This is why people use power- he does honour his warrenties, no doubt he could have wriggled out but he didn't so big kudos to Dom, It was also rebuilt very quickly so i got her back quick sharp.So the car was then run in, then it was a case of enjoy the summer.....
Which i did
Now was when i started changing parts, the crappy old goodyear f1's were thrown out in favour of yoko ad08's. The car was given its running in service at taylor tvr who also done a supurb slightly more aggressive geometry set up, along with raising the rack by 10mm.
I had the wheels painted black, repainted the tatty calipers, dyed the carpets,fitted an s splitter and kept trying to polish the tired paint up
The car now drove really nicely, most bump steer gone and really handled well.
So well infact that on the one and only trackday i did in the car i was able to have a real play with a gt2 and a v10 r8!
The car really surprised me how well it handled, thats coming from an ex evo9 owner and i had a track focused m3 too. The TVR is harder to drive but get it right and it really does feel good
As can be seen though the splitter did argue with the ground at one point
really flimsy pos that was, not sure where it came from but was rubbish.Then i started to see all these pictures of mint chassis's. Mine was coated in about 3 foot of waxoyl
Out came the jetwash, then the degreasers, then the bilt hamber stuff, then marine clean and at some stages even petrol
Eventually after several weekends the chassis was clean, there was very minor surface rust where the paint had chipped, i went round the car whacking and poking it and was happy to find it was solid.
Theres a thread here which shows the work which went into the chassis
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
And some finished pics
As you can imagine this is the point where you are glad you did it, all the hard work paid off and i now have one of those mint chassis's
Notice the last picture the hose running behind the shock? Well thats the pipe from the scavanger pump to the oil tank, it had started weeping where the steering rack was on it, this was due to raising the rack and when i turned the wheel the little knuckle on the rack rubbed and eventually made a little hole.
So i got a local place to make me some pipe up and re routed it- the pipe would never have run in its original location, power told me they have done race cars like this so i stole the idea
It was a really difficult job as the connection on the block is at an angle meaning its almost impossible to get the new connector on. I had to buy a 45 degree connector and then it went on easily (after trying with the original for about 4 hours
)Now i had really started with it....
Drop links, arb bushes, mini service, brake pads, fluid, air filter, exhaust straps, loads of jubilee clips, eery bolt i could realistically get to was changed for stainless.....
So i'll start a retrim i thought
Carpets were crap and i hated the blue trim.
So i did the following
i ordered some black carpet from martrim and some black alcantara, i was confident in doing a lot but wouldnt do some other stuff such as seats and roll bars etc.
Then i got carried away
Theres always a worry if a cars a real red rose, mine has everything it should have but its always nice to find this scribbled across the back
I fitted an mdf panel into the back and then resined it in, no bits of wood holding it and a nice sealed chamber for the audio systems speakers. I didn't take any photos but fitted an alpine xda headunit and an awesome little rockford fosgate amp, literally 6x6" and putting out over 100rms to each speaker.
Sounds awesome
Repaired the lcd display i had damaged like a prick trying to clean it with nail wipes (durrr).
Shot taken in the 'technical workshop' otherwise known as the kitchen
The engine bay also looked s
t, i like shiny- this was not that.
I spent several hours, days even trying to tidy her up
Heres a before- bear in mind i have been trying to clean it up since i got it
Lots of work later and looking a million times better (mind you that may change
)
I also spent a long time changing almost every bolt for stainless under the bonnet, this made a huge difference and along with most of what i have actually done cost peanuts.
I then was lucky enough for my girlfriend to land a new job, i had a jeep grand cherokee which i could now sell as she wanted a new car, did me a favour as this would pay for a respray and some of the interior retrim
Finally decided on great shefford auto centre, sensible price, he would sell my jeep as i struggled, seemed friendly, they resprayed tcants car off here and many people said about it being a great job.
The painter ian used to do work for Mcclaren, Williams, Renault so he is very experienced with fibreglass work.
Car was booked in
Theres always a worry if a cars a real red rose, mine has everything it should have but its always nice to find this scribbled across the back
I fitted an mdf panel into the back and then resined it in, no bits of wood holding it and a nice sealed chamber for the audio systems speakers. I didn't take any photos but fitted an alpine xda headunit and an awesome little rockford fosgate amp, literally 6x6" and putting out over 100rms to each speaker.
Sounds awesome
Repaired the lcd display i had damaged like a prick trying to clean it with nail wipes (durrr).
Shot taken in the 'technical workshop' otherwise known as the kitchen
The engine bay also looked s
t, i like shiny- this was not that.I spent several hours, days even trying to tidy her up
Heres a before- bear in mind i have been trying to clean it up since i got it
Lots of work later and looking a million times better (mind you that may change
)I also spent a long time changing almost every bolt for stainless under the bonnet, this made a huge difference and along with most of what i have actually done cost peanuts.
I then was lucky enough for my girlfriend to land a new job, i had a jeep grand cherokee which i could now sell as she wanted a new car, did me a favour as this would pay for a respray and some of the interior retrim
Finally decided on great shefford auto centre, sensible price, he would sell my jeep as i struggled, seemed friendly, they resprayed tcants car off here and many people said about it being a great job.
The painter ian used to do work for Mcclaren, Williams, Renault so he is very experienced with fibreglass work.
Car was booked in
Edited by m3jappa on Thursday 1st March 20:35
So anyway great shefford auto centre have the car, i still cant decide on colour
Ian send me 13 different paint cards and i still struggle, i waste £200 buying house of kolor white ice pearls and then decide i hate it
Eventually decide on lambo balloon white BUT using an audi ibis white basecoat- the lambo base is just too dull, the pearl dulls the white down anyway, we didnt know how many coats of pearl the lambo has so we were left guessing a bit.
Theres a little twist though to the colour scheme but i'll leave the final pics to speak for them selves.
I know some will hate it but i think most will love it, the car has been bought right up to date now imo.
Anyway, it then makes sense to do the bonnet conversion, all that money and its so easy to scratch it taking the bonnet on and off, it just had to be done.
Mr chips sent me some hinges which ian fitted, he ran a bar across the front to supply rigidity, instead of using gas struts which i cant deny look nice we have opted for a normal bar- purely to make access to the working area easier, which after all is what its all about. As with everything the price was VERY sensible, even though hes never done one, he seems to have found it pretty easy (admitidly after viewing a few guides on ph)
Then i get thinking about the engine bay and how st it looks
SO it gets painted too, when you see the pics i think you will agree this guy is a complete professional i didn't forsee quite so much stripping out but he wants to make a nice job of it!
I just couldnt bear to have a resprayed,retrimmed car and then open the bonnet to see that scratched fibreglass, a VERY sensible price was agreed and he went ahead.
So now i'll let the pics speak and wont write any more.
The cars not finished yet but i got some shots of it the day it had just been painted- trust me the pics do no justice! I wanted to laugh i was so pleased with how it looks and thats when its still in 3000 pieces still got to be flat and polished and all i can see is the shell
As soon as its home its off for the re trim and a new screen
Ian send me 13 different paint cards and i still struggle, i waste £200 buying house of kolor white ice pearls and then decide i hate it
Eventually decide on lambo balloon white BUT using an audi ibis white basecoat- the lambo base is just too dull, the pearl dulls the white down anyway, we didnt know how many coats of pearl the lambo has so we were left guessing a bit.
Theres a little twist though to the colour scheme but i'll leave the final pics to speak for them selves.
I know some will hate it but i think most will love it, the car has been bought right up to date now imo.
Anyway, it then makes sense to do the bonnet conversion, all that money and its so easy to scratch it taking the bonnet on and off, it just had to be done.
Mr chips sent me some hinges which ian fitted, he ran a bar across the front to supply rigidity, instead of using gas struts which i cant deny look nice we have opted for a normal bar- purely to make access to the working area easier, which after all is what its all about. As with everything the price was VERY sensible, even though hes never done one, he seems to have found it pretty easy (admitidly after viewing a few guides on ph)
Then i get thinking about the engine bay and how s
t it looks SO it gets painted too, when you see the pics i think you will agree this guy is a complete professional
i didn't forsee quite so much stripping out but he wants to make a nice job of it!I just couldnt bear to have a resprayed,retrimmed car and then open the bonnet to see that scratched fibreglass, a VERY sensible price was agreed and he went ahead.
So now i'll let the pics speak and wont write any more.
The cars not finished yet but i got some shots of it the day it had just been painted- trust me the pics do no justice! I wanted to laugh i was so pleased with how it looks
and thats when its still in 3000 pieces still got to be flat and polished and all i can see is the shell As soon as its home its off for the re trim and a new screen
As said the pictures really don't do justice, it really does look awesome.
Its like white but then from certain angles goes silver and then at times has that lovely pearlescant yellowish tinge to it (which i know some hate but i love).
Give it 3-4 weeks and it will be finished and retrimmed hopefully, i'll then put up some proper pictures
And i thought i'd started to go overboard with my winter refresh!
Top work and a great write up.Glad u settled on a colour you're happy with, looking forward to seeing some pics out in the sunshine. Since starting my bonnet hinge thing, I'd always thought it would look better with the engine bay in the same colour as the exterior and your pics seem to confirm my suspicion
Will be interested to see the strengthening bar he's fitted for the hinges. I did think it was a good idea but out of my mechanical ability!
Will this be the first Tuscan with a different coloured b-pillar?? I've certainly not seen one before. Presumably then your roof panel will also be black?
Top work and a great write up.Glad u settled on a colour you're happy with, looking forward to seeing some pics out in the sunshine. Since starting my bonnet hinge thing, I'd always thought it would look better with the engine bay in the same colour as the exterior and your pics seem to confirm my suspicion
Will be interested to see the strengthening bar he's fitted for the hinges. I did think it was a good idea but out of my mechanical ability!
Will this be the first Tuscan with a different coloured b-pillar?? I've certainly not seen one before. Presumably then your roof panel will also be black?
Believe me i can't wait until its all done, should be a month at the most, car will be ready to collect by next weekend i think. It has taken a long time in paint....an estimated 120hrs by the time its done...
Then onto the trimmers, that shouldn't take too long though as all carpets are cut and ready, half the stuff is already trimmed, just the seats and cage, theres something a bit special there too but i'll leave that until the pictures for now.
Yes mr chips this is the first i have seen with the b pillar painted. Its going to be the front screen pillars,targa panel and then b pillar in black. The grille, s splitter and badges are also black so should look pretty cool i think.
Hes done a lovely job of the line where black meets white. I was very sceptical about it as i hat the word 'masking' but he has assured me it will look 'factory' which is what i have asked for, i cant bear cars which have had blatant resprays due to certain areas being done badly.
As can be seen in the picture the masked line is absolutly perfect, the car has been laquered all at the same time though so he tells me that the join will be smooth and have little to not raised line in it iykwim.
As weird as it sounds its the engine bay i am most happy with! I can not believe they never painted them from factory, it clearly makes such a difference, especially if you have a bonnet mod to look under there more often (to clean random bits).
The bar across the front of bonnet isn't really visible as its all been resined in one, i couldn't see it.
Hes also done a nice fitting of the hinges, usually they are held on by bolts but somehow (not sure how tbh) he has bolted it then rounded off the bolts on the outside so they look really smooth and rounded. I'll try and get a pic.
Then onto the trimmers, that shouldn't take too long though as all carpets are cut and ready, half the stuff is already trimmed, just the seats and cage, theres something a bit special there too but i'll leave that until the pictures for now.
Yes mr chips this is the first i have seen with the b pillar painted. Its going to be the front screen pillars,targa panel and then b pillar in black. The grille, s splitter and badges are also black so should look pretty cool i think.
Hes done a lovely job of the line where black meets white. I was very sceptical about it as i hat the word 'masking' but he has assured me it will look 'factory' which is what i have asked for, i cant bear cars which have had blatant resprays due to certain areas being done badly.
As can be seen in the picture the masked line is absolutly perfect, the car has been laquered all at the same time though so he tells me that the join will be smooth and have little to not raised line in it iykwim.
As weird as it sounds its the engine bay i am most happy with! I can not believe they never painted them from factory, it clearly makes such a difference, especially if you have a bonnet mod to look under there more often (to clean random bits).
The bar across the front of bonnet isn't really visible as its all been resined in one, i couldn't see it.
Hes also done a nice fitting of the hinges, usually they are held on by bolts but somehow (not sure how tbh) he has bolted it then rounded off the bolts on the outside so they look really smooth and rounded. I'll try and get a pic.
looking great.
Like you I always worry about masking on a respray and can always find evidence of a respray which annoys me.
I know it is a bugger to do but were you tempted to remove the front lights also?
Where are you based? would be interested to see the end result.
When you say a reasonable cost - can you say what the respray will end up costing?
Like you I always worry about masking on a respray and can always find evidence of a respray which annoys me.
I know it is a bugger to do but were you tempted to remove the front lights also?
Where are you based? would be interested to see the end result.
When you say a reasonable cost - can you say what the respray will end up costing?
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