What I hadn't bargained for (although I should have got used to it by now!) is how long it takes to do the most trivial of stuff. Looking at the engine installed in the car, I thought "great, a couple of weekends work and ...broooom!" But of course, it doesn't work like that when you bought the car as boxes of bits!
What slows you right down is the small stuff thats not there:
Coil...Does my car use a a ballasted ignition system? (yes)
Which one of the 3 distributors I have is the right one? does it even matter?
What size thread is the fitting for the oil pressure take off. What IS the oil pressure sensor?
Cooling system piping, thermostat housing (I now have three!) etc etc.
Identifying the correct parts and tracking them down is a huge job, but oddly satisfying, although, some expensive mistakes have been made! For example, when I was close to getting the engine in the car a couple of years ago, I bought a whole load of parts, some of which I now find are wrong and bought too long ago to take back (Sixty quids worth of non ballasted high performance coil I am looking at you here!). I hate to think what I have spent on wrong parts in the last year.
Anyhow, moving on, I got the carb on easily enough, but the next issue was that the nice alloy rocker cover I bought years ago in anticipation of this stage, actually gets in the way of doing up the rear carb nuts So, off it comes, to be subbed for the manky old original cover that came with the engine. I don't have the original fittings, so order new nuts and washers. Next the nice shiny stainless exhaust manifold (headers). These fit perfectly, but I had bought the wrong exhaust studs, so new ones were ordered.
Next, the new starter.....I only have 2 of the correct size nuts....and so it goes on, you get the picture.
Cant find the breather pipe from the crankcase breather. I know I have it somewhere, turn out all the boxes of bits, find it, fit it.....it fouls the heater valve, so can't fit both breather and valve at the same time. Argh.... Ive put that issue to one side whilst I try to identify a right angle fitting for the manifold.
Fit the radiator, which is a separate histoire, all on its own.
The car came with an absolutely knackered radiator, rusty and falling apart, except that, it had perfectly good lower and upper chambers. I was in need of an expert to restore (note the word) it. It needed a new core and new side brackets, to which the original fittings could be attached once they were cleaned up. Easy enough for a company who specialises in restoring historic radiators you might think. I found such a company an hours drive from my house; lots of examples of their work on their website, all lovely. So after a chat about what would be needed I dropped it off.
What I got back was an abomination. They had replaced the side brackets and reattached the fittings, without de-rusting them. They had separated the top tank (unique to these particular TVRs, so only a couple of hundred made) and used a chisel or some such to get rid of the deposits so the the top tank was distorted and covered in pimples. Then they appear to have given the job of reassembly to a work experience school child who re-soldered the side brackets leaving solder blobs all over it, and made no effort what so ever to make the new brackets look like the old ones.
I took it to another restorer, who looked at it and said they might be able to improve it but they wouldn't be able to put it back to original. They offered to make me an alloy one for £550. I don't really like the look of alloy radiators, so I am currently stuck with a functional but aesthetically ruined radiator. So if anyone knows of a series one or early series two radiator, in any condition as long as the top tank is there. Please let me know.
Writing that wasn't even cathartic; I am still mad.
Anyway, thats fitted now.
There are issues with using the header tank I have, for a number of reasons; mostly in that its totally U/S
Its an odd, rather home made looking, little thing and different to the usual header tanks TVR used, so I suppose its likely to be a home-made replacement, but you never know. A while ago another owner was having an alloy header tank made, so I got the fabricator to make me one too. This is similar to one of the standard TVR tanks; a bit dusty from shed storage!
Fitting this one would involve having to fit the nearside wing (on which it is supposed to be mounted), which would be a faff at this point, since I am only supposed to be side tracking myself by getting the engine running. TVR used several approaches to header tanks for the early cars. I have seen two that were factory fitted and a couple of others that may have been.
In line filler neck, I've seen several of these.
Cylindrical header tank, I am told by those in the know, that these two are original fittings
And this arrangement, which I am not sure is original, but may well be as I've seen two of these:
So far all the tanks I've seen have been on the nearside wing. My oddity, however, appears to have been mounted on the offside wing according to the mounting holes. I am quite tempted to refit a similar tank, but for the moment have decided to buy a cheap in-line filler neck and fit that between the thermostat housing, and the rad, just to get the car going. The radiator top and bottom outlets are 32mm, but the Cortina crossflows thermostat housing is 38mm, so to keep it simple, I have got hold of a Fiesta Mk1 housing, which is 32 mm and, as a bonus, has a threaded hole to take a thermostatic switch for a radiator fan, which is nice.
There thats better, cooling system all in. Awaiting repainted rocker cover.
There, thats better! Now, where was I...?
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