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1974 TVR 2500M
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March 18, 2005:
My time at Purdue is finally coming to a close. I'm defending my thesis in less than a month now (guess I should get the darn thing finished). So, I haven't had much time to write on the site. The car, however, is finally coming along at the interior shop. There are new photos of the headliner being installed in the photo gallery, and I'm going back this afternoon to put in the windshield, dash, etc.
Looks like I can finally say for certain that the car will be done and
debuted at this year's Woodwork event, which is being held in conjunction
with Carlisle Import-Kit/Replicar Nationals. Looks like TVRCCNA is going to
be one of the largest clubs represented this year, so they're trying to get
us better placement. Woohoo! Come by the club pavilion and see the car and
stop at the Regalia table to say hi.
October 21, 2005:
As usual, a lot has happened since this website was last updated. You wouldn't think running regalia for a national car club, getting a masters degree in Nuclear Engineering, and sitting on the board of directors of a national scientific organization would take so much time. :)
Since the last update Woodwork has come and gone (Member of the Year for the Midwest Region, woohoo), and my car is still in the trim shop. There are some new photos in the photo album of the car as it sits now. On the plus side, the upholsterer really wants to make my car special and is doing all sorts of little extras to make sure I'm happy with it because of how patient I've been (the car has been in his shop since May). The new dash is done as well, it was hand made by a local woodworker & Spridget owner, Al Beavers in Dayton, IN. Email me if you want his email address or phone number.
Progress on the fuel injection is pretty much halted until the car comes out of the trim shop as the ECU is being mounted to a yet-to-be-made trim panel and I can't measure and fit the harness to the car until I know how long it should be inside the car. As can be seen in the photos I also mis-estimated the offset on my exhaust, so I'll have to call Spin Tech and see how much they're going to charge me for an s-shaped piece to move the outlet to center.
Look for some upcoming changes in the regalia page on the club site (http://www.tvrccna.org) as we're looking at moving to a real shopping cart program which would provide a much nicer interface than the current list form.
Also, please keep sending in your
corrections to the M-Series Parts Cross-reference. Thanks to Andrew Estes
for tracking down some rare 3000S parts. Hopefully at some time in the
next year or so I'll have time to sit down and learn MySQL and be able to
move the Parts list to a full database server which will allow for much
more customization as well as hopefully future online editing/submissions.
April 21, 2005:
A lot has happened since this website was last updated. In late February I reposessed the TVR and the Jeep I was giving in payment for the paint job from the painter as he was doing absolutely no work on the car and just making excuses. I located a shop in South Bend, IN through a friend of mine and arranged for the body to go up there to be painted. It was pricey but today (4/20) I picked it up and it was all worth it. Photos are in the Progress section of the photo album at the left.
The fuel injection system is coming along nicely, and I am about half done
with a multi-issue write-up of how to build an EFI system for your British
car for the TVR Times. More on that at a later update as it's 2:14am and I
have class at 9am.
December 5, 2004:
Yeah, yeah, update, update. Man, getting a Masters Degree in Nuclear Engineering is HARD WORK! ;) My TVR is in primer now supposedly but the painter is asking for more money to paint it as he feels he underestimated the amount of work needed. We had a deal for a finished painted car, so I'm not sure what I'm going to do as I don't have the money available to pay him more and still finish the car on schedule. I'm going to try and work something out with him, so we'll see how that goes.
On another note the fuel cell is done and I have the steel here for the
cage for it, I'll provide lots of photos once the cage is done. I've also
received and assembled the ECU for my fuel injection system, all of these
changes are covered on the Fuel
System Changes link at left. Hopefully this whole paint thing will be
sorted out soon so I can put up an article about the body work and get to
work on assembling the car. If everything goes as planned I'll be at
Woodwork this year, but I may not have the turbo on if I can't get the
painter straightened out.
October 21, 2004:
For those who read my site for ideas or to watch the progressof the car that didn't know this, I am the new Regalia Coordinator for the TVR Car Club North America. As such, today I received a huge box of regalia from the former Regalia Coordinator. Let me tell you, I think I have more TVRCCNA license plate frames in my closet than there were TVRs imported to the US. Oh well, we're set for at least 50 years. :) On a car note, my fuel cell is almost done. After trying to get the pattern for the fuel sending unit Caerbont Automotive sells (since I would eventually like to have their magnolia Smiths gauges in the car) I found that VDO sells a sending unit with the European-spec 10-180 ohm value, so I should be set now. I dropped the sending unit off with Jeff Geisler who is making the cell, and he said it should be ready Monday. I'll post pictures as soon as I get it. He's also open to selling them to other TVR owners, he estimated it at around $325 for the same cell he made me, or he can do custom tanks. Email me if you want his contact information.
October 8, 2004:
I've finished the upgrade on the front brakes now, vented rotors and toyota 4-pot calipers. There is a link for the swap to the left, but no photos. I had to send the camera back to Pennsylvania for my mom to use. Oh well. Still waiting on my body, but no time to dwell on it now, I'm off to Woodwork. See you there.
September 12, 2004:
Yeah, yeah, I know, update more often. Things have just been a little busy, but I'm managing and the car is making slow progress. The head is back from being converted for unleaded, and I picked up a set of PI manifolds that I'm going to adapt for Bosch EFI injectors. I'm pretty much idle now on the car until the body comes back, which has been frustruating since there was an initial burst of work on the body when I dropped it off in June and then nothing, it just sat there. Fortunately the shop is back at work on it and I am told that it is done sanding and smoothing the old finish off. Now there is fiberglass repair (like filling antenna holes) and then it will be ready for priming. I do have a camera now so I will be able to take pictures more often. I'm also working on a new brake upgrade, a 4-pot caliper and vented rotor swap using off-the-shelf parts. Stay tuned for an article on it once it's complete.
June 13, 2004:
I know, I know, I need to update this more often. I also need a digital camera so I can get pictures of the progress. Anyway, updates. The short block is assembled now, and it and the transmission are sitting in the chassis. Shawn Dearman from UTVROG sent me his old coil-overs (Thanks Shawn!) so that I could start to plan exhaust and what not. Of course, the day after I got them I won an auction on eBay for a "new" set of Armstrongs to match the nicely painted springs on my shelf (c'est la vie). The bonnet, inner fenders, heater duct, and doors have gone off to the body shop to be prepped for paint, and the body shell itself should be gone within a couple of days. I've ordered just about everything needed for my fuel injection as well (complete wiring and sensors from a 1982 Datsun 280ZXT). Next stage is getting all the pieces from Doug to convert the head for unleaded gas, then get the head in to Banes Machine Shop in Lafayette, IN to do the work. He did all the work on my short block, and his work quality was impeccable. He hot-tanked the block, then honed the cylinders and completely balanced the rotating assembly. Once the head is back I can start setting up the fuel injection system. My plans for a turbocharger on this motor are on hold though. I want to run a higher boost than can be safely done without an intercooler, and with the TVR's small frontal area I haven't figured out a way to fit both an intercooler and a radiator up front. Hopefully when the bonnet gets back I will be able to find a way to fit it all, otherwise plan B kicks in.
February 25, 2004:
I think I've just about finished transcribing the TRF catalog into the database. In addition, my part's suplier Doug told me he had identified the amber/white front indicators on the M. Turns out they're from a 1972-76 Triumph Dolomite. Anyway, I received a nice big box from Doug today with all sorts of bearings and seals. Guess it's time to start working on the car. :) As usual if you find any problems with material in the database or have any identifications (particularly for the 1600M and 3000M please let me know. If you'd like to compile the database more extensively than a part number or 2 for those vehicles also send me an e-mail and I can send a section of the database to be filled in as well.
February 19, 2004:
Transcribed 2500M sections 1 & 2 from The Roadster Factory's TR6 catalog. Will continue to transcribe other 2500M sections as time is available and as I match the parts to TR6, Spitfire, etc. catalogs. I am trying to do this based on my experiences instead of available web listings due to various errors I've found in the listings I've seen (such as the steering rack being a TR6 rack, whereas I have been told more recently that it is not a TR6 rack but a 2000 Sedan rack; this in particular I hope to verify in a month when I pick up a 2000 sedan for parts). If you have first hand experience matching a part to a non-TVR company/vehicle please let me know, however, particularly for 1600M and 3000M vehicles as I do not own either of these.
February 7, 2004:
No much has gotten done with the car due to last semester's finals and the trip home at Christmas. I spent my time productively, however, and digitized the TVR M-Series Parts Catalog (see link on left). It's still a work in progress, but eventually you will be able to click on a part or type in a TVR part number and see what other part number (such as Triumph's Stanpart) it cross-references to and what vehicle it's from. For parts specific to TVR such as spacers I want to have dimensions so the part can be remade. And eventually, it would be nice to have photos of each part. Alas, I need a digital camera. :) I do have about $500 in engine & driveline parts on order with my favorite part source, Doug Braden of Doug's Parts. He's a great guy who even used to own a TVR, and he saves me a ton of money on each order. Check him out.
December 7, 2003:
Just got my cheap shelving units up and sorted all the crates of parts that came back with the car from Jess's house. It all looks a lot more organized now. I probably won't get too much more done for a bit because of finals and then going home for Christmas.