My 1973 TVR 2500M : Renew and Restomod

Ransom said:

In reply to TVR Scott :

That's fantastical!

Stampie, is there some sort of life-altering reference material from which you're summoning these informations?

I know he has an R200 diff cause I'm the one that sold it to him.  That means it's a standard 2.65 inch square Nissan uses on the small cars.  I had him take a picture of the NC trans and it's a 25 spline which I suspected since it's Mazda.  I happen to now have the RX8 carbon fiber driveshaft Michael referred to above so it was easy to see the front and rear matched up.  This driveshaft may be available but I'm not responsible for any scrotum altering accidents.

If the front bolts up, you might be able to use a steel rx7 driveshaft, and use any r200 rear driveshaft and have them mated together.

I *think* rx8 and rx7 use the same trans output.

Ransom said:

In reply to TVR Scott :

That's fantastical!

Stampie, is there some sort of life-altering reference material from which you're summoning these informations?

Stampie is underselling his ninja-driveshaft skills.  He rattled off all sorts of information about interchange and sizing to me.

And it sounds like it's time for another care-package to head west from Team Stampie!

In reply to TVR Scott :

Naw the information is easy enough to google but takes deep reading on various sites. Your questions and others made me want to do a u joint info site but then I decided I don’t have enough time as it is. 

Today is a special day: it's TVR Day!  Two years ago this day, this funny little car rolled off a transporter and into my life.  I did a similar post last year, and again I'm going to take a few minutes to reflect on the year.  If you want to read last year's, it's on page 20.  A basic recap of the past 12 months:

• Dusted off my aluminum TIG skills and welded up intercooler and radiator hard-pipes.
• Figured out that I can back-purge stainless steel using nitrogen - Thanks, Grandpa!  Fabbed the exhaust up to the mufflers.
• Made an adaptor for the alternator to tighten it up to the block.
• Messed around with electrolysis for removing rust, and found it makes a big mess without a big payoff.
• Bought an upgraded aluminum radiator and wired up triple fans.
• Cleaned, repainted gas tank.  Installed high-pressure pump.  Decrusted and tested fuel level sender.
• Figured out a hack-tastic way to press in fuel line fittings.
• Got a 3d printer and proceeded to print all kinds of wild concepts for mounting the intercooler, building an airbox, and handling hose mounting.
• Spent a mountain of cash on big-brake and axle upgrades.
• Lifted the body off the frame and took apart the suspension.

Whew!

Which gets me to today, when my buddy Dave came over and helped me set up the frame outside:

My plan is go get this thing blasted asap, and then get it back in the garage for the tube frame repairs.  Or I'll get really sick of blasting and will take it somewhere professional.  We'll see what kind of progress I make.

Another view:

Reflections:

Mostly I'm happy with how things have gone this year.  Got lots done.  Not as many false moves as Year 1.  Learned some interesting techniques.  I can actually imagine this thing as a vehicle that can be driven!  It might not be a year from now, but that's ok.

Regrets?

Not many really.  I had a really big project over the fall and didn't get much done.  It was a bad time for work/life balance, but it also wasn't typical.  Lately I've had some difficulty with personal enthusiasm.  My friends and I are all doing big personal projects so we've resolved to meet up regularly to help each other.  I think that'll be time well spent.

I hope you've enjoyed reading.  I love your comments, questions, suggestions, and advice - it truly does help me move forward.  It even makes me feel good to get a quick thumbs-up!  Here's to Year 3!

Kudos for keeping this project moving! It really is one of my favorites. Always interesting and inspiring.

Here's to Year 3, indeed!

As someone who is into year 7 of a project, I would say your are moving at a reasonable pace.

As to underestimating the time and effort; hell if we knew what we were getting into, we would never start!

Pete

NOHOME said:

As someone who is into year 7 of a project, I would say your are moving at a reasonable pace.

 

As to underestimating the time and effort; hell if we knew what we were getting into, we would never start!

 

 

Pete

 

 

 

 

 

 the truly insane of us realize exactly what we're getting into and do it anyway

TVR Scott said:

My friends and I are all doing big personal projects so we've resolved to meet up regularly to help each other.  I think that'll be time well spent.

I've been doing something similar with my friends recently. It's helped me get re-motivated on the truck and knock out some stuff I would have otherwise dragged my feet on. You're doing great work, looking forward to seeing more progress on this project!

I keep reading because you seem like a regular guy that's pushing himself learning really cool new skills.  That's what this place is all about.

In reply to Stampie :

Right back at ya, my sweaty friend!

I don't have time or space in my life for a large scale project, and so I live vicariously through many of these threads. Yours is a particular favorite, as I have a huge soft spot in my heart for LBCs... 

keep up the excellent work!

After an hour of blasting yesterday, and basically getting nowhere, I'm already throwing in the towel on that one.  A local blasting pro is picking up the frame next week.  I feel like that's going to be a wise decision.

This is such a great thread/project, you get TWO thumbs up.

You can also see if there is a dustless sand blaster company near you. The local guy to us, came to the driveway, put down tarps, blasted my bodyshell and frame and cleaned everthing up in one afternoon. Nice, reasonably inexpensive for all the time and effort they saved me. Took off undercoating, paint, rust, everything!

Spent some time this morning working on the TVR.

Got my virus quarantine shelter all set up and ready to go:

No, just for blasting stuff, but I can imagine some of my neighbors being freaked out by me walking around in a tyvek bunny suit and respirator.  Keeps them on their toes...

I got all the brake lines and little random parts removed from the frame.  The blasting guy is going to pick it up sometime in the next day or so.  I tried cleaning off some of the loose paint and grease, just to save him a little time.  Here's some of the underside of the front end:

Previously I knew the sway-bar mounts were bent up, but I didn't quite appreciate just how much:

They'll need straightening and reinforcing.  The tube underneath got deformed by the nut/u-bolt combo, so I might add in a patch there too.

In other news, I took the rear uprights to the local mechanic for removal of the pivot rods.  They banged them up a bit, but the rods are out.  I may have a minor crack in one spot that will need repair.  Will need to polish it up a bit and have a closer look.

Anyone used a good aluminum brazing product?  There's a zinc based one that seems to sponsor a lot of videos, but that doesn't necessarily mean it works well.

Also, I did manage to get all the wheel-bearing studs out, and they all look fine and reusable.  That's a first...

In reply to TVR Scott :

Those sway bar brackets always bend like that. I think a lot of it is from people over tightening them when the bush is worn. In any case, I never straightened them, just put new bushings and u bolts on!

Seems like you could weld studs in the hole locations and box out that whole little bracket pretty easily. Then use a clamp bracket like just about every car does now.

TurnerX19 said:

In reply to TVR Scott :

Those sway bar brackets always bend like that. I think a lot of it is from people over tightening them when the bush is worn. In any case, I never straightened them, just put new bushings and u bolts on!

This one has definitely seen significant road-to-metal contact.  The bottoms of the u-bolts were scraped off almost thru, and the stamped bushing holder was totally deformed.  I wanted to take a picture, since they were impressively smashed, but I couldn't find them anywhere just now.

Heavy spring snow-storm : 1

Pop-up tent : 0

I feel a little stupid about this one, but the snow accumulated really quickly yesterday and I was really busy with some other things.

Spend a half hour thrashing around in the snow getting it cleaned up.  I had to remove the top and sides from the frame, and then snap it to pieces.  The sensation was a bit like snapping crab legs.

I found out that a tarp with 6" of wet snow on it is a fantastically slippery surface.  I'm surprised I didn't kill myself walking around on it.

Mess cleaned up (sort of) and frame covered again:

It was a wet, heavy snow like they get in Virginia.  My back and knees still ache from shoveling.

Good luck with the media blasting.  That's one of my least favorite things to do, but it's so much quicker and effective than sanding or stripping wheels.

In reply to JoeTR6 :

These heavy snows are a lot more common in March and April.  Just in time to snap branches on the new tree growth.

The blasting guy was going to pick up on Thurs - during the storm - and decided to push me off 'til Monday.  He said he'd have it back pretty quick though.

I outsourced some more of my sandblasting today.

In reply to TVR Scott :

Sometimes the lowest quote is the one to take.

In reply to Stampie :

I do have to feed her and buy her shoes, so was it really the low quote?