TVRs and Stuff

:: Diary - August 2026 ::
:: Sunday, 2 August 2026 ::

It's TVR Car Club Day, where the only excitement that awaits us is a reduced attendance and a simplified menu.
The good bit is that I'll be joining Dave and Eric for a wee run first, so we meet up early. Dave is taking his S, and Eric has his other wedge 350i, the convertible one. I have decided to take the Vixen for an "exhaust noise" test. We set off up through Fife and turn off the motorway at Cleish, where are able to get a bit of a proper drive going. The Vixen is definitely a bit quieter, and could even be described as tolerable up to around 70mph, and then I remember that I forgot to put my earplugs in... So yes, a fair difference.
Onwards we go, back down through Dollar, where we catch up to a wee black Toyota or Hyundai or something doing 30mph in a 50 limit. It's followed by 2 motorbikes who don't seem to have learned how to overtake, or how to leave a space in case somebody else wants to. So onwards we trundle...
This road used to have a 60 limit, but they reduced it to 50 because it's a bit bendy, and people using it kept flying off into the scenery. On one of these bends, we spot a silver car (didn't see what it was) parked half-way up a roadside tree, and secured in place with blue and white "Police" tape. So the reduced speed limit has obviously made a huge difference.
Anyway, we trundle on, through a couple of hillfoot villages, where someone tries to turn right into Dave without signalling at a mini-roundabout. This, and other general surrounding fart-aboutiness by our fellow road abusers, results in us losing ground to even the funereal pace of the black Toyota and its two tardy outriders, who are on the horizon by the time we escape from the last 30 limit.
We do eventually reach the venue, only about 5 or 10 minutes later than we meant to, but we've had a good wee drive.
Then we find that they have "simplified" the menu because it's Sunday and there aren't that many of us... I still manage to select something that's bearable.
There's no general TVR Club announcements (again) but we start to plan another wee weekend run just for us, maybe at the end of September. Dave has already sorted the main details - the ice cream stops, so we just need to work out the minor details like a route and some overnight accommodation.
Eric was following me here, and he points out that the exhaust looks very low at the back. The tail section is, but it's not as low as the old one was! Nevertheless, I think I can lift it another half an inch or so before it's hitting on the bodywork.

The drive home along the motorway is pretty uneventful, if you manage to ignore the usual "fly-past-and-push-in-at-the-last-minute" arseholes who seem to appear on every motorway journey these days.

:: Monday, 3 August 2026 ::

I decide to have a look at the Vixen's exhaust, after hearing it ground slightly during our run yesterday. There are a couple of wee scrapes on the underside of the tail pipe, just before it turns upwards under the rear valance, but otherwise no marks.
I manage to adjust and tighten the exhaust mountings under the diff, to lift the back section until it's almost touching the valance. That's it - the only way I can get more clearance there, is by either flattening the exhaust to an oval, or raising the rear springs (which aren't currently adjustable so I would need new coilovers...). So we shall wait and see, eh?

:: Wednesday, 12 August 2026 ::

We went to visit family yesterday, and because it was a nice day, we decided to take the S. It was great to get out in it - this is the first time it has been out any distance since our run in April.
You might remember that at that time, I had spent a bit of time cleaning engine connectors, the idle speed valve, and injectors, to get rid of a mid-range hesitancy that has plagued the car for ages. I thought that I had cracked it. Well, it's back, along with a couple of backfires just for good measure.
It was still a good wee drive though, really enjoyed it. More to the point, Mrs Git, who hasn't been in either of the TVRs very often, said, and I quote, that she "thoroughly enjoyed it" and suggested that we should use it more often, when the weather is nice. I don't think she's quite ready for the experience of sitting in a TVR in the rain (although neither of the TVRs leak, or at least not much).
But today, I'm going to have a wee look and see if I can finally track down the hesitation problem. First step is to take out the spark plugs, without starting it first, so that I can judge how the car was running yesterday when ithe engine was warm.
Here's the 6 spark plugs straight out of the engine, with the front of the engine on the left. I would say that the right side of the engine (cylinders 1, 2 and 3) appear to be running a wee bit leaner than the cylinders on the left side, which look just about the right colour. Cylinder 6 is a bit more sooty though, although the rear cylinders on a V-engine often run slightly hotter because they are out of the airflow.

There's something to be said for the "old-skool" system of a car like the vixen, where you can diagnose all this stuff without a computer. These "modern" ECU-controlled engines rely on dozens of sensors, and if one fails, it can give you symptoms elsewhere that don't appear to be directly linked to that sensor...
I clean the plugs up and put them back, and then take the car for a wee run - it's better, but still with a wee bit of mid-range hesitating.
I wonder if one of the lambda sensors isn't working and affecting the mixture on one side?
I've had a good look through this article from Car Mechanics magazine, although that's for a non-cat engine with air flow meters and no lambda sensors, so it's not quite the same. Nevertheless, I've done everything recommended in that article to address mid-range hesitation, including changing the throttle position sensor. Maybe the lambda sensors should be my next port of call?
I remove both O2 sensors with a 22mm open-ended spanner, because I don't have the special fancy socket with the split up one side for the cable to go through.
Here they are - left bank on the left, right on the... oh you get the idea. I can see that both are a wee bit sooty, but the left one is definitely sootier. That suggests that the left side is running slightly richer than the right side - which is borne out by the spark plug condition earlier.

Now, I have only the most elementary knowledge of how all this works - the sensor sniffs the exhaust, and constantly tells the computer "too much fuel" or "not enough fuel", and the computer adjusts the fuel ratio accordingly. The signal on these is only "on" or "off" by around 1 volt, there's no graduation, so they are nagging the poor ecu all the time. The amount of fuel needed changes every time you press or lift off the throttle, so that tiny O2 signal is very important, and can be affected by poor connections, or by the sensor itself.
I wasn't sure if the two sensors worked together to control overall fuelling, of if each sensor controlled fuel to half of the engine. I just read, though (isn't google a wonderful thing?) on a Ford Scorpio page, that each sensor controls the injectors on each half of the engine, so it would be possible for one side of the engine to be running richer or leaner then the other.
They are a proper bugger to test though, unless you have an oscilloscope, because they are flicking on and off all the time. I think I'll change them, rather than clean them, to remove any doubt, and see if that fixes the problem.
I replaced the lambdas in February 2014, and the OE Bosch sensors (3122) were out of stock even then. They are still unavailable, and so are the replacements I bought then (Bosch 3294), so I neeed to dig around to find suitable 3-wire sensors for a Ford Sierra 2.9 (some of the later Granada and Scorpio sensors are 4-wire so need a separate earth wire). None of them have the correct connector though (but neither did the replacements I fitted in 2014!) so I eventually settle on a pair of 3-wire Lucas sensors for a total of around £70. They might not make a difference, but that's still cheaper than trying to pay for a tuner who might not be able to diagnose it anyway!
They should be here on Saturday so we'll see how that goes.

:: Friday, 14 August 2026 ::

Well, the lambda sensors arrived today, so let's get them fitted.
Because these are alternatives to the original part (in fact, they are alternatives to the alternative part, that isn't available any more either). they don't have the right Ford connector, so the first steps are to cut the connectors off and solder on the ones I have. That process is explained in my February 2014 entry here, so I don't have to write it all over again.
When I have fitted the old connectors, I clean them out with contact cleaner, and also clean the corresponding connectors on the car. Then I refit the sensors and tighten them up.
Time for a wee test. I take the car out for half an hour so that it's properly warmed up - although I can tell within the first 5 minutes that midrange pickup is much better, with no misfire or hesitancy, and certainly none of the farting and backfiring that I had on Tuesday. It's so tractable that it seems to pull in any gear.
There's something deeply satisfying about being able to diagnose a fault like this (eventually!) and fix it yourself for the £70 cost of two lambda sensors, to keep your old car on the road.
There's also something deeply annoying about taking 6 months to work it out...
But even that is not as annoying as taking your car to a garage, and being charged a fortune for them NOT to fix it. Seen that so many times (albeit not with the TVR).

:: Thursday, 20 August 2026 ::

I'll tell you what's annoying - thinking you've fixed something, only to discover that there's another problem that was previously hidden by the first one.
I decide today to take the car out for a wee run, just because... I tell myself that I want to check that's it's still running well. And it is! It runs better from cold, and is a lot more tractable when accelerating, with no hesitation or backfiring. I'm a happy scone!
Well, right up until I get caught in heavy traffic... it idles along in the queue no problem, but when the queue clears, it's suddenly not right any more - coughing and hesitating, but in a different way from what it was before. Is it heat-related? The temp gauge doesn't show any sign of overheating, but I stop fanyway or 10 minutes to let the engine (and any other ancillaty bits) cool a bit, and then start it up and drive home. It's better, but still not right...
When I get home, I remove the spark plugs - they are all exactly the light brown-tan colour I would expect them to be, even the one that was black before. It's unlikely to be the mixture then...
What could be affecting the spark or ignition when it gets hot? The symptoms sound exactly like an ignition coil breaking down, but that was replaced in May last year. On the 2.9 Ford, though, it's bolted to the side of the plenum chamber, not the bulkhead, and what if there's enough heat build-up when you're in traffic, to make the wet coil overheat?
I have two options - move the oil-filled coil to the bulkhead (drilly-drilly and extend wiring), or put a dry coil on instead (the car had a dry coil originally, and so did my 2.9 Granada 20-odd years ago). I've got a brand-new unused dry coil in a box, so we'll try that first, eh?

:: Thursday, 27 August 2026 ::

Finally got around to changing the ignition coil.
It's pretty simple really - unplug the old coil wiring and HT lead, undo the bolt that holds the coil to the plenum, replace the new coil, and wire it up! This is where I remember that the wet coil has a female (DIN) HT connector, and the new coil has a male (SAE) connector, so I have to change the king lead as well.
Here's the new dry coil fitted in place.

I take the car out for another short run (half-hour or so) and it seems to be behaving again. I don't do any sitting in traffic, so I don't know if it will misbehave again if something overheats. It's better than it has been for a very long time, though, so let's just see...

:: Sunday, 30 August 2026 ::

Yesterday, I decided to take the S out for a longer run this morning, just to see how it goes. First stop was for fuel - just as I finished filling up, a guy arrived in a lovely silver Capri. When he finished refuelling, he came over and we had a bit of a blether. His Capri has a 3 litre Essex engine in it - it sounds lovely, and it's all in pretty good nick.
After that, I set off on my run, and it all seemed great! The car was going really well, and I was able to enjoy fairly open roads and a nice morning. Let's hope that's it sorted!
Today, though, the weather is shite - it has been pouring rain all night, and the forecast is for thunderstorms today. Thaat was almost guaranteed, mind, because I'm taking the Vixen to a wee local show. The Linlithgow Classic Car Club have a show once a year along the main street through the town. I've taken my old Chevy twice before, but this is my first time in a TVR. And naturally, almost the first time it has rained for ages.
I have done no preparation of the car whatsoever. Fortunately the show doesn't start until 12, so I have time to shift the quicklifts and stuff around the garage, so that I can extract the car and get going, with two waterproof coats in the back. I was also goint to take a golf umbrella. I had two - one of them got broken and I can't find the other one, then I remember lending it to someone but I can't remember who. I think that my kids are claiming their inheritance one "borrowed" item at a time - an umbrella, a screwdriver set, a garden strimmer etc, and then I never see them again...
So, the first stop is the American Golf shop, to buy an umbrella, then onwards to the show. It's only about 10 miles away, but between slow wipers, misting-up windows, slippy roads, it takes ages. A significant factor is that there is a big contraflow on the dual carriageway, and then 5 sets of badly set up signal-controlled road works spread along the route.
This show isn't in a field, it's set up along the main street, and when I arrive, I explain that I don't want to be driving up a kerb. I'm directed to a spot right at the steps of the old Burgh Hall. Ideal!

Right at this moment, the rain stops. No waterproof required just yet.
I decide to have a wee wander around, although not everybody is here yet.

First stop is this - a 1942 Jeep that saw service in WW2. The owner has had it for years, and shows me around it.

If you're worried about your car leaking, you should try one of these. He shows me the drain screws in the footwells, so you can let all the rain back out. I end up speaking to this chap for ages, it's a lovely car - and different!

Just down from that is a nice 1988 VW Scirocco, which has a very TVR-like sticker in the back window.

A DeLorean which blares out "Back to Future" music all day - fortunately just out of earshot of where my car is... Every time you see a DeLorean at a car show, there's bound to be that music, and a reference to "October 1985 to 1955". This one is no different. I hear someone say that they "look fantastic but are actually shite", and I am inclined to agree. Didn't do John DeLoean any harm though, with his government grants to invest in West Belfast, or his penchant for Columbian marching powder.

Then I bump into the salesman who sold me the Kia EV (or Moon Buggy). He wants to see the Vixen, so we go back.
He asks about the engine and when I open the bonnet, I notice antifreeze marks along the side of the engine block. They seem to start under the carb, and go backwards. There's no marks under the head gasket joint, and the only hose connection that far back the engine, is to the heater valve on the side of the manifold. I check the hose clip, and it's loose by maybe a turn and a half, and as I tighten it, a tine drop of coolant is squeezed out, so that looks like the likely culprit.

Then I have to go and scrounge a litre of water from a nearby cafe to refill the system, on the promise that I'll return for a sandwich later. The coolant is clearly manky though (and now significantly diluted) so I think I might flush it out and put in fresh coolant, before it rusts through a core plug or something (I have once replaced a core plug in a Ford Kent block, about 50 years ago, and it was a right pain in the arse, so avoid if possible).
By this time, quite a few others have arrived, and beside me is a Hillman Imp that passed me in the opposite direction when I was on my way to Dave's at the start of the month.

Parked just behind me is a guy with an MGB V8, which he's trying to sell. He's also brought an Aston Martin DB7 Vantage. We get talking, and it turns out that he owns 3 TVRs. I don't know him, but I do know exactly where he lives, because I have seen the cars in his drive! He has a yellow Chimaera, a grey wedge, and also a green S-Series. When he describes the colour, I guess that it's John's old S, and he shows me a photo, and I'm right!
Then it's time to fulfil my vow to buy a sandwich from the the cafe, and she gives me another litre of water "just in case". How well she knows the world of classic car ownership.
I have another walk up and down the road, to look at various interesting cars. I'm supposed to vote for my "top 3" but it's really hard to pick from the fantastic machines on display. Suffice to say that none of my selections were in the top 3, so my taste is obviously shit. First prize went to a guy who was obviously well-known to the organisers and quite a few of the club members (as these things tend to be) and was handed over by a local councillor. Unlike some, I don't go to these things expecting to win anything, so I'm never disappointed.
As I'm getting in my car, though, this councillor tells me that my car was her personal favourite. I suggest to the organiser that maybe next year, she should have a casting vote.
This Jaguar XK150, and the Karmann Ghia behind it, won third and second. I photographed those earlier in the day, so at least I must have thought they looked interesting. I don't have a photo of the winning car...

So that's it, time for home. I realise that it hasn't rained all day, so the umbrella was a waste of time. I go home a different way, avoiding all the roadworks, on dry roads. That's until I get about a quarter of a mile from my house, when the heavens open again. Wipers on at warp speed, throttle at "barely tickle" setting, I get home and stick the car in the garage.
While it's still hot, I check for any sign of coolaant leakage, but can't see any. After it has cooled, I find that the radiator level has gone down a bit though, but that might just be it blowing off any excess. Yes, I think that a full check, flush and fresh coolant is on the todo list!
Great wee day out though, only 10 miles or so from the house. I did notice, especcially on the drive home, that the exhaust is vibrating very slightly against the chassis, so maybe needs lowered at the back by just a fraction. Another item on the todo list! You score off one task and add two, that's just how it works.

:: Monday, 31 August 2026 ::

First things first - let's check the Vixen's cooling system. I check more carefully, with a torch, that there are no signs of leakage around the cylinder head or the water pump. Then I check every hose connection under the bonnet, but theey all seem to be secure.
Then I connect up my cooling system pressure tester, that I bought around 15 years ago when I was having all those problems with the Cerbera. I connect it to the radiator filler and pump it up to just over 16 psi. I don't know the system cap pressure rating, but I don't think it will be any higher than that.

I leave it for 15 minutes and check again - pressure has dropped by less than half a pound (but that's not unusual) but more important, there's still no signs of any leaks at any of the coolant hose joints, or in the front or back of the radiator. The connector from the heater valve into the manifold is wet and rusty, but I think that's residue from yesterday, so I clean it off and leave the pressure pump on for a bit longer.
After another 20 minutes, the pressure needle still hasn't moved, so I take the tester back off.
However, I have another look round all the connectors, and another feel under that heater valve - and it's definitely wet again. It's weeping ever so slightly under pressure, around the manifold connector, at the yellow arrow in this photo. I grip the valve in my hand to see if it's loose, and not only does it turn, it also has a slight wobble - it needs to be tightened. I need to remove the coolant hose and the heater switch cable to do that though. These connectors are nearly at the highest point in the cooling system, though, so if I take the valve off, it shouldn't lose too much coolant. I should be able to tighten it, maybe with some ptfe tape, and then refill the system with just water for now.

At this point, though, I start to wonder how it came loose - it can't have turned, because of those hoses, so has it been cross-threaded, or the thread damaged, or bodged with sealant (although there's no sign)? Is this one of those 10-minute jobs that ends up needing 3 days of effort, and every tool in the garage, until you find a bolt that comes out without damage?
I have it booked in to another local show this Saturday, this one only around 5 miles from the house, so it should make it there and back, especially if I have plenty water with me. I think I would prefer to try to fix it first though, at least until I get around to the full drain, flush and refill routine. If it's not ready in time, I could still take the S - the entry form isn't speciic about which car to take.
You think you've scored off one task, but suddenly you've added yet another, so now there's three!

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