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TVR 3000S restoration

by Nigel Warner

My intention is to put up the story of the restoration as it happens month by month. I only spend a few hours one evening a week and one morning or afternoon at the weekend, providing I haven't got any other jobs to do round the house or on my other cars so I expect it to take me a few years to complete.

July 2001

The above pictures were taken the day after I picked up the car (12th July). I started on the restoration as soon as the Tax ran out at the end of July 2001. I of course drove it until it ran out.

The bodywork is fairly good and so far I have spotted a crack in the boot lid, a crack & hole by the drivers side rear bumper, a few cracks by the drivers side headlight, accident repair to rear wing has sunk slightly and the front of the bonnet (where it touches the ground when opened as there is no restraint) is badly worn with a few holes.

The interior and soft top are fine and just need a bit of a clean.

The chassis only seems to have surface rust but I might find a few surprises when I remove the body especially the front outriggers and where it sits on the sound deadening felt at the back.

On the mechanical side it is very good with just a few minor things that I've found. Bonnet opens on bumpy roads on the passengers side, battery tries to make an escape bid as there is nothing to secure it, no bonnet restraint, one side screen fastener missing, the clock works intermittently, exhaust is blowing slightly at the manifold and radio doesn't work but who wants to listen to the radio with that exhaust note.

August 2001

So far I have removed the bonnet from the car. This was hindered by the fact that the wiring was all crimped together so I ended up cutting the wires at the front of the chassis. I have installed a 9 way multi-pin connector available from vehicle-wiring-products so that if I have to remove the bonnet in the future it will just be a case of unplugging the connector which I will locate at the end of the chassis. I have done this to the Vixen and it makes life a lot easier if the bonnet has to come off. I have also removed the lights and bumpers from the bonnet. Again the wiring was a tangled mess so I have sorted this out first before I start on anything else. I have replaced all the wiring for the bonnet as it was a right mess of crimped connectors and even 13amp household wire. The wires are now the correct colour and have soldered connectors instead of those horrible crimped ones that cause lots of bad connection problems in my experience with them.

September 2001

The next stage was to remove everything from the body so as to make it light enough for removal from the chassis.

I first removed all of the interior i.e seats, dash etc. Nothing too difficult here so I won’t go into any detail. I did find quite a few wires by the cigarette lighter & hazard switch that had just been cut and left so some investigation will be needed when refitting. This could explain why the hazard lights didn’t work but the switch also looks a bit suspect. The majority of the interior is in very good condition and is now being stored in the attic. The only thing I left in the car was the wiring loom which I labelled well as the wires are all black with coloured bands at the ends for identification and these tend to fall off. I also pumped out the brake fluid before removing the pedal box. The pedal box seemed to be stuck to the body but with a bit of wiggling it finally came free. Some of the heater air tubes were a bit crushed and might need replacing.

I decided to leave the screen attached as when I looked underneath at the tubes it sits in at either side of the bulkhead they seemed to have a lot of resin coming out of them. I tried to lift the screen after removing the 2 bolts at the end of the tubes and the 2 nearer the centre of the screen but it was stuck fast.

Next to come off was the boot lid and the fuel tank. The fuel filler proved a bit stubborn to remove from the large rubber tube to the tank at first but with a bit of twisting it suddenly freed. When I removed the fuel filter, one of those large plastic see though types, I discovered it was half full of sediment and a lot heavier than it should have been so I guess the tank will need a good clean out but it does show how useful they are. The last bit of petrol I emptied out was very dirty. Hopefully the inside of the tank isn't too bad and will only need flushing out. I have sealed the filler neck with some plastic held on by a jubilee clip and plugged the outlet tube and return tubes to prevent it getting damp inside after first putting in some engine oil in and swilling it round. This should protect it enough during storage.

When removing the passengers side front bumper I noticed that the rusty metal under the rubber has expanded and split the rubber open so it looks as though I might need a new one. All the bumper bolts undid easily except for the rear passengers side and they both sheared off. The rear bumper is also split on the inside and badly rusted.

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