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TVR 3000S restoration

by Nigel Warner

October 2001

I then turned my attention removing all the ancillaries from the engine compartment. Again most of this was straight forward. I detached the front & rear brake pipes from the servo and then removed the front brake pipes which are copper so they will go back on as there is no tarnishing on them. The next thing I removed was the servo which like the pedal box seemed to be stuck to the bulkhead. When I removed the carb. I noticed that the metal plate, that splits the fuel flow to each bank of cylinders and sits on the spacer between the carb. and manifold, was missing 2 of it’s 3 screws which is a bit worrying as I presume they have disappeared into the engine. The 3^rd screw was also very loose. When I put it back I will be putting them back with some Loctite. The next problem I came across was removing the exhaust from the manifold down pipes as they were stuck fast. In the end I left them attached and just undid the manifolds from the engine so that the engine could be lifted out and they could be removed later. I did discover where the blowing from the exhaust was coming from as one of the gaskets was missing from between the manifold and the head. The next pig of a job was removing the starter motor which in the end I just undid and left until the engine was out. I then hired an engine crane and lifted out the engine, without the gearbox as it is heavy enough on it’s own, and it came out without any problems. The engine is very heavy and not something you want to drop on your foot and therefore worth hiring a crane for.

Body sitting on "table"

I then decided to make a "Table" to rest the body on so as to enable the body to be stored in the single garage on the "Table" with the chassis fitting underneath. I made this out of a sheet of 8' x 4' OSB board on a frame of 3" x 2". I made it high enough to get the chassis with the wheels attached underneath and the body on top without touching the garage roof. I wanted to store it inside as I stored the Scimitar body outside when I restored that and despite all my efforts it ended up quite wet with condensation etc. and it took ages to dry out. I ended up with a bit of osmosis on it and so the paint has lifted in a few places.

November 2001

I left the doors on the car so that when the body was lifted they would help the body stop flexing in the middle by giving the sides more strength. I undid the bolts that hold the body to the chassis, 2 in each foot well, 4 where the seat belts fix to the floor, 2 where the seat belts mount to brackets in the rear arches (I also removed the seat belt mounting brackets from where they attach to the chassis behind the rear shock absorber) and 2 in front of the petrol tank. They all undid fairly easily. I then invited my brother-in-law Graham and my nephew Tom round to help with the lifting off of the body. Tony Hall, who is restoring his M, suggested I disconnect the handbrake so that it could be moved to a vertical position prior to body removal as you have to lift the back of the car up and then back (you can rest it on the chassis tube that runs across the back behind the rear of the seats) as the front can't be lifted vertically because the foot well flares out into the chassis where the chassis widens to fit round the engine. With the back of the car resting on the rear chassis tube the front can then be lifted up vertically and moved to it's storage location. The chassis is in much better condition than I had expected with the only real problem being the front outriggers which have been recently patched (not very well) and still have holes in them even after the patching. The back of the chassis, where the body rests on it and is cushioned with some felt from new, showed hardly any sign of rust and has most of the original paint which I was pleased about. The plates that the body fixes to had a lot of mud on them but they aren't too badly rusted.

I have also removed the prop. shaft and gearbox. I did find 2 of the 4 gearbox mounting bolts to the chassis had dropped out and were missing and one of the others was very loose so I will I replace them with some lock nuts on reassembly. The front U/J on the prop is extremely stiff and notchy so I will replace that too. There was a small screw in each yolk of the U/J's that you can remove and replace with a grease nipple so that grease can be pumped in. By the amount of grease that I managed to pump in I don't think they could have had much left. When I removed the handbrake I could see that the rod that goes back from the handbrake lever to the adjusters had been rubbing on something and was worn over halfway through. I shall have to build this up with some weld and try and work out what it has been rubbing against. The rear copper brake pipes seem OK so they will probably be reused like the front. I have also started scraping off lots of oil and mud from the chassis around the diff. The rear of the chassis seems to be in good condition with most of the original paint still in tact and just some minor rust pitting in places probably helped by the thick coating of oil. The diff oil breather is blocked (in fact I could hardly see it for mud and oil) so this is probably why there is so much oil around the rear of the chassis.

I have removed all the brake lines. I have 2 front lines coming from the master cylinder for each front brake and the one for the rear goes from the master cylinder down to the chassis and along to the 3 way connector at the back. Tony Hall has a different setup on his 3000M He has two coming from the master cylinder down to a five way connecter mounted on the chassis just in front of the engine. One then comes out to each of the front wheels, and then one goes to the back to a three way connecter (T piece) for each of the rears.

I have now removed rear suspension units. I supported the rear of the chassis on axle stands and removed the wheels. I then undid the 4 bolts from the drive shaft to the diff. and removed the shock absorber. Next to be undone were the 4 bolts that hold the suspension arms to the chassis. With these all removed the hole unit can be removed in one piece. I have put these to one side and will be working on them at a later date as I want to concentrate on repairing the chassis first.

To remove the diff, assembly I first dismantled the cradle on top of the diff. (quite straight forward) then undid the 2 bolts that hold it to the chassis at the bottom rear. It was then just a case of lifting the diff. unit out of the top of the chassis. I found this a bit awkward as it was extremely heavy and awkward. Again this has been put to one side. The chassis is still quite easily moved by lifting the rear of the chassis as it still has it's front wheels attached. The only real problem I am finding at the moment is finding space to store everything.

I have now removed the steering rack by firstly undoing the trackrod end ball joints and then undoing the 2 u-clamps holding the rack to the chassis. The rack and the trackrod ends all look very recent so a part from a lick of paint they should be able to go straight back on. Next to come off was Anti-Roll bar. First remove the nuts from the wishbones and then undo the 2 U-Clamps on the chassis. You can then pull it off. I have found that the bushes at the ends of the bar have both totally disintegrated and the 2 rubber mountings where the U-Clamps hold it to the chassis have gone very soft with oil contamination so these will need to be added to the shopping list. I then removed the front suspension by firstly removing the shock absorbers, you can only remove these after the anti-roll bar has bee removed, and then removing one side at a time as a unit by undoing the wishbones where they bolt to the chassis. The next stage is to replace the front outriggers, as the chassis is now stripped of everything, and then clean and paint the chassis. I have left the suspension as complete units so that when I come to refurbish them I won't forget how many spacers etc. go in which position.

I have now had a chance to remove some of the mud and rust from the front body mountings and sill tubes. This has revealed that the sill tubes both have large holes where they join the body mounting plates and the drivers side tube has a 4 inch long split in it. It looks as though I will have a lot more cutting and welding to do than I first thought.

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