Another TVR 2500M Restoration thread

I'll have to look in to that. I agree with you, a Ford engine fits the spirit, but so far they have all been too heavy when I've done the research. Had not considered the V6 though. 

That is a beast of an engine. I rode in a 13 mustang on track with that engine and I was amazed. Never would have believed it only had 6 cylinders. However, it's dohc. Even being a V6, even though I can't find an actual weight, I would wager it is just as heavy as an aluminum pushrod v8. 

Biggest struggle with the rover so far is the intake manifold. There are very few options and the manifold sticks up very high. I am not going to cut the hood of the tvr so that's a challenge. Could end up needing to build a custom manifold. Maybe not worth it. 

In reply to CoolHandMoss :

10 second search for Cyclone weight gives this.  Looks like they're offered as crate motors over in England.  Interesting! So it's saying 170 kg or 375 lb.  Not clear on what that weight includes.

It really is a pretty sweet engine!  Sort of the practical successor to the 4.6 mod motor, even though it's short a couple cylinders.

There's a guy on the forum here putting one in a classic Mustang.  He might have a weight listed somewhere. 

I've driven an MGB with a 3.9l Rover V8 and it was quick.  Even a stock TR8 has gobs of torque.  Maybe it's short enough and would be far back enough to fit, but I imagine things would be tight.  I like Scott's idea.  That would be more reliable than the Rover engine.

375 isn't bad. The engine is also available with a decent transmission too. Could save a lot of trouble. Just spent two entire days researching rovers and now to start researching this! I even have a line on a 4.0 fairly local to me for a decent price. 

What made you pick the 2.0 over the 3.7 Scott?

CoolHandMoss said:

What made you pick the 2.0 over the 3.7 Scott?

So that I can put the giant factory graphics on the side of my car that say "TURBO"!

(Only sort of kidding)

I was afraid of the controls aspect.  At the time there was a control pack available for the 2.0 EB.  The whole saga is in my thread.

Now I know more, and I think you could just send off the ECU to be modified.

I know you could use a Mustang Getrag 6 speed with the 3.7.  That's certainly the easy button / cheap option.

The big money way would be with a Tremec T56 or the new TKX 5 speed.  Quick Time has a bell-housing available.  The gearing is actually pretty nice with a TKX.  I could envision dropping one of those in down the road.

Surprisingly, the getrag 6 speed, which has earned Ford a class action lawsuit, appears that it would cost at least double what the engine would! Not out of the question but I'm surprised people are asking so much for them. I'm liking this option. Thanks for putting it out there. Would be cool to have a Ford V6 in the spirit of the 3000m

In reply to CoolHandMoss :

How much are you seeing them go for?  I bought one of the EB versions a couple years ago for about $1K.  Not using right now, but it's there if I need it I guess.  I'd sell it if someone asked.

If the Getrag is super expensive then you could justify going for a TKX instead.  That would be the no-compromises way of going.

Or see if there's a crashed auction car that you could buy.  Get all the powertrain stuff out of it and sell of any good parts to defray the cost.

I am seeing the 3.7 engines go for 600-1000 shipped but the transmissions more like 1500-2000. I'm not going to put my eggs in this basket until I find that someone has figured out megasquirt or some kind of fuel management on a swap. I see the projects in progress and maybe it has been done but I have not found much info on it yet. Once that bit is out of the way I'll snatch an engine up and figure out the transmission matter. 

In reply to CoolHandMoss :

In his thread, Wicked93GS give an engine weight of 270 lb for that 3.7.  That's pretty dang light.

Yeah it really is. Hard to beat that power to weight. I am seriously liking the idea. Looks like several people are close to getting the engine to run on megasquirt or otherwise in another car but have not quite reached success. Looking forward to the results. Great suggestion I do appreciate it. 

Tuesday is getting so close. Cannot wait to get the car in my garage and start making real progress. 

Little bit of progress today. The rear glass had fallen down inside the car so I wanted to get it out before having the car moved home. That went well. No unseen breakages discovered, no breakages incurred, glass is not nearly as heavy as I imagined. It's safely in the garage at the moment. Tomorrow I make a road trip to go get the title and on the way home I'll try to find a box that I can crate the glass up in. I am short on good safe places to properly store it so I am just going to thoroughly package it up in a firmly assembled box and put it either behind a dresser or under the guest bed. With enough cushion of course that weight will be spread out well. 

Still hoping to get the car brought home Tuesday or Wednesday. Going back to work soon is getting in my way though...

Just seeing this but awesome to have another TVR build going. They're starting to look downright common! Where's this one located if you don't mind?

ViperT4 said:

Just seeing this but awesome to have another TVR build going. They're starting to look downright common!

I know!  I love seeing all the builds.  I guess TVR is the new answer!

I'm in Virginia, about an hour east of Richmond. 

I have a neighbor who has a TVR 2500 with a Rover V8, I think it's a 3.9.  I'll ask him if I can find out the details of motor mounts, manifold and carburation if that would be of interest to you. It's a pretty tight squeeze if I remember correctly. 

That would be excellent. It would be great to hear from someone that has done it. The manifold height seems to be a concern. 

Also, 2791TM. I had been under the impression that it was a very early 1972, but not the case. Early-mid production 1974. 

I won't see my neighbor for about a week, but when I do I'll see if I can snag details and photos & report back. 

CoolHandMoss said:

Also, 2791TM. I had been under the impression that it was a very early 1972, but not the case. Early-mid production 1974. 

Mine is s/n 2706TM, and it's a 1973 build.

Big day today. Got the car moved home. I didn't want to risk damaging the wheels by dragging them with tires falling off them so I got some used tires put on a set of tr6 wheels my dad had laying around and swapped those on. I had nightmares leading up to this about starting to jack the car up and having the jack just punch straight through the frame and body and everything or about a suspension member on the other side breaking or something. I hadn't gotten to inspect the frame but so thoroughly so basically I was worried it might be a lot worse than I thought. No such misfortunes though. Lug nuts all broke loose easily, wheels all spun fine thanks to someone taking all the brake pads out before it was parked. Got it on the truck and rolled in to my garage with no incident. Just spent a couple hours pulling all the junk out of it. Looks like the original owner was gearing up for somewhat of a restoration before it got put in to long term storage. Found some new carpet and weather stripping, some maybe useable and some definitely not. Even a new rear glass rubber that seems to be correct and in good condition. New mirrors, window weather stripping. Freshly chromed bumpers. Lots of new brake parts. Probably won't be using any of those. Lots of rodent signs throughout the car. Spent quite a while vacuuming up that mess. Most surprises have been good so far. Nothing has been worse than expected. Pretty sure both the engine and transmission are incapable of even minor use without complete rebuilds, which was expected. Worst part so far is that the opening for the sunroof appears to be damaged. It kind of curls down, particularly in one corner. As though maybe something big and flat had been set on top of it long term. That just means more faring when I put a plug in that sunroof opening to make it a slick top. So I got all the junk and spare parts out. Pulled the seats and most of the carpet out. Took a ton of 'before'/documentation pictures to help down the road, then played a little game called pb-blaster everything! Which got me thinking, what chemicals/substances does one need to avoid getting on the fiberglass? 

I also verified for sure that absolutely every single bit of paint is going to have to come off before painting based on the fact that even purple power was causing green to come off on a paper towel as I tried to wipe off a thick layer of bat poo coating the roof. Oh well. Wouldn't have left much anyway. 

So am i correct in thinking this isn't how it should look where the hinges attach to the bonnet? They aren't disconnected, there is no relative movement but it certainly looks like they have come off. Repair needed?

Door seal weatherstripping correct? 

And seriously, lug nuts? Can't imagine why someone would have thought to do that. I'm not even sure if they are serving any purpose where they are!

Oh man, dark satin green looks AMAZING 

In reply to CoolHandMoss :

More importantly did you sit in it and make voom voom noises?

That's where the spare tire mounts.  Doesn't  everyone put their spare tire over the radiator?

That looks like a good project.