My 1973 TVR 2500M : Renew and Restomod

After the nefarious Joe Gearin threw this car in my inbox one Feb morning:

https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/grm/you-need-this-blown-tvr/136789/page1/

I bought it site-unseen and had it shipped from Daytona to Denver.

https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/grm/im-buying-a-tvr-and-its-all-joe-gearins-fault/137361/page1/

The process of sending a cashier's check by mail and then waiting for the title was arduous enough.  Waiting for the trucker - who got fired as a cable-guy for being too tardy - was excruciating.

So much so, I had to cut down the dying apple tree in my backyard to use up the excess energy.  Friday afternoon.

Later Friday afternoon:

Not to slow down in my manic puking of energy, the garage had to be organized.  You see, I have a machine tool habit.  That sprawls.  I had to make room for a car in this:

After throwing a ton of stuff away, hitting the scrap yard, and going to Goodwill many times, I ended up with this:

Progress.

Finally, at 7:00 Saturday night, and about a day and a half late - the trucker rolled in and my lovely new toy had arrived!  It's actually even cooler in person than in pictures.  I just love it!

Sunday, my 11 y/o daughter and I did a massive wash/vacuum/purge-of-nasty-old-seat-foam.  Then my neighbors appeared as if by magic, and we took off the hood and rolled her into the garage.  Let the games begin!

Congrats. The car is awesome!

Subscribing for your writing style. I dig it.

Fantastic! Looking forward to watching this unfold. Not just a little jealous.

Nice! I'm glad that ended up here. I don't think we have an active TVR. 

next to MGB/GT's these are my next best favorites...yeah and it ain't another 'answer' 

Fantastic! Any direction you take it will be cool. Trevor Wilkinson would be proud.

Wonderful! Love this thread already. 

Any photos of the front end? 

I used to live in Blackpool UK where the TVR factory was, I got to visit there a few times and knew and eventually worked in the automotive business with a few people who used to work there from the 90s until the end. 

They had some great stories to tell of working on the “production line” and “passing” emissions tests witnessed by the government. 

The cars (Tuscans and chimeras) used to get road tested right by my house, on a 55mph stretch of road, probably doing at least twice that speed.

Awesome! Can't wait to see this progress!

Dusterbd13 said:

Subscribing for your writing style. I dig it.

Thanks!  I'll do my best to write things worth reading!

Chappers said:

Any photos of the front end?

Front end:No, I don't have a good pic of the front end yet.  I'll take one tomorrow.  The layout is super cool.

Engine ponderings:

I've been texting with the PO - nice guy who really didn't want to sell.  He desperately wants me to keep the old TR6 engine.  He totally built it with all the race goodies and wants to see it come to life again.  I understand the impulse.

However...

All this work was done back in the 90's, so it's not exactly fresh engine work.

He claims that the crank needs bearings and the journals "need a polish".  Who knows what that means?

He had the T4 turbo pulling thru a single SU carb and straight into the engine.  No intercooler or anything.  I WILL NOT RUN ANOTHER SU CARB!  On my 68 Spitfire I putzed with the dual SU setup forever, and at best got it running ok.  My neighbor was over and was describing helping a friend tune an old Austin-Healey, and the whole nightmare routine came rushing back to me.  (Lift the needle piston 1/8" and if the engine speeds up...)  Screw that.

I was reading a book on TVR the other day, and there was an interview with Martin Lilley - the owner of TVR during the Late 60's and 70's.  Very interesting, and surprising he's still alive and well at 90-something.  He was a huge proponent of Ford engines back then, and only used the TR6 engine because it didn't need emissions testing.  He said that he thought it made a fine boat anchor!

So it's going to get a 2.0 Ecoboost.  I'm just going to say that.  And I'm saying it on the internet, so therefore it's true. 

Found a great forum build this morning here:

https://www.mgexp.com/phorum/read.php?40,3462185

This swap is definitely doable, and I have the advantage that I can take the body off my car!

ah.........   miss mine.... and I only had it for a week (a story I may tell)

I like the Eco-boost idea...  I always wanted to run a 4AGE... but that is me 

watching..........

Subscribing.... so cool!

Awesome car! It even looks cool with the hood off. The 2.0 ecoboost is a great choice. 275hp should be bonkers in that car. Whatever you do, it'll be an unusual car for sure.

What is in there is cool and creative and blowzed up.

blowzed up for a reason that you don't see yet.... First rebuild will lead you in the direction of why it got blowzed up.

Second will take you to the next thing weakest link. And so on...

Next owner would engine swap it!

I endorse the Ecoboost solution as a way of making the car relevant to our times.

How far down are you going to tear the car? You mention body  comes off, so frame-up resto or just swap and fix what needs fixing?

Pete

I like where this is going. Cant wait to see it come to life

Here's the front end, with it's low but incredibly thick radiator.  The oil cooler was mounted in the nose.  I like the dual oil filter setup that goes with it.  The factory spare tire space will likely become intercooler space, since my AAA membership is current.  Groovy how he painted the water pump pulley.  I may have to replicate that one!

I've been researching Ecoboost 2.0 swaps some more.  Those MG guys are having fits with turbo plumbing.  The Mustang's 2.3 is much more logically laid out for N/S installation (big surprise there...).  They cost about twice as much as the 2.0 from the scrappers.  And, boy will looking at scrap yard pictures make you scared to get on the road!  Some of those cars have been hit SO HARD!

Probably I'll end up doing a full frame-up.  I want to go thru everything and make sure it's safe and strong.  I'm in no hurry.

Very cool! Good luck with this, I'll be watching for sure-

More photos please!

damen

Just spoke with a guy at Sports-Car Craftsmen, a local British car shop, about the engine.  He didn't quite know what to make of a turbo TR6 engine pushing 12 psi on pump gas.  Certainly not something he sees day to day!

He said they would treat the engine as a core and expect it would need everything done, and gave me a budgetary higher than what I paid for the whole car.  And that was a stock rebuild, not even getting in to what would be needed for a turbo application.

He was helpful in telling me values for a rebuildable motor and for the TR4 trans/overdrive.  Evidently the overdrive is the valuable object.

I said I was leaning toward a new driveline, and he agreed that as long as it was reasonable and "tasteful" it would likely not hurt the value at all.  And the 5 spd or 6 spd trans would make for a much more enjoyable experience.  Informative discussion.

The only way I would do a TR6 engine would be with a Moss Supercharger. You will spend a ton of money on building the TR motor to handle the boost and then $$$$ on the Moss Supercharger, so an engine swap is a realistic alternative, especially if you can do most of the work. Tried and true engine swaps are Ford V8's,  but I do love the idea of a modern engine like the Ecoboost in a car like this. I can't really imagine that the Ecoboost is any larger than the long TR6 motor. IMHO the Ford 2.3 is old school tech, you will have much more power and reliability with the Ecoboost as it easily makes 250HP, verse having to push the 2.3 to do the same. 

In reply to dherr :

Not the old school 2.3 from the Fox-body, the new Ecoboost 2.3 from the 2015+ Mustangs.  With the matching transmission would be the way to go.

The Ecoboost engines are significantly shorter than the TR6 engine - like 5".  The 2.0 and the 2.3 are roughly similar in size, though their accessories and turbos stick out in different ways.

I'm still a bit intrigued by the 3.7 V6 from the newer Mustangs, but haven't found much swap info on them yet.  Seems they're not real popular.  Hunting...  Wasting time...

Okay, that is a much better alternative! Please do the Mustang 2.3 turbo. I am not familiar with the 3.7 V6. So with these new Ecoboost engines, what do you do for a ECU, or does Ford have ECU's available for street rods, like GM does for their engines?