Page last updated 15 August, 2010
TVR M Series Owner's Diary
The day to day trials & tribulations of a 3000M owner - guest writer Mike Kelly
ALL TANKED UP

TVR 3000m, unfortunate Brown, Tan Vinyl Roof, 126,000 Miles.

I use the car as my everyday transport, (a great achievement in its own right)
And over the previous couple of weeks I'd begun to notice a slight 'lumpiness' every once in a while, coupled with that 'nearly stalling' sensation.
Right, time to clean-out the carb.
Off with the air filter (K&N of course)
I then took off the top of the carb and I almost doubted my own eyes!
There was about a quarter of an inch of super fine red dust in the bottom of the carb and all the internal working bits were coated with it. It's a wonder the car even ran at all. I cleaned out as much as I could and phoned Andy, my local mechanic. He was very obliging and soon had it blown clean with his air-line. Assembled the carb, refitted the air filter and I was on my way. Conclusion? There must be rust in the tank.
Solution? Either clean out the tank, or get a new one.
Bob, a mate of mine who loves 'M's had a second hand one out of a turbo someone was now racing. I arranged for him to bring it the next day (Sunday).
Now Bob can take out and re-fit the back window in one hour flat, so I wasn't surprised to find that after a half hour had passed, the rear screen and the old tank were out. Our suspicions were confirmed. It was covered in rust at the bottom and there was a strong smell of petrol. When we emptied the tank it was full of rust and the very fine particles had even managed to get through the primary filter, an in-line filter and the one in the petrol pump! Bob reckoned the rear screen had a slight leak and over the years water had dripped down onto the tank and settled on the underside. The top of the tank was solid shiny galvanised steel; the underside was like a brown lace doily! Anyway, we fitted the new tank and within an hour the screen was back in, with an extra generous coating of sealant.
Five days later the symptoms were back! Difficult starting, nearly stalling and running like a bag of spanners. I took it to Andy's; he examined the carb, full of rust again!
To top it all he concluded that after 27 years, it was time for a new carb as the recent 'rust-running' episode had acted like grinding paste on the needles and valves and enlarged the bores so badly that any further adjustment was impossible. I reluctantly agreed and he ordered a new carb (£264!) I struggled on with the car for the three days it took for the carb to arrive, cleaning it out every morning and evening. Andy reckoned the fuel lines and filters were probably still full of rust and advised me to change the lot when the carb arrived, I also bought a new petrol pump, just to be sure.
Carburettor day finally arrived and, two hours later, she was purring like a kitten.
New tank, pump, carburettor, fuel lines and filters, what could possibly go wrong now? I thought.
Fuel gauge doesn't work.
I used a dipstick for a week until the new sender came and carried a spare gallon of juice, just in case. (The rheostat fine wire in the sender unit had snapped when we'd refitted it)
Typical, the only item we'd re-used had let us down.
Well, with that fitted and working, all thoughts of the previous week had disappeared.
Driving home from work one evening, she stalled on the busy dual carriageway. Just managed to coast to a halt in the lay-by. I was mystified. Tried to turn her over a few times. Nothing.
Checked the fuel with my aerial (dipstick) nearly a full tank. Now I'm getting worried about flattening the battery. I opened the bonnet and splashed a bit of fuel into the carb (I'd left the air filter off, meaning to replace it at the weekend) She fired up immediately. Bit of head scratching,
revved it a bit to make sure it wasn't just running on the bit of fuel I'd splashed in, closed the bonnet, the engine stalled!
When I opened the bonnet, I noticed that the two flaps on top of the carburettor throats (butterflies?) had snapped tight shut. These are usually open a good way. So that meant the engine was starved of air, not fuel. 'But how can that have happened?' I asked myself.
Very puzzling.
In situations like this I always think back to what I've done recently that could have caused the problem, retrace my steps.
I knew the fuel supply was ok, the only other change I'd made was to leave the air filter off…I wonder?… Sure enough, there were two square indentations in the under-bonnet insulation, just in line with the top of the carbs. This had obviously been sucked into the open carb throat, effectively sealing out any air! The top of the air filter usually keeps the insulation pressed up against the bonnet, and by leaving off the air filter, I'd allowed the insulation to drop down onto the carb. Refitted the air filter and she's run like a dream ever since.
Except one headlamp is really dim and the indicators don't work.
I believe it's called 'character'.

HOT AND BOTHERED

1976 TVR 3000m, reg. no. OMR 573R, Unfortunate brown, tan vinyl roof.

3 things I don't trust

1. The Government.
2. People doing 'Surveys'
3. My temperature gauge

For the purposes of this rant, I'll limit myself to the temperature gauge.
The reason I don't trust it is because it fluctuates like the Euro…it goes up and down like a bride's nightie!
I can be travelling for an hour, at a constant speed, in mild weather and it can show anything between 80-150 degrees on the dial.
It reads 'hot' at the traffic lights, then start to show 'cool'…then the fan kicks in!
Yet sometimes it can nearly be off the dial, bending the peg, about to hit meltdown and the fan remains mysteriously and ominously inactive.
Because of the dial's manic fluctuations, it has now taken on almost hypnotic qualities. I can't take my eyes off it; I look at it every couple of seconds.
Anyway, what it lacks in accuracy is made up for in part by its thermometric comedy value.
I checked with a few people and, to a man, they nodded wisely and said
'Electric is it? You don't want an electric one, you want a mechanical one.'
I eventually found out that 'mechanical' equates to 'capillary', so I went to the local spares shop and bought one. It's basically a temperature gauge with a long piece of spring-covered tubing and a metal 'bulb' on the end. The existing temp gauge just has a wire to the sender, which is screwed into the top of the engine, as I took out the old sender, it became obvious that the new one wasn't going to fit. It was thinner and twice as long.
Back to the shop, reluctant refund, replace old sender, remove old sender, cure leak with new gasket, re-replace old sender. Two hours passed, back to square one.
Determined to sort out the cooling problems I decided to tackle the trouble once-and-for-all.
I took out the spare wheel and re-located it behind the seat (in what I laughingly refer to as the boot) Because of the extra space released, I could now fit a couple of proper cooling fans to replace the tiny space saving four bladed effort. Down to the scrappers, I took off two Alfa Romeo electric fans and made a couple of brackets, wired them to a dash mounted switch, wired the switch to a warning light (so I could see when the fans were on) and Bob's your uncle!
I then re-wired the fans so that they 'blew' instead of 'sucked'
Robert is now indeed your very close relative!
I then resorted to drastic action, I cut two holes in the bonnet, cut two matching holes in the under bonnet blanket and fitted a pair of mini air vents. I must admit I was quite chuffed with myself and the vents looked really good.
Then the coup-de-grace, I poured in a bottle of 'Water-Wetter' (£16!) guaranteed to reduce temperatures by up to 20 degrees. (The car has recently had a new radiator and all new hoses)
I couldn't resist it any longer so, feeling a little smug, I took her for a test run.
Expecting polar temperatures and ice to be forming on the windscreen, I set off.
After ten minutes forcing myself not too look at the dial, I casually looked down.
Exactly the same.
Everything I'd done had had no effect whatsoever.
Anyone know where I can get a capillary temperature gauge?