TVR - Addressing the Heat Issue

Addressing the Heat Issue

Written by Darren Jones

Jan 17, 2014 at 04:59 PM A little shopping for some axle stands to supplement the 4 ramps, a good car jack, some rubber protective carpets and am ready to begin.  Car is at a good height to work on and first job is to get better access to the engine bay, so off should come the bonnet.  A quick search on PistonHeads.com for any gotchas reveals that if the bonnet hinges fail, it can be a real pain to fix.  So some ease it oil soak on the bolts first, some tape to mark the position and off it comes easily. The first job is going to be to inspect the exhaust catalytic converter and the precats in the manifold, so going to have to start removing that.  The Y piece is connected to the manifold by two V clamps, one for each side.  Removal of these is easy enough.  Again just a little ease it oil to free it up, undo one nut on each clamp, then a small tap with a persuader frees it up from the manifolds. Next step is to free the Y piece up from the other end of the exhaust.  Due to the limited space to move the Y piece you need to back the remaining part of the exhaust off.  This involves undoing a U clamp at the bottom of the Y piece, and a bolt holding the exhaust to the engine block.  The best access I found for doing this is by removing the front passenger side wheel.  Easy access. Then to allow the exhaust to move backwards you need to undo the bolts on the plate holding the exhaust in the middle of the car, and the anti-roll bar positioned just behind it. Y piece then comes off easy.  Pipe looks to be in good condition but  it is the catalytic converter inside that counts.  Using an inspection mirror mirror and a torch to check it looks ok but will need further checks. The precats however, easy to see these have failed. Left side. Right side. Manifolds will now need to come off completely and remove the rest of the precats.