It's all Horneys fault .... dog with two tails.

[thruxton]

Hello all.
About two years ago Horney kindly let me sit in his MK3 2.0 Sport.
As I settled in I though, hmmm, I like this, it's a very nice place to be.

Well life got in the way and time passed.
I would occasionally look at the price of MK3 2.0 Sports and think well ok one day.
But I would want a bright red one anyway.

Well that day has arrived, yesterday in fact.
Now before I go on I have to tell you that I was a total MK2/2.5 1.8
fan. I still am in some ways.
And for that reason I had thought long and hard about what to do with my lovely MK2.

Then wham!
A very underwhelming, boring advert came my way.
It just blandly told me about a red MK3 2.0 Sport with a long MOT having done 99,000 miles and showed some very ho hum pictures of the car.

It didn't tell me that it was a one owner from new fully documented and serviced car, in beautiful condition inside and out with a very long MOT, no.
Anyway I bought, "stole" it, for £2150.00 ..... yes I did!

So if any of you are sitting on the fence about going to a MK3 from a MK2 I can tell you this..... DO IT!

What a car, what a car!
Part of my 400+ mile journey home took me over many miles of the Pennine Moors. Holy cow. What an amazing journey.
I screamed over the moors. Huge drops to the sides of the roads, undulating surfaces, cattle grids and rain, oh and throw in some sheep and lambs, lots of them. I missed them all by the way.
It was getting dark and I saw about 5 other cars during my entire thrash, all going the other way. White knuckles, yes.
This car just eggs you on and on..... the speed was insane.

(Now if anyone tells you it's a tarts car just tell them to sod off!
There is NO WAY my TVR Tuscan Speed Six could have got close to my rear bumper.)

Then many many miles of motorway driving.
This is a proper grown up car. It feels big and strong and stable and fast. It's bloody lovely.

Well that's it, so if you are thinking about it, just do it. You will not look back.

Regards.
Rich.


Sent from my iPad

[atlex]

ouch re: tuscan comparison. Glad you're happy Thruxton.

BTW have you seen this teardroppy hardtop ? www.instagram.com/vazz_corp/

[wannabe]

Nice

Will you be modding it??

[thruxton]

Hi Atlex.
Now you show me, now you show me.
Very nice.

I bought the Tuscan because it looked FAB.
Actually the press release car as it goes.
But it's a crap sports car.
It handels appalling with chronic to undrivable bump steer.
At 100mph+ your at its mercy as to where your going, tram lining and bump steer.
Latter "almost" sorted on the Sagaris.
It smells of fibreglass and the targa top leaks like a sieve.
It eats fuel like nothing else I've ever driven, save maybe my E-type back in 1973.

Yep it's a crap car, but *uck, does it looks the dogs and sounds like an F1 car at full chap, single plane crank you see and it spits fire on the overrun like a dragon.

Modifying it, yes!
MeisterR
Skuzzle 220Bhp mods.
Some farkin BRAKES!!
And some serious tyres.

But that's it.

Regards.
Rich.

[wannabe]

Tuscan sounds awesome in a 'this might be my last day on earth but it will be a good one' kind of way lol

May 29, 2019 15:22:39 GMT thruxton said:

It handels appalling with chronic to undrivable bump steer.
At 100mph+ your at its mercy as to where your going, tram lining and bump steer.

Are these issues potentially sorted with a full geo setup on Hunter laser alignment equipment or similar, with the bump steer fixable by lifting the rack a bit??

[Horney]

Glad to have been of service!

[thruxton]

Hi there Wannabe.
Problem with the Tuscan, well one of them, is that TVR screwed up royal on the steering geometry with regard to the steering racks position on the chassis rails and the angle of the track rods to the hubs in their relationship to the road surface.
The MK2 Tuscan was better than the MK1.

On the Sagaris this is addressed in part with the repositioning of the above. Chassis position and steering arm rework.
The new style arms can be retro fitted to the Tuscan but that is only part of the problem. I does help though.

Truth is they just don't handle well, or even ok.

Rich.

[Zed.]

May 29, 2019 20:59:02 GMT thruxton said:

Hi there Wannabe.
Problem with the Tuscan, well one of them, is that TVR screwed up royal on the steering geometry with regard to the steering racks position on the chassis rails and the angle of the track rods to the hubs in their relationship to the road surface.
The MK2 Tuscan was better than the MK1.

On the Sagaris this is addressed in part with the repositioning of the above. Chassis position and steering arm rework.
The new style arms can be retro fitted to the Tuscan but that is only part of the problem. I does help though.

Truth is they just don't handle well, or even ok.

Rich.

A true British sports car doesn’t need to handle or drive nicely, look at the historical offerings 
ive a ‘65 midget (in bits) & that’s ‘fun’ but a ‘partsbin-special’ so sorta works by fluke not design   (Was designed by committee & they’d obviously never driven fast!)

Rich.

[Vindi (Russell)]

What's the progress on this one? I've potentially got an NC on the way, so interested in what I need to do to it!

Russell

[thruxton]

Hi Russell.
I've done a bit of almost double posting this morning...
Oooops!

Ok, so here's the plan.

I'm so impressed with my MK3 2.0L Sport.
It's such a great car and really is also a daily-driver.

I was forced into getting new tyres.
I posted about it on our site here.
This has improved it a huge amount. Oh, I also replaced the rear drop links to the ARB at the same time.

Back to the PLAN.

Early next year I'm going to sell this MK3.
WHAT!?
Yes.
But I'm going to buy a newer MK 3 2.0L Sport.
A post 2009 one and with PRHT.

The post 2009 ones have a good few upgrades, I'll come onto those in a while.
I've also driven the PRHT version now, yum yum. This IS a daily-driver.
I'll want it in true red,of course.
I just saw the exact car I wanted on e-bay for £6000. A steal I regard that as.
I missed it, it was sold before I could sort things out. No problem, they do come up all the time.

Now I've done lots of reading and seen lots of cars since getting my Sport.
And the best thing is I've spoken at great length with a chap called ....

Steve Whitson
Of SW Motorsport Performance.

Now Steve has a 300BHp and 300Ft/Lbs of torque Borg Warner forced induction turbo MK 3.
This is all on STANDARD engine components.

A terrific write up about it lead me to Steve.
I'll find the link.

Long story short.
I'M HAVING ONE!

It has to be based on the 2.0L post 2009 engine as it has better crankshaft and a few other bits in it.
Also the 2009 car is nicer .

So that's he plan.
Regards.
Rich.

[thruxton]

Plan part 2.

Steve has also developed a big brake kit for the MK3, based on off the shelf components.

I'm looking at various front end improvements, Aero that is.

Regards.
Rich.

[thruxton]

Early run of Steves 2.0L.
it now runs at 330/330.

Regards.
Rich.