New TF

Some of the long time guys in here may have noticed I have been off the grid for a bit...well, the bad news is my beloved TF 160 is no more, the much loved Shadow bit the dust in February, thanks to some nasty sheet ice on untreated roads not far from where I live....I was gutted to say the least.. but the good news is I have a new TF which for the last couple of months I have been working on. Still a bit of a way to go and its in the bodyshop next month to get the exterior tip top. Here is some of the stuff I have been up to.

First a lament for Shadow....



My New TF is a Firefrost Spark with reasonable low mileage, needs a bit doing to it, but being a sound car underneath is what sold it to me....It came with a red soft top, too much red for me, so replaced it with the black soft top from Shadow.



I also did not like this wood finish to the steering wheel, console and doors, original Sparks had silver, so I painted them X-Power grey, which I thought may look similar but different...but it was a bit too dark, so I changed the colour to Firefrost red, and its so much better.



Next was the nasty smell of fuel in the cabin...the fuel pump is always suspect in these instances, and so it was to be, the plug and socket connector on top of the pump had burnt up, allowing the pin on the electrical connector to melt away inside its sealed plastic housing, allowing the vapour fumes to seep out and into the car, scary really to think a loose electrical connector is glowing warm over petrol fumes! A new pump and seal duly fitted and problem solved...those pumps can be a bit tricky to seat down...my tip if changing one is to get a mate to help push down while you screw the lock ring up!



Next up, I new the car still had the original steel underfloor pipes on the coolant system...They have to be sorted, but when I saw the bodged repair on them, plastic metal on one and bitumen tape on the other, then the job became a priority...so new stainless pipes fitted along with a new expansion tank, since the old one had a faulty sensor in the tank (Magnet missing from float) and of course new coolant.



Now for the brakes...I like nice calipers, so I fitted a spare set of refurbished front 4 pots and some brand new rears, with new Pagid coated discs, pads and a full coolant change..Oh and new stainless steel braided hoses...





While the brake fluid was out of the system, I decided to refurb the brake servo, so it was cleaned up, de-rusted and repainted. I also fitted a heavy duty brace to the bracket courtesy of MGFnTFbitz.



Again while the brake fluid is out, it gave me chance to remove the ABS modulator and repaint the tray it sits on, also I fitted a new powder coated bracket. More work under the bonnet to come later in the year!



With a bit more hard work hopefully the new TF will soon be up to the standard of my previous one....still a bit of a way to go yet though...

Sundance