Restoration of a 1984 280i "Barn Find" - Part 6
<< part 1 - part 2 - part 3 - part 4 - part 5 >>part 6
In my last report, it was April 2008 and I had taken the "barn find" 280i to its first show at Shelton Vineyards in Dobson, NC. Despite a minor "overheating" problem that was quickly rectified, it was a reasonably uneventful outing that brought lots of positive comments on the car.
Next, in early June 2008, I took the 280i to the annual VIR Gold Cup vintage race weekend at Virginia International Raceway near Danville, VA. Part of the weekend includes a car show and I had entered the "barn find" 280i in the show. What we had not fully comprehended was the incredible heat and humidity that would take over the southside Virginia area that weekend. On Saturday, it hit a reported 107 degrees and I think we felt every one of those 107 degrees. At the conclusion of the car show, the participants were given the opportunity to get their cars out on the track for some seat time. They let us use the shorter 1.1 mile Patriot Course. This course is a tighter, twisty course set amid the main 3.27 mile road course at VIR. Several of us from the TVR ranks lined up to take our laps. I was the first out onto the track behind the pace car and I was a little tentative at first since this was the first real outing for the '84.
I followed the pace car which slowly picked up speed. The 280i felt great through the corners, and the throaty exhaust made a lovely sound going up through and back down through the gears. Lap after lap the car performed beautifully and not once did it overheat, running instead at a consistent 95 degrees Celsius. I could not have been happier with how the car performed.
After several laps, our group was waved in so another group could get their laps in. Once all the various groups had had their turn, those of us who wished to were permitted to go out again for more laps. Again, the TVR performed very nicely, the suspension behaving very well and the tires sticking quite nicely. Despite a slightly questionable clutch, the car never gave a problem and the track outing for the day was a success in my opinion.
From the on, the "barn find" took up residence beside its 1987 280i sibling in the garage until the 1987 found a home with a new owner in east Tennessee in early October 2008. Shortly thereafter, the 84's clutch began acting up some more so it went back to the Sportscar Clinic to have a new clutch assembly installed. One nice thing about doing a clutch job is that you don't have to pull the engine to do it. Instead, by dropping the driveshaft, you can then loosen the bolts holding the transmission to the bellhousing, remove the shifter, and slide the transmission back in the frame tunnel, which gives you room to then remove the bellhousing to change the clutch assembly. That saved a lot of time and money.
But, of course, considering all the other oddities we had encountered in the process of getting this car back on the road over the past year, a couple of strange things were discovered in the process. Once the bellhousing was off, some obvious wear was detected inside. Where the clutch release fork pivots at a pin inside the bellhousing, there was quite a bit of wear both on the release fork as well as at the contact point on the bellhousing. The shop was able to do some fabrication to make the release fork and the contact point in the bellhousing as good as new. What they also found amidst all the years of built up gunk inside a corner of the bellhousing, was a somewhat battered piston from an old clutch slave cylinder. Apparently, at some point in the car's checkered past, a clutch slave cylinder disintegrated and the piston from it ended up inside the bellhousing where it bounced around for a while before settling in in a corner with some greasy residue where it would stay until being discovered during this clutch job.
While everything was apart, it was also determined that the rear main seal and the pilot bearing were in need of replacement. My mechanic was also nice enough to do some further cleaning and degreasing on the frame tubes along the area of the transmission while it was easier to access.
Unfortunately, part of the process included cutting the exhaust pipe for better access, so once everything was back together, the car had to go back to the exhaust shop to have the pipe re-welded. On the way back from the exhaust shop, the mechanic realized the transmission was grinding going into each gear. So, they worked on it some more and finally, by adding a spring to the clutch slave cylinder to add some more pressure, it relieved the grinding which my mechanic says will take care of itself as the clutch gets a little more wear on it.
Next, the "barn find" 280i will go back to Bud Brusseau at Classic Cars in Christiansburg, VA for the remaining cosmetic work to be completed. This will include filling in the holes in the sides of the front fenders where the original ungainly Federal bumpers were anchored; feathering in some paint to blend in with the original white paint where there are chips, scratches, etc, and also installing new European taillamp clusters in the rear to replace the original smaller Federal units.
So, we are about 16 months into this project now and I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. My next, and final report, will be after the cosmetic work has been completed. In the meantime, I'll continue to drive the 280i at every opportunity to enjoy it as it is meant to be enjoyed.
Marshall Moore
