tjs98jetta

Thanks for posting your experiences, Vanya. I started my Esprit up recently after a 4 month break, and saw the same oil smoke symptoms. Cleaned everywhere and couldn't see anything obvious, but suspected the lower cam cover, even though it had had a new seal early last year. No oil in spark plug holes (had seen this before). As you say, it went away and I haven't seen any obvious oil collecting, so hoping it's as you say. Will keep an eye on it, but doesn't seem as if it's going to be a real problem. Cheers, Trevor

Treated myself to a full carbon road bike last year. It helps me to keep up with the younger guys on the faster rides. These deep aero carbon rims with tubeless tires are good for a couple of mph above 20.

There are lots of VW diesel ECU upgrades out there. You can check out the VW Vortex forums, for example. I had my old Jetta TDI done (a 1.9 L TDI) and there was an immediate and very noticeable immediate increase in torque and power. Combined with some slightly larger injectors, you can really get a serious increase in power. The downside is increased emissions. You'll be making a bit more smoke under acceleration, for example. If the engine is otherwise standard, it's not too bad. In the USA, diesel emissions are not monitored in the annual inspection, at least not in most states. Maybe CA. So there is not a lot of downside. Trevor PS, It's not visible unless you hook up a monitor computer

That was an epic reverse lap! Not sure what conclusions can be drawn about the election here though...

Another successful fix, thanks to all of you. This forum is great. I finally got around to this as the temperature is reaching numbers that make it reasonable to work in my unheated garage. It took a while to get the thing out because the old rubber gasket was hardened and "stuck" to the metal casing. But a shot of penetrating oil and patience and it eventually moved. Then, getting the can off the head was also a pain. But the actual fix was easy, the magnet on the inside of the connection to the speedo cable had worked its way out slightly and just needed to be pushed back in and fixed in place with a couple of dabs of epoxy. All back together now and I drove the car for the first time since Christmas. I now have a working speedo again! Now on to half-a-dozen other minor things that need attention, but nothing that's going to stop me driving it as the weather improves...

Hi Andy, It's a dirty job on a VW TDI as well. I did it on my 1998 Jetta when it was about 10 years old. The intake manifold and more was caked up with oily soot. Due to the EGR settings. required to meet emissions. Lots of stuff to move then a whole series of inaccessible 6 mm allen head screws behind the engine. One time only. I reset the ECM, adjusting the amount of exhaust gas re-circulation in a way that was supposed to cut down on soot buildup. In New York at that time diesel cars were not subject to emissions tests after the first few years. Probably because there weren't too many sold. Anyway, didn't have any more problems with the EGR and sold the car about 3 years ago when rust started getting to the lower bodywork. Hope it's going well. Cheers, Trevor

Thanks Simon, I didn't see the link to the old thread before. Looks worth investigating a loose magnet before working on finding a replacement. It seems unlikely that the speedo cable suddenly developed large amounts of friction: one minute it was working fine, then it wasn't. Cheers, Trevor

Filip, Do you have any more details on this. The speedo needle on my car started behaving the same way yesterday. Looks like it's about to fall off the spindle on to the glass sometimes. The odometer seems to still be incrementing though. Trevor

Hi Bruce, Welcome to the forum. I'm out on Long Island with an Esprit. Hoping to get out in it tomorrow as the weather forecast looks great fro December! Cheers, Trevor

I often go the "British by the Sea" CT MG car club event. June 7th, 2015 . Great location and lots of pretty cars: http://ctmgclub.com/BBtS.html Trevor

I sourced a new one last year from a TVR parts supplier. They are quite easy to find and not expensive. Look at http://www.powersperformance.co.uk/store/search/mirror/ Trevor

Hi Steve, I had what sounds like a similar problem with one of mine and eventually took the bonnet (hood!) off to get more access to the pivot. Made a new part out of a piece of aluminium, epoxied it in with a couple of thin steel pins and it's lasted more than 5 years so far. As I recall, it was a bit fiddly handling the weight and size of the bonnet on my own, but no real problems. Trevor

Wow, it's hard to believe I have had my Esprit for about 8 of those years and all the help I've had from people here with advice and suggestions. Thanks Bibs for all your work on the forum and to everyone here for helping to make it such a great resource and entertaining site. Trevor

Happy Birthday Bibs! There are those of us out here who wish we were 40 again. :-) Cheers, Trevor

Darren, Thanks for all your excellent work on this topic, I've been following it closely. I'm definitely interested in buying one of the replacement switches if they become available. Cheers, Trevor

Thanks Travis, I'd pushed the ECU up out of the way, but access was still very tight. I'll have another go at the weekend... Cheers, Trevor

Going back to the fuel pump. I've had a replacement in my garage for a while and because the car hasn't been running as smoothly as it should, and not often getting above the mechanically limited 0.65 bar boost I thought I would do some spring maintenance. In fact the boost issue predates the roughness. So, I've replaced the plugs, (big improvement, the gaps on the old ones were way larger than they should be!), HT leads, and I thought I'd change the fuel pump and take out the pulsation damper. Things were going well until I came to disconnect the hose connectors above the fuel pump. These are the original ones with the hard plastic tubing. It's impossible to get enough wrench access to these connectors to undo them. Does anyone have any tricks or suggestions on this, or do I have to start disassembling the RHS bulkhead, airbox, etc to get more access to this thing? Any advice would be welcome. Cheers, Trevor

Happy birthday Andy! Hope you had a good one

I've had the EBC red pads for about 4 years. They take a bit of time to warm up in the cold winter weather. Work very well in the summer on roads, I've found. Haven't driven on the track. Depends a lot on how aggressive you drive, I think. Trevor

I found similar problems with mine when I tightened down the screws holding the mounts for the tongues on the vertical section of the front of the roof hard. They were rusty and I replaced them for cosmetic reasons. Then, the glass roof would not sit down properly into the front channel any more. Either don't tighten them down really hard or insert some appropriate, thin, spacing washers. I've not had any problems after fitting some split, anti-vibration, washers and not cranking down on the screws. Trevor

Interesting. I had been thinking along the lines of something attached to the lower rear frame with the bike across the back of the car and behind it. Yours would be far easier to put on and take off... Trevor

Add me too please!

I got a complete LHS (driver's side in the USA) unit from RaceTech TVR (www.racetechdirect.co.uk) for 80 pounds last year. This was a manually adjusted one, which is not directly applicable to the Esprit. However, if your electric mirror actuator still works, this is a fine solution because everything else is the same. Originally, I thought you needed just the cast standoff piece that attaches to the door (like an inverted toadstool). These are available separately for less than 20 pounds and designed to break off. If you need a LHS main alloy plate though, I have one. I had to get the whole mirror because I had broken the black plastic rear-facing trim and could not find this sold separately. Let me know off-line, I am visiting the UK next week. Trevor Edit: Just saw you mentioned driver's side, so if you're in the UK, mine is the wrong side, sorry.

Check out the TVR forums and suppliers. I got one from one of them last year. There seemed to be plenty around at that time. I'm at work now, but I will look out the receipt and find exactly where I got it later, if you like. Trevor

Mine arrived yesterday at home on Long Island. It looks very good. Thanks Mark and everyone involved in putting this together. Trevor