(apologies for the picture sizes - I'll make sure to re-size the images for the next uploads!)
Been a VERY productive few days!
I think this picture sums things up pretty well. Me working on my sportscar, Dad working on his. He wins!
I had grand concerns that perhaps I had a blown head gasket(s).
Carried out a full compression test however, and was thrilled to see consistent, high, compression figures across all cylinders. ;D
Decided to crack on with the hubs:
These are Mk2 Granada hubs, which give a 5x112 PCD. They're the standard hubs it came out the factory on.
As you can see, they were also very rusty and grubby!
I cleaned these up with a wire-brush (and a chisel!) and then later painted them black - they'll never really be seen, but I hate putting dirty, rusty parts back on the car.
Here, before I painted it, you can just about make out the original ford logo and stamping on the hub.
Time to bolt some new discs to those hubs.
If you scroll back through this thread, you'll see I picked up some drilled, grooved, and vented discs.
Well, sadly, as soon as I took the hub apart, it was obvious they were the wrong discs. Transpires they were for a MK3 Granada. However, I've since sold them on to another wedge owner with the later set-up, which uses Mk3 discs.
In it's place, this box arrived:
Was very pleasantly surprised to recieve a bright red Brembo box, especially as manufacturer hadn't been stated!
Now before everyone thinks I've spent ££$$$ on hugely upgraded brakes, these are actually Mk2 2.8 Granada vented discs.
As the 350i TVR uses Mk2 Granny hubs, they bolt straight up! A simple upgrade (we'll get back to the simple bit in a moment!).
Offering the new disc up to the refurbed hub. This is, I think, the FIRST new part to go on the car. Hence it's a bit of milestone. I'm now no longer tearing a car apart, I'm actually beginning to rebuild it! ;D
Lovely lovely vents!!
Now, one issue with going to vented discs, is that the original calipers will no longer fit as the discs are wider.
The original calipers are good old boggo Ford M16 calipers, used on everything Ford since the days of the Arc - think Escort, Capri, Cortina etc. Not to mention lots of other low volume cars which used Ford donor parts - Lotus etc.
The good news with there being a Ford heriatage, is that there are lots of people using and modifying these parts.
I had a few options at this stage:
1 - TVR fitted Austin Princess calipers with the vented discs. As all the rally escort guys now, AP calipers - by some fluke - share the same fixing centers as an M16 caliper.
This gives a four pot caliper setup, better spacing I believe, but with two big downsides - firstly there is pad overhang, as the disc and caliper were never designed to be interfaced together.
Secondly, AP calipers are now rare and expensive!
2 - Use 2.8 Granada calipers. These are very similar to M16 calipers, but have a wider spacing and I believe a bigger pad.
A good option, but again, getting hold of 2.8 granny calipers is tough nowadays, and recon 'new' calipers are a lot of money.
3 - The option I chose.
Use an M16 spacer kit from Rallydesign.
My calipers would have needed a complete rebuild. Rallydesign offered a pair of BRAND NEW M16 calipers, plus a spacer kit, if I remember correcty for under £100!
So, does it work? Yes - I have had a caliper, with pads bolted up and it works - of only with maybe one or two mil clearance! However, as the following pictures show, I have some misgivings about the Rallydesign calipers and spacers.
Firstly, as we realised after I took these pictures, I was somehow sent two lots of LH spacers! You'll see how crappy the fit of the spacers are here, however the 'proper' spacers don't fit that much better!
Also, just look at how rough the replacement M16 caliper castings are. Pretty shonky! Also I don't know if it's a fault with the spacer kit, or the caliper, or both, but the bolts supplied won't go all the way through. This seems to be because the caliper casting isn't fully reamed and tapped out at the other end.
Whilst I'm on the subject, we also had to de-burr the caliper mounting holes on one side, as the mounting bolt wouldn't pass through!
Now, that lot can be irritating, but to balance up, compared to the hassle of having to machine up new mounting brackets for 'foreign' calipers, machine up spacers, or even rebuild old rusty calipers, I think it's turned out pretty well.
Calipers will be getting Ferodo DS2500 pads in too for extra stoppage!
Good Grief! 
