Internet Mailing List Aug 96
Sorry Ian. It contravenes the Construction & Use Regulations!
It's thus illegal & un-insurable.
John B Osborne
"Well Sir," replied the incompetent** salesman, "The seats come on automatically when the ice detector says it is cold enough"
"Strange, what if I want them on at other times?"
"Ah well, that's TVRs for you".
Off I went, not too concerned about the workings of these devices.
Anyway as winter approached and following a good blast on a sunny but cold day, I thought it would be nice if I could get them to work. I had a quick look around to find a place to put in a manual switch, and discovered this switch very well hidden on the steering column on the RHS, at the very back. Same sort of switch that turns off the instrument lights. Hmmm, wonder what this does? Pressed it - nothing happened, although I could hear a click of a relay somewhere. It must be wired to something. A few minutes later - hey presto WARM BUM! The handbook I have makes no reference to this switch anywhere - ditto the ice detector. Maybe I have an old handbook....
[** (In this case.) My hobby's cars, not litigation. PB.]
David Leeming
Internet Mailing List Dec 96
With the coming of Santa Klaus and the white stuff, I thought
to myself wouldn't heated seats and a nice warm backside make
driving and travelling in the Griff a tad more pleasant. Especially
with the top off!
Surprise, surprise, on checking both seats I discovered electrical cables running into the rear of them. Can only be heater elements I told myself, but how to switch them on, that was the problem. I remembered a recent post regarding the same problem with a Chimaera, so I searched high and low in the vicinity of the steering column, but there was no separate switch to be found.
Then whilst playing with the fan speed switch, hey presto it has
a pull-out position (probably for a redundant HRW option), and
yes the seats began to warm up. Great. True to form there is nothing
in the Griff's Owner Handbook concerning this option (or the Ice
Detector).
Dave Peck
Internet Mailing List Feb 98
From time to time the inertia reel on the driver's seatbelt on my Chimaera locks and the belt won't extend. This is usually easy to cure
by retracting it a bit, then gently extending it again, when it unlocks. However, this time it has locked with the belt fully retracted and, no
matter how gentle (or increasingly violent) I am, it will not unlock.
Internet Mailing List Apr 97
I have just attempted a similar exercise with a pre-cat Griff
(K-plate). However, so far, unsuccessfully. I purchased a Willans
3 point harness and asked my local TVR service dept. to fit it.
After a number of days I was told no-can-do. The reason, as I
understand it, is that after consulting with TVR Engineering,
it was felt that a TVR endorsed fitting (which would require welding
of a fixed mounting point to the chassis) would leave them open
to additional liability in the event of failure, degradation of
chassis, and so on. Coupled with mumblings about rules of homolagation
only for Tuscans/Griff 500s and their harness fixing points. Incidently,
Steve how central to your body is your harness's rear mounting
point? . . .
Dave Peck
Internet Mailing List Apr 97
There are two mounting bolts at the back of the parcel shelf,
one for each side. The rear harness strap attaches to these. The
other two go down each side. Each rear bolt is more or less central
to the back of the corresponding seat. The only other option is
to use the shoulder lap belt point for the rear belt. This is
what Team Central did for my V8S and it worked well. They also
showed me this arrangement on a 5 litre Chimp when I first started
discussing this with them. Their comment about welding plates
was that it was very expensive as the body had to be lifted.
The Griff belts worked brilliantly at Brands and I find them comfortable
and restraining. Once strapped in, you can feel the car so much
better! If you are having problems call Team Central and ask them
to do it. It's only about 1 hours labour. They might even be able
to do it while you wait given enough notice. If you wear the belts
on the road, you are strictly breaking the law because the harness
is not approved for safety reasons (crazy I know) but I don't
think Plod are going to worry too much.
Steve Heath
Internet Mailing List May 97
Genuine harness eyebolts 7/16x2" long are £4.95 each
from Merlin Engineering, Castle Combe (01249 782101). I've now
fitted my harness to the existing lap belt fixings leaving the
lap belt in place. The harness installation is not 100% as per
the instructions since the distance between the rear fixing point
and the back of the seat is too short for the harness's tail strap,
but the end result is far better than the stock inertia reel belts
(which work when they want to!).
Dave Peck