Chassis strength

[Lesliehedley]

When I jack up one front corner of my 400SE, the doors still open but they catch on the sills. The chassis is obviously flexing. I know wedge chassis are not particularly rigid, but would you expect the doors to catch when one corner is lifted, or is this a sign my chassis is rotten somewhere and has more flex than it should?

[Tasmin200]

Where are you jacking it? Main chassis or outrigger?

[mrzigazaga]

Hi...Not sure if this is relevant but a friend advised me when the car was on his arm lift not to open the doors..He works on TVR's and classics a lot of the time...Just bear in mind that you have the weight of the engine at the front so that could be playing a part...

[adam quantrill]

At the front I always jack at the point where the 5 tubes meet just behind the front suspension, near the bellhousing. This is one of the strongest places and gives least flex.

[ElvisWedgely]

Flexing of the chassis is normal when you jack the car. Depending on the jacking point there may be more or less flex. This would effect the door shut gaps and or touch the sill in extreme cases. In some Wedges, even parking the car with one wheel up on the curb would flex the chassis. It doesn't mean your chassis has had it, but sturdier the structure the better. This is my fifth V8 Wedge and I have compared each one.

Tony. TCB.

[Wedg1e]

Aye, mine does it as well.

[pwd95]

All are very (too) flexible. This is why they don't handle like Loti' ...


Put all 9 of my TVR's on axle stands & they all flex..... alot.

By comparison, jacking up the front corner of my VX220 Turbo would result in the back wheel lifting off the ground whithin 1-2 pumps. Stiffer than the stiffest stiff thing in stiffsville.......& that's flippin stiff....

Edited by pwd95 on Friday 31st July 20:45

[Lesliehedley]

Ok, thanks for the feedback chaps. That's reassuring. There must be a fairly straightforward way to reduce the flex, at least a bit, if it's that bad? What about engine bay cross braces or something similar?

[Transmitter Man]

Wyn,

My SEAC's chassis no longer flexes.

Phil
420 SEAC

[Henry Harris]

Hi,

I have good experience of a flexing chassis:

• The original welds weaken after while. Bouncing on the outriggers when the body of mine was off, showed how much the welds open.
• I have had extra cross tubes added in the spine of the chassis
• I have had extra bracing alongside the sills along side the car
• I have had an extra bracing across the footwell and the pedal box is now attached to this rather than the glassfibre
• I have a roll-bar fitted

The advantages include:

• Now the doors always open no matter what the angle of the car
• The suspension performs more as it should

Any queries please shout.



Regards,
Henry

[Number 7]

Henry, what type of rear suspension does your car have?

[Henry Harris]

Number 7 said:

Henry, what type of rear suspension does your car have?

That's a good question - it has been modified from standard in that the tie rods have been moved inbound to make it more like an A-fram (I hope the terminology is correct

These may help:
)

[Henry Harris]

A couple pictures to show the state of the welds before the rebuild:

[Transmitter Man]

Henry,

Enlighten some of the others here about the 'seamed' tubing TVR used to build our circa 250-300bhp cars.


Phil
420 SEAC

[RCK974X]

and - are those welds actually cracked/lifted, or is that just true 'stretch' in the metal, breaking the coating ?

Great photo by the way - It's a bit scary....

[ElvisWedgely]

I have witnessed a two year old 420SEAC chasiss come appart at one of the joints and was kindly welded back free of charge by TVR themselves, even though it was out of guarantee. It was a car bought by my close family member and suffered this damage under normal driving conditions. Though it was put right free of charge, it was these small imperfections that gave TVR a bad name in the early days. So, yes, I'm afraid it's true.

Tony. TCB.

[Graham]

when we built my racer in 2000 ( so the car was 14 years old then )

there were quite a few cracked welds, including all 4 main tubes in the backbone where it meets the rear of the chassis.

The racer cage makes abig difference to stiffness, but even the bolted cage moves a bit, a few of the guys welded the joints and that stiffened the cage and chassis further

[pk500]

mrzigazaga said:

Hi...Not sure if this is relevant but a friend advised me when the car was on his arm lift not to open the doors..He works on TVR's and classics a lot of the time...Just bear in mind that you have the weight of the engine at the front so that could be playing a part...

That may have been me ! Best leave the doors shut when jacking up

[mrzigazaga]

pk500 said:

mrzigazaga said:

Hi...Not sure if this is relevant but a friend advised me when the car was on his arm lift not to open the doors..He works on TVR's and classics a lot of the time...Just bear in mind that you have the weight of the engine at the front so that could be playing a part...

That may have been me ! Best leave the doors shut when jacking up

Might of been.....

[ElvisWedgely]

pk500 said:

mrzigazaga said:

Hi...Not sure if this is relevant but a friend advised me when the car was on his arm lift not to open the doors..He works on TVR's and classics a lot of the time...Just bear in mind that you have the weight of the engine at the front so that could be playing a part...

That may have been me ! Best leave the doors shut when jacking up

Unless of course you fit scissor doors. You could open it anywhere then, and it would look so cool. Something that's been on the back of my mind for a while now.

Tony. TCB.