Owners' opinions on their Evolution chassis

[SonicHedgeHog]

Just wondering how the lucky owners of a Sportmotive Evolution chassis are getting on?

[MarkTVRchim]

Hopefully picking mine up next week, will let you know.

[macdeb]

What are the differences apart from the outriggers?

[neal1980]

MarkTVRchim said:

Hopefully picking mine up next week, will let you know.

What are you doing with your old chassis??

[RichardD]

macdeb said:

What are the differences apart from the outriggers?

Have you seen the appropriate page of the Sportmotive website?

[Byker28i]

RichardD said:

macdeb said:

What are the differences apart from the outriggers?

Have you seen the appropriate page of the Sportmotive website?

http://www.sportmotive.com/evochassis.html

[SteveSPG]

macdeb said:

What are the differences apart from the outriggers?

chassis tube specification
chassis tube diameters and locations
cross bracing
clearance for Ls install
wishbone and shock pickups closer to T car than griff but designed by CAD/Cam
tube wishbones
cnc ali uprights
stronger hubs
bigger braking configurations
everything geo wise is adjustable with some funky cam locks to rid you of the guesswork


but as others have said, its on the site

[MarkTVRchim]

neal1980 said:

What are you doing with your old chassis??

It was sold last year for me by Sportmotive along with engine and running gear etc.
The only thing remaining from my old Chimaera is the body and interior.

[SonicHedgeHog]

MarkTVRchim said:

Hopefully picking mine up next week, will let you know.

That would be great thanks. Sounds like you might be having a LS engine fitted. I'd be very interested in hearing about the spec you've chosen and what you think of it in the end.

[SonicHedgeHog]

Did you get a decent price for your old chassis/engine/gearbox? Just wondering how big a dent it made in the big chassis bill.

[macdeb]

SteveSPG said:

chassis tube specification
chassis tube diameters and locations
cross bracing
clearance for Ls install
wishbone and shock pickups closer to T car than griff but designed by CAD/Cam
tube wishbones
cnc ali uprights
stronger hubs
bigger braking configurations
everything geo wise is adjustable with some funky cam locks to rid you of the guesswork

Thanks Steve, just wanted a brief overview from someone.

Edited by macdeb on Friday 1st August 09:55

[MarkTVRchim]

SonicHedgeHog said:

Did you get a decent price for your old chassis/engine/gearbox? Just wondering how big a dent it made in the big chassis bill.

Selling the old chassis etc didn't make much of a dent into the cost of the whole project. The cost of the Evo chassis is quite small when compared to all of the other costs involved in a complete build so you need to be realistic in your budgeting.

[RichardD]

neal1980 said:

What are you doing with your old chassis??

My old chassis is still at Sportmotive!

[portzi]

macdeb said:

SteveSPG said:

chassis tube specification
chassis tube diameters and locations
cross bracing
clearance for Ls install
wishbone and shock pickups closer to T car than griff but designed by CAD/Cam
tube wishbones
cnc ali uprights
stronger hubs
bigger braking configurations
everything geo wise is adjustable with some funky cam locks to rid you of the guesswork

Thanks Steve, just wanted a brief overview from someone.

Edited by macdeb on Friday 1st August 09:55

It was a poor afterthought I think on especially the chimaera and the griff, 2 bolts on each side on the wishbones to ajust camber etc, the cam lock is a great idea, especially if your tracking the car, and need to set and reajust on frequent occasions.

Mark

[SteveSPG]

There are a lot of neat ideas incorporated into the chassis....more than I've mentioned but you will only appreciate it when you see the two side by side.

[domV8]

Is this actually a better chassis than the T-series chassis - ie. would this produce the best handling TVRs out there..? (Better handling than Sagaris, etc?)

[SteveSPG]

domV8 said:

Is this actually a better chassis than the T-series chassis - ie. would this produce the best handling TVRs out there..? (Better handling than Sagaris, etc?)

it is stiffer, there is more cross bracing, it is marginally heavier as some of the chassis tubes are thicker. its not just the chassis though, the ali uprights and wishbones are all new so total weight is not much different as a rolling chassis

i saw some of the cad stuff that was done, for suspension geometry and from the discussions it is definately aimed at handling more power better. There is a clear target to produce the best handling car within the chassis envelope dictated by the body (its still got to fit the chin/griff body

it has built in pickup points for roll cages etc, so can be made stiffer still for those who are really trying hard

IF i were considering a big HP upgrade in a griff/chim it would be part of the spec list

from my perspective my t car chassis/suspension is better with the LS than my griff chassis,

nobody will know for sure till one is built and the suspension dialled in, but the first one will be a stonker......

Edited by SteveSPG on Thursday 7th August 15:09

[portzi]

SteveSPG said:

domV8 said:

Is this actually a better chassis than the T-series chassis - ie. would this produce the best handling TVRs out there..? (Better handling than Sagaris, etc?)

it is stiffer, there is more cross bracing, it is marginally heavier as some of the chassis tubes are thicker. its not just the chassis though, the ali uprights and wishbones are all new so total weight is not much different as a rolling chassis

i saw some of the cad stuff that was done, for suspension geometry and from the discussions it is definately aimed at handling more power better. There is a clear target to produce the best handling car within the chassis envelope dictated by the body (its still got to fit the chin/griff body

it has built in pickup points for roll cages etc, so can be made stiffer still for those who are really trying hard

IF i were considering a big HP upgrade in a griff/chim it would be part of the spec list

from my perspective my t car chassis/suspension is better with the LS than my griff chassis,

nobody will know for sure till one is built and the suspension dialled in, but the first one will be a stonker......

Edited by SteveSPG on Thursday 7th August 15:09

I totally agree, chassis is the part of the car to get right first for strengthening, before upgrading your engine and its ancillaries, and putting an LS in or something similar. The thin 1.6 tubing and box section that was used originally in blackpool. Is is it heavy gauged enough to handle to extra forces that will be put under it from a standard RV8? Alot of people have double the power from the standard car.

Mark

[RichardD]

SteveSPG said:

it is stiffer, there is more cross bracing, it is marginally heavier as some of the chassis tubes are thicker. its not just the chassis though, the ali uprights and wishbones are all new so total weight is not much different as a rolling chassis

i saw some of the cad stuff that was done, for suspension geometry and from the discussions it is definately aimed at handling more power better. There is a clear target to produce the best handling car within the chassis envelope dictated by the body (its still got to fit the chin/griff body
...

One of the goals was to make the roll centre heights more appropriate to the vehicles. The Griff/Chim have (especially at the front), very low roll centres, which results in a fair bit of body roll. Higher roll centres mean less body roll without stiffer springs/dampers.

Also the camber recovery (as the wheels go up, how much does the top of the wheel go inward (due to the unequalness of the double wishbone lengths) - to counteract the lean of the vehicle)....is improved on t-cars compared to Griff/Chim.

This lead to being able to move chassis rails wider apart (better for stiffness and giving more space for exhausts too)...

[SteveSPG]

i don't want to quote values as i may be incorrect, but I'm sure Ian said some tubes went from 1.6mm to 2.5 mm tube, whilst others remained the same depending on what the cad stress analysis said

theres loads of small (and not so small ) triangulation added, they're pretty evident in the pics on the site

he also mentioned the grade of tube was higher, and that some of the box sections were made using different radii to add strength in twist.