Chim wheel upgrade

Chim wheel upgrade

Author
Discussion

Marcroftk

Original Poster:

4 posts

97 months

Sunday 7th February 2016
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Hi, I'm a relatively new Chim owner and wanted to bring my '99 Chimaera up to date. I figured the wheels and lights were items which dated the car, wheels these days are always bigger than the stock 15"/16" combo and the lights are much better now too. So I took the car to Heath and Paul at X Works near Preston. The guys did a fantastic job, they did the Lupo light conversion and checked everything over for the MOT and while they were at it did the outriggers and put on the new wheels. The wheels fit straight on without the need for any alterations other than adjustment of the steering bump stops. They're 17" with Toyo tyres and the offsets are perfect. She's now bang up to date. I hope you approve of the face lift.

ClassiChimi

12,424 posts

148 months

Sunday 7th February 2016
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Very nice indeed, what's the ride like thumbup

portzi

2,296 posts

174 months

Sunday 7th February 2016
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Those wheels suit your car colour very nicely. Have you any piccs of your Lights upgrade by Heath the TVR oracle.

Marcroftk

Original Poster:

4 posts

97 months

Sunday 7th February 2016
quotequote all
Thanks. Heath suggested the 17" wheel was the best compromise, big enough to look good but not too big to overwhelm the Chim's standard suspension and chassis. Heath's own Chimaera (which is a work of art) has 18's, he explained he'd had to employ every trick in the book to remove the idiosyncrasies of the massive rubber, particularly the tendency to tram-line. The slimmer profile of these 17's firms things up a bit but they're pretty hard anyway so not much change.

I'll post a pic of the headlights shortly, I've only got this one to hand. It's a bit difficult to see the difference it makes here. They're slightly more swept back than the originals, a touch more streamlined and you can see into them as the reflector is at the back rather than in the glass.

fullpull

260 posts

166 months

Sunday 7th February 2016
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clap

portzi

2,296 posts

174 months

Sunday 7th February 2016
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Marcroftk said:
Thanks. Heath suggested the 17" wheel was the best compromise, big enough to look good but not too big to overwhelm the Chim's standard suspension and chassis. Heath's own Chimaera (which is a work of art) has 18's, he explained he'd had to employ every trick in the book to remove the idiosyncrasies of the massive rubber, particularly the tendency to tram-line. The slimmer profile of these 17's firms things up a bit but they're pretty hard anyway so not much change.

I'll post a pic of the headlights shortly, I've only got this one to hand. It's a bit difficult to see the difference it makes here. They're slightly more swept back than the originals, a touch more streamlined and you can see into them as the reflector is at the back rather than in the glass.
Very nice gives the chim a crisp clean front end, l would have replaced with the originals, but after afew years they would just get dirty again as not a sealed unit. Why didn't they use the Griff sealed unit at first, instead of bringing those lights in during the final few years of chim production?

phazed

21,844 posts

203 months

Monday 8th February 2016
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Lupus, yes?

phazed

21,844 posts

203 months

Monday 8th February 2016
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Err, Lupos , iPad flick up!

Marcroftk

Original Poster:

4 posts

97 months

Monday 8th February 2016
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Yep, they're Lupo's.

portzi

2,296 posts

174 months

Monday 8th February 2016
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Marcroftk said:
Yep, they're Lupo's.
The main thing is you have a well set up car with X-works doing the work and an improvement on your headlights,Lupo's is still a mixed topic of conversation some love them and others say it detracts from the chimaera's original design,but at least you wont dazzle other drivers with an alternative set up?

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

Although I have read some posts on here about Poor quality Lupo fitment?

Edited by portzi on Monday 8th February 23:25

Marcroftk

Original Poster:

4 posts

97 months

Tuesday 9th February 2016
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Thanks. Yes, I'm sure the Lupo light conversion splits opinion. Anything like this will upset those who like completely stock cars. I'm more a restomod man, I'd prefer to have a 1960 Dodge Charger body on a 2010 Corvette chassis and running gear than a 1960 Charger on drum brakes and leaf springs etc if you know what I mean? I'm not precious about the design it's not like I've added bodywork. Unless you point it out most people won't even notice, not like one of those horrible mesh grills people add, I even saw a spoiler recently - yuck. My aim was to take a 20 year old car and bring it up to date. You're right about the set up. Heath and Paul did a lovely job and had the car MOT's afterwards so all the angles are spot on too.

phazed

21,844 posts

203 months

Tuesday 9th February 2016
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wink





portzi

2,296 posts

174 months

Tuesday 9th February 2016
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phazed said:
;)




Mk3, was that TVR raiding the parts bin again with the unused Griff lights? I do like the mk3 and your light chroming won't flake off within afew years smile

OleVix

1,438 posts

147 months

Tuesday 9th February 2016
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getting the chim or griff "up to date" looks wise is in my mind futile, since the cars at launch already were retro styled. Classic british sportscar with modern'ish performance

ClassiChimi

12,424 posts

148 months

Tuesday 9th February 2016
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You can't argue with that Oly, but seeing Rich and many others going for a blank piece of paper and just as you have also done shaping the car to your own beliefs and ideas is just what Tvr is all about so I'm leaning towards whatever rocks for that owner is OK by me, as long as it's done properly,,, but other than that I agree with you implicitly biglaugh