This doesn't look good.....

[The Surveyor]

Well with the assistance of Nosha, Richard and Pete, we lifted the body clear of the chassis on my 1976 3000M project. The chassis is justed in the usual places to the outriggers and other localised places, but the worry is that the rear-end has been 'repaired' in the past with mixed results and i'm now in the same quandry as Andrew (deadspider) with regard to repair or replace.....






You'll see that the replacement chassis cross-member isn't level in front of the diff mount and overall there was a lot of surface crust which came away! I'll be having a think on this one as i'm in no rush but there is certainly more chassis work than i had anticipated :-(

Paul

[kabaman]

In my opinion, just get the chassis blasted and see what's left. If you lose a few tubes to corrosion just measure, tack weld and replace.

It doesn't look that bad to me. I've repaired what looks worse from what I can see.

I certainly wouldn't replace it unless blasting reveals the centre tubes are knackered or a high percentage of tubes are knackered.

Cheers,

N

[Adrian@]

kabaman said:

In my opinion, just get the chassis blasted and see what's left. If you lose a few tubes to corrosion just measure, tack weld and replace.

It doesn't look that bad to me. I've repaired what looks worse from what I can see.

I certainly wouldn't replace it unless blasting reveals the centre tubes are knackered or a high percentage of tubes are knackered.

Cheers,

N

True, not the worst I have seen..BUT...par for the course is these days is that I'm redoing the poor work of others when I refurbish them. If you cannot do it or need it to be done then I have a standard price plus finish (std puts it into red oxide) blasted/repaired and updated to the latest 1980 spec. and finish.
Adrian@

[heightswitch]

Adrian@ said:

True, not the worst I have seen..BUT...par for the course is these days is that I'm redoing the poor work of others when I refurbish them. If you cannot do it or need it to be done then I have a standard price plus finish (std puts it into red oxide) blasted/repaired and updated to the latest 1980 spec. and finish.
Adrian@

Just replace the chassis! Why anyone would want to leave a 30 year old cruddy bit of iron oxide under a car that will gobble up £x thousand pounds during a restoration is beyond me! certain mechanical bits are able to be refurbished and restored. bodywork re-glassed and filled but a chassis on these cars really is to be treated as a consumable item. give it a decent burial and treat yourself to a new one.

N.

[Adrian@]

Neil, not quite a toss of the coin subject...but something to think about.
Adrian@

[The Surveyor]

Thanks for the comments guys. Concern as Neil says is that there was so much crust coming of the chassis, will the remainder be solid enough to perform correctly. There may be a replacement available locally which may be a better starting point but do like the idea of starting the re-build with a new chassis.... oh time to sleep on it and work out the finances £££

Cheers

Paul

[sc motorsport]

Just an idea - I've paid a little over 1.100 GBP for a complete rolling M-series chassis with very work left to do on EBAY a couple of weeks ago. I think it's worth waiting and keeping the eyes open.

Good luck,
Stephan

[Adrian@]

sc motorsport said:

Just an idea - I've paid a little over 1.100 GBP for a complete rolling M-series chassis with very work left to do on EBAY a couple of weeks ago. I think it's worth waiting and keeping the eyes open.

Good luck,
Stephan

BUT then you need to know what NOT to bid on too! recently a turbo rolling chassis was sold on Ebay (there are so few to start with) and with a turbo having been stolen ...the engine appearing on one place ..the body somewhere else...and the rolling chassis on Ebay...I don't know what you bought Stephan BUT...buyer beware!
Adrian@

Edited by Adrian@ on Tuesday 8th March 08:04

[sc motorsport]

That's true Adrian - you always have to be careful what you do in your life!

[heightswitch]

The older the cars get the more sense a new chassis as a foundation to a proper restoration is!! The capital outlay for a new chassis pales into insignificance when you look at the full costs of properly restoring any TVR. yes there are still a few who think that painting over everything with hammerite counts as a restoration...A new chassis though is the only way to restore a car unless of course the existing chassis is viable but precious few seem to be these days.

OK it adds about £1500 to the cost of a restoration but in real terms adds well over that to the value and longevity of the finished car!!

N.

[Adrian@]

Neil,
Another take on this...and something I would never think of in a million years ...a new chassis, which was blasted then powder coated and THEN 4 years later needing another new chassis as the powder coat adhesion failed...Why...because the blasting process had ingrained the oil coating into the top surface of the chassis not then allowing the powder to adhere..total failure, which allowed the chassis to sweat and rust from within.
I would never WANT to replace a chassis ever and only when you are correcting other people work (I'm sorry to say like Paul's, does it come into my head) buying into a new chassis THEN mimicking all the brackets, THEN adding all the upgrades I do, would be as much work as refurbishing one. HOWEVER then having a body 'settle' and stress crazy around the doors/front wings/light apertures/screen surround, afterwards is something that I would not wish to see either.
Adrian@

Edited by Adrian@ on Tuesday 8th March 09:44

[heightswitch]

Adrian@ said:

Neil,
Another take on this...and something I would never think of in a million years ...a new chassis, which was blasted then powder coated and THEN 4 years later needing another new chassis as the powder coat adhesion failed...Why...because the blasting process had ingrained the oil coating into the top surface of the chassis not then allowing the powder to adhere..total failure, which allowed the chassis to sweat and rust from within.
I would never WANT to replace a chassis ever and only when you are correcting other people work (I'm sorry to say like Paul's, does it come into my head) buying into a new chassis THEN mimicking all the brackets, THEN adding all the upgrades I do, would be as much work as refurbishing one. HOWEVER then having a body 'settle' and stress crazy around the doors afterwards is something that I would not wish to see either.
Adrian@

There is powder coating and then powder coating Adrian. the factory effort was known to be very poor. Specialists do a lot better. Bill at Bettablast up in the NE is one such specialist who blasts properly to key coat after de-greasing, He then Zinc powders a warmed chassis to draw the powder into the corners then he warms again before powdering the colour coat which combines with the zinc rich powder. Not a cheap process but never fails!! Then of course you drill and tap the ends of the main rails to fill with waxoyl or dinitrol.

As you know I am no stranger to the mig welding machine, But new chassis every time for me, especially when you cost up the total of a proper restoration in parts alone!

OK some chassis can be re-used but after blasting you look at the pock marks and thinned metal and you just know whether you are flogging a dead duck or not!!

The good projects are all dried up now, no longer do you find garage stored cars which have good under pinnings. At least I havent seen any for a good few years. The chassis to me anyhow is the easy part of any build if you have basic fitting experience.

Now fibreglassing on the other hand!!


N.

[Adrian@]

Hi Neil,
I could never find a 'Bill' and so changed to hot zinc spraying and etch/prime/wet paint finish last century! and waxoyl top coat to absorb stones and that can rinsed off and replaced for my chassis's.... 70 plus down the line I'm not unhappy.
Adrian@

[Slow M]

When working on my chassis, my friends "attacked" it with what they termed a "rattle hammer," a contraption that had about twenty to thirty eighth inch pins that were driven by a pneumatic hammer. They adjusted the power, and went to town all over the frame. Even those tubes that looked good after blasting, but had weakened from the inside, were exposed, cut and replaced.
Nice process. fking swamp rats taught me something.

B.

[kabaman]

I have to disagree with the view that it just be replaced for the sake of it. The earlier pre-Ms had a tendancy to fracture, my Vixen cracked at an engine mount - I'm not aware of this happening to an M. So if sound I think they'll have plenty of years left in them.

If blasting shows local damage just fix it.

A seldgehammer to crack a nut is an _option_ it shouldn't be an automatic action.

N

[TVR_owner]

Agree.

[tomtrout]

I guess the final decision might also depend on future use and storage but may also be down to economics. Neil might be right that a new chassis could be cheaper in the long run but if I had opted for a new chassis that would have put my restoration plans back for a year or so. The chassis on my car is original and was repaired at least 22 years ago(new outer rails and corner pads)and when I had it blasted there were a couple of areas where pin holes appeared and it needed further repair. Even so, the blasting , hot zinc treatment, welding and wet painting still came out at a third of the cost of a new chassis. It does look like the surface of the moon in a few areas, particularly on the top rails at the stern (see pic) but I'm convinced it is sturdy enough for many years of good service. I'm not sure I agree with Neil that the chassis is just a consumable. When does the car become a replica over a restored classic. Opps a can of worms - I've got nothing against replica cars but I guess it's down to personal preferences.

[tomtrout]

By the way that's dust on my chassis, not rust - that's on the inside!!

[heightswitch]

tomtrout said:

I guess the final decision might also depend on future use and storage but may also be down to economics. Neil might be right that a new chassis could be cheaper in the long run but if I had opted for a new chassis that would have put my restoration plans back for a year or so. The chassis on my car is original and was repaired at least 22 years ago(new outer rails and corner pads)and when I had it blasted there were a couple of areas where pin holes appeared and it needed further repair. Even so, the blasting , hot zinc treatment, welding and wet painting still came out at a third of the cost of a new chassis. It does look like the surface of the moon in a few areas, particularly on the top rails at the stern (see pic) but I'm convinced it is sturdy enough for many years of good service. I'm not sure I agree with Neil that the chassis is just a consumable. When does the car become a replica over a restored classic. Opps a can of worms - I've got nothing against replica cars but I guess it's down to personal preferences.

Don't even go down the when is a car a replica route??

There is no such thing as an original restored car!

I have no argument regards blindly replacing a perfectly good chassis. I just wouldn't re-use a severely pitted onem and most vixens / M's these days have severely pitted ones.

The last car I restored retains its original Brazed 40 year old chassis, I know however that a couple of years down the line wit will need more work. But then again I am fortunate enough to have a spare new chassis up in the roof space waiting

N.

[magpies]

Am I correct in stating the 'chassis number' relates to the chassis and changing this could lead to major DVLA issues - maybe even having to go through IVA and re-registering