Daily Duty Chimaera
Discussion
I used window tint film on the inside of the clear lenses, it's inside out that way so looks dark without any light behind it but the lights show up really well when they're on, almost like they're not tinted at all.
Thanks for all of the nice comments people, it's good to know that I'm not the only one who thinks it's ok to get these things dirty
Thanks for all of the nice comments people, it's good to know that I'm not the only one who thinks it's ok to get these things dirty
This is Epic. So much to be said for a mechanically good car and a little tatty on the outside.
This thread though is exactly what I don't need to be seeing right now. I looked at a Chim a while back and decided it wouldn't really be right to use it so often in mud and dirt and wet. But I'm bored looking at Boxsters. Now looking at a Lotus, and then I see this thread... Bam! Suddenly TVR is back on the cards.
This thread though is exactly what I don't need to be seeing right now. I looked at a Chim a while back and decided it wouldn't really be right to use it so often in mud and dirt and wet. But I'm bored looking at Boxsters. Now looking at a Lotus, and then I see this thread... Bam! Suddenly TVR is back on the cards.
petrolveins said:
This is Epic. So much to be said for a mechanically good car and a little tatty on the outside.
This thread though is exactly what I don't need to be seeing right now. I looked at a Chim a while back and decided it wouldn't really be right to use it so often in mud and dirt and wet. But I'm bored looking at Boxsters. Now looking at a Lotus, and then I see this thread... Bam! Suddenly TVR is back on the cards.
I've recently bought a 986 Boxster S (superb all round Roadster) and now, reading this and Garlicks update, I am determined to get a TVR Chim as wellThis thread though is exactly what I don't need to be seeing right now. I looked at a Chim a while back and decided it wouldn't really be right to use it so often in mud and dirt and wet. But I'm bored looking at Boxsters. Now looking at a Lotus, and then I see this thread... Bam! Suddenly TVR is back on the cards.
Honestly I can't recommend the things enough, it's hard to lose money on them if you buy right and can work on them yourself. They're more or less depreciation proof and most of the parts are pocket money compared to what you would pay for comparable sports cars. The only bottomless pit is with the modifying, if you look in the Major Mods section then it's easy to see how carried away you can get, there's quite a few engine swaps/superchargers/turbos and an LPG conversion on here.
One of the big attractions for me over other cars that I was looking at is the obvious simplicity of it all, it's just a big go-kart so it would take a major failure to end up stranded somewhere. A reel of 2.5mm wire, a bag of cable ties a few spares and some hand tools will nearly always get you home and the majority of parts can be picked up in a decent auto shop. I've got an emergency kit in a rucksack in the boot, I'd struggle to do that in a Boxter or S2000
One of the big attractions for me over other cars that I was looking at is the obvious simplicity of it all, it's just a big go-kart so it would take a major failure to end up stranded somewhere. A reel of 2.5mm wire, a bag of cable ties a few spares and some hand tools will nearly always get you home and the majority of parts can be picked up in a decent auto shop. I've got an emergency kit in a rucksack in the boot, I'd struggle to do that in a Boxter or S2000
Edited by s p a c e m a n on Monday 20th January 20:53
Brilliant write up, and fantastic to see a TVR being used and abused. It makes me feel rather guilty - my poor Cerbera hasn't been used for over two months now, partly through repairs but partly because it's too wet/too cold/too icy/too salty/too misty. Hats off to you for enjoying your car, they are utterly wonderful machines.
Well done OP!
Though I don't use mine for a commute (it's 70 miles each way), she was bought on the basis of "a good one that doesn't have to look spotless". I, too, found one locally. A few teething issues but they seem sorted now. It's for entertainment and track use. As such, I don't worry too much if I catch the underside in a way that used to make me cry in the S2000. One thing I'd say - I didn't consider the S2K to be half hearted.
Special cars and it's great to see them being used as PW intended!
Though I don't use mine for a commute (it's 70 miles each way), she was bought on the basis of "a good one that doesn't have to look spotless". I, too, found one locally. A few teething issues but they seem sorted now. It's for entertainment and track use. As such, I don't worry too much if I catch the underside in a way that used to make me cry in the S2000. One thing I'd say - I didn't consider the S2K to be half hearted.
Special cars and it's great to see them being used as PW intended!
Well yeah, there's not really that much to report, which is good because it means that it hasn't been causing me any problems. I'm starting to think that all of this 'unreliable TVR, bits falling off all the time, half of its miles spent on an AA truck' stuff was made up by people who have never been near one.
It's now somewhere north of 50,000 miles and the only times that it has come to a standstill at the side of the road have been through my own stupidity, the most recent of which involved me spending half an hour figuring out that I had snagged the live wire from the fuel pump whilst taking a shortcut down a potholed grassy lane to a friends house. It might have a Range Rover engine in it but it's definitely not an off road vehicle
By far the best thing that I have bought since the last update is a patch lead that allows me to connect my laptop to the ECU and run Roverguage. Being able to take most of the guesswork out of fixing little running issues is a godsend, all of my previous cars have been OBDII compliant so it was a slight shock to the system to know that something wasn't right but have no fault codes or sensor readings to give me a clue.
These engines run on a dizzy so have a mechanical advance etc controlled by vacuum, the pipe had a little split in it so my fuel economy was horrendous.. but I was getting some wicked pops and bangs from the exhaust on over run
Being able to plug my laptop into the car saved me playing around with the lambda/maf/temperature sensors etc. I'm thinking about getting a windows tablet and attaching it to my dashboard somehow as the screen looks pretty cool..
The two things that have gone wrong..
The near side manifold gasket started blowing slightly at the start of summer and I didn't have much going on over one of the bank holidays, so I figured that I would get bit of a suntan for a few hours and change it outside my house. A couple of days later after driving the car to work with no manifold gasket in it I used an air powered reciprocating saw to cut the head off of the manifold bolt that had defeated me
Had a strange flat spot in the steering, it felt like the rack had come loose or a bush had deteriorated. After an hour of having the car up in the air, wiggling loads of stuff, checking bolts and bushes I figured it out. They're not exactly well known for it, but it has happened to a few cars and obviously my car had gone from being a weekend toy to being fitted with coilovers and sticky tyres, used every day and occasionally thrown around a track. One of the top wishbones had cracked.
I figured this out late on a Saturday so I managed to bribe one of my mates to stay in his yard for an extra hour and weld some plates to it whilst I figured out where to get a replacement from. Luckily another PH member had a couple spare after buying a new full set for his car and not needing them all
The main reason for rarely bothering to wash the car was because the paintwork was in such a state. When I bought the car I really didn't want to throw a load of money at the paintwork as I use it every day, leave it at work where there are fitters flying about in vans and take it to Tescos where you know some idiot is bound to bounce their car door or a trolley off of it. It really was letting the car down though, to the point where strangers would come over to look at it and the second thing they would ask is whether it had scabies.
As the car had behaved more or less faultlessly, I don't think that it's cost me more than £100 in non service items, my emergency slush fund had not been touched so I used some of it for paint. Now I need to have the wheels painted because they look terrible compared to the rest of the car
The lacquer peeled scabies bum..
I had them remove the big metal Chimaera badge that was on the back whilst they were at it..
And I spent this weekend with a couple of bottles of Renovo roof rejuvenation and waterproofer just in time for the rain..
Still using it every day, hasn't become even slightly boring or annoying. It gets the occasional niggle, a spark plug lead will melt on the manifold, vacuum hose splitting, live falling off of the fuel pump. I've done both manifold gaskets properly now so they should last a good few years, that wishbone has been the only real breakage, it's surpassed all of my expectations for a 15ish year old hand built car used daily by someone who doesn't pootle about.
It gets quite a lot of attention, all of it good. People don't cross the road to talk to me but if they're walking past in a car park or next to me at the petrol pumps I often get a comment. I get let out of a lot of side streets, kids give me a thumbs up, no one has tried to break into it or shown any hate. It's just the right amount of different, people notice it but you're happy to pick your nose at a set of traffic lights without thinking that everyone is looking at you.
Next up, I really want to change the seats. They're not uncomfortable, I just think that they look very dated and the fact that the head rest only goes up as far as my shoulders annoys me. I'm going to have to paint the wheels too, probably anthracite or a very dark shadow chrome, but both of those things will have to wait until next summer as I'm still going to be spending most of my spare time driving it about with a silly grin on my face
It's now somewhere north of 50,000 miles and the only times that it has come to a standstill at the side of the road have been through my own stupidity, the most recent of which involved me spending half an hour figuring out that I had snagged the live wire from the fuel pump whilst taking a shortcut down a potholed grassy lane to a friends house. It might have a Range Rover engine in it but it's definitely not an off road vehicle
By far the best thing that I have bought since the last update is a patch lead that allows me to connect my laptop to the ECU and run Roverguage. Being able to take most of the guesswork out of fixing little running issues is a godsend, all of my previous cars have been OBDII compliant so it was a slight shock to the system to know that something wasn't right but have no fault codes or sensor readings to give me a clue.
These engines run on a dizzy so have a mechanical advance etc controlled by vacuum, the pipe had a little split in it so my fuel economy was horrendous.. but I was getting some wicked pops and bangs from the exhaust on over run
Being able to plug my laptop into the car saved me playing around with the lambda/maf/temperature sensors etc. I'm thinking about getting a windows tablet and attaching it to my dashboard somehow as the screen looks pretty cool..
The two things that have gone wrong..
The near side manifold gasket started blowing slightly at the start of summer and I didn't have much going on over one of the bank holidays, so I figured that I would get bit of a suntan for a few hours and change it outside my house. A couple of days later after driving the car to work with no manifold gasket in it I used an air powered reciprocating saw to cut the head off of the manifold bolt that had defeated me
Had a strange flat spot in the steering, it felt like the rack had come loose or a bush had deteriorated. After an hour of having the car up in the air, wiggling loads of stuff, checking bolts and bushes I figured it out. They're not exactly well known for it, but it has happened to a few cars and obviously my car had gone from being a weekend toy to being fitted with coilovers and sticky tyres, used every day and occasionally thrown around a track. One of the top wishbones had cracked.
I figured this out late on a Saturday so I managed to bribe one of my mates to stay in his yard for an extra hour and weld some plates to it whilst I figured out where to get a replacement from. Luckily another PH member had a couple spare after buying a new full set for his car and not needing them all
The main reason for rarely bothering to wash the car was because the paintwork was in such a state. When I bought the car I really didn't want to throw a load of money at the paintwork as I use it every day, leave it at work where there are fitters flying about in vans and take it to Tescos where you know some idiot is bound to bounce their car door or a trolley off of it. It really was letting the car down though, to the point where strangers would come over to look at it and the second thing they would ask is whether it had scabies.
As the car had behaved more or less faultlessly, I don't think that it's cost me more than £100 in non service items, my emergency slush fund had not been touched so I used some of it for paint. Now I need to have the wheels painted because they look terrible compared to the rest of the car
The lacquer peeled scabies bum..
I had them remove the big metal Chimaera badge that was on the back whilst they were at it..
And I spent this weekend with a couple of bottles of Renovo roof rejuvenation and waterproofer just in time for the rain..
Still using it every day, hasn't become even slightly boring or annoying. It gets the occasional niggle, a spark plug lead will melt on the manifold, vacuum hose splitting, live falling off of the fuel pump. I've done both manifold gaskets properly now so they should last a good few years, that wishbone has been the only real breakage, it's surpassed all of my expectations for a 15ish year old hand built car used daily by someone who doesn't pootle about.
It gets quite a lot of attention, all of it good. People don't cross the road to talk to me but if they're walking past in a car park or next to me at the petrol pumps I often get a comment. I get let out of a lot of side streets, kids give me a thumbs up, no one has tried to break into it or shown any hate. It's just the right amount of different, people notice it but you're happy to pick your nose at a set of traffic lights without thinking that everyone is looking at you.
Next up, I really want to change the seats. They're not uncomfortable, I just think that they look very dated and the fact that the head rest only goes up as far as my shoulders annoys me. I'm going to have to paint the wheels too, probably anthracite or a very dark shadow chrome, but both of those things will have to wait until next summer as I'm still going to be spending most of my spare time driving it about with a silly grin on my face
Little update, as I'm bored and waiting for my dinner to burn..
The rear number plate had been annoying me, they're backlit on the early cars and translucent. There's a recess behind the plate with two uplighters, a lot of people try to make the plate brighter and give it more of an even spread by sticking silver foil to the back of the recess so that more light is reflected through the number plate. That solution seemed like bit of a bodge to me, so I removed the original lights and blanked off the holes that they left. Then I stuck a 30cm smd strip in the centre of the recess, I also put one inside the boot as these cars were never fitted with a light in there. Finally I stuck down the edges of the number plate as there was a lot of light bleeding through and illuminating the bottom of the boot lid and the top of the bumper. Simple things, but it makes the car look less 'hand made by northerners'
The car had been losing a bit of coolant recently, about a litre a week. It took a while but I finally narrowed it down to the radiator. I could have had it re-cored but http://www.aaronradiator.co.uk/ make a nice shiny alloy one and they're only a 30 minute drive away from me, they give a good PH discount as well. Couldn't believe how light it was, I had to open the box before I drove away to make sure that there was actually something in there..
Finally pulled my finger out and started changing the radiator at 4pm, figured that there is loads of room for access and there are only a couple of bolts and hoses so I'll be done well before it gets dark
Took 2 hours just to remove the old one, only took an hour to fit the new and bleed the system. Was amazed at how much of a better fit the new radiator was than the old one, it took two of us pulling and wiggling the old one to get it out of the hole whilst I placed the new one in on my own in a couple of minutes.
Was definitely the old radiator that was causing the leak, the condenser for the air con was knackered too so I removed that and will use it to make sure I find the correct one for the summer..
Got to use my little infrared temperature reader to see how efficient the new radiator was and check when the fans cut in, I knew that I would find a use for it eventually
The rear number plate had been annoying me, they're backlit on the early cars and translucent. There's a recess behind the plate with two uplighters, a lot of people try to make the plate brighter and give it more of an even spread by sticking silver foil to the back of the recess so that more light is reflected through the number plate. That solution seemed like bit of a bodge to me, so I removed the original lights and blanked off the holes that they left. Then I stuck a 30cm smd strip in the centre of the recess, I also put one inside the boot as these cars were never fitted with a light in there. Finally I stuck down the edges of the number plate as there was a lot of light bleeding through and illuminating the bottom of the boot lid and the top of the bumper. Simple things, but it makes the car look less 'hand made by northerners'
The car had been losing a bit of coolant recently, about a litre a week. It took a while but I finally narrowed it down to the radiator. I could have had it re-cored but http://www.aaronradiator.co.uk/ make a nice shiny alloy one and they're only a 30 minute drive away from me, they give a good PH discount as well. Couldn't believe how light it was, I had to open the box before I drove away to make sure that there was actually something in there..
Finally pulled my finger out and started changing the radiator at 4pm, figured that there is loads of room for access and there are only a couple of bolts and hoses so I'll be done well before it gets dark
Took 2 hours just to remove the old one, only took an hour to fit the new and bleed the system. Was amazed at how much of a better fit the new radiator was than the old one, it took two of us pulling and wiggling the old one to get it out of the hole whilst I placed the new one in on my own in a couple of minutes.
Was definitely the old radiator that was causing the leak, the condenser for the air con was knackered too so I removed that and will use it to make sure I find the correct one for the summer..
Got to use my little infrared temperature reader to see how efficient the new radiator was and check when the fans cut in, I knew that I would find a use for it eventually
Edited by s p a c e m a n on Sunday 26th October 17:03
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