TVR V8S Rebuild
Discussion
I'm half way through a rebuild of my V8S and at the stage where motivation is at an all time low. I seem to be hitting numerous problems and getting out into the garage is proving more & more difficult. After reading theough some build threads (procrastinating at its best) I thought logging the rebuild on here may help me during htese long dark winter months !! If it proves interesting to someone else then all the better 
Anyway - here it is in better days before I started
Anyway - here it is in better days before I started
And the reason this all started
I had a small hole in the outrigger repaired last year to get through the MOT. I knew there would be other issues but I buried my head in the sand to get a few more months hooning in.
Eventually it was time to confront the rot that I knew was lurking below. I lost a lot of pictures from my PC so dont have many of this stage but the first thing was to do a partial lift of the body to inspect the damage. Fortunately the S Forum on PH is brilliant for us amateurs and there are a couple of guides to guide you along this process.
I also took loads of notes in my 'Man-Jotter' which I will write up at some point in case it can help anyone else attempting this. I'm not particularly skilled but managed my way through - learning all the way.
It took a bit of figuring out but I managed to rig up a pulley system on the roof of the grage so I could lift the body up a couple of inches. I don't really know anyone handy locally so I had to have a system which was controllable and didn't realy on anyone else. Eventually it was up and I could see the rot.
Took a couple of cups of tea but I came to realise it was going to have to be a full body-off to sort properly. I didn't want to bodge the job and as the car is a keeper, it would worth the time and effort. I also didn't have a project on the go so this was going to be it !
I had a small hole in the outrigger repaired last year to get through the MOT. I knew there would be other issues but I buried my head in the sand to get a few more months hooning in.
Eventually it was time to confront the rot that I knew was lurking below. I lost a lot of pictures from my PC so dont have many of this stage but the first thing was to do a partial lift of the body to inspect the damage. Fortunately the S Forum on PH is brilliant for us amateurs and there are a couple of guides to guide you along this process.
I also took loads of notes in my 'Man-Jotter' which I will write up at some point in case it can help anyone else attempting this. I'm not particularly skilled but managed my way through - learning all the way.
It took a bit of figuring out but I managed to rig up a pulley system on the roof of the grage so I could lift the body up a couple of inches. I don't really know anyone handy locally so I had to have a system which was controllable and didn't realy on anyone else. Eventually it was up and I could see the rot.
Took a couple of cups of tea but I came to realise it was going to have to be a full body-off to sort properly. I didn't want to bodge the job and as the car is a keeper, it would worth the time and effort. I also didn't have a project on the go so this was going to be it !
Once I made the decision I figured in for a penny in for a pound. There isn't a lot of height in my garage so the first job was to lift the engine & gearbox out to make things a bit easier.
So drained coolant, removed the exhaust Y piece, earth straps first. Then came the clutch slave and all the connectors I could find round the gearbox. Disconnected the propshaft and all the other electrical stuff then went for the lift. Again, I used my £40 pulley from Machine Mart but looking back I should have got a proper engine hoist. Never mind - a bit of jiggery pokery and I managed to get it out and on the floor
So drained coolant, removed the exhaust Y piece, earth straps first. Then came the clutch slave and all the connectors I could find round the gearbox. Disconnected the propshaft and all the other electrical stuff then went for the lift. Again, I used my £40 pulley from Machine Mart but looking back I should have got a proper engine hoist. Never mind - a bit of jiggery pokery and I managed to get it out and on the floor
Next step was getting the body fully off. I don't know if all S bodies are the same but the V8S has to come off at a pretty extreme angle. The back needs to lift way up so that the rear suspension turrets clear the bottom of the passenger section so you can slide the body back. This is because at the front of the transmission tunnel there is a taper and the body can't come straight up.
I managed to get hold of some dollys on ebay so put the car on the dollys so it could move around and hoist the body up on the rafter using my pully. I thought this was a genius idea and smugly hoisted it all up only to discover the pulley ran out of range about three-four inches short. Bugger !
So cup of tea later I decided to take the rear wheels off and drop the chassis so that the diff was sitting on the dolly. Now about an inch short....so close I couldn't believe it. In the end I took to twisting the straps which were round the body to get that precious extra inch and finally it cleared.
I've written that in three paragraphs but it actually took about two weeks. I have a two year wee girl and getting garage time is pretty difficult ! I was insanely jealous of some threads on the S forum talking about whipping the body off in a morning but hey -ho, it was done and I did it myself.
There was a wee accident in amongst all this which I'll get back to ( the embarassment is still too much at the moment )
I managed to get hold of some dollys on ebay so put the car on the dollys so it could move around and hoist the body up on the rafter using my pully. I thought this was a genius idea and smugly hoisted it all up only to discover the pulley ran out of range about three-four inches short. Bugger !
So cup of tea later I decided to take the rear wheels off and drop the chassis so that the diff was sitting on the dolly. Now about an inch short....so close I couldn't believe it. In the end I took to twisting the straps which were round the body to get that precious extra inch and finally it cleared.
I've written that in three paragraphs but it actually took about two weeks. I have a two year wee girl and getting garage time is pretty difficult ! I was insanely jealous of some threads on the S forum talking about whipping the body off in a morning but hey -ho, it was done and I did it myself.
There was a wee accident in amongst all this which I'll get back to ( the embarassment is still too much at the moment )
A few years back I went to evening classes at a local college to learn to weld but there were several reasons I decided not to tackle the repairs on the chassis myself :
1) I wasn't great on the MIG and much preferred gas welding
2) I left my welder in the ex's dads garage which is pretty much irretrievable since he is a large Irish ex-rugby player
and 3) I wanted to make sure the chassis stayed straight if sections were cut out and replaced.
After phoning around and picking up recommendations I decided to use Dulfords to do the chassis work. So off it went -
1) I wasn't great on the MIG and much preferred gas welding
2) I left my welder in the ex's dads garage which is pretty much irretrievable since he is a large Irish ex-rugby player
and 3) I wanted to make sure the chassis stayed straight if sections were cut out and replaced.
After phoning around and picking up recommendations I decided to use Dulfords to do the chassis work. So off it went -
First pictures back from Dulfords after shot blasting
The rot in the bottom pics couldn't have been seen without the body lift. From these and similar pictures from other chassis strips on the forums it's pretty clear that any holes on the bottom of the outriggers usually means there is a lot more unseen.
When Richard at Dulfords sent me these pictures I knew I'd done the right thing by going for a full strip and getting it properly sorted.
The rot in the bottom pics couldn't have been seen without the body lift. From these and similar pictures from other chassis strips on the forums it's pretty clear that any holes on the bottom of the outriggers usually means there is a lot more unseen.
When Richard at Dulfords sent me these pictures I knew I'd done the right thing by going for a full strip and getting it properly sorted.
Keep up the good work! I never get tired of seeing TVR restorations and it's good to see that there are so many owners looking after them properly.
Martin Keene said:
Christ, that really is bad.
The repair work looks first rate though! Looking forward to watching the rebirth.
I was just about to say it didn't look too bad! Mine were much worse than that and so were a lot of the other S series rebuilds on the forum!The repair work looks first rate though! Looking forward to watching the rebirth.
I decided to have the chassis powder coated. The TVR original coating wasn't great but after talking it through with Richard at Dulford and doing a bit of research it seemed the best way forward. As long as the prep is good, there's no reason it wouldn't last and I didn't want to take any chances with galvanising warping the chassis
I was originally planning to get the chassis welded & powder coated then back to me but there were some changes at work. Our company (or at least part of it )was bought by a competitor which threw things up in the air and I ended up doing a lot of travelling. I therefore decided to take Richard up on his offer of re-assembling it and returning it as rolling chassis to keep the project going.
He gave me what I reckon was a very competitive price ( I had four other quotes and his was somewhere in the middle). I didn't select on price alone though. I could have got it done cheaper but I had seen some other work they had done and his approach and manner inspired confidence.
Given that the price would vary depending on the state of the chassis and what else is done, I don't think it's fair for me to give out his pricing. If you're interested give him a call. I would certainly recommend the work though. See for yourselves, chassis porn :
I had already fitted Nitrons about 5 years ago (first mod I did) so they were just sent off for refurb and fitted with uprated Eibach springs.
They even cleaned up the diff etc and painted up the ARB etc. I was so excited to see these pics I jumped in the car and went down there to see it for myself !
I was originally planning to get the chassis welded & powder coated then back to me but there were some changes at work. Our company (or at least part of it )was bought by a competitor which threw things up in the air and I ended up doing a lot of travelling. I therefore decided to take Richard up on his offer of re-assembling it and returning it as rolling chassis to keep the project going.
He gave me what I reckon was a very competitive price ( I had four other quotes and his was somewhere in the middle). I didn't select on price alone though. I could have got it done cheaper but I had seen some other work they had done and his approach and manner inspired confidence.
Given that the price would vary depending on the state of the chassis and what else is done, I don't think it's fair for me to give out his pricing. If you're interested give him a call. I would certainly recommend the work though. See for yourselves, chassis porn :
I had already fitted Nitrons about 5 years ago (first mod I did) so they were just sent off for refurb and fitted with uprated Eibach springs.
They even cleaned up the diff etc and painted up the ARB etc. I was so excited to see these pics I jumped in the car and went down there to see it for myself !
Edited by gifdy on Monday 22 November 23:48
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