Another day, another chassis

[jamieduff1981]

Who's doing the work? It looks really good. Any chance you could PM me a ballpark figure? I expect to have to do this on a Cerb I buy in the new year and I'd like to factor in a suitable amount for a quality job like this one.

I realise other things are often done at the same time which makes sense, but costs for the chassis blast, repair and re-protection in particular is of interest!

[Byker28i]

BLUETHUNDER said:

Just looking at this thread and all the others regarding chassis work puts me off of ever owning one again. It's bad enough with the costs of running one let alone having a chassis job slung on top.

Still lovely cars but I admire from afar now.

Sorry - been a busy week.

Ok - this has been my dream car for about 15 years, took me about 10 years or so to get one. As such I plan to keep it.
There really aren't many of them left - say 750-800 so what's the odds of finding a really good one after 15 years? so all will need some work sooner or later. Most stuff has been found/documented on here as the cars get older.

As such, I bought the best one I could find, within my budget, looked at the worse case scenario's, (£5k engine rebuild, £5k chassis) and peoples suggestions of £3k a year running costs, so that worked out at £250 a month, stuck in the bank as a slush fund.

That's paid for all the money I've ever spent on the car, servicing, upgrades and now the body off chassis repair and other bits. Running costs for me have been fairly low over the 6 years I've had it so I've got a pot put aside.

Yes this is going to be expensive, I'm expecting around £7500ish after the vat is added, but then I've got a completely good as new chassis that shouldn't need attention again for years, plus lots of other bits refreshed at the same time. Whilst it's apart it's having all those other essentials that have come to light done whilst they are accessible.
New modern fuel lines throughout, new brake lines, top up the heat shielding, new starter, all new cooling hoses, fully poly bushed etc etc. Basically whilst it's apart it'll get as mechanically perfect as I can get/afford.

Apart from a clutch or engine refresh, mechanically it shouldn't need anything for years. I'm not touching the engine or clutch as both are fine currently.

What else could I get for £250 a month? I certainly couldn't lease anything as exciting or as unique.

[Byker28i]

jamieduff1981 said:

Who's doing the work? It looks really good. Any chance you could PM me a ballpark figure? I expect to have to do this on a Cerb I buy in the new year and I'd like to factor in a suitable amount for a quality job like this one.

I realise other things are often done at the same time which makes sense, but costs for the chassis blast, repair and re-protection in particular is of interest!

The work is being done at Neil Garners near Cirencester. I have trusted him with my car almost from day one, he goes beyond the extra mile and his work is faultless in all aspects. We discussed the best way to approach this and decided together that body off was best but he did give me the much cheaper offer of just the outrigger replacement in situ. In hindsight I don't think I'd recommend anything other than body off.

Cost is obviously depending on how much you have done, but we started with a ball park figure of £5k (plus dreaded vat)

[jamieduff1981]

Thanks very much. It's much appreciated. Going to check a car out between Christmas and New Year. I've pretty much decides I'm having it providing it's as described and looks as good in the flesh. Fingers crossed!

[Cerbieherts]

Can't see how anyone could still offer a "proper" repair without lifting the body.this is a safety issue. The body should be lifted; It isn't possible to weld the chassis outriggers all the way around the tube without doing so.

Your chassis looks superb, incidentely!

[Byker28i]

Update.

it's back! past the MOT on Thursday with no advisories but then it has a two page invoice to go with the Body off chassis refurb. It rather turned into a 'well whilst it's all apart...', so all new poly bushes, wishbones, track rod ends, engine mounts, starter motor, all cooling hoses, all fuel lines, all brake lines etc etc etc.

I've driven it into work today, popping and banging like a good 'un. Didn't have much fuel in it so it's got a mix of 104 octane and Shell's Vpower.

Now I can start playing with diagnostics on Windows 7

[anonymous-user]

Byker28i said:

Update.

it's back! past the MOT on Thursday with no advisories but then it has a two page invoice to go with the Body off chassis refurb. It rather turned into a 'well whilst it's all apart...', so all new poly bushes, wishbones, track rod ends, engine mounts, starter motor, all cooling hoses, all fuel lines, all brake lines etc etc etc.

I've driven it into work today, popping and banging like a good 'un. Didn't have much fuel in it so it's got a mix of 104 octane and Shell's Vpower.

Now I can start playing with diagnostics on Windows 7

That new parts list sounds mighty familiar plus quite a lot more! Still "umming and ahing" respraying her now or putting it back together for at least some use this year.

[camel_landy]

djstevec said:

That new parts list sounds mighty familiar plus quite a lot more! Still "umming and ahing" respraying her now or putting it back together for at least some use this year.

Indeed, an all too familiar parts list... I've gone for the respray another day option on the basis that I've already started my next project and don't want to have too many on the go at once!!

M