My Story. Chassis Refurb.
Discussion
So I have been lurking about these forums for nearly six years, contributing a little when I could but happy to sit back and soak up the knowlege that is so freely passed about on this truly awesome forum.
I'm halfway through my chassis refurb at the minute and dont have much new to add to the many threads that are already on here except maybe to provide a little reading for a few of you with time to kill.
Found out the missus was expecting in 2008. I decided that it was time for me to give up the bikes and I told the wife about my decision. She was so happy that I was gonna give up both racing and road bikes that she immediately agreed to my caveat that I was gonna get a weekend car.
I went across to Scotland in December 2008 and looked at a couple of Cerbs, purposely not taking any money with me so that I would not impulse buy. The first one I saw wasnt for me, I was a lovely green on the outside and a "difficult" green on the inside. The second was in Dundee, when I pulled up to the house there was the red cerb, a red tuscan and sierra 4x4 cossy and a uk twin turbo supra in the driveway / garage. Long story short, I called the guy on my way home and agreed the asking price which back then was 8k. I flew over a couple weeks later and we handled the business side. I then made my way from Dundee across to all of scotland to put her on a boat from stranraer to Belfast.
I had a couple hours to kill in stranraer so i went and got some dinner in a local pub. Some other punters came in and one apporoached me, "excuse me mate, you dont own the TVR in the carpark do you" when i told him I had just bought it he asked would i mind taking his little lad for a run in it. When I looked at the wee fella i saw myself more than a few years ago and happily agreed when we got back the wee man was smiling ear to ear and if i'm honest i was to. The guy offered to buy me a pint and I refused on the grounds i had to drive. After that he even offered to buy me dinner which i also refused but it was very nice of him. Welcome to TVR style attention. Checked in for the ferry and had a word asking to be put on the lower deck with the lorries to avoid scraping the bottom or worse getting stuck at the top of the ramp. What pulls up next to me but a bus load of drunken football fans. I though "here we go" but they were awesome just wanted to know about the car and how long i'd had it. When i told them about 6 hours one of the guys said right boys back up the fella's only just got her. Shook my hand and off they went these cars really do bring out the best in people.
Back to Belfast and into Torque Flight garages, (thank you to the ph'ers who recommended them). The guy who runs it checked my outriggers while he did the service and told me "this is the cleanest Cerb i've had in hear for years, stop worrying and go out and enjoy it".
I garaged the car for 5 years while I worked away in the isle of man and just brough her out a few months ago. Still thinking that my outriggers would be ok. I went to get tyres and the fitter told me it was rotten under the cills. I probably should have waxoiled again before putting her away.
My little boy is 5 now and at the age where he loves cars. He thinks the cerb looks like lightning mqueen.
I cant stand the idea of selling it so I started my chassis refurb just over a week ago.
after being pulled out a 5 year stretch in solitary.
into the workshop and making a start.
1 week later
9 days (about 30 hours) in I took the body off and I would never have gotten this far without the help and guidance I found on this forum and from a good friend.
The diff is out now and the steering will be out next time I get a chance to get at the car. So far the only cost has been my time.
Chassis is not great but its not bad either. Both sil memebers have to be replaced and possibly 1 or 2 of those that connect them to the rest of the chassis.
Thats my story so far and I guess there will be a little more to come once the chassis comes back from the shot blasters.
bit long winded but I hope you enjoyed it.
cheers
Rob
I'm halfway through my chassis refurb at the minute and dont have much new to add to the many threads that are already on here except maybe to provide a little reading for a few of you with time to kill.
Found out the missus was expecting in 2008. I decided that it was time for me to give up the bikes and I told the wife about my decision. She was so happy that I was gonna give up both racing and road bikes that she immediately agreed to my caveat that I was gonna get a weekend car.
I went across to Scotland in December 2008 and looked at a couple of Cerbs, purposely not taking any money with me so that I would not impulse buy. The first one I saw wasnt for me, I was a lovely green on the outside and a "difficult" green on the inside. The second was in Dundee, when I pulled up to the house there was the red cerb, a red tuscan and sierra 4x4 cossy and a uk twin turbo supra in the driveway / garage. Long story short, I called the guy on my way home and agreed the asking price which back then was 8k. I flew over a couple weeks later and we handled the business side. I then made my way from Dundee across to all of scotland to put her on a boat from stranraer to Belfast.
I had a couple hours to kill in stranraer so i went and got some dinner in a local pub. Some other punters came in and one apporoached me, "excuse me mate, you dont own the TVR in the carpark do you" when i told him I had just bought it he asked would i mind taking his little lad for a run in it. When I looked at the wee fella i saw myself more than a few years ago and happily agreed when we got back the wee man was smiling ear to ear and if i'm honest i was to. The guy offered to buy me a pint and I refused on the grounds i had to drive. After that he even offered to buy me dinner which i also refused but it was very nice of him. Welcome to TVR style attention. Checked in for the ferry and had a word asking to be put on the lower deck with the lorries to avoid scraping the bottom or worse getting stuck at the top of the ramp. What pulls up next to me but a bus load of drunken football fans. I though "here we go" but they were awesome just wanted to know about the car and how long i'd had it. When i told them about 6 hours one of the guys said right boys back up the fella's only just got her. Shook my hand and off they went these cars really do bring out the best in people.
Back to Belfast and into Torque Flight garages, (thank you to the ph'ers who recommended them). The guy who runs it checked my outriggers while he did the service and told me "this is the cleanest Cerb i've had in hear for years, stop worrying and go out and enjoy it".
I garaged the car for 5 years while I worked away in the isle of man and just brough her out a few months ago. Still thinking that my outriggers would be ok. I went to get tyres and the fitter told me it was rotten under the cills. I probably should have waxoiled again before putting her away.
My little boy is 5 now and at the age where he loves cars. He thinks the cerb looks like lightning mqueen.
I cant stand the idea of selling it so I started my chassis refurb just over a week ago.
after being pulled out a 5 year stretch in solitary.
into the workshop and making a start.
1 week later
9 days (about 30 hours) in I took the body off and I would never have gotten this far without the help and guidance I found on this forum and from a good friend.
The diff is out now and the steering will be out next time I get a chance to get at the car. So far the only cost has been my time.
Chassis is not great but its not bad either. Both sil memebers have to be replaced and possibly 1 or 2 of those that connect them to the rest of the chassis.
Thats my story so far and I guess there will be a little more to come once the chassis comes back from the shot blasters.
bit long winded but I hope you enjoyed it.
cheers
Rob
I think when the day comes to having to tackle mine, I would almost feel happier once the body is off and the strip down completed. At least then you know what's what and you can start to think about putting things back on again. Enjoy, your lad certainly looks like he will enjoy the finished article as much as you will!
Chassis went to the shot blasters on friday, should get it back this friday when we can start the repairs.
Plan is to galvanise the chassis, epxoy primer, paint it up the same as the car and stoneguard it. The pal who is helping me is a bodyworker and that was his suggestion. If anyone thinks thats the wrong way to go about it please speak up. All advice greatly received.
as a side note we were trying to figure out what the hell these are for. They dont seem to serve any purpose at all. Can anyone shed any light???
Plan is to galvanise the chassis, epxoy primer, paint it up the same as the car and stoneguard it. The pal who is helping me is a bodyworker and that was his suggestion. If anyone thinks thats the wrong way to go about it please speak up. All advice greatly received.
as a side note we were trying to figure out what the hell these are for. They dont seem to serve any purpose at all. Can anyone shed any light???
Thanks for the reply mikesr,
The rear anti roll bar was attached, I removed it to send the chassis to get shot blasted. But it was mounted on the bottom of the chassis.
I am trying to figure out what the two bright members are. One horizontal and one 45 degs up joined by a couple bolts and flat bar.
All the other chassis's i've see seem to have them, though not always joined. Are you saying these have something to do with the anti roll bar or is it that my question wasnt clear enough.
cheers
Rob
The rear anti roll bar was attached, I removed it to send the chassis to get shot blasted. But it was mounted on the bottom of the chassis.
I am trying to figure out what the two bright members are. One horizontal and one 45 degs up joined by a couple bolts and flat bar.
All the other chassis's i've see seem to have them, though not always joined. Are you saying these have something to do with the anti roll bar or is it that my question wasnt clear enough.
cheers
Rob
So my chassis is back from the shotblasters and the news is good. Apart from the outriggers that I already new about (so did bother to have him blast) the rest of the chassis is in a very good condition, to my very great releif.
This is the area the first alerted me to the problem and prompted the body off scenario.
Its alot worse now than it was when it was on the car.
While the chassis has been away have been stripping the rest of the gear.
if you are thinking about this level of rebuild dont underestimate the time this stage will take. After 17 years on the car every bolt is a battle to remove. Between corrosion and some diabolical design by TVR's engineers (I can only assume these guys had the same degree in engineering I do but never actually built a damn thing in thier lives) your time will be eaten alive by this process.
All thats left for me to do is the horrible bush removal process and all the running gear can make its way to the shot blasters as well. By the time it comes back the steel repair should be finished and then its off to the galvanisers.
Decent progress for 3 weeks i'd say.
One thing I did find was that when I started this process I thought to myself "if I put this all back on the car and 6 months or a year from now a ball joint or a wheel bearing goes do I really wanna strip this all back down to replace? Do I balls" so all that stuff is getting replaced while its apart.
This is the area the first alerted me to the problem and prompted the body off scenario.
Its alot worse now than it was when it was on the car.
While the chassis has been away have been stripping the rest of the gear.
if you are thinking about this level of rebuild dont underestimate the time this stage will take. After 17 years on the car every bolt is a battle to remove. Between corrosion and some diabolical design by TVR's engineers (I can only assume these guys had the same degree in engineering I do but never actually built a damn thing in thier lives) your time will be eaten alive by this process.
All thats left for me to do is the horrible bush removal process and all the running gear can make its way to the shot blasters as well. By the time it comes back the steel repair should be finished and then its off to the galvanisers.
Decent progress for 3 weeks i'd say.
One thing I did find was that when I started this process I thought to myself "if I put this all back on the car and 6 months or a year from now a ball joint or a wheel bearing goes do I really wanna strip this all back down to replace? Do I balls" so all that stuff is getting replaced while its apart.
Weekends and nights for me at the minute.
starting work at 7am and getting out at 3, gives me 2.5 hours each night on the car and I can still get home for 18:00 to put the kids to bed.
If it hadnt been for the advice on this forum I would have been terrified to tackle this job. I'm still bloodywell terrified that when i put it all back together i'll wind up with some electric gremlins that will have me on the edge of a local bridge tout de suite!
But for now I am soldiering on and every time I read another post I think hmmm best do that. So i just order my metal t-piece for the water issue
I'm glad the thread is enjoyable and who knows some poor bugger might even find it useful!
starting work at 7am and getting out at 3, gives me 2.5 hours each night on the car and I can still get home for 18:00 to put the kids to bed.
If it hadnt been for the advice on this forum I would have been terrified to tackle this job. I'm still bloodywell terrified that when i put it all back together i'll wind up with some electric gremlins that will have me on the edge of a local bridge tout de suite!
But for now I am soldiering on and every time I read another post I think hmmm best do that. So i just order my metal t-piece for the water issue
I'm glad the thread is enjoyable and who knows some poor bugger might even find it useful!
iamrtl said:
One thing I did find was that when I started this process I thought to myself "if I put this all back on the car and 6 months or a year from now a ball joint or a wheel bearing goes do I really wanna strip this all back down to replace? Do I balls" so all that stuff is getting replaced while its apart.
Good move. I did exactly the same (or had it done more accurately 
). I'd suggest replacing all nuts and bolts as well.I also replaced all fuel lines, new brake lines, bushes, just about everything.
All nuts and bolts are going stainless and all the bushes, fuel lines and brake lines are being done too
when i get some time i am gonna mark up those pictures of the running gear, numbering the bolts and giving lengths threads etc etc in the hope it might help someone out. For now its on the back burner. Need more hours in the day!
when i get some time i am gonna mark up those pictures of the running gear, numbering the bolts and giving lengths threads etc etc in the hope it might help someone out. For now its on the back burner. Need more hours in the day!
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