More chassis refurbishment porn at Willow sports cars

More chassis refurbishment porn at Willow sports cars

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Discussion

carsy

3,018 posts

165 months

Tuesday 3rd January 2012
quotequote all
Dr Mike Oxgreen said:
Ball-park figures:

£1500-ish for replacing the outriggers

Another £1500-ish for shot-blasting, zinc primer and powder-coat of whole chassis, including wishbones etc.

Budget another £500-ish for stuff that gets discovered along the way, plus the stuff that you'd be mad not to do at the same time. Little things like replacing fuel lines etc all add up. The "where do you stop" line is a blurry one!
I dont think blasting and powdercoating will come to that. I got my chassis and all suspension done for £150. He did however say at the end that he had under estimated the work and should have charged about £300.

MPoxon

5,329 posts

173 months

Tuesday 3rd January 2012
quotequote all
Looks like they did a great job on the chassis refurb. I have heard good things about Willow in the past.

portzi

Original Poster:

2,296 posts

175 months

Tuesday 3rd January 2012
quotequote all
SILICONEKID340HP said:
There not mate ! the two brown wires are two live cables which disappear in to the abyss towards the fuse box .

After doing some research they need upsizing. if there being extended.
Daz, I will enquire about the brown ones again going towards the fuse box? I wonder if anyone on this forum has had the same question, as many have done the conversion.

Mark

Edited by portzi on Wednesday 4th January 21:14

portzi

Original Poster:

2,296 posts

175 months

Tuesday 3rd January 2012
quotequote all
andydw said:
Does anybody know if there are any improvements that could be carried out to the cerb chassis during a restoration eg improved suspension geometry that sort of thing?
In regards to suspension and wishbones etc. the cerbera wishbones are different to the chimaera's and griff's,a better design I was told.

Mark

Pink_Floyd

900 posts

221 months

Wednesday 4th January 2012
quotequote all
portzi said:
SILICONEKID340HP said:
There not mate ! the two brown wires are two live cables which disappear in to the abyss towards the fuse box .
After doing some research they need upsizing. if there being extended.
Daz, I will enquire about the brown ones again going towards the fuse box? I wonder if anyone on this forum has had the same question, as many have done the converstion.Mark
I would extend the 2 brown wires to the battery and use larger cable. In the fuse box they go to 2 connectors that are joined together.
If you don't extend them, then during cranking the voltage drop in the red cable will mean that the electronics will see a lower voltage than the battery voltage.

portzi

Original Poster:

2,296 posts

175 months

Wednesday 4th January 2012
quotequote all
Pink_Floyd said:
I would extend the 2 brown wires to the battery and use larger cable. In the fuse box they go to 2 connectors that are joined together.
If you don't extend them, then during cranking the voltage drop in the red cable will mean that the electronics will see a lower voltage than the battery voltage.
Does this answer your question Daz?

SILICONEKID340HP

14,997 posts

231 months

Wednesday 4th January 2012
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Cheers ! at least you know now if yours is going to be done right .

Twistygit

800 posts

153 months

Tuesday 10th January 2012
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how's it going any more photo's on the progress?

portzi

Original Poster:

2,296 posts

175 months

Wednesday 11th January 2012
quotequote all
[quote=Twistygit]how's it going any more photo's on the progress?[/quote

lupos in first hopefully here today as my lights are on the way out. Changing the upper front wishbone design will put some pics up on machining mod.

Just making my frame for transporting the body to the paintshop . will take some pics of the body on the frame when complete.

Twistygit

800 posts

153 months

Wednesday 11th January 2012
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good man, hope everything is going smoothly, sounds like you are doing a full refurb are you?

portzi

Original Poster:

2,296 posts

175 months

Wednesday 11th January 2012
quotequote all
Twistygit said:
good man, hope everything is going smoothly, sounds like you are doing a full refurb are you?
yes full refurb and whilst the body is off alick of paint too. Hit my first stubbling block, transportation frame is not the correct size frown.

SILICONEKID340HP

14,997 posts

231 months

Wednesday 11th January 2012
quotequote all
portzi said:
Twistygit said:
good man, hope everything is going smoothly, sounds like you are doing a full refurb are you?
yes full refurb and whilst the body is off alick of paint too. Hit my first stubbling block, transportation frame is not the correct size frown.
Whos paintng it ? Carizma.

I bet your spending 8k on your car..

Edited by SILICONEKID340HP on Wednesday 11th January 22:01

spikep

468 posts

282 months

Thursday 12th January 2012
quotequote all
Hes using some local 'specialist' if you can us that term!!!
When you take it, can you drive by my Grif so they can look at the battery mounting to see if it can be done the same!!!!!!
PS
Get it finished soon for classic Le Mans.

portzi

Original Poster:

2,296 posts

175 months

Thursday 12th January 2012
quotequote all
spikep said:
Hes using some local 'specialist' if you can us that term!!!
When you take it, can you drive by my Grif so they can look at the battery mounting to see if it can be done the same!!!!!!
PS
Get it finished soon for classic Le Mans.
hi spike i will check as there is a griff in at the moment . As for paint Daz Am using a local specialist.

SILICONEKID340HP

14,997 posts

231 months

Thursday 12th January 2012
quotequote all
portzi said:
spikep said:
Hes using some local 'specialist' if you can us that term!!!
When you take it, can you drive by my Grif so they can look at the battery mounting to see if it can be done the same!!!!!!
PS
Get it finished soon for classic Le Mans.
hi spike i will check as there is a griff in at the moment . As for paint Daz Am using a local specialist. [/quote very local .

Cerizma are very local to Willow sports cars

http://www.carizma.co.uk/

portzi

Original Poster:

2,296 posts

175 months

Tuesday 24th January 2012
quotequote all
Well its been afew weeks since my last update on restoration. my time has been taken up by making the trolley for the body to go to the painters. My main concern was the weak spot behind the soft top and rear wheel arch area. the body there is very fragile so supporting this area fully was my main concern and mounting the body such as it is supporting 2/3's of the body.


The trolley is taking shape nicely.

[IMG]http://i955.photobucket.com/albums/ae36/portzi/2012-01-24_192126_resized.jpg[/IMG
to support the body full I aquired some angle iron 8 caster wheels and some 1 inch ply form a friendly carpenter I know.

Using the bolt holes behind the fuel tank I was able to lock the end of the car to the ply with some steel brackets.


I have fitted 4 casters each side to stop and bowing and strenght to the trolley.


Using the seat mounting bolt holes and the outrigger holes the front of the car will be fixed to the ply, as you can see not taking any chances of body movement or cracking.












spikep

468 posts

282 months

Wednesday 25th January 2012
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Looks great. Now the question is did you check the griff to see if the battery can go behind the seat?!!!

Dr Mike Oxgreen

4,119 posts

165 months

Wednesday 25th January 2012
quotequote all
carsy said:
I dont think blasting and powdercoating will come to that. I got my chassis and all suspension done for £150. He did however say at the end that he had under estimated the work and should have charged about £300.
I think it's a mistake to look only at the cost of the blasting and powder-coating - except if you're able to do all the disassembly and reassembly yourself, then it is indeed the only cost involved. But if, like me, all that work is beyond your time and skill, then you have no choice but to pay for the disassembly followed by the substantial reassembly, checking, adjusting and setting up. To get the chassis totally naked for blasting and coating requires substantial extra work beyond what you'd do just to replace the outriggers. The actual blasting and powder-coating is only a tiny proportion of the cost.

Edited by Dr Mike Oxgreen on Wednesday 25th January 07:53

portzi

Original Poster:

2,296 posts

175 months

Thursday 26th January 2012
quotequote all
Dr Mike Oxgreen said:
I think it's a mistake to look only at the cost of the blasting and powder-coating - except if you're able to do all the disassembly and reassembly yourself, then it is indeed the only cost involved. But if, like me, all that work is beyond your time and skill, then you have no choice but to pay for the disassembly followed by the substantial reassembly, checking, adjusting and setting up. To get the chassis totally naked for blasting and coating requires substantial extra work beyond what you'd do just to replace the outriggers. The actual blasting and powder-coating is only a tiny proportion of the cost.

Edited by Dr Mike Oxgreen on Wednesday 25th January 07:53
Yes Mike,the man hours involved in assembling a TVR back together, far outways the cost of blasting and powder coating.

portzi

Original Poster:

2,296 posts

175 months

Saturday 11th February 2012
quotequote all
Well its been afew weeks since I have managed to update the post. getting the car to the sprayers in one piece was a success. I am using a local firm who specialise in aircraft spraying, so standards have to be of a good quality, and I know the guys so that helps too.

the body is off to the painters 15 miles down the A46



The car was initially masked off.


The car was prepared with lots of elbow grease and a light touch along the lovely curves of the car. because of the curves our hands to grip the emery pads was decided as the tradition blocks would impart flats on the car. We were surprised on how good the body was for its age which made to prep work alot easier. Many hours later and cups of tea's





The front end of the car and the along the front sill, were full of stone chips and cracks so these were filled in and rubbed down. sorry no piccs of this too busy rubbing smile the car that is.


A block pad had to be used on the front as the chips were pretty bad in this area



The body was then air hosed down and the vacuum switched on to remove dust, we left and had a brew and a biscuit or two.

One our return we we set to work wiping the car down with lotoxane wipes and some lint free cloths with a chemical on, that removes dust and fibres




The lotoxane evaporated within afew minutes of application. The spray bay was brought up to temperature for the spraying.The car was now ready for the bar coat which provides a barrier between the old paint and the new paint, and prevents crazing forming.



Steve and mike worked along the car going at the same pace so they applied the coats at the same time around the car ensuring even coverage & drying time.



They even let me have a go. Bad move.


I am doing the splits smile

At this we left for another brew and biscuit. We had a final inspection of the car and left for the fotty. Half 7 start in the morning so an early nite for me.

On the way home I popped into willow sports cars and found this, seeing its a chassis refurb post thought I would put this up, well chuffed is an understatment. smile








Edited by portzi on Saturday 11th February 21:07


Edited by portzi on Saturday 11th February 21:21