Complete refurbish for my Chimaera

[zed4]

Hi all,

Some of you may know that I had planned to replace my Porsche Cayman S with an Aston Martin recently. I had a last minute change of plan and ended up buying back my old BMW Z4M instead. Love having it back!

Fortunately, this has freed up some money to spend on my TVR!

I desperately need a new roof and new carpets, as they're looking really tired, and the roof leaks. The paintwork is also past its best, it has a scuff on the front lower valance, a scuff on the drivers door, a scratch on the front drivers wing, and a scuff on the rear bumper, so I'm thinking it would be best to repaint the entire car.

But now I'm thinking if I go for a full respray, the car needs quite a lot of dismantling, so maybe it's worth refurbishing the chassis too.

So the plan would be:

Strip the car
Strip chassis and repaint
Paint the entire car
Fit all new carpets (wool)
Fit new roof
Reassemble everything

I've got an absolute maximum budget of £7,000. Verpoorten Technik in Hungary are looking like €7146 which is about £6100 (assuming the outriggers are ok). That leaves me with a budget to get the car there, or perhaps spend a bit more whilst it's there on some other extras.

What do the masses think?

1. Is it realistic to get everything done to a good standard for this amount of money? I know VT have a very good reputation.
2. Is it really worth doing? I hope to keep the Chimaera forever and I didn't pay much money for it back in 2013. The car is now on 75,000 miles, although the engine is good.

Recent work includes:

All new brake system (servo, hoses, master cylinder, reservoir)
New clutch and flywheel
New cam
New trumpets
New waterpump and belts
All new hoses everywhere (power steering, coolant etc)
New radiator
All new Powerflex bushes
Some wishbones replaced
All wishbones nuts and bolts are new
Gaz coilovers just refurbished

New outriggers in 2010 but unsure of their current condition
And probably much more that I've forgotten to mention!

I'm wondering what the resale would be, if I ever did decide to sell, for a car with a chassis refurb, full repaint and all new carpets and hood. Given that I didn't pay too much for the car new, it may be worth doing. The car is a 1997 Chimaera 400 (mk2 front end, but with the old rear lights) with 75k miles. I've owned it since early 2013.

Cheers,

Dan

[davetripletvr]

zed4 said:

Hi all,

Some of you may know that I had planned to replace my Porsche Cayman S with an Aston Martin recently. I had a last minute change of plan and ended up buying back my old BMW Z4M instead. Love having it back!

Fortunately, this has freed up some money to spend on my TVR!

I desperately need a new roof and new carpets, as they're looking really tired, and the roof leaks. The paintwork is also past its best, it has a scuff on the front lower valance, a scuff on the drivers door, a scratch on the front drivers wing, and a scuff on the rear bumper, so I'm thinking it would be best to repaint the entire car.

But now I'm thinking if I go for a full respray, the car needs quite a lot of dismantling, so maybe it's worth refurbishing the chassis too.

So the plan would be:

Strip the car
Strip chassis and repaint
Paint the entire car
Fit all new carpets (wool)
Fit new roof
Reassemble everything

I've got an absolute maximum budget of £7,000. Verpoorten Technik in Hungary are looking like €7146 which is about £6100 (assuming the outriggers are ok). That leaves me with a budget to get the car there, or perhaps spend a bit more whilst it's there on some other extras.

What do the masses think?

1. Is it realistic to get everything done to a good standard for this amount of money? I know VT have a very good reputation.
2. Is it really worth doing? I hope to keep the Chimaera forever and I didn't pay much money for it back in 2013. The car is now on 75,000 miles, although the engine is good.

Recent work includes:

All new brake system (servo, hoses, master cylinder, reservoir)
New clutch and flywheel
New cam
New trumpets
New waterpump and belts
All new hoses everywhere (power steering, coolant etc)
New radiator
All new Powerflex bushes
Some wishbones replaced
All wishbones nuts and bolts are new
Gaz coilovers just refurbished

New outriggers in 2010 but unsure of their current condition
And probably much more that I've forgotten to mention!

I'm wondering what the resale would be, if I ever did decide to sell, for a car with a chassis refurb, full repaint and all new carpets and hood. Given that I didn't pay too much for the car new, it may be worth doing. The car is a 1997 Chimaera 400 (mk2 front end, but with the old rear lights) with 75k miles. I've owned it since early 2013.

Cheers,

Dan

So what are Verpoorten Technik in Hungary saying they will do for €7146 which is about £6100.

UK average prices for work carried out are,

A chassis refurb will cost £5500 to £7500

Respray will cost £3000 to £4500

Carpets £650 to £750

New Roof £650 to £850

So your talking between £10,000 and £13,500 to have all this work done in the UK.

I am at present having a body off chassis restoration and it is always more expensive than the quote you are given due to worn parts not quoted for or work that is worth having done while body is off, so factor this in.

[ray von]

The fact that they're in Hungary would put me off. I don't care who does the work when you have loads of work done on your car there will ALWAYS be niggles/ snags after you get it back. Who will sort that for you?
There's loads of companies who'll do it, are Southways not near you ?

[zed4]

The chassis refurb price is for a basic refurb, given that my car already has new wishbones, new bushes, new nuts and bolts etc.

Prices are from their price lists:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B3l0goGWl5mZTlZ3c...

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B3l0goGWl5mZejVRb...

[zed4]

I have also had a price for around £1000 for a new roof and carpets from a local trimmer (no VAT).

A lot of the work labour is overlapped, so if I go for chassis refurb, respray, carpets and roof, it would be cheaper to do them in one go, rather than individually.

[greenhulk]

davetripletvr said:

I am at present having a body off chassis restoration and it is always more expensive than the quote you are given due to worn parts not quoted for or work that is worth having done while body is off, so factor this in

This^
Not forgetting blinging up that engine bay Dave

Its almost inevitable they will encounter unforeseen parts when the bodys lifted that are on the way out or already in a bad way that WILL need replacing. Im on my 2nd TVR bodylift & its the same again, worn engine mounts, bushes, diff mount, very fragile wiring etc. Then there are things worth doing whilst the engines out (for easier access) replace coreplugs & so on.. It all mounts up & you can end up over budget but you know you done it right at the end of it all!

Good luck
Steve

[zed4]

greenhulk said:

davetripletvr said:

I am at present having a body off chassis restoration and it is always more expensive than the quote you are given due to worn parts not quoted for or work that is worth having done while body is off, so factor this in

This^

Its almost inevitable they will encounter unforeseen parts on the way out or already in a bad way that WILL need replacing. Im on my 2nd TVR bodylift & its the same again, worn engine mounts, bushes, very fragile wiring etc. Then there are things worth doing whilst the engines out (for easier access) replace coreplugs & so on.. It all mounts up & you can end up over budget but you know you done it right at the end of it all! Pretty much have a brand new car if the engines healthy too

Good luck
Steve

Yes, I'm sure there would be far more expenditure along the way, and to a point, that's fine.

[zed4]

ray von said:

The fact that they're in Hungary would put me off. I don't care who does the work when you have loads of work done on your car there will ALWAYS be niggles/ snags after you get it back. Who will sort that for you?
There's loads of companies who'll do it, are Southways not near you ?

Southways are near me, and I've used them a few times before. They fitted my cam. I've been happy with their work, but I'm thinking of dropping the car off at a place who can do chassis work, paint and trimming all in house.

[greenhulk]

zed4 said:

Yes, I'm sure there would be far more expenditure along the way, and to a point, that's fine.

Yeah i mean its worth it, there great cars that are only going one way in value! Just dont go overboard on lighting upgrades half regret doing it on my 'S' now.
Also I would shop around for carpets etc you may find an independent trimmer who will fit them all for you cheaper than a big company would as he has no overheads. As for the new hood, i seriously recommend picking one up on ebay, a chap puts new ones up on bid (near me in Birmingham) & there going for £68-£190 (yes i paid the £190 all in for a black one) that includes rear plastic section & the material to cover targa, cheapest online is around £340 i think, again just find a guy who can fit them. Make reasonable savings where you can.

cheers
Steve

[griffdude]

It would be 2 great drives there & back!

[jazzdude]

Not sure about some of the prices.
Not that I have asked but I wouldnt be surprised if a full body off, taking everything off the chassis and get it coated etc would probably cost 5-7k but a 'refurb', that's different.

I would do a partial lift first to see the chassis in its entirety, as you have had new outriggers in 2010, I would have thought that unless the car was left in the sea, you should be looking at getting under the car for a while and getting all the crap off and then recoating it with POR15 or something like that.

I did this last year myself as a project, and yes it took me a few weeks of evenings and weekends, but I would say it cost about a grand in parts, and that was all the cleaning stuff, new bushes throughout, even dropped the diff, ball joints, rack boots, exhaust manifold gaskets etc and I would say the car's chassis is good for quite a few more years.

Its not complicated, just time consuming but it took me, alone about a weekend to get the body 6" up off the chassis.

You have done all the bushes I see so everything will come off easily so its just time and elbow grease.

You could get that car in top condition under that budget I think if you are prepared to get stuck in rather than a drive in / drive out service.;

[zed4]

jazzdude said:

Not sure about some of the prices.
Not that I have asked but I wouldnt be surprised if a full body off, taking everything off the chassis and get it coated etc would probably cost 5-7k but a 'refurb', that's different.

I would do a partial lift first to see the chassis in its entirety, as you have had new outriggers in 2010, I would have thought that unless the car was left in the sea, you should be looking at getting under the car for a while and getting all the crap off and then recoating it with POR15 or something like that.

I did this last year myself as a project, and yes it took me a few weeks of evenings and weekends, but I would say it cost about a grand in parts, and that was all the cleaning stuff, new bushes throughout, even dropped the diff, ball joints, rack boots, exhaust manifold gaskets etc and I would say the car's chassis is good for quite a few more years.

Its not complicated, just time consuming but it took me, alone about a weekend to get the body 6" up off the chassis.

You have done all the bushes I see so everything will come off easily so its just time and elbow grease.

You could get that car in top condition under that budget I think if you are prepared to get stuck in rather than a drive in / drive out service.;

I've already painted the chassis by hand, replaced all the ball joints and bushes etc. So it's only really a lift to check it's all ok and repaint the chassis properly, rather than my brush on by hand!

According to their price list, they do a complete body off and strip the chassis to recoat it.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B3l0goGWl5mZTlZ3c...

It's more of a "lets do the chassis" whilst the carpets are out and the car is stripped for painting, as we're halfway there anyway.