Complete and utter strip down
Discussion
900T-R said:
Nope. Now get posting, will you! 
OK - here are a couple more pics...Just waiting for delivery of the upper and lower ball joints and i will be fitting the front suspension.
Need to add the handbrake cables, front to rear brake pipe and the flexi pipe to the hubs.
And a close up of the rear diff, yes i am sad and polished the brake pipe...anyway as you can see it is a lot better than the original pictures
frazer guest said:
Andy, if we were to say that your time was worth, for example, £50 per hour
+ VAT. How much do you think all of this would have cost, including parts?
Blimey - thats a toughie.+ VAT. How much do you think all of this would have cost, including parts?
How about i break it down to what it has cost me so far and the time taken...would that help???
frazer guest said:
I hope i hant caused any offence
No - of course you havent.Obviously the stip down didnt cost anything, it was just a case of pull it to pieces and throw all the parts i didnt want anymore and it only took a couple of days (most of one sunday and a few hours per night)
So far the costs are as follows:-
£20 for the outrigger tubes (2 @ 3 meters)
£5 for the metal plates for the body mounts, seat belt anchors and a piece of box section to repair one of the main chassis rails.
The first outrigger took about 4-5 hrs to cut out. I didnt want to use a grinder as i didnt want to upset the neighbors. The second one took about 2 hrs as i bought some gas cutting gear.
8 hrs to weld the outriggers in, replace tube around one of the top front wishbone mounts and replace a section of the main chassis box section.
Powder coating cost £130 and that was to shotblast, zinc spray and coat.
The rest is lots of elbow grease, silver and black hammerite.
So far i would say i have spent no more than 30-40hrs working on the car after the body was lifted off...maybe a little bit more...so thats about 2k in labor!!!
I should have kept a better log of the time taken.
Is that a rough idea of what you were looking after???
frazer guest said:
What has been the hardest part of the job? besides finding space for everything.
Space has not been too bad. The body has sat on the drive and i have a double length garage so it is not too bad.Hardest part of the job was probably stripping it down, rusted bolts and not knowing how things came apart.
Also if you spend lots of time on the parts you take off you can re-use them.
Most surprising thing i have found is how cheap you can get parts.
Examples.
Part TVR 'Shops' Alternate Source
Ball joints £30 Each £10 each
Brake Discs £50 pair £20 pair
Handbrake Cable £50 £20
Fan Belt £8 £3
I could go on but it really does pay to look around.
Plus all the parts from the alternate source are OEM parts.
And if you are not going to China for a couple of years i might be persuaded to do this again....
v8sag said:
Hi Andy
Looks good,i'm about at the same stage,aiming at body on this weekend too,its a nice change being on the fabrication stage putting together all the shiny and new bits.Look out on the Griff forum later this week.
I am looking at putting the body back on this weekend and then should hopefully be getting a compressor to give the car a nice shiney new respray...Looks good,i'm about at the same stage,aiming at body on this weekend too,its a nice change being on the fabrication stage putting together all the shiny and new bits.Look out on the Griff forum later this week.
Ray_Von
Cheers for that, going to check my mail now....
So are you comming round to lift the body back on or are you 'working' again???
honest Guv
frazer guest said:
Have things slowed down a bit since the baby arrived?
Not really...since i started digging around i started to find a feew bits of fibreglass that had delaminated...so i dug them out with grinders and started chasing cracks and things but have got on top of it now...and, well, yes...since the baby has come along time spent in the garage has reduced a little....and cheers victormeldrew...
The colour is a black pearl...in the dark it just looks like a shiney black but when the sun shines it goes purple..
frazer guest said:
So how much is left to do now Andy?
Hopefully just another week or two. I just need to finish painting it and then i can put it back together...as for missing driving it...it wasnt to bad when the weather was cr*p but now i really am missing it....just cant wait to start it up, let alone drive it.frazer guest said:
Im guessing that they really do have to be millimetre perfect in there positioning?
i took measurements before i started. I took diagonal and straight angles and neither side was the same. The plates at the rear that hold the seatbelts in place are a good example...on the drivers side the bolt hole was in the middle of the plate, passenger side it was about 10mm off center....not something that can change if it was crash damage.I found the job relatively easy BUT unless you are good with a mig welder and can cut the old tube out accurately i would not advise trying it.
I am putting together a detailed description of how i replaced the outriggers with loads of pictures but it has taken a back seat as i want to get the car finished and back on the road asap...once that is done i shall give full details along with tools/equipment that i found very handy.
I take it your outriggers are shot???
the drivers side was worse on mine as well and it seems to be the same on most of the posts i have seen on here.
£600 is a very good price but i cant see how they can do it so cheap...you need to lift the body off and that is a good days work for a couple of people then cutting the tubes out, replacing and welding in and re-assembling the car?
I know i have gone OTT taking the body right off and stripping everything off the chassis but i dont see how you can replace the outriggers without taking the body fully off? I have heard of people doing the 9" lift but how can you weld all the way round the tubes and plates.
Anyway you are just in yorkshire, pop up one day...we can quickly cut them out and replace them!!!!
£600 is a very good price but i cant see how they can do it so cheap...you need to lift the body off and that is a good days work for a couple of people then cutting the tubes out, replacing and welding in and re-assembling the car?
I know i have gone OTT taking the body right off and stripping everything off the chassis but i dont see how you can replace the outriggers without taking the body fully off? I have heard of people doing the 9" lift but how can you weld all the way round the tubes and plates.
Anyway you are just in yorkshire, pop up one day...we can quickly cut them out and replace them!!!!
tyre_tread said:
Well done Andy 
keep it going and I can't wait to see the finished product!
I take it you won't be making it to Diamond Rock this weekend?
I am not doing anything until i have got the car back on the road!!!keep it going and I can't wait to see the finished product!
I take it you won't be making it to Diamond Rock this weekend?
Edited by tyre_tread on Thursday 2nd August 22:28
And i shall be posting pics of the finished product!!
Hows that dash looking now?
andy-w said:
And i shall be posting pics of the finished product!!
Hows that dash looking now?
I should think you'll be selling pictures of the finished project!Hows that dash looking now?
The Stainless dash is looking really good thanks. Loads of people have commented on how well it suits the car. I really must get around to doing some more pictures of it.
Not been out in the car much due to a combination of poor weaher and setting up the business so photo opportunities have been few & far between
frazer guest said:
Yeah, I was thinking how could they do it for the money as well. I assumed that there was some kind of trade secret to doing the job without removing body from chassis.
Some people will cut the glass fibre from inside the car to get to the outriggers, then repair the GRP once the welding is done. This is fine if done properly. Make sure you kow what you're letting your car in for.
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